I know that's how death will come, Suddenly flying into another orbit when I am photographing flowers It's not a gentle transition. No-one will know where I've gone. One step wrong and I'm off the high wire And plunging into the no safety net. Flying for a while Jumping into hyperspace,spinning electrons Startle my wide eyes. Transiting the new black sun I'm on a double gold helix, Spider on her web, Knitting furiously Into the future heaven on gossamer wings. Butterfly goodbye, I'm off to see the stars. And the black holes. No one will come with me. I'm shaking off,evaporating into mist. I'm a flying saucer on a circus mission. I can't say no to a new invitation. Make it fast and break with tradition. Time is passing smoothly till that break In the music, I've been transmuted into a different key someone else will play me on their violin I'm a tune, I'm a thought, I'm a whisper in your vision. Goodbye,darling. I'm under orders Ready to leave for my performance On the electric carpet. Death dancing to a tune on a violoncello, Arpeggionne sonata I'm playing your words upside down In a new foreign translation, Accompanied by solo artists,ice cracking I'm going in. It's too sudden. I'm flying. Spinning faster to amuse the clowns, too many ups and no downs. I'm going right out of orbit I've broken the pull of gravity, And fly with pure equanimity Into my future life, I'm off at some moment An instant,a crack,a loud smack That was me passing
May Sunday again;
Hailstones rush sideways,
striking the windows
with small fierce blows.
In the gaps between
two white butterflies zig zag
like motorized wild flowers;
One colour,two forms. I see now
two aspects of Nature:
hard,destructive,stern;
frail and delicate.
Both are coloured the same white.
Hard to tell sometimes which we are seeing
But we can all distinguish between a gentle touch
and a bitter blow.
As the day dips into night my heart falls too.
In these dreams I look for the lost
in the snowy steppes and the ices of the heart.
A white petal falls.
Cherry trees bloom again
Hollyhocks,delphinium and phlox Foxgloves,cat mint, nettles,near by docks The blind man breathed in air full of wild scent His daughted named the colours now absent
High up on the Kentish cliffs we sat Capel-le -Ferne I found it on a map We listened to this girl, we did not speak Absorbing by our senses,proud and meek
Now I recollect the details very well In those dream like memories I dwell Snapdragons growing just beside my chair I smell the scent as if I were still there
I may be blinded by the tears of loss But I remember, love, our happiness
Rolling marbles made of coloured glass Skipping rope and learning ancient rhymes Filling inkwells , polishing the brass With dip-in pens we wrote upon the lines
Licking out the bowl where cakes were mixed Running wild with brothers and their friends Wonder at those fireworks Daddy fixed Catherine wheels rotating, transcendent
Mother smiling in her flowery dress Little rocking chairs where we placed dolls Daddy saying,Good night and God Bless Teddies with no fur left, ask our Paul
Little sisters, brothers’ cricket balls Hot coal fires where kettles used to boil Old gas cookers, scabbed knees from our falls Fuses blowing, making light bulbs fail
In our bed , we whispered little tales In the morning feeling warm and dazed Love was in the air, the baby wailed Dad so pleased with Mother’s happy face
I see the cobblestones all hot with sun The Street Party , the Coronation
In my despair I felt that I was stuck Paralysed by grief and guilt I failed By the end I had tried every trick
From prayer unthought to deeps of logic black My life, my engine ,juddered off the rails I hated God and of “his” Church was sick
Starving and alone I was in shock The death of one I loved had made me frail By the end I had tried every trick
I felt Love’s arms around me, death was blocked I knew this goodness, why else would I wail? I thought I hated God but Love had struck
Warm and golden light that did me hold Where are you now when Evil has grown bold? Kind despair that made me long time sit By the end I learned Love needs no trick
I know that's how death will come, Suddenly flying into another orbit when I am photographing flowers It's not a gentle transition. No-one will know where I've gone. One step wrong and I'm off the high wire And plunging into the no safety net. Flying for a while Jumping into hyperspace,spinning electrons Startle my wide eyes. Transiting the new black sun I'm on a double gold helix, Spider on her web, Knitting furiously Into the future heaven on gossamer wings. Butterfly goodbye, I'm off to see the stars. And the black holes. No one will come with me. I'm shaking off,evaporating into mist. I'm a flying saucer on a circus mission. I can't say no to a new invitation. Make it fast and break with tradition. Time is passing smoothly till that break In the music, I've been transmuted into a different key someone else will play me on their violin I'm a tune, I'm a thought, I'm a whisper in your vision. Goodbye,darling. I'm under orders Ready to leave for my performance On the electric carpet. Death dancing to a tune on a violoncello, Arpeggionne sonata I'm playing your words upside down In a new foreign translation, Accompanied by solo artists,ice cracking I'm going in. It's too sudden. I'm flying. Spinning faster to amuse the clowns, too many ups and no downs. I'm going right out of orbit I've broken the pull of gravity, And fly with pure equanimity Into my future life, I'm off at some moment An instant,a crack,a loud smack That was me passing
Our Father,Stars in Heaven,
Spell out thy Great Name.
