Category: sonnet

Yet I remember  Teesdale and High Force

When I was young he liked to brush my hair
He bought a special brush from somewhere posh
Down my back  my hair flowed  gold and fair
The best of all my features, long and lush Continue reading “Yet I remember  Teesdale and High Force” →

Words unwritten  cannot be erased

Each single word a pointed piece of glass
That splits itself to fragments   and the heart
Thus malediction  like a vampire harms
Our words are  strong ,affecting as they taunt

 The person hurt is damaged even more
Labelled as too sensitive, thin skinned
Shame attracts more violence as we blush
Standing with our face against the wind

 Blaming victims is a strong defence
We are sturdy, they attract  their fate
 The Jews  of Europe were an offering, burnt 
Mostly we will hide the force of  hate

Words unwritten  cannot be  erased
They show themselves upon the hearer’s face

Feel with  the whole body, feel entire

Without the narrow focus of desire
We see a new born world of coloured hue
Our eyes feel  the sensation, gentle touch
Then breathing is much slower in this view

With this text to read why waste our time?
Achievement is not judged nor measured   here
Feel with  the whole body, feel entire
Crumble  not if struck by panic fear

Expansion of our self ,  the muscles ease
Our body softens as we gaze again
Unable to believe all  we  have missed
The inner soul   is rinsed by hiss of rain

Effort and self torment do no good
Succumb  for we are  in the hands of G-d

What is gazing for?

To gaze is   but to love without desire
To be as  satisfied as  with a  meal
To burn  in joy in the eternal fire
To  take, receive and hold  what we can’t steal

To gaze is  but to lose our  central place
To feel a part of  Life in all its forms
The entire world ablaze and full of grace
Able to withstand the  mighty storm

To gaze is but to  be alive and here
To see the new creation every  hour
When childhood’s glory’s  are no longer near
And we no longer wish for total power.

 We gaze and we are touched  inside  our hearts
We  breath  more slowly, feel  our love restart

Which human never feels these cruel assaults?

Here I am  half dressed with uncombed hair
As weary as  a wolf without a lair
Now my thoughts are waylaid by   my faults
Which human never feels these cruel assaults?

Why do I not think of all my joys?
Instead I recall cruelty  nuns deployed
If I could have hated them at school
My  anger would turn outwards ,be less cruel

Do we nurse  such hatred  for some gain?
Surely it ‘s not  worth the searing pain
I wonder how to let it go for good
And quietly bear my burden, cross of wood

Retaliation,  arrows that return
The  sender feels the pain but will  they learn?

Then one day the tide of life will turn

When I’m ill I feel my life’s a wreck
The mirror frightens me as I reflect
Who am I and why  do I feel so
Omnipotent,destroying as I go.?

Yet how we feel   will change as does our health
After trauma, drained of all our wealth
We stagger on the battlefield unsought
Until by kindness we are held and caught

We  must help each other,strength combined
A smile, a touch, a word, a little line
What seems common sense  may be ignored
The strong may hate the weak  and slam the door

Be with others, listen,look and learn
Then one day the tide of life will turn

The people are enraged  about our Play

I dare not watch the News again today
The House of Commons  deep in its own fray
Our leader is as stupid as an ox
Who thinks that he’s as cunning as a fox

We the people are at Civil War
The regime has  split and rotted all our cores
Like Blake’s rose which had its sweet decay
The people are enraged  about our Play

Shakespeare   could not write one apposite
We  cannot find a good enough play-right
The  people nondescript  because unknown
Biting their thin fingers to the bone.

Let somebody rid us of this rogue
Before our weak “democracy” erodes

Keeping us distracted is the game

While the people fought a civil war
The level of politeness was bizarre
Old men opened doors and kissed my hand
Young ones tried to knock me to the ground

Keeping us distracted is the game
We shall be consumed by anger’s flames
So    dictators  get  complete control
While the  eyes of Syrian babies  roll

If they were made of marble,  they would sell
Throw them down  the ghoulish wishing well
After   two world wars  we all  must know
Starting’s easy, unlike letting go.

Raise your  eyes, don’t focus on the crowd
Look up  to see  dictators  break their vows

God won’t mind, he knows well we are flawed

Oh, my electric carpet sweeper  I adore
It  never grumbles as  it sweep my floors
It sounds so quiet and gentle as it drags
Dust and bits of wool from off my rugs

I’m astonished how much dirt if gathers in
I  examine  it with awe beside the bin
I look to see of there is any gold
Just as Freud the prophet has foretold

I found three pounds, enough to buy some tea.
I like tea in bed as I come to.
Escaping from my dreams as from a Zoo
Am I odd or am I just like you?

