Recovery, Initially, is about knowing;  Knowing that change is necessary,
Accepting that your life is not where you want it to be,  About facing up to your fears and anxiety
Then taking the first step eventually… When you, and you alone, feel you are ready.

Recovery, Critically, demands pure honesty, requires the utmost integrity
Most Especially, when confronting your past traumas, your history
Though it may make you feel angry, sad and often times guilty
This process is key if you really want to move on, to change truly.    

Recovery, Truthfully, is far from easy,  It can be fraught with challenges, setbacks, difficulty.
It can hurt physically and even worse emotionally, Testing your will power to the extremity.
It takes great Strength, Courage and Bravery; Determination, Resilience, in the face of adversity

Recovery, Thankfully, need not be a lonely journey, Though you alone must take ultimate responsibility.
There are lots of supports out there happily; from good friends, family and in your community
Though it can be hard to ask for help, understandably…Let not pride undermine your recovery.

Recovery, Ultimately, is about getting where it is you want to be, about starting anew daily
About achieving realistic goals you have set regularly, Learning from the process; what worked successfully
Starting to believe in yourself gradually, Gaining an insight into what you are capable of ...potentially

Finally, Recovery is for all, a lifelong journey, Guarding against ambivalence, relapse, constantly.
Knowing that every day will, in reality,  pose real threats for you in your recovery
But every day also presents an opportunity… to engage with, enjoy, your life more fully.

Live not the life that others think you should.....
Live instead the life that you yourself would!

Is not the Moon when full
All the more beautiful
For the scars all can see
Which it displays proudly?

Though neither of us perfect be...
Together we work perfectly

Those who lack a common purpose,
A strong sense of fraternity,
Rarely shall be victorious
Against a common enemy.

Those who choose to work together,
  Who share responsibility,
Who unite in their endeavours,
Have much more hope of victory.

Do cover your cough or your sneeze,
Dispose of hankies safely please.
Wash your hands immediately,
With soap and water thoroughly
For twenty seconds if not more,
And more frequently than before.

Disinfect ‘oft used surfaces,
Refrain from touching your faces,
Leave space between you and others;
At least six feet or two metres.
Stay at home where safe you shall be
To best protect your family.
The governments guidance obey
And “flatten the curve” we just may.

On each of us there’s an onus
To stop the spread of this virus;
We’re in this together truly,
Do your part! Act responsibly!

A heartfelt thanks to all going
To work on the front line knowing
You are stepping into harms way,
Risking your lives every day
In caring for, and comforting
All those in pain and suffering.
For the fantastic job you do,
Stepping up when we needed you,
For the sacrifices you make
And the daily risks you take,
The country should never forget
We are forever in your debt.
You are true heroes all of you
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you…….

Who would seek Peace, Harmony, Zen,
Should spend some time in a garden.

Do what it is you love to do
And poetry shall come to you,
Though whatever life puts us through,
Good or bad, may inspire us too.

I had a little cry today,
I shed a tear or two,
Though what about I cannot say...
I was just feeling blue.

They are mostly elderly, frail, ghostly pale, lying there in their beds, comatose. Drugged out of their heads on painkilling meds, rarely with their mouths closed, though many with their teeth close. Tubes in their nose or oxygen masks for those for whom breathing has become too much of a task, I suppose. Totally oblivious to all those of us who have chosen to visit, just to be close. Lost in a world of their own, fighting battles unknown to most of us.

Much harder than your own pain to bear
Is the pain of one for whom you care,
Their pain for yourself you would welcome
If it would ease their suffering some.

Let not flattery, praise beguile
Lest you become another's foil!

Despite all you meant to me
We were just not meant to be;
My priority was you
But I was not yours I knew...

What they see is my public face;
What I want them to see only.
Much more lies below the surface
Known only to those dear to me.
The real me, if they look closely,
Lies hidden in my poetry.

Who thinks they are perfect
Have one major defect;
Assuming one can be,
Themselves especially!

Life may knock me down yet
Keep me down it cannot!
Up I shall always get
For give up I will not!

Life can exact a heavy toll
Unless you pay heed to your whole;
Your mind, your body and your soul!

Has instant gratification
Been the ruination
Of an entire generation?
Did meeting this need but foment
A strong sense of entitlement
Much to our children's detriment?
How many have not grown to learn
That what one wants, what one might yearn
One has to work for; has to earn?
When this poison seed we have sown
And nurtured becomes fully grown,
The blame is ours and ours alone!

Even a full moon
Majestic, Proud
Can be all consumed
By a dark cloud....

Who a deaf ear, a blind eye turn,
The chance to speak against wrong spurn,
By their inaction, their silence,
Guilty are in every sense.

Though my friends may be but few
Many have not friends so true;
What counts is not the amount
But those on whom one can count.

Until give up on yourself you do,
I shall never give up on you.

And even then...

Who fears to own up to a mistake
Much worse mistakes may go on to make;
Until such time as fears are allayed
Mistakes shall continue to be made.
If mistakes all are afraid to name
Then who is at fault, who is to blame?

