38. Al-Hafiz – Remembrance and Preservation

Suggests preserver, guardian, protection, vigilance --- 'Who
can calculate the orbit of his own soul?' Oscar Wilde 
Are you going? 

I put Andrew to bed
remembering without fail
to sing Scarborough Fair
eyeball to eyeball
head to head

and I know he’ll ask
– honest as a boy –
for one more burst
- a final verse -
of mutual joy. 
 
Shy Chris
He walks in a bubble
- slow - or at the double
he keeps out of trouble,
grows a little stubble

and, as far as I can tell,
(when chatting to shy Chris today)
every bubble’s shiny, small,
contained - so neat and tidy.

So we chat, breathe out,
aiming to expand our film;
try to merge a personal bliss
or hell before young Cupid’s dart
(or Death’s old rusty axe) – flies
and we bulge a little, weep a little; burst.