Neil Bartram
People Carry On
[ALVIN]
"What Alvin Was Thinking"

[THOMAS]
...A story about Alvin Kelby

[ALVIN]
I remember Mom would make my lunches
Every afternoon when I was five
Sandwiches and carrot sticks in bunches
It's strange how certain memories survive

We'd both sit on a kitchen stool
I'd tell her what I did in school
How I'd carry on
People carry on

When you're a kid, your world becomes your parents
I saw them like a movie in my mind
Dad was George, and Mom was just like Clarence
And I became the two of them combined

Then, onе day, our family
Was suddenly just Dad and me

But we would carry on
Pеople carry on
Time went by
We changed and grew
I bounced back, like children do
But Mom was always close to me
Her robe was like her legacy

I felt like she was woven there
In every stitch and quilted square
Reminding me of things the way they were

But sometimes, distant memories can blur

I knew my mother's robe

But, somehow, I'd forgotten
Her

I remember lemonade and punches
Laid out like refreshments at a prom
Sandwiches and carrot sticks in bunches
I was six the day they buried Mom

My borrowed time
The perfumed air
The flower baskets everywhere
Every triviality
Is locked inside my memory
Details will survive the years
While Mom just slowly disappears

But people carry on
People carry on
People carry on
People carry on