Thy wisdom comes
And Angels’ sums
Add up our human pain.
Thy love is felt,
Though we live in doubt
About the human game.
Give us delay
On bankers pay,
And forgive us our lackluster efforts
As we forgive those who lack real involvement with us,
And guide us into a Demonstration
To make plain to the Nation
The evil done to the Poor,
The Disabled,the Mentally Ill,
And their Carers.
For Thine is the Trial
At the Hour of the Bible Story
We hope but are nervous.Amen
The end of values, kindness, earned respect The loss of wisdom,history and truth The pillars of democracy are cracked.
The centre of the heart,who can protect? Conspiracy and madness unseat proof An end of values, kindness, earned respect
Violence is admired though lives are wrecked The lasting triumph of the folk uncouth The pillars of the Western Mind have cracked
Their minds unfurnished seem bereft of tact They tread on others words like horses’ hooves The end of values, kindness, earned respect
How can such opponents make a pact? The calculating crucify our youth The pillars of the Western Mind have cracked
Yet Western Empire builders had no ruth They tortured those they conquered group by group On such ground just madmen earn respect The altars of the Western Mind have cracked
My front hedge is so thick, wrens made a nest I saw a small bird flying low and swift With my garden I feel human, blessed
The bonsai beech has grown till almost dense It has no trunk, the leaves are tiny gifts My front hedge is so full, wrens made a nest
My clematis has flowered beyond all sense When I looked I felt my soft heart lift In my garden, know that I am blessed
In a deep green wood the eye can rest Open eyed, a look must not be fast My front hedge welcomes wrens ,oh,love,a nest!
Deep happiness connects us to what’s best The dark blue sky, the sunset flaming, brief. With my garden I feel love, I ‘m blessed
Be alive, don’t dwell on thoughts too sweet The natural world brings virtue and deceit My front hedge is so thick, wrens made a nest These tiny creatures filled with love and zest
A day with my own self, such peaceful hours The inner seas make music as they roll And in the ground the worms air roots of flowers
The rain comes down in cold but gentle showers Desiring to give moisture to all souls A symbol of the value of quiet hours
In Northern hills we looked for Durham owls They hunt by day to keep their bodies whole While in the ground the worms air roots of flowers
My loved one was a native of those towers Highcliff Nab and Hasty Bank called home My days with him a-wandering there for hours
As he died , deep in my heart I howled I held his hands, remembered , paid the toll While in the ground the worms digest the sour
Lying in the heather we had roamed May God have mercy on his homing soul Now I enjoy in reverie our hours Deep in the ground the worms drowse mixed with flowers
Daddy, how we missed you when you died I had not been told when I was five Come back,Daddy,miss your smiling eyes
We were told that we must never cry When the cancer took your earthly life Daddy, how you suffered ,then you died
When you wanted company, I tried I was too articulate to thrive Come back,Daddy,miss my Daddy’s eyes
By the flower beds, you wanted a guide You wanted me to talk.I really tried. Daddy we fell down a black hole, why d’y die?
