Colours

Colours

Á sepia-tones snapshot, one eternal second caught, enshrined

My father in pristine white garb, fully-stocked shelves groaning behind’

A smoky-tanned side of bacon hangs; soon to be filleted by his expert hands

Lean collar, sweet mid-cur, glistening gammon and ham to suit your taste.

And never an ounce of food will go to waste

The slices lie in neat, serried rows on the cool marble slab

And from a lofty plinth off to one side

The King of red cheese, Sir Cheddar looks down with pride

Snow White his Queen, a Cheshire lass, is seen there, too

The nation’s colours completed by Jack the Lad, a cheeky Shropshire Blue

Across the floor of this grocer’s emporium

Yet more scents, aromas and colours in the compendium

The delicious tang from breached wooden chests of tea from Darjeeling and Cathay

Enamelled tins of fresh-baked biscuits, hand-patted butter from the farm “just down the way”

Flame-orange curries, green cardamom. Blue Mountain coffee

Black molasses, purple haze, the rainbow’s end, treacle toffee

The thinnest sprinkle of sawdust on the floor

Meticulously swept each day’s memories out of the door

When evening came. My father was all these things:

Colour, Scent, Sensation, Love, Pride to every customer he’d bring