
Time watches from the Shadows


Mary buys x pairs of trousers[ for all those people who tell me they are afraid of x,y and z

Mary goes shopping for trousers.
Let number of pairs of trousers bought = x
If Mary has £60 and price of trousers=£12
How many pairs of trousers can Mary buy?
12x =60
6x=30
3x=15
1x =5
Usually we leave out the 1 and write x=5 QED
So Mary can buy 5 pairs of trousers.This is algebra
Is it sensible to buy 5 pairs of identical trousers? That is not mathematics.It might be common senses,ethics,foolishness or wisdom.
That is a more complex question like this one ” Save money:buy 2 get one free” when you don’t even need one!
Further,should Mary draw her life savings out and buy 1,000 pairs of trousers?
Clearly not so where should she draw the line? Because ladies get tired of their clothes and how long is Mary going to live? And she is depriving 999 other ladies of a pair of trousers as well.That is worth thinking about but it’s not mathematics,is it?
From this we can conclude that algebra is easier than other problems we deal with.Don’t say maths is hard! It’s easier than ethics and morals and wisdom
Amen
Now we will pray for all those we have offended on FB today!
Parallel lines will meet in a crack
Once I have found one I rarely go back
The ice in the winter the heat of the day
The cracks in the pavement have something to say.
A familiar as faces we loved in our youth
The heart recognises emotional truth.
When I walk up the street where we used once to play
I feel I’m a stranger, one born yesterday.
Where is our cousin with asthma severe?
Where are the children who used to play here?
Too quickly the clock has turned it’s long hands
Blindly we dream,by the flow of the sand.
Where is our mother who stood by the gate?
She called out our names but I’ve left it too late.
A black and white cat has come into my house
I hope it will see otf the rat and the mouse.
Dandelions rise from the cracks in the spring.
I prefer winter the ice that will sing
1 Fell off writers’ block into a pit of tigers.Bad layout.
2.Strangled by over-loving cat.Verdict: guilty
3.Large bottle of ink bounced back off wall . thus broke skull.Suicide denied by dead man or wife as appropriate [Delete one]
4 Forgot to eat while writing long novel.Was not worth it
5 Forgot to sleep owing to inspiration.Stupid despite possessing unique genius
6.Killed by malfunction of new laptop.[Can be returned to Amazon free when body is removed]
7.Tried to meditate and fell out of the window. Accidental death
8 Tried to clean outside of the window with a microfibre cloth.A pane broke and cut his throat.Incidental death
9 Got depressed by lack of air.Jumped and lost balance killing two cats on the patio.Verdict Unfair
10.Thought he was sleepwalking and walked off roof of extension [only just completed].Insurance will be paid.
11.Fainted in church and was used as a human sacrifice.Jesus wept
12 Hit head on bannister while falling down the stairs.Euthanasia while dizzy.Resurrection imminent
13.Fought off wife but bitten by the dog .Both dead.Verdict, pointless end.
14 Wrote a best seller, got drunk and died of shock!
15 His website was declared a threat to humanity.Died of shame.
From the dazzling dark comes our new year
A performance both liturgical and spare
Candle light in darkness,ancient ,new
Illuminated shadows of despair
Enter in the ones who loss can bear
Do not cross them out, nor make them skew
The performance,ah liturgical , ah spare
From the dazzling dark comes our new year
When will be the last of my own few?
lluminate and fear not bleak despair
We do not let the fear of feelings bare
Abbreviate the pleasure , lose the clue.
A performance mute, liturgical and spare
Candles in the darkness, how so fair?
Dark and light combine, Da Vinci drew
Eliminate excesses of despair
In the little crib the light was blue
Another, holier world is here and now
A performance both liturgical and spare
Illuminated shadows of despair
I like syntax,I like structure
Elegance with signs of fracture.
I like writing with a pen
I like ink,just now and then,
I like shape and I like form.
Architectural sentence born
I like writing to the dead.
Only in my dreams in bed.
I like frames and I like order
I like pictures with a border.
I like writing on my sheets.
Memories that will not keep.
I like finding what I think.
Eloquence makes grown men blink.
I prefer to talk and sing.
Did you hear my wedding ring?
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

I’m happy on my own
I gaze up through red maple leaves
All transparent in the sun.
But when winter comes I’m lonely
Sitting here beside my fire.
So I want a winter lover
To keep my spirits higher.
Oh,my winter love come to me
And I’ll gaze deep into your eyes
The light that shines in there
Is so much warmer than my fire.
We’ll go through wintry woodlands,
Where elegance lies bare.
The branches struck by sun
Now feel the frosty grasp of air.
I’ll love you all the winter time.
I’ll love you in the dark.
I’d like to rest within your arms,
And have a peaceful talk
When summer comes I’ll disappear
To roam across the dales
I’ll sleep on heather moorlands
And send you loving mail.
I can’t be tied in summertime
I must be roaming free.
But ,if you accept this need of mine,
To you I’ll faithful be.

