A few words

My radio won’t play  music
Just the words of dead men
On cracked tea cups
And the lane where they led.
Sounds ominous?

The Television is always standing in the corner
Like we did at school when we misbehaved
Punishment, and how we were made.
I liked the singing and skipping most.

Mr Mulligan was young with dark eyes
He taught me for a year
Let me read novels in the afternoon
Fridays we polished our desks and cleaned the room
Mr Mulligan went to
Watch the football match on Saturday
Then he died.

Miss Molloy was elegant.She had red hair
She was beautiful with rimless glasses
When I’d been  off school
She showed me how to do long division
I found it irritating.
But I liked being at her big desk looking at the other children.
She was older and always severe.
She had  a lovely house with a  front garden
Not far from the bus stop.
I don’t know what her flowers were.

Father McGrath was very rich
His voice boomed
When we  went to Benediction I used to wonder
What was it he showed when we all had to  bend our heads down
So I looked.
It was big and gold like a clock.
Were we idolising it?