The passageway joins here and there
It combines today with yesterday
In a sequence of time
Changing forever the future
Letting in light and warmth
A union of sorts without speech
Walked quietly both ways
Frequently and without thought
But now stopping in the middle
Opening an uncertain promise
Where a dream could be made.

Love Mary **

When in my thirties whist reading philosophy books
Had this big discussion I called non- space,
In a pub in London with Ian  Pinda and a few
Family  members I'm  not sure who.

Talked about existence and how to escape
Into this place we called non-space
Alex jumped their first with his yellow book
Many years later he finally understood.

Lizzie did it her way with a humour at hand
Made the people laugh, sometimes quite outland
Katie stayed at home against all the norms
Found her own non- space in the palm of her hand.

Vicky went out gliding she  took the slippery slopes
She ended up in Watford with Thyme and a rope
To all those who try reach out for the sky
Find places hidden from other bidder's eyes.

I say well done to you the effort was worthwhile
Don't dig ditches in other peoples styles.


Love to my creative family from Mother Mary ,Grandma ***

Welham Road, Streatham.

Brown Clarks shoes all new,
Taking me back and forth to school,
In the rain and in the sun,
Skipping, dancing going for a run;
Under my bed they slept at night,
Polished and bright at morning light,
Was it the fairies that kept them clean,
Or mother's hand,
Spreading the cleaming sheen.

Love Mary **
Thank you Mum and Dad for keeping my feet straight and dry.

"It is time to go to bed my dear".
I turn towards him in my
Plain cotton nightdress.
"Shall I comb your hair
My love, it is all batterered
From the day's excursions."
I feel the comb gentle in
His hands, his warm
Breathing on my face.
That tender touch
Before nightfall.
A connection of body
And soul. Stilled together.
Enfolded in a simple task.
The tidying of a fringe.

Love Mary ***

Holiday were always spent at The Isle Of Wight
Its sandy, long beaches ideal for building castles
Floating in the shallows of the sea
Safe from rapid currents and rocky projections
It was without much tourism and low priced.

Year after year we returned to the same spots
The same  walks and the same unpredictable
Weather.
At shop counters the assistants did not change
Only the hotel owners, running at a loss the previous year.

My parents bungalow situated near to Totland bay
Overlooking field filled countryside, narrow lanes
With the sea salt reaching noses on windy days.
It was a paradise of simple meals, memories
And long conversation of the regularity of things.

Intertwined were the years of my own childhood
Playing with my brother on chalet steps as
My parents prepared the day's sandwiches
And those, taking my four across the Solent
For annual holidays visiting of grandparents.

This girl
Came to visit me
As often as could be
First in her mother's arms
Then on buggy wheels;
She played with the dolls' house
Spread out across the floor
What more could a Grandma want
Than a friend to play with the toys.


Love Grandma to Daisy ***

It seems to me
When you are young
And never again does it come
A sort of madness
Invades the scene
One wallks about
In another stream.

And so it came to be
On a hot and sunny day
Walking down a crowded street
Not dressed quite complete
In fact hardly anything at all
A bikini and nothing more
Went with boyfriend
Whose name was Rog
Dark and handsome
My prince frog
We went to pay a bill
For his mother
At Basildon still.

How the folks looked at me
Skipping along
In my frills
All the chaps turned around
Women whispered underground.
Everybody seemed to smile
Was this thing really allowed.

Now I am old and grey
Everybody looks away
But in my heart
I'm still that lass
Whose behaviour was
Rather rash.

Mary

We had so much fun when we were very young. Thank you my Roger.

If I could make a garden
Planning it would need
For all the things of loveliness
I’d have to find a seed.


The first would be gentleness
To listen with its words
and then Compassion
Climbing up the old brick wall.

Intertwined with Peace
And a touch of Tenderness
Wisdom in abundance
But most of all love.

A gardener needs good tools
To **** and dig and prune
To take away the debris
Sweep with a clean broom.

