Between the world and how we represent
The nameless by a name and  even  place,
There is a space or void in our intent.

What mother saw, what father really meant
How love and hate might intertwine in space?
In our own world, what can we represent?

In writing, there is lack and letters bent
For  ancient writing often  scholars traced
There is a space or void in our intent.

Today the sun is golden,  gods descend.
With love, for moments, we are all embraced
Of the felt, what can we represent?

Our willingness unblinds the heart so rent
And then we see the face within his face
The space or void lights for this sacrament

I cross my eyes with fingers interlaced:
The crucifix, the love, the death of Christ
Between the world and what we may attempt
There is a space or void where he was sent.

About poetry with W S Merwin

Is it some profound connection to the natural world?

MERWIN

The connection is there—our blood is connected with the sea. It’s the recognition of that connection. It’s the sense that we are absolutely, intimately connected with every living thing. We don’t have to be sentimental and pious about it, but we can’t turn our backs on that fact and survive. When we destroy the so-called natural world around us we’re simply destroying ourselves. And I think it’s irreversible.

INTERVIEWER

Do you see a connection between poetry and prayer?

MERWIN

I guess the simple answer is yes, if only because I think of poetry as an attempt to use language as completely as possible. And if you want to do that, obviously you’re not concerned with language as decoration, or language as amusement, although you certainly want language to be pleasurable. Pleasure is part of the completeness. I think of poetry as having to do with the completeness of life, and the completeness of relation with one’s experience, completing one’s experience, articulating it, making sense of it.

INTERVIEWER

How about the influence of Zen in your work?

MERWIN

When you talk about prayer in Judeo-Christian terms, prayer is usually construed as a kind of dualistic act. You’re praying to somebody else for something. Prayer in the Western sense is usually construed as making a connection. I don’t think that connection has to be made; it’s already there. Poetry probably has to do with the recognizing of that connection, rather than trying to create something that isn’t there.

If I wrote a villanelle  could readers tell?
We don’t need names to recognise   there’s form
I’ll write a  villanelle   and do it well

I’d sooner write a dirge for a sea shell.
The edges of the  sea shore   bring me calm
f I wrote a villanelle  could readers tell?

I’ll blow my trumpet and ring   a huge handbell.
My laughing eyes will bring to you much balm
I’ll write a  villanelle   and do it well

Please keep your counsel as in hermit’s cell
For false reports of doggerel  do  me harm
If I wrote a villanelle  would readers tell?

I’ve got as much appeal as little Nell!
What the  dickens happened to my charms?
I’ll write a  villanelle   and do it well

In a poem there’s  never need to yell.
No point in causing panic and alarm
If I wrote a villanelle  could readers tell?
I’ll write a  villanelle   and I’ll feel  swell

 

 

 

 

 

The face that was familiar is no more.

The world we made  seems empty and remote.

I do not feel the love I felt before.

I’m homeless world-less, comfortless at core

Wandering like the Jews with death ripped coats.

The face that was familiar is no more

Why can this man’s life not be restored?

I cannot eat, a lump has blocked my throat

I do not feel the love I felt before.

In my nightmares, I look for a door.

Or I search the lake from my small boat

That face that was familiar is no more

I beg for grace like some abandoned whore.

That time itself evaporates is gross.

I do not feel the love I felt before

The well is empty,like my husband’s clothes.

When they are gone, what can I then propose?

The face that was familiar fades away

Who will love me now,, how shall I pay?

Mary was in the hall  watering her rose scented geranium; she decided to move it into the kitchen as the hall might be a little too drafty.Mary was very anxious to make sure that this plant survived because it was a present from her cousin.
Suddenly the phone rang. perhaps it is Annie wanting to go out on some Christmas shopping expedition ,but no it was Mary’s cousin Bob who she knew had been very  ill and although he seems to be recovering she knew  he was quite anxious about dying

His voice was very faint and weak. Perhaps he is going to die, she   thought. he  does seemed to be frightened .

