ALF

Convent girl meets butcher boy,

BSA bike,

Her Dad takes dislike

Nineteen years old she can’t stay

Turns up along the way

Frank marries Ann in the January chill

A tiled shelf forms a first floor bay

Where a paraffin heater tries to kill

Over the butchery on the A40 carriageway

Spring Sun shines through the nets

And the top stained glass

Traffic pulses gently past

A delivery ward down a ramp

Where concrete hides a Saxon camp

Their tribe grows every year

Technicolour coat can’t warm near

That lot in ‘Southall over here’

There’s a safe chalky vale south

Where a forward party have no fear.

Rosary beads in a Beetle protect.

Ann loves Frank

Forty nine summers pass laughs and tears,

Benny and the Jets

I’m not in love

Jealous Guy, God above.

The quiet Dean guides them East

Their tribe grows over here

Autumn calls, bowls to Arms

Health cuts short

Franks life

Lay him on a well-drained slope

Ann spins in disbelief

Winter’s back with a cold reminder

Why what follows isn’t clear

but

Far from here

Frank’s calling Ann