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In the garden of my heart, I see with the eyes of youth again,
My Brother, my hero, my love, my playmate Johnnie Payne,
I turn my head to listen, and my mind whispers its fears,
The future in this garden is awash with happiness as well as tears,
I cross the span of heartbeats, when childhood has fled away,
And my soul and heart remembers, the day when John could not stay,
Away across the sea he went to a war, which to his last
Tormented his gentle being with flashbacks of that past.
The garden of my heart though older, still beats with treasures kept,
The wedding to his life long mate, that day the flowers wept,
The birth of daughters and grand-daughters, the extension of their line,
Precious flowers growing, precious fruit upon the vine.
Now in the garden of my heart in a very special place,
There is peace and contentment-a garden full of grace,
The light there is far brighter for my mind to look upon.
Each beat of my heart remembers, my beloved brother John.

Signed
Mavis Evelyn Payne

My aunt wrote that poem when my dad died on 30 July 2005