The clock electric does not need to tick
The seconds pass unheard by any ear
If you watch, the hands don’t seem to move
Eternal is the memory of love
So my life is passing as I write
I see the seconds hand move fast as light
The memories stored inside my brain,my mind
Will influence all I do, will make designs
When this my heart stops ticking like a clock
The cells of all my body run amok
Who will mourn for me when I am gone?
The angst and joy of life will soon be done
The golden numbers move in patterns bright
The sun defeats the ogres of the night
Category: reflections
As good as a wink
About gravity, he was specific
His research was attacked by a critic
So he went off to Mars
And opened the bars
The folk living there were illicit
The world feels both deadly and grave
Just keep on working, be brave
Unless you make bombs
Which is evil and wrong
You can’t wash guilt off when you bathe
Meanwhile we must eat and drink
The vodka is under the sink
You are a drip
Don’t give us lip
A nod is as good as a wink
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From the world of kindness do not flee
Defend yourself with fences and high walls
Then cringe in fear from what you cannot see
Imagined there are monsters which appall
Pain has purpose, for attention calls
With more defence,less possibility
If we defend ourselves with iron walls
We may have windows but they are quite small
Closed or partly open,which to be?
Imagined are most monsters that appall
Our reflections flash in mirrored hall~
And on the ghastly surface of dark sea
That we can’t defend with any walls
Are we sinners, was there any Fall?
Can we give the stranger Charity?
Are we ourselves the monsters that appall?
From the world of kindness do not flee
Take more risks, though slighted you may be
Defend yourself with fences and high walls
Then you’ll get your Fuhrer, mobs ,Hell, Heil
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Trying to glimpse another through their veil.
I lingered in ambiguity like a bride
Who fears disclosing that her face is fake
And while we’re on the subject, I take pride
In mixing water colours from the lake
Ambiguous in intentions we don’t know
We send out signals full of world slass news
If this rebounds an artist might then show
Our vision centres on our point of view
Seventeen types of clarity are mine
Fifteen from my mind and two from pride
From this glass I make a view divine
Though Sunday someone said they thought I lied.
Ambiguously enchanted, given bail
We try to glimpse another through their veil
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Illegitimate and born in desert grey.
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So you are gone who once declared your love
For that phantasm conjured in your mind
For onto me you brought down from above
A torment bitter and some words unkind.
Used to friendship from within your books
You did not understand that I was real
Irritation grew as you did look;
You threw your poisoned arrows at my heel.
What once you loved then you began to hate
If not perfect then intolerable I must be
And then you cursed me with this sorry fate
Our child was born and him you’ll never see.
Illegitimate and born in desert grey.
I carried him alone from death’s dark way.
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Love will need no trick
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 to block
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 refugees die cold?
Kind despair that made me long time sit
By the end I knew Love needs no trick
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The Iron Fist
I missed the flowering of the maple tree
Where red leaves swell like baby’s growing fists
i fear to struggle there, what shall I see,
Just the doves and sparrows flying free?
Missed the flowering of the maple tree
But watched less subtle human comedy
Saw politicians flounder, saw ships list
Missed the burning of some red leaved tree
I wonder when they’ll break the baby’s wrists?
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The first step
Attracted by the window and the light
I walked towards it, those were my first steps
The memory of an act creates insight
Oh,mother I can leave you,I can fight
Now I move and noone can me stop
Desirous of the window and the light
Implicit in the action is the flight
Growing is not smooth, it is abrupt
The memory of an act creates insight
Yet somewhere other, there is greater might
That one day caused me angst, that made me trip
Humbled by the window and the light
After every day, there comes a night
Abjection is the cup that each must sip
The repeating of an act creates insight
Children are not injured when they slip
When they rise, they quickly can forget
Attracted by the window and the sight
We all must stand and walk but in curved lines
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I’m not frightened of you anymore
I’ m not frightened of you anymore
I’ll tell you that I hope I did my best
God, you made the world that we destroy
You want us to make meaning, learn the laws
Life for many is a fearsome task
Yet I’ m not frightened of you anymore
Why has Beirut suffered, what’s death for?
The people wander, by great wounds undressed
God, you made the world,who can restore?
Thousands injured ,millions more distraught
Will we give them aid and make it fast?
I’ m not frightened of God anymore
As we age, our hearts and souls must mourn
Living as the present hurries past
God, you made the world,will tears restore?