Do not be afraid.God is waiting for you and he knows everything
,He knows how  you looked after your sister when she had a breakdown and how you used to change the curtains and make the room  look beautiful to try to help her and yet she did not thank you .She was very unpleasant but you never gave up ; eventually when she died during her sleep it was both  a relief and a loss
God remembers everything and he is full of love for you . I do not know why God allows some people to suffer so much[ which is  a constant theme in human thinking since the book of Job was written.]
Now, I don’t say that you are Job ,but I do know  what you have endured. I have seen you being humbled  in cruel ways, I have seen you being ignored when you knew much more than the people who were talking

You cared your your cat  with utmost kindness until it recovered from its ill-treatment at those nasty neighbours of yours.
You have suffered  too through cancer and not  being able to eat foods that you liked but you have recovered.  You have worked in your garden   and grown beautiful flowers and vegetables Your fruit trees have been v productive and your whole garden is a testament to the fact that you love every living being, except your brother David, of course.,
There’s always trouble in that kind of set up when the mother prefers one child to another and  it has been a constant torment to you throughout your life. I have noticed  since you have both been older. you seem to have a more productive life now and I know you make wine and jam and mend all you can
I know that you did win an award when you were in your 20s for your research although you never told anybody. I wonder why you were so shy about telling people. You never did like to boast and I think I am similar to you.

I let Stan have his mistress next door  because I know that not every man is interested in Wittgenstein especially when it’s his wife who wants to talk about him  when he wants to take her to bed and enjoy her charms, tickle her and laugh  merrily and I only wish that you had been able to meet someone yourself who would have   valued you as a human being and felt warmth and attraction as well.

I do think you  tried to make the most of your capabilities limited as we are by economic,health  and political factors alas

Bob said to Mary :you have made me very happy

2 Days Later  Mary heard that Bob was much better and the doctor says he will soon be home again

What a disappointment for God meowed Emile, Mary’s little cat.  God got everything ready

Well no doubt  God had some help,.  Mary cried., that’s what I need . need some help ;this house is in a terrible mess as if my fate is to constantly keep trying to tidy up and yet the next day I have to start all over again.

I don’t mind cried Emile I think it’s wonderful I like a mess it makes me feel like playing more and having fun but when it’s all tidy and clean I feel terribly inhibited

Good  grief Emile, you  sound as if you’ve been to Oxford.

I did  once to go on a day trip to Oxford, the the cat  confessed .Annie took me in her handbag on a coach

Well all I can say is ,she must have got a very big handbag

Don’t be so rude Emile told her, you have got some big handbags and  you’ve got about 50 handbags in the wardrobe even now when you are a widow

That is a woman’s privilege Mary told him like getting a new hat is Easter; a handbag is a very important thing because it enables men to make their wives carry all their wallets and keys  so that they could have fun when they went to the seaside

Yes I can remember mother struggling along from Blackpool  North station to the beach with a gigantic handbag and a shopping bag full of sandwiches while everybody else ran on in front of her

I don’t know what we saw in Blackpool except the sea; the beach was so crowded you could hardly see the sand.

I guess the airwas cleaner,  the cat informed her in a manly way

I think I need a cup of tea said Mary go and get  Annie.

She won’t make the tea

No but she can drink some with me while I tell her all my thoughts and my feelings and I couldn’t free associate while she showed off her new makeup and jewellery and  her strangely coloured Christmas outfits.She is off to Wigan to visit the make up factory next week.If only it were in Southport I’d go too.

Well I’m in love with  Annie. I wish I was a man so I could marry her  and make it home for her

I’m sure you would have made a very good husband said Mary but God wants you to be a cat although you are a rather extraordinary cat and it is my good luck to be your owner or shall I say your mistress?

Aand so ask all of us

 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/19/mary-beard-interview-everyone-is-policing-everything-culture-wars?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

I drink my coffee from a mug my brother sent to me
I like to keep two separate ones for coffee and for tea
This one was expensive and it looks just like the sea
I think of Saltburn and the shore while I drink coffee.

From Teesmouth and Redcar we walked in loving times
The long beach was quite empty, Saltburn pier’s divine.
I kept a little journal where I spelt it out in rhyme
I may come from Manchester but these sands are very fine.

We went to Whitby and Sandsend and loved it all the more
My husband liked the pork pie shop and he ate 24.
He didn’t eat them all at once, a fact I do deplore.
For pork pies are sustaining when you walk miles on the shore.

His daddy liked the heather best, his mammy liked the sea.
And she was much the stronger one, it was evident to me.
So if you go to Roseberry and that Topping great
Remember his old daddy and all his working mates

They spent their lives in ICI breathing in foul air
But they earned a living and so they all stayed there.
My husband was asthmatic and they took him out of town
He spent 3 months up in the Moors, his mammy turned dark brown.

