Notes About The Poem

victorian canal life - the reality

Family Life Afloat

We left our abode 
       in old Cowfair
  haggled a price 
for an old shire mare

Onto the 
     landlord's canal boat
lock stock and barrel 
        for a life afloat

farewell to our 
     Buckingham birthplace &
its meagre living 
     from old point lace
dawdled slow 
   up to Cosgrove
 taking our meals
   . . around a blackened stove

our moveable house 
    .painted castle& rose
not a life
    we would have chose

Eighteen fifties harsh 
&
mean
   coal cargo
 so nothing stays clean

doff your cap touch your forelock 
every two mile 
   at 
the gatekeeper's lock

Fresh food scarce 
     except for fish
perch & roach
       a staple dishc

clothes dry 
on a washing line strung
out for a timeout
  the toddlers young their
number so soon increased & grew
places to sleep 
    all too few
family life impossibly hard 
    back we went to a tied cottage
 in 
Aylesbury's Anchorage yard
Copyright © | Year Posted 2021

Poem

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Leiser Avatar
May 20, 2021 at 8:15 PM
Love the wonderful way you relate your poetic journey on the sea, Brian. Very creative and truly enjoyed this one! :)
Strand Avatar
May 20, 2021 at 8:50 PM
Cheers Laura,too quickly did rail supersede ,change so constant like the tide
Mcintosh Avatar
May 19, 2021 at 4:40 AM
Wonderful write... a place I've never experienced. God bless you always, Love, Gina
Strand Avatar
May 19, 2021 at 5:17 AM
Cramped & confined was canal life Beta
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