A prayer for my mum

She never tasted fresh oysters, Yet you found her in them, She crowned me King of the Castle, It was really a compost heap, She would be the dirty rascal, And every night she stroked my hair, I would smell her fragrant lavender cuffs, And I would always fall asleep. She would always pray, Never to Jesus but to the song birds, She would always say, That upon there wings they carry her words. I like to believe that sometimes, Like to remember her made up nursery rhymes, And the way she looked after my first Nativity, In Grandma's Sunday best on a Friday, Her black tears she said were not for her misery, They were magic tears of happiness. Eleven candles burned and she helped me blow them out, I made a wish thinking wishes were like prayers, Looking back from then it's a void, I still remember the birds singing, The nightmares, The constant noise of the phone ringing, Uncle Jeff and his sprinkles, That made my chin sore when he kissed me, Remember the chaplain saying how Mummy missed me, I remember the playground, It was like one big merry go round, Children would walk around me and spit, Drag me by the hair she stroked, And dip my face in Dog shit. I remember everything, My Mum was very pretty you see, Me and her she would say was one happy family, Then it was Uncle Jeff and Auntie Anne, Who thought I was odd, So they took me to God to make me a man. They caught me praying to the birds, And dragged me away half way through, And I cried because Mum never got my words, There were only 4, Mum I Miss You. Now I pray for hours, Remember her in the fragrance of flowers, And I believe no one can really die, Life is just like a cage, And when we escape, We fly, So whenever I can, I pray, So the beautiful words upon beautiful birds, Are taken to her nest, Her nest, the sky