I have a friend close to the end he talks fantastically about all of the places he has been
His body tired save for those eyes which burn brighter than sun tracing an arch across the skies
He says 'Of all the things I know of all the things I’ve learned... anywhere you go the good things must be earned.'
Safe and sound both feet on the ground he seems impervious to all the ******* going on around
and when he speaks though often brief you hear a man who knows the meaning of true happiness and grief
"How is it I work each day when aching bones demand respite? What makes me sit composing verse, when others sleep into the night?" (From 'The Worms that drive you')
His one life goal just to share the words that cause the sleepless nights, the ones that rattle round upstairs
And oh my soul was bought to bare by the words which where exactly what I didn’t want to hear...
"Have you wondered how tomorrow looks, when you've lied about today? Have you squandered opportunities when you've refused to play? Have you sought the possibilities? or broken through the ruse? Have you shed your limitations? tried to fill some bigger shoes? Does it all really matter… that your world is locked within, That the things which hold you back are simply things you revel in? That your greatest limitations are the ones you self impose? and the key which locks the door is locked outside the door you close?" (From 'Limitations')
"To loose the joy of purpose is to loose the will to try and when the spirit of endeavour's gone the soul begins to die" (Title unknown)
"Then the sun comes up with a glorious show And the nuclear dust in the air is aglow The rich and the famous are dead in their beds and the ***** and the cockroaches nibble their heads" (Title unknown)
I have a friend when shuffling with the crowds as everyone looks down he holds his head up in the clouds
And though dismayed the time had gone so soon as he walks amidst the chaos he hums a gentle tune…
"Who am I and what am I and what have I to show? And should I be concerned that very few may care to know?" (From 'Soliloquy')
"To look upon my megre works as worthwhile in the scheme of things, [Is] to nurture somewhere in the soul the song which satisfaction sings"
"The hourglass [will] reach the time when all life’s frantic urgencies evaporate like wine" (from '8')
though memories fade words grow like seeds taking root within the hearts and minds of anyone who heeds
"[I’ve] seen troubled waters pass me by from torrent flow to pebble dry From softly spoken words of love where teardrops fall to pools of blood
So verily I say to you, take heed my friend or feel the pain, From one who knows the way of things from one who sorts the chaff from grain (From 'Rule of Chance')
Go outside and look around the simple things in life abound The wonder of the detail small enthrals the mind and makes it all
It’s all before you spread about! you make the choice YOU WORK IT OUT! It’s all a state of mind you see and it’s the simple things that set you free" (From 'The Simple Things in Life')
(C) bazookio 2014
This here is a wee ‘Ode to Marshall Gebbie’, Prolific Ninja Wordsmith; Family member; and friend. Italicised words are particularly favourite sections of larger poems written by Marshall, which I have surgically removed and grafted amidst a few of my own meanderings.
Listen to the tune here if you like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdWZdy4wdxk