Analysis of Doreen

Fearing the worst we saw her off to hospital

when her leg turned black for the lack

of a fair supply of the red stuff.

Her life flashing before our eyes,

kept our tongues busy with what we knew

but did not see.  The cloud they both lived under

had not glimpsed blue skies for years.

The boy's not wired up right, his father said

of the grandson who lived with them and gave

grave abuse without relief unless you count

a week away with other family.

She was heroic, refusing to give him up;

the Old Man forced into muteness

by the blackmail of love.

They called us near the end, screened her off.

We sensed the nearness of the hearse

and heard her dying words,

“don’t let him know what's in your purse”.