I DIDN'T KNOW...

I Didn't Know…

I slept in a single bed along that window wall

Across the end of my parents’ double,

Never fearing the night, not wary of the dark

Even if I had been smacked or in trouble…

I never once realised that outside the window,

Forming a ’T’ shape above the glass panes

Was some ornate plaster work with a solid column,

 And its floral decoration still today remains…

At the top of the pillar there appears a face,

A cherub perhaps, a guardian protecting?

I didn't know about it as a child but did it ward off evil,

Its peering eyes sharp, keen and projecting?  

Pete Ray

February 2017

EARLY 1990s...

NOW...

Never knew about the plaster work as a child.

Left there as a 6 year old.

Saw it just a few weeks ago on my return to Bamville Road, Ward End, Birmingham…