You slept all alone, the pain arrived We slept with our mammy, on your side Come back,Daddy, don’t you miss my eyes?
I always hum like you did though I’m shy You are singing through me, close and wise Daddy, we still miss you and your pride Come back,Daddy, teach me how to cry.
Hollyhocks,delphinium and phlox Foxgloves,cat mint, nettles,near by docks The blind man breathed in air full of wild scent His daughted named the colours now absent
High up on the Kentish cliffs we sat Capel-le -Ferne I found it on a map We listened to this girl, we did not speak Absorbing by our senses,proud and meek
Now I recollect the details very well In those dream like memories I dwell Snapdragons growing just beside my chair I smell the scent as if I were still there
I may be blinded by the tears of loss But I remember, love, our happiness
Saturday was shopping then a walk Epping,Ongar,Finchingfield by car Reading book reviews and chewing stalks Buttercups and meadows,Henry Moore
Driving back from Chelmsford, cornfields flamed Smoke and fire and earth, the sun dismayed Farmers working hard, a harvest, grain The sky through mist a cobalt blue displayed
Standon with its fords and wandering cows Little rivers,Essex, flowing down The Stort joins with the Lea,a gurglimg sound Water for the Thames and mossy ground
The earth feels like my body sacrificed An artist’s canvas stretched , a matricide
Autumn rust,red,gold,so gay.
Drystone walls, edging fields,
Apples gathered,holly berries
Flash so brightly
Look like flowers
Sun shines sideways,shadows long
Of trees appear I dwell among
Woods of gentle beeches sing
Swaying with the sideward wind.
See their roots, all intertwined.
Feel their geometry in the mind.
Look up now into the sky,
See the V formation high.
Geese fly home at end of day.
My heart is moved by patterned dance
In this peace and great silence
My mind opens like the sky
And in this moment I would die,
So I could stay with this still vision
Of geese set out on autumn mission.
Snails in rain pools slither near
My feet upon the terrace here
And look,upon their whorled backs
All the sense of life is packed.
And yet so easily Life’s destroyed,
When blind foot steps into the void.
I ‘ll try to get it right just one more time
You did not converse with me in words
You were simply present with your Light
Nowhere did I feel your power and might
You were no eagle, but a little bird I ‘ll try to get it right just one more time.pp
Who made our language with its subtle rhymes?
The ancient people had their well trained Scribes You were always there,oh gentle Light
You gave me warmth, you changed my too fixed sight
A comforter , a Spirit, how describe? I ‘ll try to get it right a final time.
The agony inside me lost its bitep
I wanted to go on, to be alive You do not always show your golden Light
We do not know when we at last arrive
We do not reach this meeting place by strife I ‘ve tried to get it right this final time I never saw such Gold until that night
The myriad random movements, words and signs Inanimate, cold blooded,hot or warm In mystery make the world, complete, designed
From the stars at night, to needles’ eyes Every size is present eye to horn The myriad random movements, words and signs
Yet, not robotic, shivering, alive Like a human baby when new born In mystery the world is fresh, designed
So every morning we awake surprised The dreams we had afflict us like flung stones The random movements, words and latent signs
Are dreams the truth or can the unknown lie? Are we subject to their nightly roams? The mystery is the world makes its designs
As the wild geese land at one in storms The murmurations of the starlings charm The myriad random movements, words and signs In mystery make the world, replete,divine
I ‘ll try to get it right for one more time
You did not converse with me in words
You were simply present in your Light
Nowhere did I feel your power and might
You were no eagle, but a little bird I ‘ll try to get it right just one more time.
Who made our language with its subtle rhymes?
The ancient people had their well trained Scribes You were always there,oh gentle Light
You gave me warmth, you changed my too fixed sight
A comforter , a Spirit, how describe? I ‘ll try to get it right a final time.
