Hold out your hand in friendship
because we've got to share the world
you know that life will die if starved of affection
you've got to love to save the world.
Well you know you must
if it's only just
saying no to greed and pollution
calling time on war and corruption.
Stand up, you must be counted
and count the friends that stand by you
with your neighbor stand shoulder to shoulder
and take control before they do.
Well you know you must
if it's only just
courage in the face of oppression
trusting in the word of your brother.
Come on, you know you want it
a chance to live your life in peace
speak out against mass destruction
against envy and deceit.
Well you know you must
if it's only just
holding out your hand to a stranger
hoping that you'll get what you're giving back.

In the honeycomb of knowledge
through the walls of space and time
stand the other sides of me,
where less is more
and space is freedom
and time is mine.

You live your life
through the lies you tell
on a fairy tale trail
through the gates of hell

You point your finger
looking to blame
any but you
seems you have no shame

Insincere pleading
we don't want to hear
you turn on your smile
through crocodile tears

Hooked like a worm
you wriggle and squirm
turn on the charm
why don't you?

I heard you, Brian Wilson,
your genius creativity,
your schizophrenic synchronicity,
through finely tuned
and balanced cans
way back in 1973.

Isolation creates
a lonely situation
for some who need connection
and conversation
for the prevention of
desperation and depression.

So much time and space
for the things
that have been smothered
and forgotten.

We suffer disconnection
No sign of reconnection
Face to face
Two metre space
Practice isolation.

Isolation spawns
creation of new ways of
communication.

I made jam,
rhubarb with redcurrant,
rhubarb with raspberry,
strawberry,blackcurrant,
but the rhubarb with apricot,
it was just the best jam ever
ne plus ultra
mmmm.............

A dusting of snow
Under a pink sky
A flash of gold
Where the narcissi
Bloom
Too early.

She sauntered in and looked around
poised,ready for flight
the resident cat made a growling sound
he's not in the mood for a fight
she sashayed past as he stared spellbound
at her sudden hot dog stunts
she arched her back and danced about
then suddenly up she sprunt
rife with mischief she leaped and bounced
and he rose,and left at once.

Yesterday's sky
grey,overcast,
hanging heavy
humid
threatening deluge
all gone today.
Change
to hot, clear blue
cloudless
sunshine
promising Summer.

I look through fingers of light
And feathers of ice
In the milky glow
Of a full moon
In a cloudless,starlit sky.
I can see for miles at midnight
As the midwinter frost
Settles on the land.

A late February evening
A tree lined silhouette
On the far horizon
Against a sunset
Of burnished gold .

It gives me the sweet scent
Of new mown hay
And the blackbirds song
In May.

À skilful move
Or sleight of hand
That's quick to fool
A game of chance
A slick trick.

LIFE

Life is full
I'm full of life
and
life is full of me
each place you look
I'm in that place
and
little bits of me
shine in your face
and
make you smile
and
you'll remember me.

The Summers flash by
green and succulent
like stations in the night
through the long journey of life.

Ride the wave of life's great ocean
falling through your own emotion
taking stock of where you are now.
See the future like a promise
but you know you must be honest
to yourself before all else.
Feel the thrill of fear and pleasure
know them both so you can measure
what is right and what is wrong,
let your spirit find the answer
send it like a cosmic dancer
to the place where we belong,
and when a kind word softly spoken
mends the places that are broken
in your spirit and your heart.
Make each moment last forever
keep them close so you will never
lose your soul or lose your spark.


Jan 2006

You purport that you
are always right
with verbiage, loud
designed to confuse
fomenting exasperation
with this constant fight
and sisyphean failure
to change your views.

The concept of lost
is unfathomable
the idea of gone
is so deep
it cannot be found

This profound thought
wandered into my mind
it lingered for a while
then promptly disappeared.

I searched about
trying to find it's hiding place
checking thought by thought
for that one elusive clue.

The problem is
each thought revisited
distracts and diverts me
down other avenues

Where other profound thoughts
wander into my mind
linger for a while
then promptly disappear.

A warm cwtch
A safe place
A smiling face.

Buttercups and bluebells
Lilac and cherry blossom
Violets peeping
Leaves unfurling
Blackbird calling
Lambkins bleating
Raindrops falling
Hail
Merry month of May

I know that I should
and I would if I could
but it's just impossible.
It's not that I will not
it's just that I can not
but I shall.................
maybe.

my words are the product of my imagination
coloured by the emotions of my experience.
I have plumbed the depths of despair
and soared on the dizzy heights of elation.
For the most part I have tossed on the seas of humanity,
where frailty and strength move side by side.

On the edge of another dimension
I look through the cracks
catching snatches of a memory
long lost in time.

Voices rise and fall in muted conversation
and shadows surround me
drawing me towards infinity
suspended in time.

Like a sleepwalker I fear the night
and the promise that hangs heavy on the silence
and the spinning lights that wheel in on the wind
holding me in their brilliance.

Spellbound in anticipation
I watch as the cracks
widen on the memory
that I know was mine'

Long days, short nights
Green trees, blue skies
Bird song and butterflies.

No more
curling into
my embrace
purring your
contentment.
No more
scratching
gently at the door
catching
my attention.
No more
racing madly
through the grass
chasing shadows
and sunbeams.
Oh Minnie
I miss your presence
but still
I sense your essence.

Let me help you momma
like you helped me
when I was young
take the weight off momma
it's time for you
your chores are done
you know I love you momma
you gave me strength
when I had none
so let me help you momma
like you helped me
when I was young.

