Wednesday 29 November 2017

Just out of reach


They have all come back
Now I am a widower
Bittersweet fortune

I write them emails
They tell me of their children
And their own lives now

Those cute girls at school
Now almost as old as I am
I kissed in the park

Held hands what a treasure
Thinking she might be the one
While at the movies

Touching their fingers
And looking into their eyes
Yes, she was the one

Each breakup sadness
The grief of a teenager
First step to adult

Then they were all gone
Finding the love of your life
Others lost in the mist

Damn the internet
They are back in my life now
But just out of reach

Just where is the one 
That cried so when we parted?
I never found her

Image found at https://www.bps.org.uk

Sunday 26 November 2017

I'm a fool


I'm a fool with such heartache
I have had it since she chucked me
Left now with a cargo of grief
As she chose him, don't you see?

It's not easy to forget her
But Spring blossoms they come what may
While the rain clouds still cry for me
To comfort one more gloomy day

Softening the earth around me
Giving a sweet smell of flowers
Already spurting from the ground
A promise for my lonely hours

The bright sun shines all about me
Just to complete the magic act
The office blonde just winked at me
No, I'm not kidding, it's a fact

Image found at https://en.fotolia.com/tag/wink

Thursday 23 November 2017

An old oak tree


When I was young, young as can be
I used to climb an old oak tree
There hidden in the branches high
I ruled the Earth and the sky

My brother couldn't find me there
Or else he couldn't give a care
Clouds scudded by all the long day
Far off the farmer cut the hay

The sun did shine and birds did sing
And now there was a funny thing
A squirrel was in the tree too
Looked as tho' he said "Who are you?"

I kept still and said not one word
Silence broken by a Blackbird
Who cawed "Awk...and just who are you?"
Finger to my lips, I hushed him too.

So our business we did resume
Me basking in the leafy gloom
Until I heard Ma's loud voice call
Waking me from the sylvan thrall

Image found at https://professormungleton.blogspot.com.au

Wednesday 22 November 2017

Let's be friends


Met at the office
A shy glance across the room
And a smile from me "Hello"
Her lowered eyes in reply
I wonder if she cared

Sadly I walked home
My Ma saw my look that night
She guessed and gave me a hug
"Give her just one yellow rose
Just to say let's be friends"

So early next day
A rose cut and wrapped up well
Then placed safely on her desk
What delight to see her smile
And lift it to her nose

She knew it was me
So each day she would say "Hi"
And blush as I smiled at her
Soon we would both go to lunch
And held her soft warm hand

Image found at https://www.pinterest.com.au/

Sunday 19 November 2017

Em and me


I opened the old iron gate and it moaned
Then clanged with annoyance as I pulled it shut
As there was no pleasing it
It was because I was free
So I breathed in the cool air
Climbed the hill to the silo
In order to walk the fields
Kicking the stubble
And singing a song
Happy as could be

The wind blows climbing to the top of the hill
I can just see the sea over the horizon
I'll go there when I'm older
That is when I've finished school
Me and Em will run away
Worm our way out one dark night
Have to oil the hinges first
Be gone by first light
Off down to the coast
Happy as can be

Ma was not all that cross I'd run off that day
All she said was "Wondered when you would get back"
Em just grinned at me licking
Some cake mix from her fingers
So then she offered me some
I could see she'd been crying
She really thought I'd left home
I'd never do that
She's my sister
And will always be

Image found at www.shutterstock.com

Note: I am aware that licking cake mix bowls with eggs in is frowned upon but I was just recalling my own childhood memories of 70 years ago! The story is of course fictitious.

