Think what you like Express whatever you feel A funeral without a God? Is it not just as real? Did they live a good life? Did someone hold them dear? If they died a nice person Aren't they entitled to be here? The flames which consume them makes all bodies ash but Souls and spirits cannot burn And can't be bought for cash. Sing songs if you wish to Speak verses and some rhyme Cry and mourn freely For there is no next time. We gather for the send off of someone we all knew Sceptics also need nice places to wish gone friends adieu. Vibrant colours of stained glass Old wood beams and seats Candlelight and fresh flowers Gives an aura which completes. Churches' often have the best sites With gardens meant to cheer Solemnity is inbuilt And we enter without fear. If this God is any good He (or she) won't grouse If some doubters also assemble Inside this holy house.
Tag: God
This England?
We can be happy you and I if we look around us in this England we can choose if we stay or fly and have food and clean water at our command. Whatever we are told we do have clean air - see how the lichen grows and our rights though not written are there and the whole world knows. We can vote out shallow members and the corrupt do eventually stand trial we need only fan the embers of a system waiting in the wings. Skylarks still sing in the fields and Cabbage Whites are back in strength we freely collect what nature yields and can walk about after dark. We can worship any God we nominate or have none of it if we so choose in protest we can march or congregate and its only our energy we lose. So think, and think again before you chase sun-blessed places promising dollars or yen, for truly this is a fair and free nation and its like won't surface again. OR So however you think you are doing compare your life and be happy living here is not so bad its just the weather that's so crappy ......
Sunny Morning Walk in the Park
Listen you Ducks and Squirrels this is a special morning my eldest child graduates today and her honoured future's dawning. She had good cause to march to the beat of a different drum but she's straight and works hard, loves her life, her God, and her fun. She's the first to get there from this side of the track she's honoured us all now and there's no looking back. So forgive me Ducks and Squirrels if I want to shout out loud from every tree and roof top I'm proud, I'm proud, I'm proud. 4th July 2002
Thanks for the Show Lord
Greetings God omnipotent Who would have us forever on our knees? If you gave us the seas and mountains Then you also gave us flies and fleas. If you give Africa the water Which saves a dehydrated mite You also include the cholera Which kills that child in the night. Mankind falls prostrate to your glory Everyone blinded to your sins You preside over wars most gory And allow grotesque nature the wins. Aren't tsunamis splendid? Such power on display A ruinous earthquake in Pakistan Means the devout clear more bodies away. It can't be said you only send Fine rains and blessed sun When there's genocide and torture While you simply just look on. You watched while we mere mortals Strove for religious accord When always the cost was people Wantonly put to the sword. The ace you hold in your godly hand Is that we are frail and simply made And inevitably always turn to you When we are lonely or afraid. Don't you think we have had enough? Of great things heavenly and earthly Hey - thanks a lot for the show Lord Now demonstrate your mercy.
No Escape
Sitting amidst green glory on a hillside quiet alone on the gentle wind now comes the chime of a mobile phone. But for a while I am at peace and God is in his heaven and from my left comes the drone of the busy A127. Around me are just trees and hedges and it's good to be alive who cares about the incessant hum of the M25? I dig deep within me for calm and solace but even as I delve just over that hedge to my east buzzes the old A12. I look up to the blue sky for clarity but then I surely know there will be a line of planes letting down to land at Heathrow. We live on a lovely island and are glad that that is so but if one needs peace and quiet just where are we supposed to go?
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
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
Equal Opportunity
Think what you like Express whatever you feel A funeral without a God? Is it not just as real? Did they live a good life? Did someone hold them dear? If they died a nice person Aren't they entitled to be here? The flames which consume them Makes all bodies ash, but Souls and spirits cannot burn And can't be bought for cash. Sing songs if you wish to Speak verses and some rhyme Cry and mourn freely For there is no next time. We gather for the send off Of someone we all knew Sceptics also need nice places To wish gone friends adieu. Vibrant colours of stained glass Old wood beams and seats Candlelight and fresh flowers Gives an aura which completes. Religions have the best sites With gardens meant to cheer Solemnity is inbuilt And we enter without fear. If this God is any good He (or she) won't grouse If some doubters also assemble Inside his holy house.
Holy Land Travels by an Old Lady
She had had a rough life, this lady been left high and dry by an untimely death she had concentrated on raising her boy and would do so until her last breath. Low expectations were her norm, just a work life and her small rented home. Holidays were a great rarity and there was never a chance to roam. She had a faith but hidden deeply the chapel fed her God's love with fear and her eyes closed in prayer by the radio at Remembrance Day Service each year. Then her son, now grown, and wealthy took her to Israel and then Rome, she trod the stations of the cross and saw the Pope go by on his throne. Of all she had seen and experienced in a life that turned out so tough, the visits to these holy cities she said, blest her life just enough.
Deceptions
Greedy London getting fatter
Europe poised to steal our funds
Does our sovereignty really matter
Why not join the moribunds?
Carefully crafted 'green' platforms
Painted with selective facts
Don't let balance spoil the picture
Shout louder if a view detracts.
High placed men of God
Protect the dogs of shame
Who abuse and wound our babies
And Sunday still play the game.
Town and country planners
Making decisions at a bar
Permitting more carbuncles
And we don't know who you are.
What of honest policemen
Who tell of what they know
And watch corrupt superiors
Distorting with the flow.
Within our democracy
We are asked to trust
That good will show out always
And we endure because we must.
But small men and women
Who try to tell the truth
Are but small slates upon
Our societies leaking roof.
As I See Things 