I need to know;
I beg you tell,
How every choice
In life will gel

The journey trod,
One step by step,
Did not produce
The light to shed

Give me insight;
Give me truth,
I need the story,
I need the proof

Alice, Emily; rivals by design.
Pushy parents; competitive coaches.
The choice never theirs,
Neither thought to question.

They started young;
Pre-teens, good girls.
Sport to keep it this way,
So parents hoped...

Victory always their aim.
Driven by fear;
Fear of not pleasing,
Of being second best.

Teens came, both changed.
Girls became women.
Emily - black pigtails turned bob,
Alice’s auburn curls, bobbed too.

August, hot and sticky.
A tournament played every year;
Since eleven, now twenty five.
All move to memories.

Their last game.
It ended today.
Tennis, rivalry, connection.
Preparing for change.

Relief and sadness.
Excitement and fear.
A moment always to come,
Neither knew when or why.

Emily’s why - adventure, freedom,
Escape - a new land.
Alice’s very different,
Motherhood, alone, unexpected.

Alice reached over the net,
Emily inhaled, the flame danced.
A moment paused.
Reflection on paths to be taken.

Today was different.
Play enjoyed.
No catch,
Their last match.

Do we exploit, destroy;
The earth is not our toy.
So little respect,
Everything for our joy.

Exposed, stripped bare;
Why do I care?

Years and years,
So few tears.

Protect and preserve,
Never had the nerve
To feel pain;
What was there to gain?

Frightening, why would you?
Open up to what is true.

Unwelcome reality,
The way to sanity.

Don't we all...
Need to belong?
To somewhere, some place,
It's what makes us strong.

Alone, so alone,
It's not how it should be;
We stifle ourselves
With the reality of ME.

Patience, understanding
Tolerance and grace
Is what we all need though 
To earn our place.

We all have a passion,
Search your soul.
It is there for your finding;
It will make you feel whole.

You may find it in work,
Or find it at play.
Combine these two;
Days will cease to be grey.

It might seem hard;
Welcome to life.
Your destiny is yours,
Opportunities are rife.

Make this your goal,
Be brave, be strong.
The power is yours;
Compose your own song.

Day slides into dark;
The stars show their light.
Their beauty, their magic,
Showcased in the night. 

A vast dark expanse
Where diamonds appear,
Each night they delight us;
Bright, true, sparkling, clear.

Surely nothing surpasses,
The beauty you see.
The very best thing;
This spectacle is free.

Bored of information;
Our world has too much noise.
It has to shock and horrify;
What is wrong with calm and poise?

I simply have little interest
In celebs, their lives, their loves;
Or pointless social traffic;
Who wants to know you bought new gloves. 

We really need to learn 
To better choose our priorities in life,
The things that really make us happy
It is these that will ease our strife.

It is definitely not just me
Who finds these people lacking
In spine, morals, sincerity;
Why do we tolerate their slacking?

Behaviour we should abhor
Due to its outrageous hypocrisy,
Yet these people represent us
In what we call our democracy. 

Our voice must be much louder
To gain some true control
Over the ducking and diving
Politicians have taken as their role.

Your time on earth is over;
I miss you very much.
It is all so brutally final;
No voice, no face, no touch. 

I try to reconcile
This spectre we call death;
It creeps into our lives
Like a stealthy chilling breath.

We all must face this demon
For none can avoid its stare
But hope and human nature
Mean we lose but still can care.

A place of history, lives lived and life lost.
We know not today the human cost
Of battles fought by the ghosts of our past
To create a peace uncertain to last.

Walk slowly, walk quietly and open your mind,
To a world and its people that are here to find.
Floors trodden heavy with memories rich,
Walls with secrets they are happy to pitch.

Love, laughter; joy, sadness all under one roof;
Feel the emotion and imagine the truth
About the people who lived here long long ago
And whose spirit you salute when through this castle you flow.

Give me this moment, my snapshot in time.
Let me absorb it and make it mine.
Life's pace is so fast, no time to enjoy,
The joy all around me passing me by.

The future comes quickly - the past is gone;
It is with the present I long to be at one.
Why should I struggle so much to achieve
Something in which I so believe?

The moment is something I must unlock;
From the songs of the birds to the ticking clock.
Such simple things are important to me,
For it is these that will truly set me free.