Saturday 18 November 2017

Roused with a gentle kiss


I want my childhood back
Running off down the woods
To shimmy up the trees
Swinging from the high limbs
Like Tarzan in the films
A friend of monkeys too

It's not a crime is it?
To make a wooden sword
From bits found in Dad's shed
To strap around my waist
So I can chop my way
Through thick jungle trees

Sadly I was dreaming
Roused with a gentle kiss
While I was flying high
Hanging on a jungle vine
As childhood merged slowly
Into old age once again

My dear wife smiled at me
Grinning like waxing moon
My dreamy adventure
Eased the sting of old age
But what joy to relish
This dear woman I loved

Image found at https://allhailtheblackmarket.com


Our door in the war


When we were young doors were different
They let people in didn't shut them out
Were poor as church mice like most in the street
Key was on a string behind the letterbox
Us kids would haul it up to get in then
Raid the bread bin and fight over any crust
Until Mum came home to cook a real meal
In wartime everyone was poor like us
Even the man up the street with a car
Not that he could drive it without gas
That was rationed too as most things were then
Food, clothes, even sweets, (lollies or candy)
We had to survive a week on four ounces
So had ours when we went to the flicks
Kids could never last all through the film
What with Tarzan, cowboys and Mickey Mouse
At some time I'd dash out to the toilet
Find my way back to my seat in the dark
Then whisper to find out what happened
Lady behind us would be cross and say "Shush!"
Hoping the manager didn't throw us out
To leave us staring at the closed doors
Did once, so went to the river and got wet

Image found at http://www.imdb.com/


Thursday 16 November 2017

I remember her


I remember her
The summer holding her hand
Walking beside her

Sun on our faces
Dragonflies darting about
Breathing in the air

She was my first love
No one told me the rules
But I was happy

Reaching the hilltop
We sat looking over the town
The sun grinned at us

Steam train puffed along
Dragonfly settled on me
It wanted to talk

Was too much in love 
To listen to the message
So it flew away

And she did so too
Life was not how I had planned
Later we broke up

Walking beside her
Slowly retracing our way
Winter was to come

Image found at www.pixabay.com

Tuesday 14 November 2017

I must be getting old


Being but a man
I have little discipline
No patience either

Gazing as I do
In moments of sublime bliss
At unaware you

Calm heroic me
Know my limits but will steal
Pieces of your heart

As I smile at you
Despite the response in kind
I notice your tears

Would the prophets say
"Go take this beauty and fly
Gently dry her eyes"

No they would say
"You are past this game old man
Write it down instead"

This poem written back in 2013 seems to reflect the person I sometimes pretend to be so thought it deserved an airing

Image found at https://www.shutterstock.com

Sunday 12 November 2017

We never learn


I walked in this park
T'was a cemetery
And I was alone

But for the others
Who lay there so peacefully
That is what I thought

So then I sat down
My mind wandered, drifted off
In contemplation

I heard someone say
Just why are you here young man?
I struggled from sleep

Before I answered
Others began to cry out
Yes, I heard them all

Talk about bedlam
For each grave had opened up
They clamored to speak

Then the questions came
What measure of man are you
To kill your own kind?

One by one they spoke
But their skins were not as mine”
So the pit for you

What is your excuse?
“They prayed to other gods”
Fool, I still heard them

So then the next
“They spoke a foreign language”
To hell you must go

And there were more
“Our leaders told us we must”
And did you not cheer?

“I was a soldier
It was my duty to fight”
“But you killed children”

On and on they spoke
And for each was an answer
I had to protest

“Stop” I then called out
These men have all been punished
Their families too

“Silly little man
I was not speaking to them
No, I spoke to you”

Image from www.straartkaart.nl

This poem (a haiku stream) was published elsewhere back in 2014. The times seems right to resurrect it!

Friday 10 November 2017

In Brighton Town


When I was younger maybe only thirty 
I used to live in Brighton Town
Close to the briny sea

My workplace was close to the main road in
Just as I went out for lunch
I heard a strange din

I tried to cross the busy thoroughfare
But saw a large car driving near
So I had to take some care

A large Rolls-Royce with open top
Husband and wife sat in the back
Clearly it would not stop

The woman waved to me which was so kind
I waved back, good bloke that I am
And put it out of mind

Later I caught on just who I had seen
That lady who had waved at me
Had been the bloody Queen!