The agony inside me lost its bite
I wanted to go on, to be alive You do not always show your golden Light
We do not know when we at last arrive
We do not reach this meeting place by strife I ‘ve tried to get it right this final time I never saw such Gold until that night
Actors are the poets of the real.
They mould the air with bodily appeal
The body is the soul through which we feel
Imprisoned bodies kill the soul ideal.
Dancers fuse with music stretching air.
They push and pull the freedoms that live there
They play with Newton’s laws as they change gear
The bodies bend and flow with utter zeal.
Singers touch us deeply to the core.
As we listen with our shrunken hearts so sore
We will cry out, oh, more,oh, more , yes, more.
As deep into our inner self ,they gore.
In every aspect of our human lives
Rhythm, meter, movement are our guides
The myriad random movements, words and signs Inanimate, cold blooded,hot or warm In mystery make the world, complete, designed
From the stars at night, to needles’ eyes Every size is present eye to horn The myriad random movements, words and signs
Yet, not robotic, shivering, alive Like a human baby when new born In mystery the world is fresh, designed
So every morning we awake surprised The dreams we had afflict us like flung stones The random movements, words and latent signs
Are dreams the truth or can the unknown lie? Are we subject to their nightly roams? The mystery is the world makes its designs
As the wild geese land at one in storms The murmurations of the starlings charm The myriad random movements, words and signs In mystery make the world, replete,divine
Walking to the bus stop from our door We fell into a subtle harmony Like little children dawdling on the shore
No haste, no chiding, wanting nothing more Like swimming in a balmy pale blue sea Or walking to the bus stop from our door
Who is known and which one is the knower? What is here and what is yet to be For little children dawdling on the shore?
Setting aspirations ever lower No competing, rush nor victory Just walking to the bus stop from our door
Though human who gave us creative power? Who has loved and who evoked in me The feel of dawdling on the sea, the shore?
Who hears the sorrow, plangent , of the sea Where earth and stars reflect so rhythmically Walking with you touching nevermore Oh, that I were with you on some shelled shore
Who fancied his skill as a joker.
He teased all his patients
both the young and the ancient…
And his cat was labelled,Please stroke her.
It should have read,Please do stroke me…
I’d like to sit up on your knee…
But I can’t tell the doc
As it’s ten o’clock
So it’s time for my next cup of tea.
My psyche is split into four
And in each part I love and adore
Alfred the cat
And his woollen mat..
I wish sincerely I had got twenty more..
Letting go of all my self defence As if I might touch all of you at once I opened up my body to the winds And covered you by lying skin to skin
In the cradle of my being held Like an infant needing mother’s aid I did not move to break the chysallis Both of us were melting in that space
Whose the hand and whose the mind that work Metaphors may guide and also hurt Remorseless is the process that goes on Until the new forms break this one to one
At last the work is done, the task complete Dead or living, this is no defeat
A day with my own self, such peaceful hours The inner seas make music as they roll And in the ground the worms air roots of flowers
The rain comes down in cold but gentle showers Desiring to give moisture to all souls A symbol of the value of quiet hours
In Northern hills we looked for Durham owls They hunt by day to keep their bodies whole While in the ground the worms air roots of flowers
My loved one was a native of those towers Highcliff Nab and Hasty Bank called home My days with him a-wandering there for hours
As he died , deep in my heart I howled I held his hands, remembered , paid the toll While in the ground the worms digest the sour
Lying in the heather we had roamed May God have mercy on his homing soul Now I enjoy in reverie our hours Deep in the ground the worms drowse mixed with flowers
Saturday was shopping then a walk Epping,Ongar,Finchingfield by car Reading book reviews and chewing stalks Buttercups and meadows,Henry Moore
Driving back from Chelmsford, cornfields flamed Smoke and fire and earth, the sun dismayed Farmers working hard, a harvest, grain The sky through mist a cobalt blue displayed
Standon with its fords and wandering cows Little rivers,Essex, flowing down The Stort joins with the Lea,a gurglimg sound Water for the Thames and mossy ground
The earth feels like my body sacrificed An artist’s canvas stretched , a matricide
How my heart sings 