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

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

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

I dreamed
I was
At Birthwaite
I awoke
I was

Keith Wilson, Windermere, UK, Oct 2016

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

Dear Jane

We have heard
you like the words
of Mister Wordsworth
We thought you might like
to join us once a week
in the lounge
as we make up rhymes
about old times
talk in our chairs
about current affairs
and focus our eyes
on the horizon

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

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

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

Hip Hip Hooray!
They won an award today
and if I may say
"They deserved it"

The Birthwaite Bards
Are we clever?
Or is it all in the mind?
People seem to like it online
but little response by the locals

Here in Windermere
we are missing
her beguiling smile
Our Birthwaite Bard
has been missing for a while
Her Liverpool humour
and her laughing eyes
Her social life
so full of surprise
With her mobile phone
she is never alone
In the end she is always
surrounded by friends

They are busy here at Birthwaite
Quality Care Commission
due on Wednesday
I think
Paperwork being brought up to date
I wonder what the report will state

Suddenly
in the last few weeks
staff members have increased
Wednesday came
but the
Quality Care Commission
did not
I had to laugh
a little

To plan a party
to celebrate
her life
with her friends
and family here
at Birthwaite
She wants butterflies
and balloons
a Hawaii theme
and music
by Sean's band

New locks at Birthwaite
Are we in or are we out?
We're never 'in there with a shout'
Builders working in the rain
wishing it was fine again
They are actually working very hard
Should be finished by end of March

Birthwaite Bards
are sitting at a table
in The Lake District
in Cumbria
carefully watching
''Latest Poems'
as they pop up
on Hello Poetry
Outside is a beautiful spring day
workmen in shorts
but Cumbrian poet Keith
says:
“It's not spring yet
until midnight tonight
and if your clock is fast
you are in trouble”

living at Birthwaite
can be an obstacle course
in all the hallways