Joyous Feelings On Arrival In the Country

As a child
When Mum wanted
To nip down to the shop
Without bundling me in the car
She’d park my stroller in front
Of the stereo and put on
Beethoven’s Pastoral
For one side of vinyl
She’d be free of me
Just long enough
To buy a packet of tea

As a teenager
Heavily steeped in
The Beatles and Tull
One afternoon
For old time’s sake
Mum put on The Pastoral
I was instantly taken
Every note resonating
Deeply in my soul
How strange to have forgotten
This magic music
The key to a captivating complexity
I yearned for
But rarely found
From then on it became
The cornerstone
Of my classical collection

As a no longer younger man
I took to taking
My elderly mother
To the symphony
Every other month
(Dad was still alive
But not comfortable enough
Venturing out into the world
Especially at night)
Together we explored
The classical canon
Beethoven our favourite
The one we adored
But Tchaikovsky too
And Bach, Dvořák, Prokofiev
(‘Provocative’ she called him)
For me it was payback time
Going on a date with
A septuagenarian

At her funeral
I chose the music
Bach’s Jesu Joy,
Nun komm’ der Heiden Heiland and
As the congregation
Entered the chapel
The exuberant opening
Of Beethoven’s Pastoral
Joyous Feelings on
Arrival in the Country
It still resonates deeply
In my soul
But now is linked
Indelibly to her