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Tuesday 10 July 2012

Flying the Nest

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Was just putting things back to normal in my front room, after the weekend's decorating, and found this, tucked in the corner of my son Jacob's degree, and thought I'd share it with you. It's that time of year again, when young adults all over the country are graduating, leaving the comparative safety of University life where they know that home is only a journey away ...

Mother, any distance greater than a single span
requires a second pair of hands.
You come to help me measure windows, pelmets, doors,
the acres of the walls, the prairies of the floors.

You at the zero-end, me with the spool of tape, recording
length, reporting metres, centimetres back to base, then leaving
up the stairs, the line still feeding out, unreeling
years between us. Anchor. Kite.

I space-walk through the empty bedrooms, climb
the ladder to the loft, to breaking point, where something
has to give;
two floors below your fingertips still pinch
the last one-hundredth of an inch...I reach
towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky
to fall or fly.
By Simon Armitage

Jacob tore this poem from a book and handed it to me when he graduated from University last year, and was about to leave home properly and stand on his own two feet.  I cried.

Love, Claire xxx


35 comments:

  1. What a beautiful piece of writing! I would have cried too!
    Victoria xx

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    1. Thanks Victoria, it is lovely, I thought at first it was American, but when I Googled it, discovered Simon Armitage is a Yorkshire born poet. xxx

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  2. This is just beautiful Claire and I am so glad you found and put on here, for us...
    You got me sniffling...
    How thoughtful of your Jacob.
    The poem is soo true!

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    1. Hi Maria, thank you! Your boy is certainly flying high! xxx

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  3. What a lovely thoughtful young man you obviously did a very good job Claire x

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  4. How lovely - you obv have a very good bond with your son. I'm glad I do too and I still cherish a poem he wrote for me aged 6 in which he proclaimed " My mum is grat" but looked like it said "a rat" in his childish writing! We still laugh about it now and he's nearly 20
    :-)

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    1. It's the little things you cherish the most ... I don't like grand gestures! That is so lovely what your little boy wrote, but also funny. My third son Harry, had a poem published in a book called Playground Poets. It was about me, and one line read "she doesn't care what she wears", ... thanks H! xx

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  5. Ah, that's beautiful Claire. Your son is a good boy. xxx

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  6. OH blimey that made me cry.,.,.,xx

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    1. Hi Sophie, I know, it's very poignant, I fill up every time I read it! xxx

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  7. Awe, How touching..a lovely poem :)
    Magie x

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  8. Oh gosh. All those feelings of my little boy leaving home come flooding back!

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    1. Hello Louise, I know, isn't it awful? I've got 3 more to go through with it yet! xxx

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  9. Oh! so lovely Clair I'm not surprised you cried!
    Don't you just love'em!!!!!

    Amanda xx

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  10. What I lovely thoughtful son you have. Thanks for sharing the poem, it's beautiful. Get the tissues out. Have a lovely day. Ali x

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    1. He has his moments, I must admit! You too Ali, xxx

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  11. Replies
    1. It's lovely isn't it, Cheryl? Gets me every time I read it! Xxx

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  12. Dear Claire
    This reminds me of that well worn homily namely that children need two things - roots and wings....sniff, sniff....
    Your children will never forget their roots and will flourish with their wings....sniff, sniff again...

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  13. Aw that's lovely ... Think I've set everyone off today! Xxx

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  14. Aw i feel tearfull reading it ,how lovely ,im dreading the day the children leave home i really am i love having them around ,always feel lost when there not around xxx

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    1. It is very sad when they go, but quite often they keep coming back! You just have to be there to pick up the pieces when things don't go quite to plan ...

      Have a lovely day, Claire xxx

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  15. Aw how lovely and sweet of him ! and what a lovely poem...Gail x

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    1. Aw thank you Gail, always lovely to have you drop in! Hope yo're ok, enjoy your day, Claire xxx

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  16. Oh gosh, went to our first university open day last weekend with my eldest and when we sat down to hear the first talk, I suddenly felt a bit overwhelmed! Excited for him, but a bit sad, too. This definitely strikes a chord....thank you x

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    1. It is all a bit overwhelming, we'll have to do it all again next year too! They have their whole lives ahead of them, but the first steps away from home are very big ones xxx

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  17. What a sensitive soul he must be! That's what we do though as parents we nurture and protect them with the expectation that one day they will stand on their own too feet, still a bit of a shock though when it happens! Ada :)

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    1. Hello Ada,

      Thanks for dropping in! He left home properly a year ago, and don't know about stand on own 2 feet, but think we're getting there! Have to start all over again next year when son number 3 goes to University ... hopefully will be better prepared then xxx

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  18. Beautiful....I found it REALLY difficult when my Son left initially for UNI, but it got better. My Son lives in the USA now.....he is incredibly happy and we are so very close and no distance will ever change it, we speak to each other most days ( Thank goodness for IPhones!)H xx

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  19. I would have cried too! x

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  20. ah bless, that brought a tear to my eye. So sweet, can't believe i have that all to come.

    In reply to your comment - yep! full fat haullomi is a must!!! xxxxx

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I love to hear what you think of my ramblings and value all your comments ... I will try and get back to you, but am sorry if I don't always manage this ... sometimes real life just gets in the way! Claire xxx