Hide the penny in the wall,

my daddy said

when I was small.

I pushed it, so I couldn’t see

it in the wall so tall.

The next year came, excitement grew,

The wall still there.

Paces quickened - Daddy knew.

Approaching crumbling jagged brick -

our penny; good as new!

This game went on for many years,

Mum, Dad and I.

Then through the tears

one year, our wall just wasn’t there.

A new construction rears.

My childhood by the Sussex Coast.

Such precious days,

and now the ghost of time

has taken all those dreams,

and those I loved the most.

I stand alone, look out to sea.

There is no wall -

there is not three -

just one. A supermarket tall.

Not Mum, not Dad, just me.