Champagne Toast

There's a picture of your wedding

Nineteen seventy-six

Dad, that blue bow tie is bigger

Than the smile you're trying to fix

Mum is laughing at the camera

Or at something you just said

We have heard about that joke for years

And we still don't get it yet

She says, "Peter, don't you start"

But she's smiling before you do

You still make her laugh

Like you've only just met

Janet shakes her head at you

Then you make her laugh again

After fifty years of living

And a thousand things to do

You still make her laugh

And she still looks for you

At the end of every school play

We could hear you from the back

Mum would nudge you with her elbow

Then she'd join in with your laugh

You could turn a broken kettle

To a story told for weeks

We were rolling both our eyes

But we were listening underneath

Now we catch the same old lines

Coming out of our own mouths

You still make her laugh

Like you've only just met

Janet shakes her head at you

Then you make her laugh again

After fifty years of living

And a thousand things to do

You still make her laugh

And she still looks for you

We know it wasn't all a party

We know some days were hard

But we'd find you in the kitchen

Talking softly in the dark

You were more than Mum and Dad

You were friends before we came

And the best part of this evening

Is watching that again

You still make her laugh

Like you've only just met

Janet shakes her head at you

Then you make her laugh again

Fifty years, and all your children

Know the sound that sees us through

You still make her laugh

And she still looks for you

Go on, Dad, tell that one again

She's laughing before the end