She must have been of mixed up race, an ethnic half-caste pearl
She was always called as white when she was just a girl.
But when she spent 12 weeks outdoors then the people saw
Black and white are not quite right to describe our skins-in-law.

http://www.arkadiansystems.com/?p=1391

Daniel Spinnett was a newly  homeless man in a horrible  wealthy but cruel country called the Reblighted Kingdom.He had been married once but his wife often  used to hurl his hot dinner at him if he was a bit late home and she also had four lovers into the bargain.When she was made Head of Uncivil Service UK he decided he was leaving her and hoped for a second chance and maybe a child as well with a gentler woman
At first he was truly happy in his new  commodious flat and also with  meeting women on the Guardian Solemates website; all too  soon his firm was affected by the recession and he ended up with no money to pay his rent ; his ex-wife was completely unsympathetic. though she was absolutely rolling in money and men or both !
He went to the Council to seek for cheap accommodation
I have nowhere to live.The rents in Lone-don are so high.. can I get a council flat?I am on job seekers allowance of £70 per week…
A council flat?The man behind the desk laughed sarcastically like a dying flea.
There ain’t no such anymore,mi duck…didn’t you know the Trying Lady sold them off.
Did you not build more using that money,he enquired courteously and logically. as was his wont
Sorry,chum, we spent it on wine, women and bling… gold watches, golf clubs, moats, you know
Daniel felt very upset so he set out to walk to Lightwebbs Forest a couple of miles away for a time of  green beauty and quietness…He fell asleep under an old oak ; he was nervously exhausted ,no doubt
When he woke up a huge cat was standing near him staring curiously
Hello, the cat said in a kindly but loud voice
Hello,I am Daniel from down the road
Well, the cat said,I’m a lion from the circus.We have escaped and we are living here in the woods.
But what do you eat? asked Dan.
Well,we forage around and we find food left out for house cats.;we also have learned to cook leaves and grass over a fire in a double boiler.
The lion smiled down at Daniel showing a light in his amber eyes
You look very thin.Why don’t you come with me to have dinner?
Daniel was  afraid of the lion but he had no alternative in mind.
After a circuitous walk they reached the deepest,densest  most magical part of the wood.There were four lions,two tigers and four  leopards all looking happy
Is this our dinner,they cried excitedly as they gazed at Daniel.
No,this is a poor starving man with no home.
Well.lie down Dan and eat this leafy risotto..
Absolutely delicious,awesome, he cried greedily as he used his hands like a child with no table manners
Then the first lion asked Dan to come with him to his own den.
When they got there he said piteously
I have got a problem and none of the animals here  can help.I have got a piece of barbed wire stuck in my tail and I need a human with fingers to untangle it..
Daniel looked and there was about 12 inches of barbed wire which hit  and beat the old  lion as he walked or ran.Dan managed to untwist it and uuntangle it.He got some water from the stream and washed the lion’s backside where the barbs had cut into him..I have no Elastoplast, he muttered anxiously.The fresh air will heal it, said the lion gently….

And that was how Daniel came to be living in the lion’s den.
He says he prefers it to living with his dominating wife.
He certainly looks fitter than before and is considering asking for surgery to change into a lion on the NHS as there is a lady lion whom he has fallen in love with.No doubt lions don’t get married in church but they do love each other very deeply.
Just go to the forest and take a look next time you fall asleep.
Now the lions enjoy even better food because Daniel has  recipe books and unlike the lions,he can read.They found some old sauce pans at the recycling centre so he can do cheese sauce using milk from the sheep on the edge of the wood,
If you knew what went on in our many woods,you’d definitely get a big surprise..I can tell you

