The black dress

will that do for my husband's funeral,

she thinks.

He loved that dress so much,

I wore it so often

people thought we couldn’t afford another one

or that he was too tight to spend money on me.

But he loved that dress so much,

so many memories.

This is where we stood for our wedding picture,

stiff, worried, and frightened,

My mum had given me a leaflet to read

and my married friends had explained.

I knew already but was good at pretending, otherwise.

This dress, I will wear it one more time for him,…

or should I bury it with him.

A keep safe, a shared life

and the waltzes we dance me wearing that dress,

Will that do for my husband's funeral,

He'd approve and then would want to be buried with it.