Solomon Grundy by Val Pedrick

Gathered within fortressed walls

for more than a century;

elegant hands wait

pens dipped and poised,

to copperplate precisely:

arrivals, departures and

the joining together

of lives –

measured –

brief or long:

ordinary and special:

some contented , others tragic –

encapsulated

in

aromatic, bound volumes,

opening to reveal –

sepia-tinted glimpses,

preserved for posterity:

snapshots of lives.

Dedicated to George CRAIG and his grandmother Mary MURDOCH 1879-1896