Let's write a story
Where shall we start
Who will be the characters
What will be their parts?
I like fairies, you like cars
Dragons are plentiful
In these parts.
Get me Galadriel
The beautiful queen
And Aragon so handsome
Maidens just swoon
A couple of hobbits
To sing a merry song
And we'll find an adventure
To go travelling on.

Love Mary ***

Harriet and Hastings and two red robins
Arrived  one morning, unexpectedly,
In an Amazon cardboard box;
Tapping and pecking and scratching
They got out from all that cardboard
With a hop, skip and a jump.

It had been decided, by others, that
Their home would be near a lovely
Old Flowing Plum tree
Nestled between pink Cranesbill
And a variegated **** with mauve,
Candle flowers, in Summer.

Now in this garden lots of other folks
Lived sharing a small plot of land
Filled with shrubs and evergreens
Which included two Camellias, one red,
And one white, a climbing clematis,
******* with string, and Winter aconites.

Hustling for their patch was Danny duckling,
Samantha snail, Flippity frog, Tweeny owls,
Penelope pigeon, Woolly sheep and a few others
Often hibernating, sporadically, or out for the day.
So the new comers slowly got to know all
The inhabitants of 16 The Gardens, Watford.


Love Mary xxxxx

Bluebell  and Blossom were two little girls
One had straight hair the other curls
Their eyes were different shades of blue
And they both loved going to the zoo.

Bluebell liked the Panda bears with soft tummies
And lots of fur
Blossom's favourite was kangkeroo, she fed it leaves
And a chocolate chew.

They got on the red train and raced around
Faster and faster till they found
The cage with the Giraffes big and small
Sticking their heads through the open roof floor.

Back to the train then the pelican's van
Pink and prissy making a stand
Then the penguins joined in the fun
Lots of fishes for their tums.

Two little girls growing tired
Their feet wobbled, and heads bowed
Time for home with cake and cheese
And a drink of milk if you please.


For Evelyn and Florence
Love Grandma ***

I never got out of my nursery rhyme books
Daffy down dilly is still coming to town
But wearing bright leggings and a plastic crown
Little Boo Peep has lost her sheep
But does not want to find them
**** Robin sings out of tune
But nobody tells him it is too crude
The three little kittens threw away
Their mittens and mother began to cry
And if your look in the garden
You will find Mary Quite Contrary
And Ted in a flower bed
They have forgotten their *****.

Love mad Grandma ***

Evelyn loved her seahorse
Popped it in a bowl to swim
The seahorse liked the water
Made the little girl grin.

After all that playing
She wrapped it in a towel
Put it in a casket
To sleep for a while.

Evelyn watched her seahorse
Until it was time for tea
She gave it fishes on a plate
The seahorse was so pleased.

Now in the land of seahorses
Anything can be
So Evelyn found it a friend
Now there are three.

The seahorses have their own castle
With shells and flowers and beads
There are mermaids to look after them
But they can do as they please.

When Evelyn goes to bed
The seahorses are quite good
And never make a noise
This being understood.

Would you believe it
One in the morning
Of a Sunday dawning
A couple of kids
Thought it might be good
To travel back along the tracks
(After all they had missed the last train)
"Scary ", I thought,
But at sixteen anythings fun
Even a death run.
In a Sunday dress and shoes
Meant for prancing not stony floors
With rats and that
Into the black
(And it was when the tunnels
Neatly bent)
Not a thread of light to be seen.
The lad in front
And I behind, trembling slightly,
But did not mind,
Watching for trains appearing blast,
Into the cut away hollows' cast
Many stations we did pass
Along the platforms quick and fast,
After about six miles
Just as the sun began to smile
We two, laughing, very tired
Saw the steps cut in the side
Up a steep and grassy *****
Through the churchyard
Like two ghosts,
Along the empty, silent streets
Hoping not to meet
A policeman on
His morning beat.
Home at last and into bed
Please don't do what I have said.

Love Mary

Thank you Roger for being such fun.Love Mary xxxxbig

Say goodbye for me to the window cleaner
And the people who empty bins
The man who delivers the papers
And all those parcels for my sins
Give a kiss to the tree cutters
And the people who pass by
And don't forget my dear friends
The ones who were too shy.
I've had enough of all this stuff
The pain and dragging on
My family, too, are tired of the veiw
And even the letterbox moved.
Phone calls I make
Are just a mistake
As the answers I get are insane
The best I've known are the artists
Who all have an open heart
They know there are no answers
That's why they do art.
So leave out the platitudes
Let's get down to the truth.
Say goodbye for me to the window cleaner
He's made my vision great.

Love Mary ***

I remember standing in the hall
Feeling wet stuff
In my smalls
Did not know what it was
Told my mother
She did rub.
Years and years
Of washing knicks
Then my daughter's
Joined in quix.
Now I'm old and grey
This problems gone away.

Love Mary ***

In shop windows, reflected panes of glass,
There once was a woman walking,
In heels ever so fast;
Her shirts flowed outwards
To the breeze of a step,
Hair bounced upwards,
Silky with respect;
Inside a pocket
A tea bag and a chain,
Sixpence for the metre
To get her home again.

Love Mary **

So let me tell you,
about my friend,
Very different,
From other men,
Lives in a cottage,
On the end,
Sails his boat,
On the Norfolk coast,
All alone,
Under the thatch,
Plays the piano,
Watches a match,
This man,
Whose name is John,
Met a lady,
When he was young,
Turned out to be,
My very special,
Aunty B.

Love Mary ***

If I'd been born a dandelion
A life of trouble free,
Propped against a fence
Or near an old Oak tree,
No one would notice
When I disappeared,
Only finding next year
I suddenly reappeared.

Love
Mary xxxxx

Bruma was a dark brown tawny cat
Who slept most of the time
On carpet or mat,
Sometimes curled up, on the settee,
Next to the baby or Evelyn maybe.

As is the way with cats,
They wake early searching for food,
So after demolishing biscuits and before the family were awake Bruma
Decided to go exploring.

Upstairs she padded on fat soft paws,
Up, and up in the quiet dawn hours.
After three flights she reached the room
Pushed the door and slowly went in.
Inside she began to purr, thought what fun
I can have in here.

The Lego room was Alex's delight,
neatly laid out with sets so bright,
Some  from the archives, others new,
Plenty of hours of playing to do.
There were houses and ships, castles and vans, stations with trains running and ancient space lands.
Boxes of bricks and fairy scenes, a perfect place for a cat to be.

The train went first off the track but Bruma could not lift it back, so on the floor it did stay,
All the people in array.
On top shelf houses tall with gardens and patios and cars to the fore.
Along the roofs Bruno did step
Peeped through the windows
But suddenly stopped,
Down fell a house onto the ground,
All the Lego bits scattered around,
Started to get a bit afraid,
So Bruma decided to disengage,
Downstairs she went quick as a mouse,
Fast asleep in a trice.
Never again did Bruma dare
To venture into the Lego lair.

Love Grandma Mary ***

The children all stand
At the headmaster's voice
They do not rejoice
What will it be today?
The girls at the back
Tweek and hack
Twist their hair
And stir.
Hymn books go gliding
To the floor
The boy on the left
Gets hoiked out
Made to sit in the front
With the teacher he dislikes
Someone snores
The teachers aren't singing
Cause they have to watch
Whose doing what.
Then the mood changes
The headmaster takes
To the stage
Makes the children laugh
In so many ways
Tells them stories
Of when he was a lad
On his keyboard plays a tune
Lets have a happy afternoon.

In loving memory of my time as a teacher at  Chater Junior School. Also thank you to the the great and inspiring staff and children.
Love Mary ***