In the startling Universe so vast
The Play is here and we must be the Cast
I’ m not frightened of you anymore
God, you made a world so full of tears
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Connections,maps and roads
Roman roads connected in straight lines
The cities they had built in wealthy times
The remains of one goes past my garden gate
Do ghosts of Roman legions pass at night?
I like to see connections,maps and roads
Others love old cities ,walls and moats
My road ran to Lincoln near the Wash
Migrating birds and swans go there to rest
Going South, there is the Pilgrim’s Way
Canterbury, Becket,murder, prayer
Julius Caesar, Deal, the Roman hordes
Boudicea, and her fighting Lords
Layers of history, meaning,love and death
Still we argue what should be our path
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Holy heart’s affection,beating pulse
One single tear expresses love and loss
Dramatic storms excess may make folk pause
Who will notice one tear and its cost?
A little stone near water may grow moss
But only mountains bring a sense of awe
One single tear expresses love and loss
Grief must not wallowed in, like baths
Philosophers not hurt their minds uncaused
Who then will observe the tear, the cost?
To an ant, a pebble is quite gross
To a widow, death has hungry jaws
One single tear may show how she is lost
The entire self is tear-filled like a marsh
We weep till love itself becomes remorse
Let one tear out and hide its anguished cost
The heart’s affections use poetic laws
Holy circulation, blood that draws
One single tear falls down like bladed grass
Who will care for this tear, bear its cost?
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One tear
A silver tear rolled lonely as sliced moon
Down my pallid cheek and wet my lip
Your loss turned me to sadness and damp gloom
My future seemed, not promising, but doomed
The icy nails of death gave me a nip
A little tear rolled lonely as lost moons
Yet, in my mind, I heard L Cohen’s tunes
“There ain’t no cure for love” on this our trip
Your loss turned me to sadness ,clouds of gloom
Yet soft, deep darkness need not lead to doom
Come,I’ll take a lover, board a ship
A starry tear rolled lonely as new moon
I will love,I ‘ll seek for new hope soon
Will I descend to stealing from a skip?
Your loss sent me to sadness like a room
I need no LSD to take a trip
My open senses give me what I miss
A silver tear rolled lonely as cruel moon
Your loss turned me to beauty,life resumes
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The loss of dignity, the face unread
His face was black, he fell against my breast
Dying in an armchair by his bed
While nurses gossiped,he was alone left
The doctor said it would be for the best
The rehab is not meant for those near death
His face was black, he fell against my breast
I asked him,dearest, do you feel depressed?
He nodded with a gravity like lead
While nurses gossiped,he was lonely left
Then I realised my wifely task
I was even asked to lift him to his bed
No longer as my bridegroom at the feast
The loss of dignity, the face unread
The blindness of the staff, the broken head
His face was black, he fell against my breast
While nurses gossiped,he was fading fast
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Widen oh my eye, let colour play
From the Knott, we see this Morecambe Bay
We eye the gentle meadows where sheep roam
Across the sea the Lakeland Hills arrayed
From a town of mills to this display
The joy of beauty on this scale unknown
From the Knott,hypnotic Morecambe Bay
Widen oh my eye, let colour play
The green, the blue, the purple, white the foam
Across the sea the Lakeland Hills arrayed
The River Kent pours out its water,sighs
The viaduct excites the child with charm
From the Knott, we see grand Morecambe Bay
At last we understand true life divine
From the train, we see the sea alarmed
Across the Bay the Langdale Pikes align
For a while, forget the world, its harms
Let the air and water be our balm
From the Knott, we see vast Morecambe Bay
Across the sea the Lakeland Hills survey
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Entertainment,sadism, power
On a hilltop not so far from Rhyl
Mother took us to the Zoo as Mothers will
The wind was strong and cold, the air was harsh
Although it was in August, not in March
Vultures in enclosures chained by leg
Like convicts in a prison full of dread
When they vainly tried to get away
I felt their faith and hope dismayed
Who had chosen birds like these to show?
Even God himself would never know
Entertainment,sadism, power
Making people pay and children cower
When we got back to the station I was sick
What cruel minds played such a trick?
