In the darkness,
Reverberation
… empties silence.

… tap; … tap; … tap.

The tapping?  
The pendulum‘s grandeur;
A passive state… to time.

Low, slow,
… distant echoes

A bid
… to serenity’s seduction.

Sweeping circuits,
Lap …long,
Against a pebble filled beach.

The tide calls;
Whoosh;  
…whoosh;
…whoosh;  
…whoosh;

Such foreboding waves
Call.

Surrender;
Approach,..;

Remember…;
Return…,

Taste …
The salty- sweet
… water’s sway.

Ache for desire;

To expose
… forbidden love’s impoverished tears;

An enchanting lure,
… hearkens

Come; … far
Beneath the rocky cliff.

My heart;
Wanting … ;

But no… !
Sanity holds…

It’s…  not time.

A snare’s line rings;
Time moves…;
… tap;
… tap;
… tap.
Time, waives protest
… to this recital’s longing embrace.

Home,
Simply composed;

A love’s submerging refrain.

A door,
… stills, open.

A room;
The keep;

Through a corridor’s long shadow,
The silence speaks,

Pride’s measure
… ticks.

… tap;
… tap;
… tap.  

Old tatters
Curtains dance.
Soothing drifts
…cool salty air.

… tap;
… tap;
… tap.  

A calm state;

Moonlight.

Relics of a heart;

Composing drama plays to shadows;
Cracks on old plaster walls.

Glimpses return
… where waning movements hide;

The essence of sound and silence
Intertwine.

An old window-seat
… gives audience to the stars.

In eyes of youth;
A young girl‘s heart… lives

Once more.
Time falls
Moments recede.

Ah, my love;
I hear the Harp’s comb play

As gentle as a sigh,..

Rolling Home…; Rolling Home…;
Rolling Home  across the Sea

A vow, misspoken;

To wait…;
Still…  

… tap;

… tap;

… tap.  

Golden hair;
Your fancy to heather’s yielding flow.

A hundred long strokes;
As… soft tenders weep.

An altering hue;
… fades of time.

Gold;
Silver;
Now, twists shimmer of soft white pearl.

Time combs these long old satin strands.

… tap;

… tap;

… tap.  

Youth now spent; To wear once more
Soft lavender, love-knots.

Ribbons flow…

Aging wrinkles where once
Plump lips reach desire;

Now, the gentlest breeze
… plays prey of a beating heart

Memories.
Take to flight.

… tap;

… tap,  

Yesterday is almost here …;

Years abandon
… to the dew scent heather;

Eyes close
To such need

… to touch.

To…

To…

… tap;

… tap;

… tap.

Tales of ghouls and trick or treats
Witches, ghosts, and things to eat
The spirit world is here to greet
It's Hallowe'en again

Soaping windows, creaky doors
Begging like addicted ******
They keep coming,  they want more
It's Hallowe'en again

Haunted houses, ghostly frights
Witches flying brooms tonight
A zombie lawyer is quite a sight
It's Hallowe'en agin

Charlie Brown and Snoopy too
Get rocks as treats, I ask...do you?
Dressed as smurfs, all done in blue
It's Hallowe'en again

The smell of fall is in the air
Tonight the kids are out to scare
I stay downstairs like I'm not there
It's Hallowe'en again

moseying or marching; I'll make it through
even if I have to do it without you
tarry temporary; watch me, I'll fly
trying 'til I'm dying; I'll touch the sky
looking past the dark and up ahead
etched & wounded; woven scarlet thread

A duo as diverse as can be found anywhere
but, once we were together, full of stories to share
Laughter and hardship made us both who we are
And now, to find those two people, is like roping a star

Baseball and cub scouts, standing in as your dad
These were some of the best times that I ever had
I wait for the doorbell, hoping that's where you'll stand
And that the burdens developed are gone with your hand

Two hard headed old mules,
As stubborn as the other
We've lost years of our past
And missed times as a brother
Two hard headed old mules
Growing old with regret
Both resistant to change
And ..what we'll never get

We'd stand with each other in times all gone by
We don't know how to fix this, but, someone should try
We're both so much older and wiser by now
This needs to be fixed up, but neither knows how

Years of missed laughter and growing as friends
Is extended each day, and we should make ammends
Our lives are much different, that much we know
But, we still sons and both brothers, with time left to go

Two hard headed old mules,
As stubborn as the other
We've lost years of our past
And missed times as a brother
Two hard headed old mules
Growing old with regret
Both resistant to change
And...what we'll never get

I wait for the doorbell, and know it's not you
I'm not sure if I found you, just what I would do
The sins of the father, should be put to rest
For our years full of laughter were some of the best

Fishing, and talking, sharing each others dreams
Have been wiped from our minds, at least that's how it seems
We'll always be brothers, right now just in name
We're just stubborn old mules, still playing the game

Two hard headed old mules,
As stubborn as the other
We've lost years of our past
And missed times as a brother
Two hard headed old mules
Growing old with regret
Both resistant to change
And... we're not done yet!!

Day is over
All went well
At least as far
As I can tell
Traffic Lights
Green not red
And then I thought
Of what he said......