When it comes to tools
The old ones are the best
Sharpened by experience
And cared for with love.

A garden must be accessible
For all that walk its ways
Giving to each and everyone
A pleasure that will stay.


Love Mary ***

If I could have you back.
We would sit together
On that black vinyl settee
With the orange cushions
And stretched zips ,split.
With the light going down
Over the horizon
Across the fields
To the bay
And the small lampshade
Bringing comfort
Lit up the corner
Near the table
Where we had our teacups
And a bicuit tin,
Half empty.
We would talk
Later into the night
You in one armchair
And I near the table
Returning always
To put the world to rights;
It was better in the old days
When neighbours lent
A pint of milk
And you knew the man
Who sold broken biscuits
And there weren't so many cars
Two in most front gardens now.
Then you would be near asleep
And I ready to go too
But we continued
Talking on and off
Till by three o'clock
We had to stop.
If I could have you back.

Love to my dearest dad Eric William Henry Ayton -Robinson

You bring the outside to my bed
In your brightly coloured dress
Hair tied back in a ponytail
You dance about in a grassy field
The sun's gone in but do you care
Dancing around in the clear air
Wonder who you think you'll be
A circus lady home for tea
A fairy with a golden wand
Whoever it is you'll sing your song.

Love Grandma for Delphi x

‘ Lies in white Coates ‘

Love Mary x

Darling granddaughter
A fairy's name
Beautiful and gentle
A poetic refrain
In a cradle
White as snow
Curled like a ribbon
Waiting to show
All of your treasures
Saved for our pleasures
Sweet Evelyn
May your love roam.

Love Grandma ***

Send me postcards to heaven.

Send me a postcard to heaven,
To let me know who wins,
Been watching stricklycomedancing
Hope it's Debbie Magee.
Really like Ruth and Anton,
And Susan and Kevin are fun,
Davood so romantic,
And the two lads
Had great runs.

Please let Lily in Casualty,
End up in Ian's arms,
He really lacks all purpose,
But together
They might be grand.
If she goes to Hong Kong,
Letters can correspond,
But don't give up
On courting,
We've waited far too long .

Love Mary ***

Startling though love is
Coming in the back door
When we know so little
Tied our hands together
On a pink collared shirt
Round a neck went arms
To take that first sweet kiss.

Love Mary

Oh let this sun filled day
With flower head’s opening
And the grassy green ring
A circumference of circle
Perimetering the brim.

Just before leaving when
Inspiration can come in
This day of my mortality
The eternity is speechless
Under flow of bird’s wing.

Love Mary x

Words - Poem by Edward Thomas


Out of us all
That make rhymes
Will you choose
Sometimes -
As the winds use
A crack in a wall
Or a drain,
Their joy or their pain
To whistle through -
Choose me,
You English words?

I know you:
You are light as dreams,
Tough as oak,
Precious as gold,
As poppies and corn,
Or an old cloak:
Sweet as our birds
To the ear,
As the burnet rose
In the heat
Of Midsummer:
Strange as the races
Of dead and unborn:
Strange and sweet
Equally,
And familiar,
To the eye,
As the dearest faces
That a man knows,
And as lost homes are:
But though older far
Than oldest yew, -
As our hills are, old, -
Worn new
Again and again:
Young as our streams
After rain:
And as dear
As the earth which you prove
That we love.

Make me content
With some sweetness
From Wales
Whose nightingales
Have no wings, -
From Wiltshire and Kent
And Herefordshire, -
And the villages there, -
From the names, and the things
No less.
Let me sometimes dance
With you,
Or climb
Or stand perchance
In ecstasy,
Fixed and free
In a rhyme,
As poets do.

On a wall for many years
Is a painting three foot tall
Behind the class, in a frame
A collection of artefacts displayed;
Two apples and a jug,
Reflected in an oval dish
A brightly coloured tablecloth
Orange with embroidered grapes.
Two wine bottles in green and brown
And a shell which was jumble found
Plucked in a hurry so to last
For they are known to drop
So fast
Taken from a garden tree
Placed in perfect harmony.
In a classroom, not too late
These pretty bunches
I did paint.

