The natural home of the poet
Is not among society’s elite
But away from the riches and finery
And the fat-cat country seat.

We’re the eyes for the one who’s the underdog
The one struggling hard for his kin
The one who lost out when they took all the jobs
Who stands in the food queue again.

We’re the questioning voice of the sickly
While hospitals have wards that are closed
Who wonder why governments say ‘We all spend more!’
And ponder where it’s been disposed.

We have Portakabin classrooms that just shouldn’t be
And walls full of mould in our schools
Yet pay and pensions in the Westminster bubble
Go up yet again, as we’re treated as fools.

It’s quite true we don’t wander around with the rich
For our hearts and our minds are elsewhere
We’re keeping a watch on corruption at large
And versing your created despair.

©Joe Wilson – Were we really all in it together…2015

I took a walk with you that day
Ere long you gave to me your heart
I gave you mine in love and hope
And now we'll never grow apart.

Storm clouds do come and then they go
We move along within the flow
And when the sun comes out to shine
We're out there too and moving slow.

We've eased along throughout the years
You've sometimes chased the fears from me
And I in turn have dried your tears
In love that's how it's meant to be.

But what a journey, what a ride
you are my muse and my best friend
Those epic times, you by my side
I'd do every bit with you again.

©Joe Wilson - What a ride...2014

And in the night when demons call
You hide inside your troubled mind
And hope you’ll not be found in thrall
By evil devils who are so unkind.

They seek you out to make you pay
For all the bad that you have done
The demons call most every day
Their endless war that can’t be won.

Till in the end they send you mad
A life can not be lived like this
And take your life you will, it’s sad
In your last breath, eternal bliss!

©Joe Wilson – When demons call…2015

(A simple rule for a happy life)

Slender is the tie that binds
Two hearts in love as one
Easy though the harshest word
That signals it has gone.

For love to live within your heart
You must give it away
And if you do completely
Love will be there everyday….


©Joe Wilson – When losing it makes complete sense…2015

Thinking back yet again to my childhood
And the shoelace I couldn’t quite fasten
To the many ways Mum used to help me
With those little skills parents pass on.
Six children to love and she really did
She would though, she was our Mum
As well as soothing our often cut knees
She cooked all the  food for our tum.
She’d **** our socks and wash our clothes
And iron things we don’t iron now
Then all of it would just disappear into drawers
As if done by magic somehow.
But Mum didn’t have it anyway easy
Dad died at just fifty-two
And Mum struggled on and raised us alone
But at night-time she cried, we all knew.
As the new day began there would be not a sign
Of the heartache her nights brought to her
She got on with the task of raising her brood
To her feelings she’d rarely refer.
Dad had grown vegetables to feed us
He grew dahlias for my mother, his love
They’ve both been long gone now from this place
Now they stroll hand in hand up above.

©Joe Wilson – When Mum darned our socks…2015

When she left, there was nothing
There was nothing left to be seen
Seen there to be no evidence
No evidence she’d ever been.

Been around awhile since then
Awhile since figuring it out
Figured out it was a foolish dream
A dream that left me in doubt.

Left in doubt, yet she seemed so real
So real, now I’m so bereft
Bereft as I’ve never felt before
Before there was nothing when she left.

©Joe Wilson – When she left…2015

Where now the promises of five years ago
We’d all feel much better, but do we, O no!
Some having now to use a food bank
Children are learning in schools that are dank.


The roads have become a sea of potholes
Zero-hour jobs not much better than dole
Fewer police officers walking the beat
Feeling secure is becoming a treat.


The man at the top expounds thoughts anew
Deputy man has a different view
University fees we won’t let them change
In government though such things rearrange.


Rich businessmen avoid paying tax
Down below credit cards teeter at max
Inflation comes down as they try to impress
But energy bills never get any less.


The silent majority keep a stiff upper lip
As their security starts losing its grip
But it gets barely noticed in the Westminster bubble
For those less than rich will always spell trouble.


Naturally, of course, there’s a different view
From politicians cast in a different hue
All trying to wheedle their way to get votes
Filling our heads with more promissory notes.


Imagine if you will it’s December next year
Do you feel right now that you have less to fear?
Or is it the case that nothing has changed?
Just the furniture in Downing Street got re-arranged.


Maybe in fact it stayed exactly the same
And we voted back in this bad lot to the game
We can blame ourselves later, when we see what we’ve done
Ensuring that actually, we’ve really not  won.