O

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/fettle

Eeh, it were right crackin’ at school t’day
Wot wur they sayin’ this time?
Thi said wi can do Greek next year
You’re not doin’ Greek
Why not, Mam
Ye can’t even spek English
Why, am I not canny enough?
No, we don’t spek English eether
Well, ye shud a thought eh that before y’ad me.De ye mean only people with BBC eksents c.n have childern?
Well, we reckoned if we learnt English we’d lose our desire
F’wat, Mam
F’ that! Ye know… It, ye get what ah mean
No,Mam.Can you not spell it our a bit more?
Spell it out, te dad would tan me hide!
Still he must a dunnit,Mam
I dunno, it wer dark.Mebbe it wer the cat, ah thought
Surely the cat’s not mi dad, is he?
It weren’t this cat, it wer another called Billy.
Well, how come I’m human?
You think ye are human, but am telling ye,ye got t’cat’s eyes
Just his eyes? How abaht his whiskers
Don’t be so daft, our Kath,Ye’ve got his hair
But only on my head so far.Willa bi changin’ into a cat as ah mature?
Wi’ll have te wait and see.Put ‘t kettle on.We need some tea.
Why, what difference will that make now.I’m a cat,I’m a cat…. oh, what’ll ‘et nuns say ‘et Convent when ah tellum?
You keep away from ‘et Convent~
Why, our Mam?
Do as I tell you.Never confide in a nun
Well,Ah shan’t let ‘et cat fettle me.Ah’m not that daft
Well, yi can’t do Greek and that’s final
Kyrie Eleison,Kyrie Eleison
Wot’s that?
Oh, nothin’ at all
Christie Horizon
For God’s sake speak English, Kath

Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over, Series 1: 2. The Family who Live Online: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0dgmdh2 via @bbciplayer

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/smarter-living/how-to-use-do-not-disturb-iphone.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/intelligent-people-tend-to-be-messy-stay-awake-longer-and-swear-more-a7174256.html

When soft winds blow and air strokes our bare skin.
When days are long like melodies of youth,
when light wakes up the soul from out her sin
Then shall we know when this sweet life is truth?

When flowers droop and leaves are dried and brown;
When water’s short and all plants are forlorn’
Then do not meet disaster with a frown,
For out of heartfelt sorrow new life’s born.

When winter’s here and all is quiet and still
And nothing seems to move or grow or speak
Then we shall learn the limits of our will
for through the soil the first green shoots will break.

For seasons change and actors come and go.
Yet through such changes, life is what we know

Katherins  December 2, 2013 

• Bands of rhyme will be crossing the UK tomorrow.. streams of poetry will bring rain in the eyes.
  Season’s Tweetings to Sinners if all repent
  Shadow of silence are folding over like an envelope.
  The spice of wife..pepper.
  Hop around the roses
  It’s best to saunter nowadays.
  When inside out, a cat can still scratch.. with its reversible catclaws.Try one tonight.Just unzip the cat and it will spring into the heir…to the throne or is it the air all round
  Until the end of all rhymes I’ll be loving you
  Time feels all wounds…and fills holes
  Maps of the iceberg have melted..
  Two hearts that beat as none ever did.
  I wait for the lime to be ripe then it will be a lemon.
  If you have a man,wash him weekly in a tin bath…don’t blame me if you get drawn in…..mate in the bath … saves washing the sheets.

Image copyright Katherine Braithwaite

Copyright Katherine Braithwaite

Winter had come very early to Knittingham yet owing to the late summer and wet autumn,many trees still had their leaves,,,,,,,,,,,some were even green.Stan and Mary were sitting in their mock Tudor cottage style kitchen eating muffins and honey with Earl grey tea in mugs.
Wow,it’s so cold,Mary remarked.
Now,Mary I have told you before that Wow is not a word I expect to hear from such a highly educated person as yourself….why waste your learning?All those years climbing over wallsOxford and dating clever doctors from Harvard…

Bollocks,Mary answered in a tone not unlike the late Rose Nordloch,philosopher extraordinaire who was famed for her obscene talk.
I am thinking of buying some woollen vests,she continued loudly.
Good grief!
What is it, my darling Stan said nosily.
Mary was looking at a catalogue of ladies clothing. and lingerie which had come in the postThey are £39 each,she said wonderingly.If I get three it will be nearly £120 plus postage.Just imagine,I may be unable to afford wool vests

Can’t you just buy one and wear it all winter like the Tudors did?her loving yet irascible husband replied

I think it would get smelly,my dear,even if I wore my anti -perspirant,Mary answered benignly.We should get wool vests from the Government to save us from going to A and E with double pneumonia,she continued softly…Shall we mention it at the Labour Party meeting? I can get it on the agenda

No,no,Stan cried,I want your lingerie to be a secret…

A woollen vest is hardly lingerie,she retorted.. sounding like a character from Barbara Pym‘s novels

