The time may come to say goodbye
Who knows when
Who knows why

But for now let's have some fun
Can I play bongos on your ***?

I was just a lonely boy
And always had I been
The world became a kinder place
When first I met Rosene

She had the most enchanting smile
That I had ever seen
My heart jumped like a salmon's leap
When first I loved Rosene

We lived together many years
That now seem like a dream
Our children grew and then they flew
To tend their pastures green

She fought as hard as she could fight
But fate was cruel and mean
The world became a poorer place
The day we lost Rosene

.                                        sit down
                                   take some time
                            lay your hand in mine
                    feel the tension seep away, let go
                       rest the body, heal the mind
                                 let oxytocin flow

a sack rich in memories
slung on my back
like a part of me now

stopping to rest I open it up
regress, absorb, re-interpret

a pebble, a poem, a hurtful remark
danger and luck
friends made and lost
summits achieved
decisions carved as in stone
out of date currency
I cannot burn

Hunkered down we pass the plonk
We can see Madame and pay
We shake her hand and thank her
San fairy ann she'll say

Sergeant copped a blighty
He'll be on his way
He's thanking god almighty
San fairy ann I say

It's hard enough to smile through this
When folks get blown up every day
But all the while the whizz-bangs miss
San fairy ann we say

Santa baby
This year I have for you just one request
I know you'll help because you always do your best

You'll be my special honey for ever more
If you can give us all a miracle cure

For cancer baby
So hurry down the chimney tonight

She minds her little sister
Babysitting in the woods
Flowers bunched up in her hand, primroses perhaps
Devoutly kneeling, she offers them to the child
As hair flows down her back
A long blonde waterfall

The child with open arms
Learns how to receive
And how to give

In a corner a written plea
Take me now for twenty quid
Reduced from twenty five

Unloved, unvalued even for the frame
Now rescued from indignity
And lifted from the skip

A sharp well-directed blow and
the hollow cranium disintegrates into shards

Each fragment is dealt with
then the whole body is efficiently disposed of

Bye bye Easter bunny

When it comes to matters financial
we all need an ounce of sense
They say a fool is very soon stripped
of his pounds shillings and pence

And if we borrow we have to be sure
we can pay back what has been lent
or else we get in a muddle
with our pounds shillings and pence

Diddlers thieves and con men
can cause us immense expense
so don't let them get their ***** hands
on your pounds shillings and pence

We come into the world with nothing
with nothing away we are sent
but in between it's handy to have
some pounds shillings and pence

They wanted a curriculum vitae
In absentia
I decided to ad lib
Ad nauseum
Ipso facto, lie and deceive
Exaggerate, mislead et cetera

Hardly a bona fide
Modus operandi
They caught me in flagrante delicto

Requiescat in pace, (RIP) my chances
Now I'm persona non grata
Mea culpa

The low-life thieves are out at large
They're wearing hi-vis camouflage

The power's gone, the train won't run
Copper's stolen, sorry everyone

Man-hole covers, don't think twice
Every metal has it's price

A children's slide, that's good scrap
When no-one's watching they'll have that

For someone with a head for heights
Church roof lead will fetch a price

You know the statue in the park
That'll vanish after dark

The names of those who died for us
Are on a plaque made of brass
There's no respect, no shame in sin
They take that too and weigh it in.

Not for who I am
Nor indeed despite
It's just she has a lot to give
And I am in her sight

She's planting out her window box
Young shoots are showing through
She thinks about the Springtime
And the garden she once knew

There were primroses and daffodils
Sweet violets white and blue
She thinks about her husband
And when their love was new

Buds and blooms open up
They scent and colour Summer long
She thinks about those happy days
When they were young and strong

Sunset's falling sooner now
Petals drop, the show is done
She gathers up her Winter shawl
Prepares for what’s to come

She was only 15, no boyfriends yet
At a family gathering their eyes first met
Now Rob's not shy, with plenty of chat
So he gave her a call and they never looked back.

She went to Cambridge to get her degree
So every weekend, so did he.