©Joe Wilson – Where now the promises…2015

The docks are so barren now, where once there was such fare
there’s no more shipbuilding, the work’s just not there
and yet when I think, when I dream, I can hear
all the fine sailing vessels that have long since passed here.

The docks were so mighty, all the work, all the men
it’s sad now to think, we’ll not see them again
and yet, if you think of the sails and the ropes
we’ll carry on dreaming, we won’t lose our hopes.

The docks stand so quiet, no stevedores can be seen
no lightermen move barges through the channels in between
and yet if you dream, you can still hear the sails
it’s a heart-lifting sound, the excitement never fails.

©Joe Wilson – Where once there were docks…

Part One

A man left a prison this morning
he'd been there the last fifteen years
when he walked down the mean streets of Jesup
he'd resurrect all of their fears.

He was a man, no different to others
though he kept himself to his peace
but the anger all stored up inside him
was destined for violent release.

A young girl had been murdered in Jessup
and he'd been a stranger in town
they said that he'd beaten and stabbed her
he hadn't, but they still sent him down.

His first thoughts were for retribution
he'd beat them and they'd feel the pain
like he felt when they kicked him in prison
again...and again...and again.

Now he travelled to seek not just vengeance
he needed to get back his name
so someone was going to suffer
and others would pay for his shame.

He'd walked out of prison in Jackson
and boarded a train to Mobile
By Greyhound he reached Pensacola
where he rested and took time to heal.

Part Two

In Jesup he woke with a headache
to the loud urgent ring of the phone
he remembered that night and that poor girl
and he let out a long quiet moan.

It was Hedley the new County Sheriff
he said for the man to go down
he could call at his office in Jesup
or pack up his things and leave town.

Such a bright sunny day as he stepped out
not one single cloud in the sky
a gunshot and a burning sensation
The man fell and knew he would die.

To Hedley the man was real guilty
keeping peace meant he wanted him out
he thought back to the slaying that morning
the dead man's last words cried like a shout.

A young man had rushed up to help him
there was nothing to do he could see
but as he died the man whispered something
"Tell the Sheriff son, it never was me."

A young had suffered so many year before
and the case had been closed a long time
but the wrong man had gone into prison
or his death had no reason or rhyme.

The girl needed justice as the man did
Sheriff Hedley would never be the same
for he promised the girl and the dead man
he'd catch her killer and clear the man's name.

Epilogue

A bullet was found by the dead girl
a matched one lodged in the man's heart
the second one carried a thumb print
for the Sheriff, a good place to start.

©Joe Wilson - Where was the justice then...2014 (re-shod from 1992)

Wind blows its way right through my senses
All my thoughts have but slowly disappeared
One more large smoky glass of cheap whisky
One more sad lonely night that you're not here.

Loneliness set in as the door quickly closed
Using the back door now and keeping that one shut
It will stay like that until ever you come back
But I've a notion now that it will stay put.

Old sore wounds that somehow resurfaced
Caused a bitter rift long forgotten to return
And the memories and the tears from the last time
Hit the heart, exploded and then burned.

So I sit trying to write and supping whisky
As I wait to hear your key in the front door
I hope with all my heart that you'll forgive me
I can't bear to be alone here any more.

The wind is getting stronger now and I thought I heard the latch
But it was just some fighting creatures out in the dark
So I'll wait as I do each night with my whisky and my pen
Sitting here and waking up with the sound of the lark.



©Joe Wilson - Whisky and my pen 2014

And finding ourselves
here.
What next!
What wonder of technology
or genius thinking
could ever
eradicate
thousands of years
of prejudice
and contempt,
and not the least,
distrust?
Nothing!
Nothing that could replace
an acceptance of each other
and a coming together
of hearts
and minds
in realising
that all pervading truth.
We all live here,
we all die here.
Harmonious living
is surely less problematic.
(Here you can insert any WAR you choose),
for it has always been
Man’s greatest weakness
the thing which undermines him most
and yet seemingly,
his greatest undertaking.
Man is such a violent beast
we almost deserves no place here.
For in our selfishness
we destroy
the very beauty
of the planet itself.
Perhaps it’s time
we finally realised.
LIFE
is not a practice run.
It is the real thing.

©Joe Wilson – Who in the Hell do we think we are…2016

I’d love to sail the seven seas, I’d sail them all with you
And we would have adventures and fill our lives with mirth we two
And the spray would catch our faces as we looked across the sea
And gulls and whales and dolphins, companions they would be.