Everything a lady wears under her dress in lingerie he murmured gently….bras,knickers,pantaloons,petticoats,vests,corsets,suspender belts.stockings,tights,trouser liners,lace,fine silk,short underskirts,long underskirts……..nighties

But some lingerie is more sensual…Stan said wistfully,recalling the brown silk underwear Mary used to wear before feminism made most lingerie a No,No! Anyway,Mary said,we are too old for sex….we are too stiff and we are too shy now as well

But not too old to have a few fantasies,Stan thought… and woollen vests did not feature in his… he preferred lace and silk with a hint of perfume…. maybe a little embroidery….a dying art

Emile came in and asked for a vest too and some underpants… suppose I wet them? he miaowed in a panic

Well,you can’t have a nappy,Emile.Stan informed him.

I have no desire for such things,Emile mioawed angrily…where is my food?

Oh, yes… it’s in the fridge,said Stan.He took a large goldfish out of the fridge
Where did you get that from? Mary asked fearfully
Oh,that tom cat down the road knocked a fish tank over and he gave Emile one
.But they are pets!She shrieked…. ring 999 now and ask for an ambulance

Dave the bisexual paramedic strode in looking merry.

It’s Frank,the gold fish,said Mary fearfully……………i he dead
He is not quite dead,Dave answered….get a bowl of rain water.He put Frank into the bowl and Frank began to swim…

Well, that’s a bloody miracle,Mary screamed. almost frightening Stan to death!

Just call him Lazy Lazarus.Dave quipped…he was in suspended animation.. fish are very clever.Would you like me to clean out the kitchen or fetch in some coal for the scuttle? he asked the old dears,

Thanks but not today,Dave.We were just discussing vests.Do you wear one?

Oh,yes.he said, and I wear a short petticoat too….I’dd love a silk one as I am a transexual too,so I believe

Very wise,Mary informed him.Underwear keeps us warm.

And it makes me hot,thought Dave…. but he said nothing.He kept his sex life almost a secret even from himself

Vests,thought Mary.

To buy or not to buy

That is my question

• Mary was just running out of the front door when she realised she had not combed her hair.
  She looked around, and found a small wire brush labelled,”For nubuck and suede shoes”…..
  Peering into the old mirror she ran it though her gold and silver hair,powdered her nose with her Estee Lauder natural beige foundation in powder form and slapped some coral lipstick on with haste.. and accuracy.
  Right,that’s it,she thought.Enough to show willing.
  She met her old friend Maureen at the bus stop.
  Have you been seeing Joel again? Maureen asked naughtily.
  No,I’ll be damned if I see him again,Mary said shyly.He told me he was living alone in a large house up the hill, then I met him with his wife.Who was he trying to fool?
  Maybe he hoped you would not notice?
  Not notice what,her wedding ring?
  Luckily the bus came down the road and stopped beside them.They jumped on and ran to the back. for a gab.
  Are you going shopping? Maureen asked.
  No,I am going to take some photos of the jazz band playing on the pavement by the bank… but I told Stan I was going to the pharmacy to buy some Vaseline….
  Why,does he not like you taking photos?
  Not when an old boyfriend of mine is in the band.
  Exactly how old is the boyfriend?
  About 69 I guess.
  Well he’s not that old!
  He is an ex I should have said.I knew him in primary school and used to ride his tricycle.He was my first love.We were only 5 years old.I think it was his red curls and the tricycle that attracted me… but we split up when we were 6.
  Surely Stan would not be jealous;it is 63 years ago,
  And to me it was like last year!Well. you know time does not exist in the Unconscious.
  How wonderful.
  Yes and no.Good memories can be there but also pain can seem as if it just happened even when it is from 50 years ago.
  Have you had a lot of men admiring you,dear?
  How would I know?There could be thousands if they were too shy to speak.
  You know what I mean!
  Not so many.. I had my second when we were 10.He had golden hair and long eye lashes and lots of games in boxes.He was very sweet but we were to young to be engaged so I decided to give men up and study mathematics instead as that has its own icy beauty…
  Wel,,nice meeting you.Have you dyed your hair;it’s got brown streaks.
  Oh,dear,Mary thought.Is it shoe polish? But who polishes suede shoes nowadays?
  Stan was following Mary on his Face Bike.He was watching her from behind the bike racks in front of the HSBC Bank…
  Mary had had many bikes in her life.. what would a fortune teller make of that,he asked himself.
  Still,she had no idea Stan was nearby as she wandered nonchalantly along the grey pavement in her Rosella dress and Gabor suede Mary Janes..
  Now then, where shall I go to take the photos,she thought…maybe I’ll sit outside this Coffee Shop and pretend to feel faint if anyone asks me to buy coffee…
  she opened her bag and took out her Kindle Paperwhite… she was reading,
  Creative Imagery and Healing… and also Cars and Peace by Leo Wholeshaw.. a futuristic novel set in North London.In the first chapter a grandmother has been beheaded in North London.
  That’s a bit far fetched,Mary had thought when she read it but in fact Wholeshaw had been right on the ball when he wrote his e book and self published it on Cramuzon for £3.89…
  I wonder if I’d like to write a novel, Mary mused… just then she saw Stan on the other side of the road talking to a blonde bombshell dressed all in pink.
  I see,she thought.He didn’t know I’d be here as the pharmacy is half a mile away.
  Who is watching whom?Well.the morals be lacking but my grammar is incorrect, damn it!
  And  so swear of us