When that was all done, what's next to do?
No more travelling, just me and you
In a cottage in Framsden made for two

With ferrets and fish and a couple of dogs
Oka cooks happy meat while Rob chops logs
A veggie garden appeared for a spell
A few came up, but the weeds did well.
Some chickens arrived and did their thing
Then so did the fox to commit his sin.

Now Rob loves his hobbies, it gets on her wick
When he's in his shed fiddling with his welding stick.
But life is quite settled, time passes like this
Living their version of unmarried bliss.

But something is missing, the feeling grows
She thinks to herself, will he ever propose?
Then leap year comes round, with it's extra day
That was her chance to have her say

Rob knew it was coming, he took the day off.
She said I want to be married, now don't you scoff!
But Rob wasn't scoffing, he said now I'm sure
I do love my Landie, but I love you more.

That brings us right up to this special day
We all wish you well, we all want to say
May your lives together be happy, healthy and long
May your love for each other keep growing strong.

Out of the blue
Hail and a thunderbolt
No shelter

                            Pennies drop in little ways
                            As days pass
                            Separating us

My movements are slow
Head hangs low
Little reminders
All over the show

                            I could make a call
                            To a waif and stray
                             Make someone happy
                             Make someone's day

It is absence
I have to get used to
Before I can look again
Before I can start anew

That shooting star the other night
You said it was a sign
I think it was our satellite
'Cos I can't get online

That shooting star the other night
You said make a wish
I wish I had, I would have said
Please don't hurt our dish

In the cold grey light of the sixth of June, in the year of forty-four,
The Empire Larch sailed out from Poole to join with thousands more.
The largest fleet the world had seen, we sailed in close array,
And we set our course for Normandy at the dawning of the day.

There was not one man in all our crew but knew what lay in store,
For we had waited for that day through five long years of war.
We knew that many would not return, yet all our hearts were true,
For we were bound for Normandy, where we had a job to do.

Now the Empire Larch was a deep-sea tug with a crew of thirty-three,
And I was just the galley-boy on my first trip to sea.
I little thought when I left home of the dreadful sights I'd see,
But I came to manhood on the day that I first saw Normandy.

At the Beach of Gold off Arromanches, 'neath the rockets' deadly glare,
We towed our blockships into place and we built a harbour there.
'Mid shot and shell we built it well, as history does agree,
While brave men died in the swirling tide on the shores of Normandy.

Like the Rodney and the Nelson, there were ships of great renown,
But rescue tugs all did their share as many a ship went down.
We ran our pontoons to the shore within the Mulberry's lee,
And we made safe berth for the tanks and guns that would set all Europe free.

For every hero's name that's known, a thousand died as well.
On stakes and wire their bodies hung, rocked in the ocean swell;
And many a mother wept that day for the sons they loved so well,
Men who cracked a joke and cadged a smoke as they stormed the gates of hell.

As the years pass by, I can still recall the men I saw that day
Who died upon that blood-soaked sand where now sweet children play;
And those of you who were unborn, who've lived in liberty,
Remember those who made it so on the shores of Normandy.
____________

Death's embrace comes often to this place
By bullet gas grenade or shell
Or some other kind of hell

Every village, every town
Sends out their sons to be cut down
For so many good young men
It's how the nightmare ends

In these once tranquil foreign fields
Skylarks sing and blood-red poppies grow
But now the only harvest here
Is pain and death and sorrow

We lost some men but gained some ground
In a dawn attack
By sunset we had lost some more
When they took it back

All night we listened to the wounded groan
Out in no man's land alone
God in heaven make it stop
All we want is home

Five steps or five thousand                                        
Her gait is just the same

Poets, painters
Can be tortured souls

But gardeners
Are at one with the world

No screens flash
No keyboard clicks

A woman she must prove her worth
Hood up, body bent
Her conversation polite

But minimal
Her gaze steadfast
Down to earth

Her gloved hands
Coaxing life from the bedraggled
Winter flower bed

Lark fly, crown the sky
Oh what joy you bring to my
Winter-weary heart!

