Jean, Christmas 1949
The dedication was: To Jean
from Gordon and Phil - Christmas 1949.
‘MacNeice’s Collected Poems 1925-1948’
Brown covered, serious
Smelling of bonfires and used time
I paid pence and it came wrapped and harmless
A perfect relic from the years Gordon and Phil survived.
I now own Jean’s book
Her bookmarks still cling to loved pages.
Faded post-war envelope tearings –
Flimsy reminders of an austere world
Into which I had yet to come.
I turn first to Jean’s marked pages
What was she reading, memorising?
MacNeice’s genius lifts off the lines.
‘The moment cradled like a brandy glass’
‘We cannot cage the minute’ on page 104.
And she read his words on Venice
In ‘Autumn Journal’ stanza 20,
‘Pearls in her hair, panther and velvet’
And, perfect, on page 189,
Her mark sat above ‘Meeting Point’.
I am pleased to share MacNeice with you, Jean.
I flick, like you, these precious leaves.
My bookmark is a Tesco Clubcard voucher
And sits on page 235, above ‘The Springboard’
‘There above London where the gargoyles grin’.