Lying under a Patagonian sky
The silence is loud
A few gauchos happen by
A crowd
The wind sings
As the world passes by.

Distant fields of snow
Paint patterns on peaks
While clouds lay wispy blankets
On glaciers far below

Mother Nature speaks

A lingua franca
Time and space
The whispering of grass
In an empty place.

Estancia Nibepo Aike, January 2011

A circular poem. Start anywhere and repeat as necessary.*

<= Infinity will happen if not sooner than later =>

There's a place at the Center
That every man knows
At the end of a Valley
Where no one else goes
Where the Rage of the Battle
Meets the Eye of the Storm
Where the sole thing that matters is Substance, not Form.
It's a place where the Mind and the Heart meld as one
Where Deep Thoughts and Deep Feelings
Wage a battle hard won
O'er Frustration and Anger and Things left undone
And the Failures of Self
From which no man can run
And in order to reach there
And to pick up the Fight
And to Win, not for Winning, but for that which is right
One must follow a Path
Which is Narrow and Straight,
And not Waiver, nor Falter, nor Tarry, nor Wait
And ignoring Confusion and man's misguided Pride
Take the only course open, and that is:
DECIDE.

A circular poem. Start anywhere and repeat as necessary.*

<=The point of a wave is that it is not=>

Throw a stone into still waters
When I am gone
And think of me
And watch each ripple outward flow
And disappear
Never to return
But know too
That somewhere on a distant beach
Away from here
A wave will break upon the sand
And there I'll be
Alone
Forever waiting
For you

Down the corridor of your mind are many doors
Who knows what lies behind them?
Life makes you choose.
In youth, hungry to win, afraid to lose
Not wanting to disappoint, and eager to please
You open them with ease.

Some bring you failure, or its twin, success
Some seem a certainty, others a guess
You find many unimportant
Or only means to ends
Behind some lie enemies,
A precious few hide friends.

The trip down this corridor is a test
To prove to yourself you have what it takes
Focusing on your goal, ignoring the rest
Savouring your victories, exposing mistakes
You press on to be best.

At some point down this corridor, far from the start
When you least expect
A new door opens to a journey apart
You meet someone and suddenly connect
And are led down the corridor of the heart.

This new corridor is different though,
Its journey lifelong
Behind each door lessons are learned
New emotions you couldn’t know
Right and wrong the hard way earned
Daily paid as feelings grow.


These emotions conflict as inside you change
You feel joy and doubt,
Contentment and pain,
The bitterness of loss and the sweetness of gain
As solutions somehow work themselves out

In this corridor decisions count
Both when taken and later
As consequences mount
There are no victories, no defeats
No false starts, no repeats
Only the experience of life made greater.

In this corridor you go forward and remember back
Old scars heal
When new feelings take their place
Showing little behind a public face
While inside you alone can know
That like your inner thoughts, each scar is real.

The corridor of the heart leads to love
But there is a price to be paid
For its end is the sum of all decisions made
Of the anger you have felt
Or the hurt you’ve been dealt
Of all words good and bad you’ve said.

But whatever the price this corridor exacts
Through what is in your grasp
Or beyond your control
Without the sum of all its acts
Your human life would not be whole
For the corridor of the heart leads to your soul.


Kew, England  March 1998

I am lying in the dark
I am flying through space
And I am falling, falling
I hear his voice
I am glad you are my Dad
I am in his arms and I am falling, falling
I hear his voice  
I am glad you are my Dad
I am crying
I am crying
I am crying
I am falling
I hear his voice  
Again and again
I listen to his song
And I am falling
I listen to his song
And I am listening to the music in my heart.

If you please you can call this the first rule of Biddle, tis:
Twixt beginning and end, there is always a middle.

2. The door to the mind should be open, but 

There are times that it’s best that the door remains shut.

3. Live life each day to the full, and then some

But know yesterday came, and tomorrow will come.

4. Count on yourself and you’ll stand out in a crowd

But to others be humble, and inside you’ll feel proud.

5. Some people find pleasure in some money or toy

But it’s family and friends which will bring your heart joy.

6. The most important seven words on the way to the top, are:

Never never never never never give up.

This is not about I
This is not about me
This is about us
This is about we
This is about fighting an enemy
Untouched and unseen
Whose power resides in the fear
This can mean
This is about coming together
While staying apart
And closing your door
While opening your heart
This is not about your house
But the space you call home
Not about your colour
Or the place you came from
This is about finding a way
To share someone’s load
Or helping the neighbour
Who lives down the road
This is about easing a burden
To help someone to cope
This is about purpose and meaning
And compassion and hope
This is about listening carefully
To the voice from above
This is about living
This is about love
This is not about I
This is not about me
This is about us
This is about we

No longer two ships pass in dead of night
Their signals crossed as if by unseen hand
Same course
Same stars
While yet unplanned
Led them to dreamlike moments
Torn by hasty flight
While holiday's bells toll away
Enraptured hours
The boy sets sail to be a man
And leaves in port behind
His thoughts
In part
In whole
His heart
Forever touched.

Should you but decide to climb
That peak towering to the heavens
You will find there is a pathway
To its very summit.

Ah, but the first step.