I feel the grief, I share the pain
Who would have thought that loss
Would wash up on our shores again

You slipped away
Did you say goodbye?
We'll miss you and remember
The times you made us laugh
And cry

I'll listen for your voice
Gently by my side
And know you only fell asleep
As we all do by and by

Hedges snowy white
East wind blows up trouser leg
Blackthorn winter's here

Some things are simply understood
Without the need for spoken word
Others better said out loud
So they may be heard

Some thoughts are better unexposed
So not to harm the atmosphere
Others need to fly and soar
To land on lover's waiting ear

Hold the tongue, bite the lip
Let not insults from it trip
But compliments that smooth the way
Let them see the light of day

Working all alone today
I cannot help but smile
No distractions
No disturbance
My thoughts can range for backstreet miles

The hay is cut, the weather fine
Work is going well
Drifting over ripening wheat
The sound of village bells

A bucket dipped into the pond
Brings glitter lentil soup
No traffic noise, no people here
Just insect buzz and pigeon bill and coo

Today a day of solitary
Today a day for poetry

Cold and dark the solstice night
But shadows dance inside by candle-light
Pampered spruce holds centre stage
Calendar counts down the days

Festive holly berries red, mistletoe with white
Cards suspended on a string, flashing fairy lights
All is quiet in the house
Nothing stirs except...a mouse

He has no fear
Of cat or trap or carving knife
On his mind is something nice
Perhaps a chocolate-covered nutty treat
Beneath the Christmas tree to eat

Tonight no usual pickings poor
Of meagre breadcrumbs on the floor
For tonight he dines like a king
On fruit and nuts, dates and cake
A little bit of everything

All the Drambuie chocolates he ****** dry
He could not stop, he knew not why
Then he passed out on the floor
One hung-over little mouse, his head so very sore

Let me tell you about old Stanley.

He delivered papers six days a week, then on Sundays his round was even longer. At one time he used to work nights as well, as a night watchman up at the TV mast. Getting paid to sleep!

Stanley grew up in the economically depressed 1930's, which I guess explains a lot.

I did a job for him once, and he settled up from a plastic bag of £1 coins he had been hiding under some old sacks in his shed.

He kept a tidy veggie garden, but was reluctant to spend any money on the house. The outside was shabby and the inside was spartan in the extreme.

Everyone liked Stanley though. He was always cheerful with a ready smile and wave. As the years passed I noticed with some sadness that he was struggling with a limp. Eventually of course, he went the way of all flesh.

Now the veggie garden is overgrown. The house is under offer. His boy has bought himself a big new 4x4 and is planning to build a house in Thailand with his new partner.

Well someone had to spend it...

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of summer shines;
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade'
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.
       So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
       So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

I once knew a woman who got cancer
I don't know why
Perhaps it was genetic
Environmental
Or she swallowed a fly

They sliced it out
Bombarded with radiation
Chemo
It might as well have been a spider
To wriggle and wriggle around inside her
Because she died

This mortal state is not my own
It is too fleet to call a home
Bound and strapped in chiming chains
Until the circle turns again

I hear a spirit calling me
Awake, let loose the ties, be free
Draw to a close this mundane game
To return from whence you came

But for as long as I may choose
My choice is not to follow you
My lust for life still shines too strong
So my friend for now, be gone

Ah, a Spitfire!
This sight, it brings me close to tears-
I've not been near one of these for years.
Since when I was a pilot, World War Two-
Battle of Britain.
I was one of the few.

She's been restored, she looks real fine
Could I  sit in her just one more time?
I would so love to, it would really take me back...

Sorry sir, health and safety-
No way can you do that.

