Rewriting My Life (Revised)

I disliked a world where angry people

used insulting words to maim and hurt;

trapped in a here and now I stayed alive

replaying tapes of superb stories,

engraving them on my heart,

Rewrote the score of my life, reread my

favourite books, repeated words to

myself at night, pressing fingers into my

ears when conflicts threatened to intrude.

How sad we are slaves of customs,

Attitudes and style, living in aggressive

cultures we cannot disregard unless

Professor Higgins shows us a different

direction – and we’ll need a quick ear

combined with glibly slick tongue

My family gave the means for escape,

surrounded us with books, and my dad,

an affable Alfred P Doolittle kept score

of My Fair Lady in his cupboard,

he loved the story

If only Higgins could aid him escape his

past, though I’m glad he showed me my

star to follow – my mother helped by

staying in her solitary bubble, oblivious

to the fighting crew

in the vessel of her own life….