I’d love to sail to Zanzibar, and to islands in the sun
And search for a tree called the Cinnabar, as we sail the seas for fun
And the spray would fill our senses, while the sky would be so blue
And the stars at night would guide us, as around the world we flew.

I’d love to sail round the southern capes, and the frozen world where penguins go*
Where all the ice shines in the sun, and the land is covered in soft white snow
And the spray would strike our faces, but our hearts would be filled with hope
And with stars and a map to guide us, and the aid of our telescope.

©Joe Wilson – With the aid of a telescope…2015

So tired I drift in long deep sleep
In thoughts of you that keep me warm
Inside a place of peaceful dreams
I find you in ethereal form.

And holding hands in sweet repose
Retelling words of love and faith
While wrapped in dream-like timeless mist
My arms enfold to keep you safe.

As wakefulness returns at dawn
No longer are you there to see
But opened eyes can now reveal
Your earthly form lies next to me.

Retelling words of love and faith
And wrapped in ageless passion we
With open eyes and open hearts
Who else but you could be with me.

©Joe Wilson – Words of love and faith…2015

Where’s the dog, where’s the dog?
There are burglars in the house
But the dog sleeps oh so quietly
As quietly as a mouse.

And so the husband, he takes charge
It’s the middle of the night
Reluctantly creeping down the stairs
He’s our hero in full – fright.

Of course – there was nobody there
It was one of those ‘sounds in the night’
And our hero couldn’t have seen him
He’d forgotten to turn on the light.

The hero thus returns to bed
Not to welcoming open arms
His wife has drifted back to sleep
Oblivious to his charms.

Oh well he thinks as he gets in bed
And then he falls himself to sleep
Meanwhile below, the hidden thief
Leaves for his home with swag to keep.

©JRW2014

Her perfume lingered in my nostrils
It reminded me of days long since gone
Of Mother making us treacle ****
And the way the sun always shone.

It didn’t of course, it was just childhood
And we like to think back to the good
Things like the sun always shining
And Mother’s delicious pud.

People then, had no central heating
In winter with fires, the house was cold still
And the water we took up to bed would freeze
Through the night on the windowsill.

Mother’s love was of course, unconditional
As was Dad’s till the day he died
And Mum dabbed on ‘Lily of the Valley’
As she stood by his coffin and cried.

So now, when a lady walks past me
Who is wearing that scent from those years
She’ll probably be a lady of advancing age
Who’s experienced those times and some tears.

And I will drift back to my childhood
But I’ll push out the parts that are bad
As I think of the fun and the love that I felt
I’ve no desire to look back and be sad.

©Joe Wilson – Yet another old memory…2015

There was I
And now I’m not
I’m lost like you
In life’s gavotte.

The world it spins
We all stand still
To make a move
We need the will.

Who will start
Will it be me
Or shall I wait
Well we shall see.

©Joe Wilson – Yet at a standstill 2014

You are the other half of my completeness
You are the half that makes me whole
You are the goodness that my heart will cherish
You are the mate to my now settled soul.

You are the peace within my breast
You are the essence of all that’s best
You are the one who brings the smile
You are the reason that I feel blessed.

You are the one I’ve loved these years
You are the one in my love-filled heart
You are the one who has shared my fears
You are the reason that I seem smart.

You are the one who has dried my tears
You have loved me with no hesitation
You are the reason that I breathe each day
And I love you without reservation.

©Joe Wilson – You 2014

Black is the night
Black is the mood
Dark is the spirit
All evil imbued.

‘Tis now the zombies
Will walk the earth
Never finding peace
In their lifeless worth.

If they catch you
They’ll bring you down
Zombies live inside your mind
And not beneath the ground.

©JRW2014

I was never one to complain - like hell, I complain about all kinds of everything
Nonetheless I had never for a moment thought that I would be the one chosen to go
To travel that far with no guarantee I could ever come home
To live with the knowledge that we might lose everything I valued
But it was a risk I knew that one day I would take, a choice that one day I knew I'd make.

But Mars! This was gonna be one hell of a journey
One we'd trained for for years, one we'd hoped for all our lives
But way back then none of us had children and wives.

Blast off successful and we were heading up at thousands of feet a second
No going back now. ******* it, it was better than all the *** he'd ever smoked
But it was serious stuff, despite all of this and that that they joked.

But then when he thought about it he realised the nonsense of it all
We can't even look after the planet that we live on
What right have we to go and probably destroy another one!!!

The spell was broken - he woke up. It was just a dream.

©Joe Wilson - στα όνειρα (In dreams)2014

A whimsical bit of nonsense about distance.