It is summer.
You take me on a tour of the garden
Although it looks the same to me.
You show me the work that's been done
Look there, you say and point
To the netted berries.
You know the names of all the plants.
The figs are ripe and fragrant
You tell me to take as many as I like.

You offer sherry and we sit outside
At the hexagonal table in wooden chairs
With the cushion covers your mother made.
There are salted biscuits in a thick glass bowl
And olives in another.
We watch the late afternoon sun sink and admire
The hills and sky.

At night I lie in the bed in which I grew up.
It smells of dust and clean linen.
The pillow is squashy.
I have traced the lines of all the furniture in the room
with my fingers more times than I can count.
When I sleep I sleep the night through-
I always do when I'm at your house.

You are awake before me in the morning.
The kettle is still warm to touch.
You have put cereal on the wooden
Sideboard, fruit, jam and butter
On the table. My place is set.
What would you like to do today? You ask.

Grandmother,
I would like to spend the day at your side
To pick plums and crab-apples
and stew them on the stovetop.
To sit together
To see you close your eyes and tilt
your face up to the sun.
To have you hold my hand in yours
I remember when these were so small.

For you to take me on a tour of the garden.
To show me the work that has been done.
To tell me what you plan to do in the autumn.