Eagle Rare

Heno, dwi'n llawn o feddyliau, yn llawn o farddoniaeth

ond hefyd, yn llawn o wisgi...

tonight when I came home
the light was blinking on my archaic answering machine
an integral piece of my equally ancient telephone
hardly anyone calls me on this device now
except a few stalwart telemarketers

I entered my office
which sits at the rear of my long house
it's an old house, see
on a narrow lot
when I come home and park at the back, about the first thing I see is the old phone

So I saw the light was blinking
and I asked myself who had died or was in the hospital
the list of potential tragedies was long
I braced myself and ignored the blinking red light for a while
busying myself with the mail, the toilet, my fresh glass of Eagle Rare

Oh yes, and a small handful of spiced gumdrops

Note to self: I now understand why old people like bad tasting candy.

When finally I came to my ancient telephony device
and pressed the big, blue stop/play button
I took a deep breath
Was it about my mother? My neighbor? Someone in the Welsh Society?
Who had died? Who had chosen tonight to beg for help and not called the cell?

To my utter relief it was from one of my Welsh students
saying she wasn't sure when class was
no one I knew had died
no one had suffered an infarction
all was right with the world

and I could sit back and enjoy my Eagle Rare...