A Life Well Lived

A Life Well Lived by Robert J (Bob) Moore (©2015) The old man sat at the window, staring into space people could only wonder, at the smile upon his face but they had not been where he had been, and behind that wrinkled brow they could not see what he had seen, or what he was seeing now He was back again in England, on a cold and frosty day heading for the Pennines, where he would make his way into the hills round Kinder Scout, or maybe up Scafell following the wanderers tracks, and pathways he knew well He may be back at Gorton Mount, or maybe Spurley Hey reliving all his schooldays, the learning and the play Rugby with Pete Hesketh, or football as fullback but definitely not cricket, too dangerous playing that Or perhaps he’s back in Gorton, round the Suttons Dwelling Trust riding bikes out in the rain, till they fell apart with rust there’s Jack and Cliff, and Keswick, the pals he hung round with for friendship and companionship which only true friends give. He’s camping on the Isle of Man, in the August holiday trying to get a sunburn, to prove he’d been away and drinking hard with Scottish lads, who congregated there and we’ll come up and see you, in Glasgow he would swear. Or again, he’s leaving England, heading for another land a place where dad had told us, the living would be grand with sun and sand and lots of work, we’d make our fortune there and live life to the fullest, with fun, and little care Now he’s landed in Australia, mam and dad are there him and his three sisters, standing in the sun shine glare not knowing how their life will be, or if it will turn out as dad had promised to us all, but there really was no doubt this was a cleaner, brighter land, than England had become his dad had fought in 2 wars, and now he wanted some place to raise his family, in prosperity and peace a place where all the worry, and the arguing would cease. He could not see all of the things that would happen in his life how he would raise a family, with his Australian wife they’d drift apart, the kids would grow, and start lives of their own and now there are grandchildren, and the family has grown Now he’s thinking of his second wife, who looks after him he’s not easy to live with, he knows this deep within she ignores him when he’s cranky, but he loves her more than gold some say that he has mellowed, others say he just got old