Literary Journal Issue#5 2011 - Cranbrook School

BENCHMARK
Living History
I’ve got an aunt in Narrabri,
She’s 80, and half as tall as me.
I like her so; she’s very nice.
She asks me ‘round for scones and tea.
She tells me stories of her life,
Of places she has been,
Of famous people she has met
And things that she has seen.
I think her memory’s faulty,
As she’s getting on in years,
And sometimes when she talks to me,
Her eyes well up with tears.
‘Lost my son in Vietnam,’
She’ll say and shake her head.
‘I won’t forget that pointless war,’
Is all she ever said.
‘My husband used to work the land,
For farmers near and far,
But his greatest love was at the pub,
Propping up the bar.’
‘His tombstone’s in the churchyard,
Which I rarely ever see.
I couldn’t care if it was gone,
Makes no difference to me.’
What a line – that said it all,
The life that she has led,
The tough times she’s endured,
Shown in things she said.
Sometimes we wander round the back,
To a car parked in the drive.
She strokes the hood and says to me
‘It’s from 1965.’
‘A Thunderbird from Ford,’ she’d say
‘A gift when I turned 18,
I used to drive it everywhere,
It’s a wonderful machine.’
‘I’d like to drive again, someday.’
But I know she never will.
The battery’s dead, the tyres are flat
And weeds grow in the grill.
7
And each day when it’s time to go,
She says, ‘What a lovely talk.’
I nod my head, I say ‘goodbye’
And out the door I walk.
‘Come again tomorrow,
I’ll tell you something new.’
I nod my head and close the gate
And call out, ‘Tootle-loo!’
Sadly, as I leave the house,
I think, ‘Does she even know my name?’
Because I know the next time I come back
She’ll repeat it all again.
Scott Ewart
Year 9
Winner of the Year 9 Poetry Prize