Image found at http://www.motortrend.com

Wednesday 8 November 2017

One of them


Everything overtook me
As I drove out from the city
Until they all disappeared

So the tall trees waved to me
The clouds uncovered the warm sun
The scent of summer soothed me

So I turned off the road
Drove a bumpy track to the woods
To hear the sound of silence

They knew me, I'd been before
So the trees stopped whispering
And the birds stopped twittering

The flowing stream just gurgled
So I put my back on a tree
And heard the sound of silence

In that place I fell asleep
And dreamed that I belonged there
I was really one of them

Finally when I awoke
A chorus of all the creatures
The trees and the running stream

Told me that this was the truth
"You do" they said each one weeping
 I hung my head in silence

Image found at https://www.stocksy.com


Tuesday 7 November 2017

I am old and my bones ache


I am old and my bones ache
As a child I saw the dark
By growing up in wartime
Everyone had so little
Except those that stole and cheated

But then it seemed much better
I could run around quite free
Couldn't afford very much
But it all looked good to me
But not those that stole and cheated

We thought we were quite well off
Home, food and saving money
Bought a car and house as well
All on the never never
But not those that stole and cheated

Changed my job a few times
Travelled the whole wide world
Wars and poverty still rife
Our world dying a slow death
Thanks to those that stole and cheated



Image 1 found at http://www.wri.org/
Image 2 found at http://www.twitter.com

Sunday 5 November 2017

In the library


I saw her in the library
Twice before I dared to speak 
And there between the bookcases
We stooped, whispering, cheek to cheek 

We talked of books, I stroked her arm
She seemed to like me doing that
Her eyes displayed a trust in me
She watched me silent as a cat

We walked together hand in hand
By the canal with barges there
As I took her home that night
I kissed her lips, ears, everywhere

I hoped ours was an enduring love
But soon feared that was not the case
She became offhand, more guarded
Love slid away, back to first base

Image found at www.Dreamstime.com

Saturday 4 November 2017

Stillness of the night


In the stillness of the night
A bellow of indignation
Rent the calmness of our sleep
It was our beloved boychild
I switched on the bedside light

My wife grunted beside me
Snuggled right down feigning sleep
I rose to warm a bottle
For his midnight drop of milk
To assuage his hunger plea

Crying stopped when he saw me
Sly smile came upon his face
Picked him up and sat with him
While he gorged his midnight feast
Declined none, burped contentedly

My strong arms rocked him off to sleep
Then placed our little blossom
In the crib his dreams to weave
I stayed for just a little while
For he uttered not one peep

Closet tidy; where's my mate?
So crawled back into our bed
My wife's embrace wrapped me up
She'll not deny me anything
I am happy with my fate

Image found at https://www.istockphoto.com


Thursday 2 November 2017

I breathe in love's perfume


What manner of desire is this?
Soft flesh sighs with my touch
Words I speak hoarse with desire
As I breathe in loves perfume

You then turn in love's entrance
And soft warm breasts welcome me
My head lays on your heart
Its beat is a poem itself

Then as if our bodies meld
We are but one, breath shared
Clasping the other. now one being
Now caught in passiona binding net

So I kiss your panting lips
You sigh but don't let go
Happy I am in your net
Would that it was always thus

Image found at www.pinterest.com


Wednesday 1 November 2017

Just Aunt Marge


I liked her she would cuddle me
She didn't have kids of her own
But liked me going round her place

"You're a saint" my mother said
She wasn't of course, just Aunt Marge
Helped us out when times were hard

Uncle Ted her husband smiled
Big man who did all the hard work
But no kids came along 'cept me

She had such a big garden
All filled with flowers and shrubs
Looked after lots of chickens too

When they went on holiday
I fed all the chooks for her
Collected the eggs they laid too

She loved her garden and me
Worked hard but her face was sad
I liked her she would cuddle me

There are so many unrecognised saints in this world and I am always reminded how
loving and giving this aunt of mine was to me as a child but she had a sad life herself.

Image found at http://www.lowcostliving.co.uk