LET INSIDE ME GUFFAW- from Alice, as heard by Beatrice

I shall harken back to Godfrey’s wake, by the second afternoon most everyone who wished to speak, or sing, or share took a break for the last of my Invincible Fruitcake. I had not heard, nor had it occurred to me where Godfrey’s sister Alice may be.

A notorious prankster, she refused to mature, her shenanigans legendary as the poetry was of her brother. It was getting late, when came a brash clang of gate and a dust cloud. From a black London Cab, sister Alice did alight, set the crowd on their feet and my chickens to flight. Wearing purple turban, and Pashmina horse-slobber-green, she stepped deftly round a heap of goat droppings and scrutinized me.

I saw through her display, for I knew that she knew that I knew, she loved Godfrey, but could express it only in her own odd way.  We all had to wait, as Alice had her fill of cake and her coffee cooled..still nibbling more cake, with a deep belch Alice read, a poem of her own at Godfrey”s wake.

..LET INSIDE ME GUFFAW!! Never let it be said I must chortle, look down at your shoes in silence, titter me not or meekly mutter using someone else’s breath. LET INSIDE ME GUFFAW!! It was I ate all the biscuits in ettiquete class, slurped the insipid tea was handed me, I balanced the plate on spread knee and ample lap, hollered and whistled when told” lady’s shyly clap.” LET INSIDE ME GUFFAW! The group sat silent, not believing what a sight they heard and saw, there ranted Alice, long past middle age, she had filched a pair of gumboots and was wearing Godfrey’s woolly knitted dragon hat on stage.

LET INSIDE ME GUFFAW!! Godfrey took it on the chin for every prank and mess that I made, but I held my brother up so he could see the parade. For what I learned from Godfrey’s life I celebrate in dance and song- Don’t eat dinner on the tracks lest the train come along, Never miss an opportunity to wee, or pass up a free sample on the counter at the bakery. AND LET INSIDE ME GUFFAW!!.

.In the old puce house, that night in my bed beneath the eaves. I felt the warmth of higher wisdom in what Alice believed. Alice herself without fanfare or thanks, returned to Skibbereen to carry on her life of pranks. She took all the pickle sandwiches, she also took the tray, took the gumboots and his dragon hat, in her Black London Cab and drove away.

LET INSIDE ME GUFFAW!! Distant voices from the paddock campfire, tuning of guitar, darkness out my loft window, one lone star. World, I asked before I sleep, LET INSIDE ME GUFFAW!!. Godfrey took it on the chin for every mess  Alice made, but yes she held her brother up so he could see the parade… LET INSIDE ME GUFFAW!!.