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Like an oboe singing as I pray
Precisely when we fell in love’s unclear
I knew your humour and your eager ways
I can’t imagine when you were not dear
The deeper is the love, the more the fear
That one must go, the other one must stay
Exactly when we fell in love’s unclear
All alone, it is your voice I hear
Like an oboe singing as I pray
I can’t imagine when you were not dear
I see you in the room I know you’re here
I must not look, or I shall have to pay
Exactly when we fell in love’s unclear
I see your head lean onto mine so near
From my reverie I must not stray
I can’t imagine when you were not dear
As we ambled, wandered on our way
I did not know the ending of our Play
Precisely when we fell in love’s unclear
From this world’s creation, you were dear
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We’re burnt by love and loss
You smiled at me and then you disappeared
Flying skyward with no hint of fear
Stunned and left behind,I wept with shock
Deprived by death of one last lingering look
No kiss, no word of love,no last embrace
No colour and no pinkness in your face
I saw you fly as fast as hawks at prey
I held you in my heart ,I felt dismay
How could you leave me when I need you so
Could you not remain till I too must go?
Death is sad,mysterious,unknown
Once lovers all complete and now alone
Silently at last we take the pain
We’re burnt by love and loss, that dual frame
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Meeting someone’s eyes is like a touch
Meeting someone’s eyes is like a touch
As if our self extends outside our skin
With no intention to take hold or clutch
Those who do this , how love must be rich
Rarely will they mortify or sin
Meeting someone’s eyes is a kind touch
If we are afraid, may we find trust
Let us try again, why not begin
With no intention to take hold or clutch?
We are human, do we mind who’s first?
Let our minding weigh less than a pin
Meeting someone’s eyes is like a touch
In the end we mingle with the dust
Have we made good use of any gift
With no intention to take hold or clutch?
With love around, we need not be too swift
Take your own time wandering through the mist
Meeting someone’s eyes is like a touch
Gentle, do caress, don’t grasp nor clutch
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Gathering up the treasures from the sands
We do not hunt for thoughts,we let them come
Gathering up the treasures from the sands
The sea shores of the world in dark,in sun
Where children play till all the day is done
The mystery of the deep, of whales and men
We do not hunt for thoughts,we let them come
Sailing in from distant foreign lands
We do not hunt for thoughts,we let them come
Gathering up the treasures till the end
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No body
Nobody has no mind, no self .no flesh
No sense, no purpose, nothing that will last
What is worse, to be trapped in a mesh
To be immoral, sinful and loveless
To stumble in a morass of distress
The sinking sands of childhood thought surpassed
Nobody has no mind, no self .no flesh
There is a body-mind retrieved from trash
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Fortune favours the brave
Why fortune favours courage I don’t know
But if we’re too afraid, we do not see
We hate so much that fateful heavy blow
Cringing, shrinking, with half closed eye
As if our vision’s blocked by heavy snow
We are more brave when others share our view
Fortune favours courage, yet be slow
Fear makes sight a tunnel, sadly true
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The baby sees but cannot speak
They tore the blanket in my pram in two
I could not sit up but I could see
Is this what older brothers often do?
I have no other memory nor a clue
I could not speak nor could I even flee
They tore the blanket in my pram in two
Ambivalent,dynamic,what’s this glue?
They fought at every chance,ignoring me
Is this what older brothers often do?
Parents were not there,that’s nothing new
Where do the feelings of the mute dwell silently?
They tore the blanket in my pram in two
Still these speech-wrecked moods descend on me
How to transform fear, indentity?
Is this what older brothers have to do?
Intense emotion feels too sharp. though true
The feelings push and shove inside of me
They tore my knitted blanket into two
If I’d had no brothers,I’d be who?
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Carnation, orchid, daffodil and rose
How softly sweetly,gently flowers pose
Carnation,orchid ,daffodil and rose.
Their complex petals form a living shield
Yet bees with much striped force shall make them yield
Carnation,orchid ,daffodil and rose.
Their complex petals form a living shield
Yet bees with much striped force shall make them yield
Appearances,both natural and contrived,
Mixed with the wiles of human nature thrive.
As, knowing not, we pluck the apple rare
And bite its flesh,with teeth we have to bare
And bite its flesh,with teeth we have to bare
.We too deceive the innocent who pass
Not seeing watchers hid behind the glass.
The windows break,the deep earth quakes;
Seized is the maiden , he her virtue takes.
Beneath the surface, force and fierceness thrive.
What fearsome, burning God enjoys our lives?
Copyright © Katherine
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I wish there were no numbers and no dates
I wish there were no numbers and no dates
I forget them all , yet memory is like glue
With counting, with remembrance, with lost mate
There’s our sorrow and its seas to navigate
The waves rise up and drop, so old so new
I wish there were no numbers and no dates
Why are modern hearts so separate?
