A brittle bright winter morning In the graveyard Just two workmen and me Getting wet feet. Walking, looking, walking In the graveyard Finding the place I knew She now rested. Thirty years have gone by In the graveyard Since a distraught mother fell To her knees. Couldn't accept her baby now dwelt In the graveyard And would laugh no more In her old house. A girl of thirteen shouldn't be In the graveyard But unkind gods decided It was time.
Debate
The grief of life? The joy of death? What's more important Our first or last breath? Honour what's coming? Or glory times gone - For a babe crying feed me Or a corpse saying so long? Life, perverse when present Is stranger when it's left We either stand appealing Or lie alone bereft.
I’ll Be Me
I'll walk in the shadow of no one Nor bend a knee to anyone alive I'll march to the beat of my own drum And do anything to survive. I'll be just the man that I can be Always honest, straight and true I'll fight and fight to stay free And count my blessings too. I'll struggle hard not to falter Look well at all there is to see I'll prove I'm a born resulter Or maybe ... just be me ...
Old Man
What's your story Old man? What have you seen And done? Put down that watering can And sit here in the sun. Tell me of wars Old man Times short of work And food Did you serve or work the land Just did the best you could? And after that Old man You say you took A wife Had a child but lost her So ran away from life. You ran for thirty years Old man? And never more saw Your home? Do you find this garden Has cured your need to roam? Are you happy now Old man? Do you hear the Skylarks song? Is your soul at peace here Have your demons gone? I've heard your story Old man So I know what To do If life is cruel to me sometime I'll get a garden too.
Rabbit on Trial
It was a holiday walk under a fine blue sky Today at least the rain has gone by A short stroll was very much in order On the path near the house and green belt border. Wo! There in the path was a fair sized hole Hewn by Rabbits (or a very large mole) Put your leg in there and you would find You have plaster of Paris on your mind. I am outraged and I am miffed This is something the EU missed Forest paths and all field tracks Are surely covered by Safety Acts? When the Bunnies started work They had obligations you cannot shirk. Like special signs listing emergency phones And surrounding the area with bright red cones. Then a draping of yellow striped tape And signs showing all means of escape And should the fates so conspire An obvious means of extinguishing fire. Of course two Police cars would attend While local robbers re-offend Then a helicopter would come overhead To take away the expected dead. The media would gather - as is right To report this official oversight To public bodies shame isn't funny Especially when inflicted by a Bunny. So an official enquiry will be set up With a judge resplendent in his get up This is a judge's normal habit When metering laws to man or Rabbit. The Rabbit no doubt has a troubled life With forty kids and a demanding wife He hopes to escape with just a fine And avoid the worry of 'doing time'. We may worry this Rabbit faces ruin When the court finishes what it's doing But to a Rabbit fines are not a blow Because he's the one who's got the Doe.......
Michael Has Gone
Oh how we miss our friends who have gone. We miss them now, we always will but the memories still live on. Sometimes it's right for the suffering to leave And we who are left here alone in confusion can only grieve. My pal was forced into oblivion by mean gods but is with me still he laughs, listens, advises but never complains about his being ill. No engine he could not fix, nothing he couldn't drive sometimes his driving left me feeling quite lucky to be alive! Goodbye my friend, now at last without pain, I won't have a fifty year friendship quite like ours again. Oh how we miss those friends who have gone. We miss them now, we always shall but the memories will live on. Funeral - September 2010
Milestones
A birth under bright lights with unsteady steps to come. Large new eyes view new sights while safely held by mum. A deep breath - and into school an old hand by the end of the day. You pay attention or play the fool make friends and you are on the way. A first kiss that glows in your soul with troubled emotions burning. Lifelong loving is now your goal and marriage stems the yearning. Then come child and maybe child and you find a different sort of love. The point of being now reconciled and possibly there is a God above. Now, your lover and brood have gone, alone, you brace your mind to where you were heading all along and when there, what you will find. At each step in life we must be willing to learn what to take, leave, or share. Probably on balance life's been fulfilling and the journey worth the fare? December 2004
Blackberries
She's in her twenties now and still she comes and gives her dad a week. The two of us together play beside a muddy creek. Not much to do, but that's the point and she's forsaken her Uni spires to walk and sail, talk and bike, and toast marshmallows on driftwood fires. We have our traditions which started when she was only three, one is picking blackberries to make a crumble for our tea. Blackberries fat and juicy picked on a calm and sunny day from hidden seaward bushes by a gently flooding Bay. Then the race back to base with Tesco bags red and bleeding. Wash out the salt and maggots start the pastry mix kneading. The oven seems to take an age before the fruit and crust is done, the happy anticipation is shared by we two, as one. A simple pleasure has been shared in this yearly interlude, a missing year's relationship is once again renewed. She's in her twenties now and still she comes and gives her dad a week. The two of us together play beside a muddy creek. 20th July 2002
Rocks in the River
Life is a flowing river Sometimes calm Sometimes swollen and fast Fed by many streams of activity as a result of storms. There are some strong people in the stream who stand ever firm and who we can always reach for as we are being swept past. They seem to be set securely in firm clay while we scramble on loose shale You can hold on to them until the water is calm again and you can let go. Perhaps we should endeavour to work on our own foothold So in turn we can reach into the rushing waters of someone else's life and be their rock in the river.
Looking Back
So - nearing eighty is it now the time To embrace the flashbacks that plague? With brain cells depleting the race is on to view memories of past passions and rage. Your triumphant deals, and bested foes, moonlight walks, or bright suns above. Of parents now gone, or your babies cries, or friends not told that they had your love. You reflect about long silent relatives those that rallied to any crisis, you saw your children's endeavours leading them to punt on the Cam or the Isis. Perhaps you've not done too badly You have survived when others failed You kept turning up as and when needed And may finally have your depression nailed. Is this the sole value of old ageing? Just to feel your inner self slowing Concentrating only on where you have been instead of where you could be going.
As I See Things 