We dined on caviar
And famine in Europe
Seemed most unlikely
The world began to burn

We watched the queues lengthen
As the poor queued at foodbanks
But our Ocado deliveries
Continued nonetheless

Rebellious types protested
And journeys took longer
Really very annoying
We hoped that they’d be jailed

The news was full of Amber
And next season’s fashions
Ukraine, Yemen and Gaza
Were very far away

Life went on as normal
The monkeypox came to us
The insects died in millions
And we started then to fear

Life went on as normal
The sea levels were rising
But that is in the future?
And still the world burned

Life went on as normal
But food was more expensive
The poor were still hit hardest
And still the world burned

Life went on as normal
We began to see the die off
We still had ***** and burgers
And still the world burned

Life began change as
We knew we should have acted
Food was getting scarcer
And still the world burned
And still the world burned
And still the world burned
And still the world burned.

If I could make a heart of sheep,
Or clouds of fish in the oceans deep
If I could make a heart of fire
A heart of ice in my desire
To tell the world of all the love
That I feel soaring up above
The clouds, the ice, the fish and sheep…
They wouldn’t reach you now you sleep.

And now you sleep, and then you’ll burn
And maybe you’ll lie in an urn
Maybe I’ll scatter you on the wind
Or give you to your kith and kind
Or bury you amongst the trees
And for eternity take your ease
Your spirit flying free and light
To heaven and the infinite

I cannot say adieu to you
I need an au revoir, mon dieu
I need to know I’ll see you when
I leave this earth of fallen men
All my loved ones lining up
To pass to me the loving cup
Of love I’ve given and love I’ve had
And lives that made me whole and glad.

The house fell silent on the day he left
The house fell silent and we were bereft
No footsteps running down the stairs
(As though invaded by a troop of bears)
No hugs or kisses on top of my head
No disappearing forks or staying in bed
No surprise breakfast or cups of tea
No sudden lectures on life at sea
No rubbing my feet or hugging me quick
No clearing up when the dog’s been sick
No “I love you” or “love you too!”
The house fell silent and so did you.

We waited hoping you could survive
We wanted you awake as well as alive
But the house fell silent when you left
And then you were gone and we are bereft.

We are bereft and you are dead
We can’t remember all you said
All you said and all your love
All that life in heaven above
(You don’t believe in that we know
But we hope that heaven is where you’ll go)
All your creations and all your care
All your mess in your private lair
All your energy and all your you…
And all your loud opinions too.
The house fell silent on the day you left
Our hearts are broken; we are bereft.

Our future isn’t written in stone
It is written in the trees
In the water
In our hearts
It is ever changing and expanding
As our intentions
As our compassion
As our greed

We cannot stand apart to change it
We must cleave together
Hold one another
In our hearts
With love that never changes
Forge the future
Forge the path we hope to follow
Forge a greener destination

If we lay waste to the present
What will be left for those who follow on?
We choose life
In our hearts
Or we choose ourselves
Selfish desire or service to tomorrow
Live the change
Be the change
Or consign the future to the desert
FB 17.2.16

I remember childhood panic
My sister as a cowboy
Chasing around the garden
Bang bang, you're dead

I remember that fear today
Weeping over other people's children
Imagining their pain
Bang bang, they're dead

I want to comfort them
But there is nothing to say
Nothing to do, nothing changes
Bang bang, we're dead

Guns don't **** people, they say
People **** people, they say
But, see, they make it easy
Bang bang, they're dead
24.7.2011/8.2.2018 Fee

Lives ripped up and torn apart
Men this way and women that.
Children learning to regard starvation as normal.
And a minute for each of the victims makes
Eleven and a half years' silence.

Skull-like faces starved of food,
Starved of love, starved of light.
Bones like cartoon skeletons
Covered with a sort of skin, make
Eleven and a half years' silence.

Man's inhumanity to man,
Didn't begin with ******, nor end
It rises up and gets defeated,
Though war's a poor answer for any question - as is
Eleven and a half years' silence.

The best memorial, the best commemoration
Is not silence but shouting to be heard.
Be strong, stand up for right, for others,
For love, for compassion. Better by far than
Eleven and a half years' silence.
Fee Berry 28.1.18

A jumble of memories
A feeling of warmth
Dreamlike, escaping
I struggle to wake.

A cascade of snapshots
Darkly edged moments
A vagueness, like seeking
A word in the void.

A hypnotic gathering
Of previous faces
A channelled remembering
People who lived.

The here and the now
Are eternally mine
I cannot escape them
I cannot divine.

Live in the moment
Love in the now
Reach out for each other
And never say die.