I like to rest on a country seat
Up on a hill quite near me.
I watch the world go by
And revel in all the green I see.
One morning while I sat resting
A sad looking lady passed by
With a taut rictus smile on her face
She looked like she needed to cry.
A group of ladies were walking ahead
And the sad lady went to pass
Suddenly one of the group stopped,
Looked, and sat down on the grass.
She indicated to her friends then
That they should walk on a bit
And called out to the fraught lass
"Come over here to me and sit".
With just a moment's hesitation
The troubled lady sat down too
"I'm Betty," said the kind woman
"Tell me dear - who are you?"
"I'm Alice," she replied and began to cry
The tears of the broken-hearted.
All her pain came flowing out as if
She couldn't stop now she'd started.
Betty rose and said "why not join us?"
Alice gave an indifferent shrug.
"You'll feel better walking with my crowd,
But first, I'll give you a hug."
Alice at first stiffened and then relaxed
Into the tight grip of her new friend
Her sobbing eased and I could see
Her mind was starting to mend.
They all went off in a chattering line
It was obvious Alice was losing her pain
I sat and marvelled at the kindness of a stranger.
I never saw them again.
Tag: Friends
Happy 40th
Alas, alas, you are 40 now your 30s are truly behind, you fight to retain your figure and brain cells flee from your mind. You could take lots of vitamins to try and keep your youth, or start wearing false things and cap each dying tooth. But, worry not about the above - treat it all as trivia, no matter how you decompose old friends will always forgivya. They will always see you as you were so your youth you'll never lose, maybe it's time to abandon sex and cut down on the booze?
A Strange World
Condemned and imprisoned peers can meet up with friends for lunches dishonest officials retire with fortunes and gamblers prosper from hunches. Incompetent captains of industry ruin giants and run away with riches and the brains of our banks are playing golf and we punters inherit the glitches. Call centres for our local enquiries often based in far Bombay with contact information available but only if we pay. We impede our teachers with paper chains so the dedicated ambassadors leave we overload our medical folk and many more families grieve. We freely vote at election time and always fall for the lies so if we foolishly ignore our wounds we should expect to be infected by flies. 2013 Lord Jeffery Archer allowed out of prison to lunch with friends.
Sooty
We collected her from a puppy farm Where she had really earned her keep Giving the owner many Labs to sell She now needed to rest and sleep. We collected her, all of us together Then took her for her very first roam Her given name was Sooty and She gladly embraced her new home. Her first day and night with us Had her shaking within her fur She needed the reassuring touch Of someone sitting close to her. But once she knew she was staying She fitted into family life She built much loving loyalty Steadfast through our joys and strife. She watched over us always Checking our way was clear Putting herself between us And any stranger who came near. Came the day when she had to leave When her fourteen years began to tell We were there when the needle entered And swaying slightly she gently fell. These animal friends are just on loan And we owners know it well But the pain is deep when they go And for a while - we are in hell.
Robin Goodfellow A Man We Called Mann
What to say about you Mann? After nigh on 15 years We shared a lot you and I A few pubs, and many beers. You've gone now Mann You went without a fuss You "popped your clogs" so quietly And did not inconvenience us. I recall you could chat with anyone And find interest in what they said Put your views, hear out theirs, and Prejudice seemed never to enter your head. No doubt your time on the guns bred tolerance But the cost was high at El-Alamein Most of your friends died there And your hearing was never the same. War shocked and damaged a little You returned to the land of your Kin Rejoined the industrial giant you knew And climbed the ladder within. Marriage, children, dogs and humdrum Followed in family mode Early release from the shafts of work Meant more time for the road. And when your sight went finally The car and caravan had to go You were close to tears then But fought not to let them show. I was your son-in-law and I Miss you just about each day I miss your willingness to involve yourself And be ready with your say. Mann, when next you sit at God's right hand Sharing a pint or two You can get him to put the world to rights As you and I used to do.
Robin would have been 100 years old on 1st November 2020
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
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.
Big Man Gone
So that's it mate, You have had your time Now you must make the journey To join friends and family waiting. Oh how we will miss The bellow of your laugh, Your outrageous turn of phrase, Which always had our spirits elating.
A Jobbing Engineer
Just an ordinary man he seemed If you met him in the street A clever brain behind the glasses Always good to meet. Now he was the body before us In his coffin on the bier, Family, friends and customers All silently gathered here. He made parts for Concorde And joysticks for a computer game But struck out on his own account Tired just being a clock card name. Each work day he dressed in overalls And rode a bike down to his shed He followed the paths of commerce No matter where they led. Rarely lost for a solution To problems that teased his mind He grew and built a machine shop Giving service often hard to find. Always a modest man to everyone A little short and losing his hair He died owning the whole estate And was a multi-millionaire.
As I See Things 