Links in the Bracelet: for Mum

The surname has changed,

But the name you gave me

And the day I was given to you

      Remain the same.

This flimsy band on my wrist

So much larger than that first one,

The years so many in-between.

      This bracelet

 

Is a link between us, marking

A memory of that moment when

I moved outside you to enter your life.

        And the name

With the same initial letter that we share

Makes yet another link.

And so I carry on this spool,

        This bracelet.

 

I added a link and looked down at

Another tiny name band,

One with the same initial letter

        As yours and mine.

 

So the generations stretch on together,

Clasped in these bands of names

And in these bracelets of love

        Which move on

          Always forward

           Down the years.                                    Royal Marsden Hospital, February 2012