Love Mary **

A watermelon green on shelf
One tomato in isle two
And your hands to fetch
Your legs, a letter in box.

What I give you poor as I am,
A box of meteorites, a magazine,
A kiss on cheek, a hair cut or two
I would, everthing, for love of you .

Love Mary x

Delirious.

No one ever realises, knows,
Other than in retrospect,
The significance of their action,
How the years will mount up,
Spilling this moment,
Out across the foundation of their lives.

There I was delirious with happiness,
Seventeen and a bit and skipping,
Running in the dark,
To tell,
To tell someone my news.
Circumstance did not touch ground,
Merrily I was oblivious,
As the door opened to the crying of a child
I stepped in,
Announcing my news with a smile,
Trembling with fear of this,
Holding arms she gathered me in,
I joined the clan,
Fell into the limitation,
As she had before,
And thousands before we were even born.
Her mother smiled, another bit of guilt lifted;
I came from a good home.

As I left hearing my footsteps
On the wet streets and creeping into bed,
My innocence dissipated,
The next day, the beginning,
The reality took away that joy,
Leaving the news to be broken
To the grandparents of my
Unborn child.

Love  Mary

Thank you dear Roger for being the father of that child and giving me a good life.

I went down to  mossy side where the banks are green
Filled my heart with longing and cast it in the stream
I looked at the gold fishes  swooning in the winter sun
Unbuttoned my coat and gave it to a swan
My shoes were too heavy so I lent them to a boy
I'll take them for you Miss wrap them in tin- foil.
I needed some wings so reached up to the sky
Someone dropped a pair now I can fly
Remember me in Springtime when the flowers bloom
The rest of the time have a good afternoon.

Love Mary **

Its True


Ay, the pain it costs me

to love you as I love you!

For love of you, the air, it hurts,

and my heart,

and my hat, they hurt me.

Who would buy it from me,

this ribbon I am holding,

and this sadness of cotton,

white, for making handkerchiefs with?

Ay, the pain it costs me

to love you as I love you!

Your struggle , the pots
Blue oxide is inflexible
The grim reaper returns
On a note of savage trust.

The struggle is each day
And lingers to get it right
Then your spirit lifts lighter
The edges spread, smudge.

To Ian my painter friend.
Love Mary

We are holding on
On thé edge of time
Looking out
Crying out loud
Is this the beginning
Or is it the end
Life as we knew it
Folded down.
Love Mary

Everything I lose,
Each day a little surprise,
A hoped for beauty,
Falls away,
And I am in tatters
Torn and scraped
Beside those
Ever ending
Chains.


Love Mary ***

Oka .

Little black baby ,
Your hair tightly curled
Came with you parents,
To inhabit new world,
The streets of Streatham,
A London suburb,
Became your place
of residence,
For a time you dwelled.

Oka , you were beautiful,
In your nylon frock,
Ribbons in your hair,
Brightly coloured socks,
Your name means Cherry Blossom,
In English and Japanese,
But you came from Jamaica,
With the banana trees.

Your mother had to work,
So left you with a friend,
She looked after you
From eight till ten.
I would play with you,
Tickle your toes,
Give you a bottle,
Loved you lots I know.
Your parents returned,
To their land of sun,
We all missed you,
The sixties had begun.

Two years later,
Your parents returned,
They'd had another baby,
A pretty little girl.
But no Oka,
You'd died whilst away,
My friend was at work,
So the new baby could not stay,
Felt your loss for many a year,
Your parents disappeared,
We all missed you,
Our beautiful, Oka, girl.

In memory of Oka a sweet little black baby,
Born at the beginning of the sixties
And died before she was two.

Love Mary **

Beauty and purpose.

