Lying to the young is wrong.
Proving to them that lies are true is wrong.
Telling them that God's in his heaven
And all's well with the world is wrong.
They know what you mean.They are people too.
[ 'Lies' - Yevgeny Yevtushenko]


In 1957 my mother suddenly disappeared from my life.
I was told that she had 'gone away'.
I did not see her again for forty-four years.

For weeks and months and then years, I waited for her to return.
But she never did.

Often I would cry myself to sleep at night but all my tears
could never fill the emptiness she had left.

At other times I would send my thoughts to her across mountains
and seas and beg her to come back. But she never did.

Eventually I buried my sorrow as deep as I could.
My mother had gone away. But she still dwelt within me.