In order to attend either college or University, I take Tilly to the wonderful Eldercare Centre in Ashford for that day, where she is cared for, and she regards it as her club. It is attended daily by elderly ladies mostly, nearly all of them being widows, and I was asked to write a poem for them last Christmas, which was published in their newsletter. Christmas is a difficult time when they miss their departed husbands, who they had spent a whole life with, so I wrote this poem to tell them that love never ends.

Together we walked along the shore,
our foot-prints side by side.
Those damp depressions numbered four,
aged quickly with the tide.

Through-out our days, it had been just so,
holding hands as we went through life.
By my side in highs and lows,
my ever-loving wife.

The children came, and then they went,
each one with love and pride.
But relentless waves at us were spent,
all signs gone with the tide.

My love now walks on, quite alone,
single foot-prints in the sand.
Sadly thinking she's on her own,
but still I hold her hand.