Poetry Pleases: Having Relations
"Do you still have relations, at your age?'' the doctor said - and what did he mean by that? Arthur Gilliland's poem is a consideration of that weighted word, relations.
'Well', the doctor said to me,
'D'you still have relations,
At your age?'
'Relations?' I said,
'Of course I have relations -
There's Fred and Susan, George and Anne,
They're cousins. Oh, yes, Mildred,
She's an aunt.'
I don't think that's what he really meant;
But it made me think about relations,
What a funny word; and what funny people
Some of them are.
I think he meant sexual relations;
Why can't they say what they mean?
For some strange reason, these doctors,
And the younger folk, seem to think
That once you get past forty
You've forgotten what you did
When young yourself.
I think that's what he really meant, silly man.
But he made me think about relations,
What funny things they are;
Most of the time.
Relationships. Our generation invented the word,
For crying out loud!
But some seem to have forgotten
That relationships means thinking
About the other relation first.
Would this harm her? What would I think
If she said that to me?
We'll only get along, without a fight,
If I think of you, you of me.
Then we'll have a relationship.
And if it's man and wife,
If they have this relationship; who knows?
One relationship with mutual care,
May lead to relations; the sort they mean
When they say, 'Do you have relations?’’
