Alison Cassidy - Great Aunt Constance

As I turn the pages of your life
I see a darkened room lined with books
And a small hunched figure, pen in hand
Dabbing at the corner of her mouth
With a man's handkerchief

As I search the bookshelves of your life
I see sonnets and novels and plays
And piles of letters to friends and students
You taught with your funny little voice
High pitched, like a child's

At twenty you opened your own school
Rosbercon, where children were allowed
To write with their left hand
And where no one was punished
Because they didn't understand.

Years after your death, I read your diaries
And learned about your friend Mrs. Jose
Whom you had loved passionately
And platonically for sixty years.

Alison Cassidy

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/great-aunt-constance/