Even the best laid plans go wrong,
The unexpected comes along.
Before you know it, suddenly,
You are in new territory.

When that happens what do you do?
Do you give up or see it through?
'Tis a decision you must make...
To give up or a risk to take.

You may decide to take a chance,
To fly by the seat of your pants,
You might stick with it, come what may,
Just let the chips fall where they may.

Or choose to play it safe you may,
Retreat to fight another day,
Decide the risk is just too great
With too much left to chance, to fate.

Perhaps it is a hunch, your gut,
The weighing up of ifs and buts
That helps you reach a decision
That which for you is the right one.

You and you alone have to choose
And whether you win or you lose,
Your reasoning to you is known,
The decision but yours to own.

From others one may seek advice
In moments of doubt,
Though oft' it is ones inner voice
That one should hear out.

Perchance we only seek advice
When we know within
The answer is the hardest choice;
Not to our liking?

Though those who can are many
Those who do are few...
The difference if any
Is the desire to?

Life should be more than a journey
Between the cradle and the grave;
Life could be more an odyssey
Should one choose to live, to be brave!

Reflect on all you take for granted,
What you do not value readily,
And think if for those things you wanted
How much different your life could be.

More should use their common sense ere
It becomes uncommonly rare!

These are our sisters, mothers, wives,
And all of Irelands daughters lives
Being put at risk so needlessly,
Devalued oh so callously!

The truth is, there’s no denying,
Women have died with more dying
Who could have been saved possibly
If there had been more honesty?

When the problem first came to light
That some test results were not right
The first thing that should have been done
Was to inform everyone.

Alas, all those in power chose
The facts, the truth not to disclose
To women who in tests had faith  
‘Til for many it was too late

How can it have become the norm
To coldly choose not to inform
Women when smears are positive,
To give them the best chance to live?

The facts cannot be argued yet,
Though facing needless early death,
They force them down the legal route
Rather than own up to the truth.

How can there be any defence
When the truth is the difference
For many between life and death?
What justice can they hope to get?

Why add to their pain, suffering,
Why not now just do the right thing
By these women failed so badly?
Though for some ‘tis too late sadly.

The choice to cover up and lie
Knowing many women could die
While in no way done in our name
Is to Irelands eternal shame.

The politicians promise change,
The Health System to rearrange
Forgetting they have been remiss
As they presided over this.

What use to grieving families
Platitudes and apologies?
No change can justify the cost
Of mothers, sisters, daughters lost.

If an afterlife there should be then...
Bury me with a notebook and pen

Truly great leaders have the skills
To turn mountains into mole hills,
Can those around them motivate;
A Can Do attitude create!

I know not what you said,
What you did I cannot recall...
'Tis how you made me feel
That I remember most of all.

As in and out one must breathe
in order to survive,
One who writes must also read
to keep their work alive.

Home may be where the heart is tho'
'Tis in the garden where souls grow

Don't you just love it whenever
Everything comes together?
When despite all your fears and doubts
Your hard work pays off, things work out!

The feeling is a special one,
That feeling of a job well done.
For though 'twas hard, you stuck at it;
Though you could have, you did not quit!

More can be read into change easily,
Then change becomes a CHAlleNGE for many;

Change could spell less of a challenge maybe
If only change could be spelled out clearly?

A broken heart
I would welcome
If truth be told

Over a heart
That would become
Unfeeling... Cold.

Your dreams will not come true
Though dream all day you may,
But if work hard you do
They may come true one day.

One who reasserts power constantly
Shows strong signs of weakness, impotency!
Though they may deny it vigorously,
Perhaps protest a little too loudly?

To be a success
Takes nothing more, nothing less
Than all you can give!

Do not we all have moments of self doubt,
Not fear that one day we shall be found out?
Do not all have crises of confidence,
Times of uncertainty experience?

Are they such a bad thing, these fears and doubts
Providing one does not let them win out?
What one should fear though is that confidence
Without doubt could soon become arrogance!

In clutching at straws,
Not giving up a lost cause...
Hope Springs Eternal.

Look at what you did
Said the Ego to the Id,
Have you no Conscience?

It took me many years to see the light,
To realise that I was born to write.
From the first time I put pen to paper
I knew there was nothing I loved greater.
I write for myself, to fulfil a need,
Words that I know others may never read.
Though for no greater joy could I have wished
Than that which I felt when I was published.

Those to whom lies come easily
Should not be trusted, verily!
Though they may mean no harm, forsooth!
Why then can they not tell the truth?

In life the greatest trick
Is to see the magic;
The magic to conceive
In all that we perceive.

"Alternative Facts" the truth belies,
Often in "Fake News" the real truth lies,
"Exaggeration", "Aggrandizing"
In truth are other words for lying.
The value of honesty seems lost,
Sad truth is, at a terrible cost!

To our kids now we must emphasise
That Facts; the Truth, must Always Trump Lies,
That by lying there's nothing to gain;
That Truth cannot be held in disdain.
From lies and untruths all must refrain
To make Truth, Honesty, Great Again!