Grandad Eulogy 25.08.16

Words don’t come close to conveying how we feel and there’s not enough paper in the world to  show appreciation for a man we all considered a father...

We thought of you with love today, but that is nothing new,

We thought about you yesterday and days before that too,

You battled hard for years, with tick box medical charts,

And although your pain has ended, it’s broke our weary hearts.

We remember back to bows and arrows and our toolboxes out back,

We recall your bird head moments and races in potato sacks,

We reminisce over target practice, where you battled with the squirrels,

We’d idolise you wearing your tam o’shanter and walking with your ferrels,

We’d wake in wait to ride our bikes and find Indians in the woods,

With never ending tea breaks and peaches and ice cream for puds’,
From John the gofer to tickles all night you attended to our every need,

Around the house like baloo the bear we'd always follow your lead,

Our cinema club trips and days at the garden will remain with us forever,

These memories that we hold dear will keep us close together,

You are our biggest inspiration, we thought the world of you,

And the values you instilled in us will walk with and guide us through,

We’ll always spend half, save half, it’s served us well to date,

Your wise words, pride and guidance, ‘being on time means you’re late’,

Our pen collection will run low, but our memories will remain,

We’ll think of you in silence but will often speak your name,

Our childhood days spent in Pontyclun we’ll always call our home,

And we’ll treasure our precious memories wherever we will roam.

My Finned Blue Mirror

My Finned Blue Mirror

My mirrored twin behind tainted glass, you swim effortlessly,

Facing the unknown the world at large, alike I find you and me,

The tranquility of silence, your beauty overlooked, seen as a ferocious beast,

With your sharp teeth, king of the ocean, searching for your next feast,

I live in the City but my heart’s undersea, among creatures of the deep,

Where life is found in every cwtch and where the living rarely sleep,

Whilst we glide through life at times alone, companionship is amiable,

Our need to wander without halt, proves travel to varied dwellings favourable,

The waves whisper flowing along our tough skin, where our battle scars are visible,

Although tainted woes with newly formed teeth, make the memories transitional,

Crescendo as your tail swishes against the current, fundamental challenges are set,

Approaching the day with a keen eye, an expedite without haste, faster than a jet,

Whether it’s batting seaweed or jumping to eat, athletic qualities we both possess,

Taking to circumstance we work and date, operating with finesse,

Thermoregulation in different forms, we adapt to circumstance well,

Attracted to contrasting sites and colours, both in fashion and in smell,

Both apex predators we rule our kingdoms, free to dream with choice,

But although poignant and loud our presence, we are quiet in voice,

As you can see in personality and in build, we are much like one another,

Sheer bliss it would be, with the depths to surround, to spend a night among my other.

Carys Rhiannon Thomas