In your garden I see my flowers,
Given with grace to share for a smile,
We started with roses, yarrow and thyme,
Adding poppies, géraniums and sweet dandelion;
Now it is, a herbal paradise,
Collecting fragrances pure and bright,
Healing properties grown with love,
To make people better,
Show them what's right.

To Victoria and Pieter
Love Mum ***

The magpie children .

They are running flying their hands through the wind,
Catching the dandelion seeds in a delight for freedom.
Out of nursery rhyme books crawling
Back memories,
Voices of maidens high pitched ,dazzling,
If I could reach them now,
Slow time to the hour
When youth took my hand, recklessly,
And spun me in the air.
Now upon my bench they sit,
These quiet solemn children
Reading my message
Given with love.

Mary xxxx

I never got out of my nursery rhyme books
Daffy down dilly is still coming to town
But wearing bright leggings and a plastic crown
Little Boo Peep has lost her sheep
But does not want to find them
**** Robin sings out of tune
But nobody tells him it is too crude
The three little kittens threw away
Their mittens and mother began to cry
And if your look in the garden
You will find Mary Quite Contrary
And Ted in a flower bed
They have forgotten their *****.

Love mad Grandma ***

Bobble hat and Terrance rat
Bought a flat at the back
Filled it up with tiny things
Pebble stones and fairy wings
They built some shelves
Made of wood
Cheaply bought
Without much thought
Stacked them up
Day by day
With their collection
Now on display.
Bobble hat was rather grand
So went shopping in a Harrod's
Van
The store detective very cross
When Bobble hat took a lot.
Under hat, behind the brim
Lots and lots of diamond rings.
Terrance rat was not impressed
Said your manners' a disgrace.
But off they went out for tea
To their local Busy Bee .

Love Mary

For Evelyn and Florence and all those who like to play.

Gentle little bird
Always in grey
Like an old soft toy
I’ll take you in a box
Plop you down
In a special spot
Where there are trees
And bumble bees
A bottle of water
And sandwich too.
Gentle little bird
You were heard.

Love Mary x

The River Boy.

He fell in the river that child of mine,
On the edge was perched steady and fine,
Feeding the ducks bread from his hand,
When suddenly, splash,his feet lost land;
For a second we stared at the swirling spot,
Then instinct took over I grabbed the lot,
Out came a boy as wet as could be ,
Wrapped him in cardigans, then home for tea.

Alex fell in the River Thames at Staines when he was about 6-8 years old? Do you remember son? Love Mum **

Closed The Window,
Tidied the sink,
Emptied the ******* bin,
Sorted the letters,
On the kitchen table,
Watered the *** plants,
Folded the clothes,
Wiped the fridge door,
Can't say more.

Love to all my family and friends

He did not drink
But sat at the bar
Waiting for her potato
The one she had daily.

Their life, the pub, he.
The potato was a food
To alleviate the painful
He gave it with his love.

Love Mary ***

I can’t, simply can not.
Stretch out the time anymore
The rod is broken
An avalanche has fallen
On this sleepy town.

And so shall it be
Until the world
Gets better
Then we shall see.
Go safely my friends
For you are loved.

Mary ***

In shop windows, reflected panes of glass,
There once was a woman walking,
In heels ever so fast;
Her shirts flowed outwards
To the breeze of a step,
Hair bounced upwards,
Silky with respect;
Inside a pocket
A tea bag and a chain,
Sixpence for the metre
To get her home again.

Love Mary **

Climbing the stairs
Pockets full of water
The son’s voice
Fell backwards
Inside of her.

Trying to explain the beauty
Of Barenboim playing Schubert
With Martha Argerich
She heard Evelyn humming
From the classical book of Trolls.

Somewhere in the South
There was talk of Derrida
And binary opposites
And social distancing
Whilst the music played on.


Love Mary **

I see you along the river banks
Dipping those black shoes in wet
Whisking the wild flowers pinks
And mauve with Florence hiding.

It is a bit of wasteland decorated
And an old church wall and ivy
You play and sing imagining all
Where did you come from littlest.