The barn door shakes, hedges sway
Extra coats come off the peg
A wicked wind finds its way
Up every sleeve and trouser leg

Fires burn all day and night
We mourn our absent Spring
We keep our shirts tucked in tight
Powerless to change a thing

Primrose petals bruised and torn
Birds shelter in the hedges'  lee
Waiting quiet and forlorn
When they all should busy be

A hundred feet above our heads
A skylark sings his song
Reminding us to rise above
Sing loud and carry on

The sprinting sprite was wearing stripes
Bespectacled in black and white
He offered up some hushed advice
On how to live my life

I said be gone and don't come back
Don't dare to tell me how
The wisdom to advise you lack
I've done alright till now

every wheel will cease to turn
every lesson be unlearned
every tide will ebb away
every colour fade to grey

every truth will prove a lie
every star burn and die
we will all be flying high
stardust in the sky

The evening flashes by
Just me and little bear
All calm
In control
Last week's reflections ripple
Next week's plans take shape
A pause between
As the fire smokes
Time to breathe before we start again

My body's nothing special, as far as I can see
My mind, though verging on the tiny
Is good enough for me

I don't ask much from anyone
They don't ask much from me
That way I stay in touch
With my inner chimpanzee

Dance with dragons to your hearts delight

Let lanterns shine and fireworks pop all through your darkest night

But if you care for your precious pandas plight

Don't buy tiger bones, rhino horn, ivory

Dead elephants are not a pretty sight

They were different times

The only thing I know about old man Venn
He used to tie two cats' tails together
Hang them over the washing line
To watch them fight
Cruel old man Venn

There was a man in the village
He killed dead pigs
If a farmer had a pig die
He'd cart it home then squeal and shriek
Like a dying pig
Then pass off the meat as fresh
Everyone knew about it

A couple in the village were always arguing
One night the man said he was going to drown himself
In the pond
She said do you go an' do it in someone else's pond
I ha' got to drink that water

Jim said there'll be a fire in the village afore long
Russell said how d'you know that then?
Down at Hall Farm I see him stripping the paint off his window
With a blow torch
Right near the thatch
He knows better  'an that
Sure enough the old farmhouse burnt to the ground
He built a bungalow with the insurance money
Old Jim was right again

Russell met his wife to be during the war
He had a few days leave but not long enough to go home
So he stayed with his mate in Lancashire
Ended up marrying his mate's sister
She came down to Suffolk
One of the local women said to her
Where do you come from?
Lancashire she said
I didn't think you was English she said

A farmer said to Jim
That wholly made me sweat to write out your cheque
For thatching this year
Med me sweat fust said Jim

For hurdle making they would cut ash pole in the wood
Using hand axes
When they finished the women from nearby cottages
Would come and pick up the chips to start their fires

If you waken me from sleep
Gently call my name
I've been away and I have changed
Things are not the same

If you waken me from sleep
Don't pull my toe like before
I've been to war and seen too much
I can't be playful any more

If you waken me from sleep
Don't raise your voice or pull the sheet
Remember I go back at night
Back where I can't hide

She went to waken him from sleep
She didn't call his name
She pulled his toe like before
She thought things were the same

Flickering fires, dim candlelight
Barely pierce the chill Winter night
In a world of toil with no hope of change
Life is a trial down Strugglers Lane

Endless worry is their lot
The only rest is when they drop
Nothing but hardship mingled with pain
That's what's on offer down Strugglers Lane

No escape, nowhere to go
Best do a deal with the devil you know
Nothing comes easy, it's always the same
That's how it is down Strugglers Lane

If you find yourself anywhere near
Heed my advice, stay well clear
Turn right around, go back again
Don't take the sign to Strugglers Lane

Ascend and crown the sky, amazing lark
You cannot know what joy you bring
To this winter-weary heart

Bumble on, friendly bee
You do not know how vital is your art

And what relief to see the tiny leaf unfurl
On the grand old oak
Who shunned all vestments through the winter's chill
But now puts on his greenest summer cloak

Come swallows, fast and low
Perform your aeronautic feats (like spitfires)
Swimming through the air
Skimming o'er the growing wheat

Comfrey on the river bank
Milkmaids in the meadow damp
Cow's parsley with its lacy bobbin'  heads
Dandelion's golden threads

My heart feels part, as if re-born
Of this rejuvenating summer dawn