Hi all, as I have just joined this site and this group I thought I should introduce myself - I am Val, 52, divorced, mother of a 16-year-old boy, Director of Software Development during the day, amateur poet and writer by night. Abandoned by my father when I was 8, this has been fruitful fodder for my writing. Here is a sonnet I wrote a few years ago.

Your Name
Your name is on the plaque beside the door
that you walked through for the last time that year.
The gloss is cracked, just like my heart before
I learned to hear your name without cold fear.
Your name is there, although now very faint,
a memory, your only true bequeath.
Deceit and pain were veiled in layers of paint,
each hiding all the faded schemes beneath.
Your name is on the page in the huge book -
a permanent reminder, for one day
each year. I visit you for one last look
at what? A name that never went away.
So hide between the leaves until next year
And maybe I will join with you soon, here.

Comments (and friend invitations) welcome!

Thanks

Val.