Even kitchen tools can be adored
God won’t mind, he knows well we are flawed

Just watch a single leaf as it unfurls

What kind of camera shows the changing light
Upon the yellow blossom as it waves?
The wind has dropped ,the breeze is here, but slight
And on the flowers I in languor gaze

The red leaves of the acers now unfurl-
Two side by side but different in their glow.
The light accentuates  them as they curl
Gives them time to unwind  and be slow.

Without the breeze the colour  varies less.
It’s flatter, less like Monet, yet still bright.
And as a grey cloud  sags across the West
It puts my dreams of colour into flight.

Yearn not for special tools to catch the world.
Just watch a single leaf as it unfurls

Look at me and read me like a book

Silver-spotted-Skipper-2019

I am a kettle made of stainless steel
I am a saint,  for tea  is brewed to heal
And , unlike kettles on an old  coal fire,
I am not dirty nor do I perspire.

My mirrored sides reflect you as you cook.
Look at me and read me like a book
I’m  full of love and hotter than a man
Oh, dear lady, love me while you can.

Superior mother,  yet inhuman  I;
Even electric kettles sometimes lie.
I shall never punish you, my dear
For perfect love like mine shall wield no fear.

All I ask is that you polish me.
For, in between your hands, I  yearn to be.

 

No purpose, no desire

How can I judge you when I do not know
The river of your heart, it’s undertow
Forgetting  the wide looking that we need
Too attentive  to the goals of speed

I may   compare you to another friend
And in comparison, our love   might end
I may not take you in as one  true whole
How little do we look,  ensnared by goals?

When attention lapses and we  dream
We may see our soul and  its true themes
Too sharp a focus makes our mind compress
Our narrowed eyes  untrue to second guess

With my whole body I  perceive the  true
No purpose , no desire,  nothing  but you.

A pest

My lover did not love me, that is true
He  took his own illusion  as a cue
He thought he had my measure, he was wrong
Now with Satan he   will share deep bonds

My lover needs a whore, for I’m too chaste
He never takes me past the starting gate
He does not care for me nor bring me joy
So let him pay  for her whom he employs

I   found his mind  like   cider not like wine
No substance to engross me ,naught divine
He loved James Bond ;he never read  a book
And, even worse, he did not learn to cook

Why call such man a lover   though we  jest
Such a man is  nothing but  a pest

Will we hear the  waves swirl as we gasp?

We are walking  like small children  on the sands
Sinking very slowly  as we go
Our legs  get shorter as we cross the bay
As the currents of the Kent  still outward flow

Now our  feet   and legs have disappeared   
We can’t swim through sand   or muddy  shore
So we’re stuck , and wildly wave our hands
It’s  too late to learn the seaside lore

Now it’s just our heads that stick out, breathe
We see  the Langdale Pikes   distinctive form
I lift up  my eyes,  salvation’s gone
I’m  going under now, we’re all alone

We keep on walking  , crazy in our trust
Will we love the  waves swirl as we gasp?

This Titanic  can no more deceive

The United Kingdom  disintegrates  by day
The Scots  are breaking off  at Hogmanay
Northern Ireland  colonised,remote
Will Ireland be united at a stroke?

We will have a smaller house of cards
Boris Johnson’s patience  brings rewards
He will be  in charge just of Soho
Where ladies of the night  rule men by blows

England’s not that big  nor of pure blood
I’m half Scandinavian ,see my head
The violent people Brexit has empowered
At  the bus stop they will on me glower

It’s time to get the lifeboats out and  leave
This Titanic  can no more deceive

Sulking

As respite from  my work, I tried to sulk
I  practised ,  it became my  art and life
I never spoke but glowered like a pike
Till  the  cat’s claws lit up like street lights

You  cannot sulk  alone, so get a mate
Then sulk  all day  and sulk all through night
If they do not notice,  you ‘re becalmed
Unless the wind  of change  bring new insight

Sulking   draws us on  to sinking sands
The risk is not apparent when we start
An estuary’s currents   brings  us great alarm
In our breast, we feel the thumping heart

Sulking is so tempting  when morose
With our better angels let’s converse

With our inner demons, let’s get worse

If we see our partner,  does it hurt?

