Could you have imagined

as In-laws looked on

at the Warwickshire lad who

swept the nurse off her feet,

what fifty years would bring.

A half century on, time has been

and what a time it was,

from a still black and white photograph

as family joined, a celebration

that has been at sea and the comfort

of dry land, did you imagine

ever

that the life you have shared

would have been

before playing Cribbage

at The Bird In Hand,

fifteen two, fifteen four

and forty-six makes fifty,

despite it all, and all again,

you have survived, thrived, and been to all

holding hands in these

the Golden years you have

shared.

Ian D. Hall 2020