The seas of knowledge, all are one in truth
With counting, with remembrance, with no trace
Oh,universe, why do you have such space
With patterns in the stars, that might us soothe?
If there were no numbers and no dates
Why are we self labelled as a race?
Slowly, surely we will dig up truths
With anguish, with remembrance, oh, lost face
When will grace remake a soul so bruised
Struggling with the time scale, still bemused
I wish there were no numbers and no dates
Nor counting, nor remembrance, nor lost face
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Someone other takes charge of our boat
The kindness of our neighbours helps us cope
With life, with death,with many shades between
When we despair and can’t imagine hope
When the sailor takes us in his boat
When he rows us on a night-blank sea
The kindness of our neighbours helps us cope
The world seems made to hurt, and then frustrate
The mind confuses dreams , reality
When we despair and dare not even hope
Love is built as we restrain our hate
Sailing well a new country we see
The kindness of our friends helps us to cope
Persistence in the virtues gives us scope
Start again, the angel said to me
When I despaired and lost my threads of hope
In our mind love’s buried and unseen
Yet we can raise the dead with energy
The kindness of our frriends helps us cope
When we are lost and mapless is our hope.
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Virtue rendered void
Envy poison, friend of vicious hate
We know Cain for he still lives within
Society is built on hellish states
If not so, how can we lay love waste
When time is short, why cut it down with sin?
Envy, poison, friend of vicious hate
Do not hide it, saying this is “fate”
Through brilliant Sylvia,Ted asked spirits in
Marriage too is built on awful states
Only with her death, did he relate
One had to go to let the other win
Envy, poison, friend of vicious hate
We suffer when we think that we need fame
All paper one day ends up in a bin
Society too is built on loveless states
Comparison and judgment are no game
Virtue rendered void, our hearts are lame
Envy, poison, friend of vicious hate
Can society be built on other states?
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Lying on a trolley, feeling Zen
Cycling in the dark one Friday night
Down St Giles, deserted without lights
On my way to rehearse with my church choir
I never got through Oxford, struck by liars
A car was coming at enormous speed
Is this to be my end, that tourist’s dream?
Time slowed down,I went up very slow
This world a film,a construct, down below
I fell as slowly as I’d risen up
Till I landed on my head,my jacket ripped
Yes, you really do see stars,I told myself
Not a metaphor, the shocking truth
Then I was inside the film again
Lying on a trolley, feeling Zen
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The Catherine wheel, the longing, the desire
Oh, my brother, I have said goodbye
Once my little playmate, you must die
Your voice is very weak as there you rest
I wish that life were not a cruel test
I told you of the see saw and the swings
I will not argue, this is what life brings
Remembered fireworks and the blazing fire
The Catherine wheel, the longing, the desire
How can a boy so strong soon turn to dust?
Where has gone the liveliness, the lust?
Weak but uncomplaining you lie there
On my face I feel a film of tears
You’ll never die, you’ll live on in my mind
I forgive your acts, for you were blind
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The wrens
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
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Closing Time
A husband died at half past two
What has that to do with you?
The past is like a candle blown
The heart a grave beneath a stone
Grief is very close to fear
Shaking legs and frozen tears
It’s closing time
The poppy fields , the linseed blue
The cottage where I loved with you
Noone else will know it all
The Suffolk Rose, the paint all worn
The rented car, the yellow corn
The cottage windows seemed to yawn
Closing time
But I dream and I see you
Smiling widely as you do
Ask me where the car keys are
Ask me if I’ll take you where?
Whitby,Staithes. all understood
All gone now,god sweated blood
Closing time
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Feel the loving sun and kiss the bees
I wish that I could be inside a tree
To put my entire body in its form
To feel the sun and wind and hear the bees
I’d like my hands to dance as flexibly
As birds move through the air, as rises dawn
I wish that I could feel myself a tree
I’d love my garden sweetly, ardently.
I’d love each single daisy on the lawn
I’d feel the sun and wind and hear the bees
But would a holly want to be just me?
Oh, poor tree that walks about forlorn
I wish that I could turn into a tree.
Perhaps a cat that sat upon my knee
Would mioaw inside my home by dust deformed
She would love the sun and wind and hear the bees
When I change,I’ll keep you all informed
You may hear me singing in the Storms
I wish that I could dwell within a tree
Feel the loving sun and kiss the bees
How my heart speaks 