William and Catherine got Married

When Cath set eyes on Bill

he was in uniform,

just back on leave a little while,

and next time he came home they wed,

no time to wait in wartime.

You never knew, you know?

A forties wedding

home-made dress and ration cake

with garden flower bouquet,

then he had to go away.

When he came back

she realised

she didn’t know him, really,

but they rubbed along alright,

until he died, in 1975.

Cathy was a swinging chick,

a sixties girl with bouffant hair

and pale pink lips.

Billy took her on his scooter

each weekend,

to Brighton or Southend,

though her dad

was not best pleased.

Soon, a baby on the way,

they settled down 

to married life,

Cathy loving every bit

of being a mother 

and a wife,

while Billy serviced 

motor cars 

for Ford.

Katy, full of confidence

in her abilities,

believed in meritocracy, 

and money.

It was Thatcher’s Britain after all,

where finance ruled. 

She chose her course with care,

deciding that the city would appeal

to her mendacity.

Then at a party, meeting Will,

a rugger bugger he,

clean cut, strong and buff.

A golden couple they became

with rosy future beckoning,

though she didn’t

take his name.

In April now, Two Thousand and Eleven,

a different century,

and predictably our nineteen-eighties

golden couple broke apart.

Katy’s on a holiday to get away

from all this royal wedding fuss

and also as she knows

her ex, her Will,

will be ubiquitous

his sports career 

has set him up in media

and she really doesn’t want

to see his so-familiar face

in forty six inch digital HD.

Cathy is a royalist right through,

a gran as well and even, now,

with little baby Tyler,

a great-grandmother, too.

She’s been baking for a week

and everything’s decked out

in red, white and blue.

Everyone is coming to the party

although Billy 
would be happy

down the pub

he’s not allowed, today,

and secretly

he’s rather proud-

Our Cathy

puts on a good spread.

In the care home, Cath

has been put

with a forgotten cup of tea

in front of the TV,

flag in hand,

though she doesn’t really

comprehend 

what’s going on.

Now a memory is stirred

and anxiously she asks

Where’s Bill?

When’s he coming home?

They don’t tell her that he’s dead,

she’ll only get upset, again,

so pointing to the screen

the staff say

Look, Cath, Look,

William and Kate,

its their big day,

their Wedding Day

today.