When things are going well son
Don't poke the sleeping bear
Don't even venture near it
Don't poke it, don't you dare
As long as things are going
The way you want...it's fair
To tell you....don't you ever
Poke the sleeping bear

Dinner great
The kids were good
All was going
Like it should
Out for drinks
then I heard
In my head
The old man's words...

When things are going well son
Don't poke the sleeping bear
Don't even venture near it
Don't poke it, don't you dare
As long as things are going
The way you want...it's fair
To tell you....don't you ever
Poke the sleeping bear

Lightning struck
She walked in
Jeans as tight
As second skin
Wife looked over
Then I knew
I'd been caught
Not much to do

I went and poked the sleeping bear
Stupid me, it wasn't fair
I didn't know that she'd be there
But I had done gone and poked the bear
One quick look and I was caught
Was it my fault that she was hot?
I didn't mean to, so I thought
So all this good, was all for naught

When things are going well son
Don't poke the sleeping bear
Don't even venture near it
Don't poke it, don't you dare
As long as things are going
The way you want...it's fair
To tell you....don't you ever
Poke the sleeping bear

my insomnia has gifted me unexpectedly
on this pre dawn morning.
i share the beach
with a single sand plover and a large work crew of sandbubbler *****
as they work their spherical graffitti magic.

i expect if i thought long enough,
my mind may make the practical connection, between the darting and bobbing of the stiff stilt,
red, legged bird
and the hyperalert scurryings of soft shelled, orb infatuated, crustaceans.

but, i prefer to play peekaboo witb the sun,
as it peeks it's sleepy rotound rim over the rippling bedsheets of the ocean's horizon.
eyes blinking, crafting opulent dusky lavenders and apricot oranges,
that meander lazily across, the brightening skybed.

i am alone on the beach until,
the next soul comes
this is my kingdom.
i stand firm and
breathe the tang of salted lands.

there is a deep silence
in my soul,
which i take to be completeness.
with neoteric expectancy and unchained exuberance,
i turn and run along
the firm sand's, edge of the high tideline leaving fading, ephemeral footprints
behind me,
scattering the little crabworkers every
which way.
i run in rhythm with the crashing waves
and we eat up the sand
until i am spent.

i sit and watch as the riders of the wave arrive.
their lithe young frames silhouetted by sunlight,
they stand at ten feet tall.
i wave and hand my kingdom over to the knights on fibreglass coursiers.
they mount their steeds
and begin the morning's tidal hunt,
for the perfect wave

She spat, she swore she fumed on me,
This little old lady of seventy three,
She called me bad and ugly as sin,
She said all this with a comfortable grin,
Her contempt for me was clear as day,
I asked her why she felt this way,
She tore my top and scratched my cheek,
Pulled my hair and cried “you freak”,
I took all this with no attitude,
Her language so vile and manner so rude,
I could do nothing but offer love,
That was rebuked with a cold shove,
Her eyes they burned into my face,
As I enveloped her with a warm embrace,
She yelled she kicked and punched my chest,
I tried to calm her, I did my best,
I had to call for the nurse at the end,
But a broken heart she could not mend,
She helped my mam back into bed,
And gave her pills to sooth her head,
After a while I recognised again,
The mother I love, in no more pain,
My father arrived with the moon,
They danced together across the room,
They didn’t notice me in the chair,
But to tell you the truth I didn’t care,
I was at ease with their meeting again,
I sighed and whispered no more pain,
Alzheimer’s is a wicked disease,
It’s brought our family to its knees,
We watched our mam slipping away,
Forgetting her life’s worth every day,
It’s only the love that keeps you strong,
And the memories of where we belong,
Heartbroken now but I feel at rest,
Coz I love you mam you are the best.

Christina Ford

This contains swearwords!!!!


Do you know what it’s like to be on the dole?
The giro, the social, the rock and roll,
Well I’m tellin you now, that it’s no laff,
No heat or food, round at my gaff,

I can’t pay the bills on fifty three quid,
This is how I live; I’m tellin ye kid,
No Lecky, or water, or comfy bed,
Nowhere to lay my educated head,

You’s think I’m brewsted on state benefit,
Well I’m tellin ye now, life is ****,
No jobs are goin in my town,
This whole ****** country is goin down,

I look every day for a job to do,
Over qualified under qualified, scew you,
I’d brush your path, deliver your dinner,
My options for work get thinner and thinner,

But we get the blame for the country’s debt,
And seen in your eyes as a useless get,
We are not scroungers and living like kings,
We can’t afford the simple things,

We can’t take our kids to Blackpool pier,
Or to the fair, it’s just too dear,
It’s not our fault the system let us down,
Schooling was crap, but I got a cap and gown,

So don’t look at me, like I’m ****,
I’ve bettered meself to get out of this pit,
I’m clever and proud and I stand tall,
I make something out of nothing, coz I’ve got **** all,

You won’t tread us down, yeah that’s right,
We got fire in our bellies and where ready to fight,
We’re not greedy for a fancy lifestyle.
The simple things make us smile,

So quit avin a go, at our worlds apart,
I’m scouse and proud, with a lions heart,
So live well in your mansion, apartment, or detached,
Coz were the generation that Maggie hatched,

Yeah that’s right were Maggie’s crew,
The under privileged, not like you,
Time to step up the Cameron’s and Clegg’s,
Coz you’ve sat long enough on Thatcher’s eggs.

Tina Ford