With our blackened souls we feel the curse

Man United won and I am bust

I never liked board games  and this worse

If you’re writing ,aim to keep it terse/ aim to write in verse

 

The alphabet convicts us by its charm

The noises we can make with  mouth and throat
Make patterns  like  the music of the birds
The graphic line, the new emotion caught
Expressed by sentence and by  the true words

No teacher or professor made our tongue
A gradual evolution  done with art
Before the prose there was the evensong
As home the little sparrows want to dart

Yet with  this  language we can   commit fraud
Lies are   hidden   even in our bones
Then we have the enigmatic code
What translates and what  is  lost,alone

The  fractured   chaos  of the world takes  form
The alphabet convicts us by its charm

We do not act,then love itself turns pale

Abba, I have come to you  for aid
The threads of life untwist around my heart
I  must catch them else I’ll fall apart
I  a creature  grown from what you made,

Abba, do you answer when we call?
We ignore you  till it is too late
I see why you abandon us to fate
The loss of Eden  follows from the Fall

Abba, we are here why do we fail?
Intentions  made, we do not have the will
The speed of living, and the grinding mills
,We do not act then love itself turns pale

Abba, is a prayer a word or deed?
We see the children  fenced,  the Wall , the blood

We miss the ardent touch

The sparrows sing as if to draw me to
The present moment’s gravity and grace
Our contemplation of life’s nature new

What  other attitude is worthwhile now?
I can no longer see your loving face.
The sparrows sing as if to greet me too

Eden is still here, we miss the clues
We miss the  ardent touch,the kind embrace
Our contemplation of the world renews

On my face, the tears are jeweled dew
In my body, I feel held, enclosed
The sparrows sing as if to greet me too

Now the blackbird sings as if on cue
Inside my swollen heart, I feel its grace
Contemplation of  life’s nature new

I saw your soul in your transparent face.
And crisscrossed lines from struggle left their trace
The sparrows sing as if to draw us to
The contemplation of the  wildness true,

The   logic of Enlightenment seems gross

Sacrificing humans   to their aims
The governments  enjoy their obscene games
They move the drones and guns  about on screens
So  they never hear the victims screams

The   logic of Enlightenment      seems gross
Descartes split the world  and  thus imposed
A  war upon the psyche  and our hearts
We were cut   to pieces  kept apart .

 

Killing God has kept  us all  at work
Making  other peoples  feel our hurt
Palestinians ,  Jews of the  old Jews
Refugees like  Blacks  may  spoil the News.

Is  there any wisdom  we can learn
As the nuclear threat  grows  out  of turn?

Till she enters carrying her head

My washing will not dry  laid on the hedge
But I  stay here nurturing a grudge
I rarely feel one so I must retain
The nasty  feeling  and the horrid pain

Yet since it hurts me,I must be a fool
The errant friend  will turn into a ghoul
I’ll hear her footsteps  from my   ancient bed
Till she enters carrying her head

Oh God  lift up my ruminating curse
Let me have  your grace  or I’ll get worse
I do not wish to  have a bitter  heart
Grudges turn to   dread; it’s hatred’s art

For if I learn  destruction  and its ways
Cruelty   will  have the final say

Its lack of elegance  offends my eye

Loneliness is only known to man
When he burns the  copper  frying pan
From the marriage bed he’s tossed  aside
For pans are more important to a wife

Yet if she  breaks  their  lovely china plates
He is not allowed to castigate
Oh,men! That is a phrase I hate
Generalising is a crude mistake

Now I  am alone, I’ve burned  eight pans
I broke the dinner plates with  careless plans
I broke the special mugs we  loved so much
All because I missed his soothing touch

The memories fill my heart with  love and light
In  my dreams he comes into my sight

Soon the hidden mind willall allure

Socrates evoked the answers true
The students and the citizens all knew
He did not give great lectures nor long tests
Of pocket calculators he would think, what pests

As we plan to do our daily work
Remember even geniuses get blocked
You who have no confidence nor power
You have a mind, so do not let it cower

Writing rubbish, nonsense, don’t expire
Soon the hidden mind will you allure
Act as what you wish to be today
Writing poems, an abstract sort of play

Loosen up your head and you will find
A better writer living in your mind

As the mighty bull said to the cow

To suffer   used to mean  to let, allow
As the mighty bull said to the cow
But we won’t suffer pain without despair
Like the poisoned nits feel in your hair

To ask for what you got is villains’ talk
To wear a  mini dress is women’s right
Men can wear them too if they desire
Though hairy legs  are bad  for  serious liars

What about the ants that live with me
Is it right  to offer them some tea?
Spider’s webs are seen as  cruel and wrong
You prefer the houseflies in a throng?

