Good Old Uncle Ron (Poetry)

He made a better uncle
than he ever did a father
as an uncle he would smile and be good fun
so my cousins never knew
how easily one could get into deep trouble
simply being there with him
in the same room

They never saw his moody side —
how irritable/impatient/cold and
long-sufferingly indifferent he could become
(although rarely in front of
so therefore not obvious to my mother)
while I only ever got a glimpse
of that falsely-genial-when-visiting other-self

Sad to think I might have actually
liked him rather better
if I’d been born his niece
and not his all-too-often-in-the-wrong
sad/confused and desperate-to-belong
only-barely-visible
daughter