When the weather turns out wet
Emile has to wear a hat
Mary bought it in a Sale
Making sure it was for males.

Yellow with two cotton ties
It keeps the rain from Emile’s eyes
Mary has her own hat too
Bought in Orford, it is blue

Emile as he is a cat
Up a tree does love to sit
But when he’s leaping tree to tree
With his rain hat , he can’t see.

Mary said, “well stay indoors
You can help me with the chores
I’ll make a harness with a cart
You can carry soap.dear heart.”

“Otherwise go visit Anne
Eat the curry in her pan
Scratch her doormat,sniff for mice
Eat her cake and churn her rice”

I think I saw Stan on the stairs
It’s that velvet coat he wears
I may go and have a rest
I can lean upon his chest

Shall we visit him tonight?
Emile,dear, you must not bite
If he is a spirit now
You may only give a bow

Annie came in looking flushed
By the milkman she was kissed
One more man and she will die
Mary says she needs meat pie

Then the ladies make some tea
Gossip till their minds are free
Mary wants to write a book
If dear Anne will learn to cook

Stan is hiding in the coats
He is checking what they write
Then an angel flies to him
God wants enemies within

So practise love and hope and faith
Even though you have no grace
Say God is dead but do not taunt
Jesus preaching on the Mount

Be you friend or be you foe
Through a needle’s eye we go
See, you’re full of love and grace
Now go home and wash your face

Please stop dissecting my arguments on the phone I didn’t even know they were arguments I think they are like musings

I wonder if the terms sin still has a useful meaning so for example after you’ve committed adultery in your front room with one of the neighbours as they are leaving say

Go now and sin no more but that has one flaw  they might charge you the next time you take them on the sexual partner and who can afford to pay for it  these days?

Dr is it safe to eat a couch potato?

Have you got your degree yet? Well I’ve got a degree of it!

You barely passed at Oxford. Well I was embarrassed.

After 40 years of marriage my husband said he was very angry with me. So I said to him why did you wait till you were ill? We could have had a fight.

You have always got an answer.

But I’m still waiting for the questions.

Remember that not everything is a problem to be solved

I

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/f10ca0fc-7cbb-11e9-bed7-b51375720f1f?shareToken=79802d5edae0e9576a63e85a46c3159a

Love

When first I saw your soulful face,
Then wished I most to you embrace.
I wished as well to clothe you in
The sacred images within.

To find a home for love without;
To fold my dreams all round about
Your loving body and your face
Were covered in such joy and grace.

But now my dreams are cast aside
The world of meaning denied life.
What seemed most precious now is fled…
And I lie sleepless in my bed.

What is the world when unadorned
With all that in my heart I’ve formed?
There is no meaning I can trace.
As in a mother’s empty face.

On these grey rocks my path is hard.
From paradise, my self is barred.
To struggle or to grief succumb
When this dark day of mourning’s done?

Into His dazzling darkness dart
My dreams and love like dying sparks.
Into His Mystery now so fair
I’ll cast both hope and my despair.

