On the first day of my new freedom

I purchased a book of poetry

These were the works of Lord Byron

Who I admired greatly

However in between the soft pages

Of this scruffy scuffed book

I found a number of newspaper reviews

Dating back over fifty years

One of which noted that the poets preoccupation

with incest in his tragedies sprang from his affair

with his half sister and I quote

Yet he took to her I believe because
she enjoyed making jokes and making love
in defiance of a taboo was unimportant
except as an afterthought 

My sister with and I live in a coastal house

Which has views of France on sharp clear days

She did not care for the works of my cherished poet

And thought that him crude and an unpleasant man

Yes when I was ill in hospital last year

She secreted a small lavender envelope

Containing her pubic hair under my pillow

I later had this envelope stitched

Into the lining of my best tweed jacket

Near to the hollow echoes of my aching heart

 

 

Rebecca Tonks 2021