And so again things come to close,
That which started hesitantly
Yet in hope
Just like that begun
In high expectation
And in confidence,

Like that subtle switch from summer
Into autumn
With the knowledge of an
Incipient winter
Which cannot be dodged,

I feel the change from
Convergent through
Parallel to now just
A little divergent,
And the first glint
Of clear water between,

I feel an oh so familiar ache
In the knowledge
Of that change,
That loss,
The passing of someone and something
Highly valued,

And I feel

Inestimably

Sad

Another day's dawning
With attendant bird's chorus
Backdrop to my awakening,
A new sun's beaten gold orb
Hauls over the horizon hard edge
As my feet pad,
With the rest of me,
To ablution,
Shower,
My morning tea,

Over cereal my mind
Considers the day ahead,
The tasks ahead,
The people with whom
I'll interact,
The ones I'll try to help
To better things
And higher flight in life
And in that moment
I ponder my own mortality

Which at some point
Will come home to roost
Although I dont know
Quite when,
Nor where,
Nor how,
Back in my room
A familiar lump is strangely
Still beneath
The duvet
Oh!

That day mortality
Comes home to roost,
That day briefly
Regarded each morning,
That time for this flawed
And challenged man
To cross the bar,
Head West,
To buy the farm,
To turn home,
That day it seems

Was now

Two birds took flight at different times on pinions driven
By a shared need for height and clarity in the thinner clearer
Air above the chattering noise
Of lower altitudes,

Two birds, both feather clad yet more apart than chalk and cheese,
One a raptor with  keen and savage eye
And beak and claw,
The other softer, silver grey and dove,

Two creatures launched at different points in history,
Sharing a common physiology
Yet at odds in their interaction with the world
And opposite ends of the food chain,

Not once should their flights cross except but once,
Even would time dividing their flights permit,
And then would end in a flurry of blood
And broken feathers,

But against all that these things can happen and sometimes must And did and then
As perception grew in predator and prey,
Eyes widened in unexpected recognition
Of a kindred spirit,

Then immutable rules of living worlds are broken
And the norms of life themselves take flight for suddenly
Those rules don’t count for much
And what then remains

Is unknown

Do we fly?

Or do we crash to earth?

Over half a century served now,
Two kids
Two weddings
And one heart attack,
A life chequered with
Equal good and dark and downright bad,
Joy brought to some
Yet to others pain,
So I wonder now,
Can two rights
Overcome one wrong?

Yes I have done my part,
Brought some to faith,
Helped more to a better
More empowered life,
Loved and been loved
And yet always it seems
Lifting others to fly
Like eager doves
To greater things,
Greater lives,
Better loves and more,

Yet still I wonder,
Can two rights correct
One wrong?
Can even I be saved,
Is salvation there for
Even one such as I?
I have been called
An angel,
Even offered wings to
Others comfort
And encouragement,
Yet I so feel that darker side,
That darker things has done,

And so as this journey
Draws to its conclusion
I find myself drawing in
To myself yet still
Extended,
(Over so in fact) to the wellbeing of these others,
Still there for them and yet
At heart and
In the dark
I am alone aside
From the judgement

Of unelected disdainful
Self-righteous prigs
Yet here I am,
Up to my **** in alligators
Yet still trying to drain
Other people's swamps,
Still bailing while
Dodging the bites and
Still quiet,
Still alone,
In the dark,
As the coffin lid,
Slides home.

Well that was quick,
That was fast in fact,
The transition from
Nervous angler
Trying to land that
Gut felt truth that
Would not yield to
Rod nor line
But rather fought
And pulled and calmly won.