• Vol. 07
  • Chapter 10

RIP Margaret

Jiving and twisting the night away,
Kirkwall's Royal Hotel ballroom;
Trout fishing at Loch of Harray,
Storm watching with curious puffins,
Colliding Pentland Fish currents
At sheer cliffs of Birsay, skuas circling...
Leaving free living 1940s youth behind,
Moving from Orkney to Leicestershire,
Home of the pork pies, Melton Mowbray,
Knowledgeable NHS medical receptionist;
Vivacious, positive, humorous, public-spirited.
Tempestuous marriage, tragic death of her son,
Trials and tribulations, second marriage celebrations;
Foreign holidays, stylish fashions, finer things in life.
Retirement, advancing years, widowed, undaunted;
Unbowed, learning to walk again after a broken back
Injury – resilient, resourceful, dazzling smile all through.
Then, an arduous house move to Loughborough
Preceding COVID-19 anxieties; blood disorder treated
With palliative care, alas no cure. RIP Margaret –
My inspirational, young at heart great-aunt;
Orkney's and Leicestershire's loss a heavenly gain.

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