All night it beat upon the pane
the cold staccato clamour of the rain;
trickling footsteps pattered on the slates
chimneys shuddered soot into the grates.

Banshee winds about the gutters howled
that grinning orb the moon was cowled
by clashing clouds that fused and broke
with every clashing thunder stroke.

Flickering fingers flashing doom
outlined and probed each object in my room;
frail curtains writhed and frantic flapped
tossing over objects - tempest trapped.

Morning came, rain rinsed smelling sweet,
pavements glinted, drains laughed in the street;
trees gesticulated flinging off their jewels
pigeons sipped the sun from sky-paved pools.

TOBIAS

I will arise and forage
not for eggs nor bread
for a bowl of porridge
that gets me out of bed.

Smooth like silk
with added milk
not lumpy mind
‘tis good to find
it thick and grey.
No better way
to start the day.

If the spoon stands upright
no need to  get uptight
it passed  the test
of thin or thick.
Got the Tick.
The Best.

Top Recipe:

Take Slade Prison
Add Ronnie Barker
& Richard Beckinsale
Stir in Fulton Mackay
Mr. Barrowclough to serve.

TOBIAS

You are like the seasons:
blithe nuances  of Spring,
close warmth in Winter.
The cool side of a pillow.

You are like a butterfly,
sun dancing, Summer fresh,
chrysalis freed,  fully flight
formed, passing perfect.

You are like Sentiment’s  
Muse of  tender fancy:
gifted  in  beauty, charm,
wisdom, knowledge, poetry,

Even as much as I like -  
in the Autumn of my days -
your sylphe-like anatomy,
I love your innocent soul.

TOBIAS

A jogging man from Bude
was most incredibly rude
being greatly endowed
but imprudenly proud
he did something silly
he trod on his willie
now he's never about in the ****.

TOBIAS

Has a petrol-head called Clarkson
run out of speedy road to park on?
Because of his late meal,
his producer got a weal.
Now his fans wail: “Oh Dear!
It’s a dead  end for “TOP GEAR.”

Seems the wheels have come off
for this brazen non-PC toff.
Is it the end of the ride
for Chipping Norton’s pride
and no clear  Right of Way
for chums Hammond and May?

No sensible man would scupper,
his own TV slot for a cold supper.
Yet there’s alpha males who dread,
TOP GEAR’S due for a feminist retread.
Go girls! Vroom! Vroom! Time for you instead.

TOBIAS

To live
is to leave  
all behind:
to be free as
a shipwrecked soul
who has lost everything.

TOBIAS

Pastoral peace pervades fields and dells:
on boughs, in hedges, birds rehearse
their euphoric trills - each note tells
of will to mate in tones desiring, terse.
Sun rays filter through April showers
tinting daffodils with yellow  gold
coaxing to bloom perennial flowers.
Easter lambs bleat from sheltered fold,
eager to stray and play by rising streams
winding over meadows to mill ponds
where moorhens nest and idle angler dreams.
Rabbits appear from cover of ferny fronds.
while in the trees countless leafy voices
sigh soothingly as all of Nature rejoices.

TOBIAS