Framed Together
My father made films on his cinecamera of our holidays
and special days like First Communions
the square box of our coloured figures on the sitting room wall
two spools moving above the buzzing projector
my brother at seven- a grey jacket suit with short pants white shirt and white silk rosette
knee-length grey school socks with the striped school colours rimming his knees
matching his tie and the cap on his head
wimpled nuns reaching out playfully to my four-year-old self
in short blue trousers and glowing white jumper as I raced
between the parents and their newly hosted children
my father and his camera are long gone and he
sits quietly and gently now in my reflection
I am looking for a place for my lately deceased mother a place
where the grief and her memory can sit and convalesce with me
I place her in my father’s heart as he filmed his young family.
there to ebb and soften as the frames tick by capturing our happiness
and the yellow of the daffodils and sunflowers in the giant flower tubs the nuns had in their playground was like the custard in my trifle at Christmas
this was the Word making me run around
His love made light in our sitting room curtains drawn
and God couldn’t have arranged it better
because He had arranged it all
Ray Yeates works as the City Arts Officer for Dublin City Council. His background is in the theatre. He is a former Director of Axis Ballymun, and was Deputy Artistic Director of the Abbey Theatre. He holds an M.A in Creative Writing from the Open University
Amethyst Review 