Monday did not seem
so far away
until you said you'd meet me
on that day.
A knot of excited anticipation
tightens
with its' slow
and tortuous approach.
The conversation
that I can't believe
I had with you
echoes in my head.
The impossible dream
that I had been content to nurture
in a gentle fantasy
now threatens to explode
into my waking reality.
You answered the question
I had not dared to ask
and the subtle invitation
flutters
like butterflies
behind the mask
that you have seen through.

The moon rose,smiling
through the tree tops
where the day birds
slumbered
her reflection
shimmered
on the still,deep pool
of a slow moving river
and shattered
in a burbling brook.

My dreaming mind
makes me face
my pain,my fear
my destiny.
My dreaming mind
has no sense
of now or here
or when in me.
My dreaming mind
excites a state
of open tiers
of love in me
and I can look at you
and know
a soul
that knows me.

A flickering smile
from a stranger
with your blue eyes
I get a sense of you in me
like a butterfly
that flutters by
on the Summer breeze
calling
"Be what you be
see what you see
one life, one reality."

No! Is a hard rejection
A negative adverb
An unwelcome word
Avoided
By not asking.

Nothing was so green
as the glittering grass
oozing with dew.
Nothing so red
as that brick wall
criss-crossed with snail trails
or the rose that shuddered
in the morning breeze.
Nothing was so blue
as the sky reflected
in the lake below.

My love and I will meet again
on some far golden planet,
and even on the darkest night
or blinded by the brightest light
our souls will touch and know.

For on a far and distant shore
a billowing sailing ship takes oar
to sail across a future sky
and in the blinking of an eye
Ezekiel's wheels come spinning by.

And through the blue of Heaven's arc,
the supersonic trails
dissolve
in ancient ocean spray,
and through the windows of my mind
the past and future merge
to dance  
an endless dance
with now.

In a fog of indecision
through the maze of no solution
in the face of contradiction
with a blind determination
on the wings of inspiration
fly the seeds of our salvation.

Shouting out the same old flannel
"It's someone else's fault!"

And with growing consternation
with no room for calculation
and with every indication
of an error in direction
showing signs of desperation
and a lack of revelation.

All the constipated channels
grinding slowly to a halt.

What is the expectation
of the chance of liberation
from the threat of destitution?
when, with growing trepidation,
the failing constitution
fails to find a sure solution.

Is it just one more example
of the lessons to be taught?

Poised on the edge of forever
on the wings of a song and a prayer
taking chances of now or never
is the end of the rainbow near?

We are but a spark in infinity
each moment already the past
we look to the future but cannot see
toward it our gambles are cast.

Taking flight in any direction
can we know what the outcome will be?
arriving at our destination
not sure it's the right place to be.

Faced with a thousand decisions
not knowing the right one to take
setting out full of grand ambition
struck down by the cold hand of fate.

Poised on the edge of forever
on the wings of a song and a prayer
taking chances of now or never
is the end of the rainbow near?

Over run
with every body's problems.
Over come
with cries of help, I want, I need.
Over strung

Help!

This ship of fools sets sail
across a sea so fair
to hit a sudden gale
that sends them everywhere.
This ship is just an open boat
packed so full of hope
it barely stays afloat.
Too late to change as fear unfolds
their last resort is hope.

There's an elephant
in the boardroom
here's the scapegoat.......
in the tearoom.

You wrap it in a paper dream
and label it with honesty

Your version of reality

Shouting out a twisted truth
supported by your
manufactured proof
absolving you
from the lies you tell.

Well

All roads lead to madness
and the unhinged swinging gate
where suspicion
screams
in accusation
and stains
the purity of love with hate.

Innocence stares
wide eyed and helpless
denied
as hope
dismayed
slowly fades.

The wrong creed
seals their fate
the right creed
in another place
this creed
preaches hate
for all
who show the other face.

Whose creed sans pitie'
whose face
whose proof
whose version of reality
whose heartless twisted truth

empowers the fist with righteousness
and holds the key to life and death?

Remembering Rita's quaint
Independent ways
The children loved
Her gentle ways
Her mind made up
She would not be moved
She lives on
In the memories she made.

Floating on the edge of life
too tired to gather strength
withering like the autumn leaves
blowing in the wind.
Dissolving like the morning mist
under the summer sun
melting like the winter snow
in the warm spring rain.

Earth to earth
ashes to ashes
now I'm gone again.

And when you watch the autumn leaves
blowing in the wind
there too am I
free at last to play
and in the morning mist
I'll rise towards the summer sun
to fall again as warm spring rain
to melt the winter snow.

Earth to earth
ashes to ashes
remember me.

I am the undertaker
the one who speaks
for kindred who need to shield.
I am the risk taker
behind the mask
holding the fort
the last resort
in this estival of unknown out comes
this is my testimonial,my task
my forte.

Don't see yourself
as the nuisance before the pain
or see yourself
as the cloud before the rain
            instead
see yourself
as the credit before the prize
and the love that shines
from your children's eyes.


2017

When you care about
What people think
You pander
To their need
Not yours.

Everything's so still.

Looked at through a cobweb
on a fresh September dawn
bedecked with shining dewdrops
on the rose bush on the lawn,
while below me in the valley
a swathe of thick white mist
snakes along the river
waiting to be kissed
by the first long rays
of the sun's embrace
peeping o'er the hill.

Everything's so still.

When I wrote it,
it was bad
the situation
made me sad,
but now
it's surely
out of hand
they've sold the future
and ***** the land
all to satisfy
the latest fad.