 

We   each must decide what we dislike
Are we panic stricken by our plight?

Trust the darkness

ashdown-house-2019-2

Trust the unknown force that grew you,
From the joining of two cells.
Act of love, of self giving,
Thus to grow a newer self.

Trust the dark,the unseen aspects
Of the life we all do live.
Trust that there is wisdom elsewhere,
To your emptiness to give.

Wait in patience for the time
When inspiration comes at last
Trust in darkness,silence,lowness.
Opposition forms the cross.

Pain is bearable in lowness,
Like the worm in earth I dwell.
When I look I see the sunrise
And I trust all shall be well.

The vertical absurdity of words

See children’s hearts lie flattened  on the floor
Like empty tins squashed down ,recycled, tossed
Raised  up  are the weapons  of  the State
Wish to  strike down  infants, what’s the cost?

This child was the third one, that’s been banned
The government   and people  hate to pay
For benefits, like food and drink  and  dress
Abortion the expected long delayed

A child is born like Stalin or the Christ
Like kittens in the kitchen  in their bed
Infanticide will soon be on the rise
This is where our policies  have led

Lost dimensions  what do you  prefer,
The vertical absurdity of words?

Trust, itself, will widen gaze

Inside my heart, this sacred place
Where freely mingle truth and grace
Where friends and enemies alike
Are viewed as equals for love’s sake

Inhabited by deeper self
In touch with  soul that in me dwells
I leave  my failures  gladly here
I will not live in morbid fear

I don’t insult the force divine
By pride in any good that’s mine
For willpower cannot birth virtue
But  can  attend to the eye’s  view

By trusting in   the vast unknown
Attention  spreads, fear’s overthrown
Our eyes relax and  gaze without
To  bring proportion  to our doubts

Trust, itself. will widen gaze
Enable us to find our ways.
With terror, fear or loss of pride
Constriction comes to human eyes.

Perception is the highest good
By what we see, we choose our road.
The blind rush like the swine to hell
In patient, watchfulness let’s dwell.

We cannot see

Giving up desire makes glad  our hearts
The weather will not change for human wish
Buy a raincoat , in the puddles splash
Get your feet wet, see the rainbow start

The world  is not  created for our whims
If we weep and scream  who will respond?
Perhaps the geese who’re swimming in the pond
They may bite you,peck at lower limbs

Best  avoid the arrogant and proud
Stupidly we pray  for  gold , for more
Our views are narrow, angry is our core
God died on a Cross, where is our ground?

What kind of creatures are we human souls
We cannot see  the greater world as whole

The cows are  pure, the vegetation’s lush

I have got a cottage in Iran
At least that’s what I read on my house plan
Maybe there is some mistake or joke
If I go   I  think my heart would break

I don’t know where  my passport is right now
I think I lay down  much too near a cow
My passport must have tasted very good
Now it’s in a cowpat in the mud

If I  try to get a new one  very fast
They’ll think I  am a terrorist  at last
I know that they are watching me right now
Unless  it’s  just  the eyes of that brown cow

I’d prefer a house in Shepherd’s Bush
The cows are  pure, the vegetation’s lush

Lamb chops bring the devil out in me

My man has gone to heaven on his own
Now I’m  down here gnawing on a bone
Lamb chops bring the devil out in me
That’s why I  still eat them for my tea

He said he’d  had enough as he was old
He   felt angry ,all his friends were gone
He asked for  cigarettes and for champagne
I got it though it went against the grain

He even  ate a meal   before he died
Mashed  up fish with carrots on the side
They did not  bring  dessert which  angered me
I was going to have it for my tea

I do not  want to find another man
For gender fluid people I shall scan

 

Midsummer days

midsummer days evoke the trance-like past
where children played in joyous, daisied fields
with buttercups so bright the memory lasts
a freedom that our conscious growth will steal.

those stones and leaves and many coloured flowers
were gathered into images that glow
yet later we forget those treasured hours
when for a while we lived in life’s deep flow

we did not look and see,but felt at one
we lived as did the birds high in the trees
now we see and write yet experiencing has gone
we no longer live like flowers filled with bees

to lose ourselves in nature is a joy
which to our adult selves we must restore