Biblical meme


‘Old as Methuselah’
my father would say -
knowing nod
directed at Gran


‘Let there be light’
Dad’s cue for curtains
‘Flesh of my flesh’
described us kids
‘All the days of your life’
the cat and displeasure
and ‘East of Eden’
Mavis next door


Dad’s most used saying
doozie of them all
befitted Uncle Bill
the wayward sibling
whose repeated requests
to borrow ten bob
reduced Dad to rubble
stripped him of reason
left him speechless
gaping the question…
‘am I my brother’s keeper?’


We never knew
where Dad got his lines


Suffice to say
we suspected
these gems
these plucked
pearls of wisdom


pre-dated him.


©Leigh Hay reprinted with permission