I dreamed
I was
At Birthwaite
I awoke
I was

Keith Wilson, Windermere, UK, Oct 2016

The Birthwaite Ghost is on the prowl
See her glide hear her howl

Laboured footsteps can be heard
plodding on without a word

Drifting on just like a dream
bringing fear to the independent living team

Perhaps a resident from the past
coming home to roost at last

Did you really have to go?
I'm left behind and miss you so
It's been a long, long time

You said you had to go to foreign climes
But you're always on my mind
Did you really have to go?

You left me sad
And I feel bad
It's been a long, long time

Do you ever think of me
When you are far beyond the sea
Did you really have to go?

I dream of you both day and night
Although you're very far away
It's been a long, long time

Please come back. I need you so
A sun to shine and river's flow
It's been a long, long time


Keith Wilson
Birthwaite November 2015

My cat was killed two years ago
How it came about I'll never know

It was a dark and stormy night
I should never have let her out of sight

She must have seen the door ajar
And crept out to wander far

A speeding car was deemed her fate
The wind played tricks, she left it late

I miss her purr and friendly bite
Her life was taken in the stormy night



Keith Wilson  
Birthwaite Nov 2015

I walked the almost
Deserted beach
Late afternoon
The sun was minting coins
On the placid waters
It was indeed a beautiful
Day awakening my
Poetic imagination
I sat for a while deep
In thought
How could such a place
Turn so hostile and frightening
Storms and thunderous waves
shipwrecks, men drowned
Hostile predators deep under
The lashing waves?
I walked quietly away
At least today the sea
Was behaving itself

Keith   Wilson  
Birthwaite July 2015

Goodbye Keith Wilson
We will miss you here
at Birthwaite Bards you brought us cheer
Always remembering the good old days
Lost loves
sometimes new
How many can you remember?
Twenty one or twenty two?
We had a laugh with stories you told
and poems so bold
Birthwaite Bards feel a loss
We'll remember you dearly
Happy days!

I stand in the splendour
Of my summer garden
The scent of honeysuckle wafting
Across in the evening breeze
The late sun casting shadows
Across the ivy-clad wall
Hydrangeos and roses appear
To steal the show
But many other flowers
Are staking their claim
As storm clouds gather
An eerie feel descends
A feeling of peace and tranquility
Now reigns
As rain begins to fall

Keith   Wilson   Birthwaite Flats

The Birthwaite Gardeners


The Birthwaite gardeners
are at it again
They work so hard
they look in pain
They have hung some bags
to protect their seeds
They don't mind the birds
taking the weeds
They dig by night
they dig by day
As they go along
their merry way


Keith Wilson     July 2017

Everyone sat quiet
around the table
writing
about death
nature
or whatever

Only four of us today
We can have some tea and don't have to pay

Poems are ready to display
Who will start to read today

Poems on love, poems on war
Poems on strangers at the door

Minds are working oh so fast
From the first poem to the last

We put them up on a screen
Where all our poems can be seen

She now walks the dog alone
All the way back to her home

She used to walk for miles with him
Until he died

Now lonely and alone
She walks the dog back to her home

Keith   Wilson  
2015 Birthwaite Flats