Love Grandma ***

This Is Just To Say
BY WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold



By William Carlos  William

The stillness
After the cat had gone
The house seemed empty,
Devoid of soft patter;
Downstairs,
The shaking of biscuits on tin- foil
And the long slow meow
Of a morning yawn.
The warm spot in the garden
Now an obvious space,
Plantless from years of basking.
Only the birds seemed grateful
Peace had returned to their world,
No more feathered grassways
To clear.
We buried you in front of the fir tree,
You were part of eighteen Christmases
Our very dear black and white cat.

Love the kearns family

I took my friend Sam to school
He did not know what to do
I sat him in a wooden chair
Then turned around he wasn’t there.

I crept out the classroom door
Scrambled along on all fours
Came to the water tap
There was Sam sapping that.

Love Mary x

First and dimpled blessed babe
Born to me on an Autumn day
By my side in your cot
A tiny face, I never forgot
For a while I looked on you
Stroked your hair tenderly
On my chest you did lie
Like a crimson butterfly .

I will take care of you
Wrap you from the
Evening chill
In my arms
Or on my breast
My tiny blackbird, rest.

Do not worry I am here
Standing by the open door
Listening for each and
Every stir
The ******* of
A hungry girl
There never was
A day so fine
As when I knew
You were mine .

Love From Mummy ***

Sitting by the window watching the falling snow
Landing on your dustbin and the ground below.
Footsteps up the path look like a wiggly snake
Big ones and small ones and those ***** cats make.


Love Mary ***

Can you feel the place where I got off?
It was in a bookcase between two others
That spoke to me of a sadness carried
Tucked warmly away
So it gave protection.
You can only be hurt once
After that a switch turns down
And though you may hear the words
It is just a passing nod
And a picking up of skirts
Can you feel the place where I got off?

Love Mary x

Paintings are not just for Reading.

You stare, asking why
What is going on here,
There are grapes and
Lilies,
With a skull
And two chairs.

True it can be read
We do all the time,
But stand and see
How the colours combine
Finding a harmony,
An untold rhyme.

The pink tip of that rose
Echoes in the sky,
Giving a painting
A sudden surprise
Which shimmers the greyness
In her shadowed brow.

If one moves ones eyes
Finds different ways
To enter this world
The artist has made,
You'll come to see
Paintings are not just for Reading.

Love Mary **

Where is truth, does it exist anywhere?
This is what it is, broken strength.
Lonely, I hear you crying in the hall
Why?, you said,
And a box and a pair of shoes
Were delivered.

Love Mary xxxx

On a sunny day waiting for
The answer
About costs
A husband with cheque book
Looked out of the window
Of the reception area
Tha attendant looked out of the window
At this woman
Dancing,
Dancing along a low wall edging,
" Look at that woman,  is she drunk ?", he said.
"That is my wife"
Returned my husband's voice,
" She just has a playful personality."


Love Mary **

I watched you today on FaceTime,
A new invention of hyperspace.
You were smiling
I wanted to join in with your playing,
What was it today?
A playmobil playground
And added dinosaurs
In red , blue and green.
You made them talk
Little words from your head.

Love Grandma to Evelyn.

Finding words that fit
And do remember all the hours
The first where we did met
And take my hand a gentle curve
Down a shady lane,
And kiss my brow under the bough
Where we use to be
And yet I have few words to speak
Of hands with strength to dear
But darling you are my tender one
Stay forever near.

Love Mary x

Your heart is as soft as a bird's feather, downy
From birth
As gentle as the passing of a skirt
As it moves against skin
As kind as the wisest of people
When their heart is risen
Above all things
Son you are all these things
And I love you .

Mum xxxx

Preciouly I unwrapped the roll
Taking only what was necessary
The angels needed wings
In the sky stars twinkled
So I covered my cardboard
In tiny sheets of silver
And the fairy’s wand
For the top branch
Of Christmas
Sparkled .

Love Mary **