Thus my dreams will be transformed
To show themselves in other forms.
What feels a loss may foretell growth.
On my hope,I’ll take an oath

That nothing in my life is waste,
That I have not for phantasms chased.
And you are human,as am I.
Let’s live again until we die

Mary decided to go to bed early..She sat down on the green velvet chair in the corner and took off her outer woollen woven clothes which were pale pink and ready for the wash.As it was so cold she decided to leave her red damart thermal underwear on over which she donned a purple fleece nightgown and a mauve woollen bed jacket.She put some long green woollen bed socks on too and a tan sheepskin hat from East Norfolk.
By her bed were some sheepskin slippers. from Drapers of Glastonbury.
After cleaning her teeth with her gas powered toothbrush she climbed into her bed and began reading Ted Hughes’ letters in a fat volume which she had had for a few years but never finished as she only read them in bed to save carrying the heavy book about.
He certainly knew how to write letters she murmured to herself.
Suddenly her door opened with a thud and a large ,handsome old man came into her bedroom looking puzzed and amazed.
Good evening,baby, he said.
Good evening,she replied slightly angrily as she was busy. reading.Why she’d had enough of all that with her husband and her ex lover Bill Clinton
Why are you wearing all that heavy clothing,?he asked nosily.
What’s it got to do with you? she demanded sarcastically

Well,it’s going to be hard to make love to you,he told her chastely with his loving eyes.
What on earth do you mean,Mary cried mysteriously.
He came a bit closer and looked down at her face.
I’m terribly sorry,he said.I must be sleepwalking,
What number are you?
78 ,she told him calmly.
Oh my, I am dyslexic.I should be at 87.
But how do you get in Mary asked him ,her face red with the warm clothes
I just open the lock with a credit card,he replied intellectually.
A policeman in Oxford showed me.It was the only useful thing I learned at the University

Well, you are here would you mind making me some fresh tea.I am sweating so much I am dehydrated.Julius went into the teal and cream colored kitchen where he found all he needed.
He got a tray and took the tea up to Mary just like her husband once did.
Here you are,dear.he said kindly.

OMG,you’re Stan, she shouted.
Sorry to disappoint you, dear but I am Julius Tweezer from round the corner.
I didn’t know there was a corner,she said curiously.
I like your kitchen,he told her.My wife liked red but it was too bright for me so I left her
I think that’s ridiculous,Mary cried.To get divorced over a red kitchen is really stupid.

Well,it’s less embarrassing in court than to say you are frigid,impotent a bully and mean as well,he said coyly.
Very cunning,Mary said,I didn’t know men were frigid and why were you so mean?

I am a hermaphrodite,actually ,he boasted.I don’t know why I am mean;it must be genetic like intelligence was once imagined to be.
Well drink your tea and don’t think of England,she whispered.
I am too old for all that,she lied gently

You look young to me,he faltered.It’s all in the mind.so they say.
Suddenly a policeman came in wearing a floral apron
Sorry,madam,he cried.This poor man has got lost and I have come to take him home
You can take me home,Mary said flirtatiously.I’m only 32 and full of beans
Madam ,control yourself.This is a Christian country. Which is odd as Jesus was not a Christian and never saw the Vatican and all that tat.
Well,Jesus would not mind,she bragged, because he understands women taken in adultery.
So you are married then,he asked sycofrantically

Well I have a wedding ring on but I’ve lost my husband,Mary yelped like a terrier at a foxhole.
They are a nuisance sometimes aren’t they , said the officer.
He’s probably hunting rabbits by the old greenwood with Ted Hughes.You go to sleep now.He began to sing,”Golden Wonders kiss your eyes” and Mary was lulled to sleep under her old duvet and a thick acrylic and mohair rug she had knitted herself.Let’s hope she doesn’t wet the bed because she’s just had cystitis and drunk 3 pints of water.

What a funny day, mewed Emile.But nobody heard him except the mice in the wainscotting.He put on his hat and went into his basket with a rosary to play with or is it pray with?

Good night

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ede1ff56-c282-11ed-89bb-9ee8b04f3f4c?shareToken=dfc464840bf625b39624343b215078c0

We enjoyed the elegiac monotony of the English weather.

Our house was called, Stunned Foaming.

When I became 5 years old the picture on the wall which used to be the three Bears changed into a river with a three arched bridge crossing it.

We were stunned by the snake like behaviour on the management. Let’s hope they shed their skin soon