Mary O'Gorman GREAT AUNT JO When I lived under a young sun Great-Aunt Jo was eighty-one. She lived in Rose Lane, Number 5, wore an apron kind and wide. We sisters trooped in after school. She called us both my little jewel. We helped shell peas and make plum jam, Collect warm eggs, feed a pet lamb. Sometimes we helped with small hurt birds Stroked them, coaxed them with soft words; Touched her ornaments gingerly – black cats, goose-girls, specially a picture of Mary trimmed with lace, a spaniel with a cheeky face. On certain days, we stayed for tea – scones for Judy, sweet cake for me. But she grew bent and slow and frail and our visits were curtailed to fifteen minutes by her bed. “You girls are in my heart” she said, looking like a small hurt bird. We stroked her, coaxed her with soft words. She died in Rose Lane, Number 5, house full of aprons kind and wide.
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