The Turn o’ the Tide
My Daddy and I Christmas 2014 after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
My Daddy passed away at the start of the month, he was a great poet, he was forever coming up with silly songs when we were kids, adding a rude ending then killing himself laughing while my Mum tried not to laugh and look disgusted 🙂
When I was learning about dinosaurs at school, about 11 years old, I had a project to do, so he wrote me a little poem to go along with it. This is it from my memory.
An Ugly Pterodactly
Last night as I lay sleeping,
Upon my little bed
I had a dream the dinosaurs
Were flying overhead
An ugly Pterodactyl
Picked me up in it’s beak
I tried to scream, I tried to shout
With fright I could not speak
It took me to a hilltop
And laid me in it’s nest
It’s baby thought a worm was I
To eat me and digest
That is when I woke
With sweat upon my brow
My cat was licking at my face
And saying to me, “miaow”
Frank Bonnar (1939 – 2016)
Another poem he wrote was called ‘The Turn o’ the Tide’, about growing up in Greenock in Scotland, which was published and a Scottish-American called Carl Peterson turned into a song and recorded it as part of his CD entitled, ‘The Branches of the Green Oak Tree’.
I converted it to mp3 to be played at his funeral this Wednesday and I really wanted to share it with his family and friends. So, here it is.