What to Know About Seasonal Depression https://www.nytimes.com/article/seasonal-depression-what-to-know.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

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

I wish I were on Hutton Roof again
The limestone and the little open flowers
The sea at Arnside like a distant gem
The spaciousness, like days with far more hours
I wish I were as agile now as then
I’d climb the mountains, hills,the little lanes
Windermere below still winding on
The handsome Lake the old man, Coniston
I wish I were in Dent, the curious shapes
The hills and their deep mystery engross
The height, the little river, the mistakes
The lost loved man alive, to hold me closeI
I yearn to be on Hutton Roof today
The holy smell of grass, the feel of air
One of the great unresolved psychological enigmas of the modern western world is the question of what or who has persuaded us to accept as virtually axiomatic a self-view and a world-view that demand we reject out of hand the wisdom and vision of our major philosophers and poets in order to imprison our thought and our very selves in the materialist, mechanical and dogmatic torture-chamber devised by purely quantitative and third-rate scientific minds.
Philip Sherrard

Mary was sitting looking at the execution of Mary Queen of Scots on TV while also mending some moth holes in her skirt.The only thread she got into the eye of the easy thread needle was blue but nobody was going to examine her with a microscope, she told herself gently
She also was thinking of her winter coat.Was raspberry really a good choice? Would dark grey not be more useful?After all she often sat down on garden walls while taking photos or even on old wooden benches.What she needed was a folding cushion or a small thick towel.No wonder women have such big handbags.
Annie her neighbour came in the back door with a bag of broken biscuits.
Look at these!We used to get them in the market years ago.So for old times sake I have hit these with a hammer!
What sort of hammer,Mary asked.
Why, are there different kinds?
Yes,but I expect yours is just the usual medium size.
Actually it was Ben’s.When he ran away he left it behind.
I suppose it was too heavy to fit into his suitcase.Where do he run to?
I don’t know,said Annie but as his sister in law went with him they might have gone to Australia.
Do men in Australia often love their sisters in law? Mary pondered
Who knows? The point is nobody would recognise them.Although if I went on Saga holiday I might!More people travel now.My friend Jim went to Borneo last yearm said Annie in a tone of wonder
So if we became lesbian lovers we could not hide in Borneo!Where could one hide now with all this travel?
Disguise might be best,Annie whispered.You could dress as a man!
You must be joking ,at my size.
Well, there are plenty of fat men!
But would they have a shape like mine?
So the two friends while away Saturday afternoon, both now darning Mary’s other clothes.
Why don’t you just buy new clothes,Annie murmured kindly.
I can’t afford this quality.I shall have to keep combing Emile until I get enough fur to make into a thread.Then I can knit a scarf!
How ridiculous,You’d need a herd of cats to get enough,Annie informed her with pity.
What a lovely idea,Mary cried,But Emile might be jealous.Or he might enjoy meeting a lady cat… or two.
I don’t think you could have more than six cats here and with food and bills it would be cheaper to buy wool
Still,a ball of wool is not so good to sleep by as a cat,Mary pondered slowly.And it has no loving eyes to look at when one comes in from the shops.
I suppose just holding wool in the hand might be very soothing,Annie retorted logically.
Otherwise we could join Soulmates she continued fluently.
Would men be attracted to a lady with darned moth holes in her clothing? Mary enquired humorously
Well, it would show you were economical and thrifty,Annie cried sensitively
Surely that is not the main reason men choose a woman partner, said Mary wonderingly.
I suppose they like a woman with a gentle sensitive nature.Annie screamed
Well.Denis Thatcher didn’t,Mary informed her delightedly
So true, but was she different once?
No, he wanted to be dominated.Mary decided.
I wonder if he liked being whipped,Annie thought having read 5o shades of whey
She could have used the Government Whips, Mary chortled.
Both the women burst out laughing so much that the sofa fell over and flung them onto the thick red and purple striped acrylic carpet
That sofa us unstable,Annie shouted.We could have died
Perhaps it’s us.Mary shrieked
Emile ran out into the kitchen and bit a piece out of the Xmas cake.
I can’t help it, he mewed.They are both getting madder by the day
And so say all of us
Emlle’s a jolly good yeller
So pray for all of us.
How softly sweetly,gently flowers pose
Carnation,orchid ,daffodil and rose.
For their intricate petals form a shield
Yet bees with 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.
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

I spent my adult life in foolish toil
At least it paid the rent and saved me space
Seeing calculus, my brain has boiled
As for understanding, lose your cool
Infinitely smaller, numbers placed
I spent my adult life in foolish toil
Disappearing just as they beguile
Numbers irritate the mental space.
Games like calculus force heads to boil
Yet if we must learn al-gebra let’s smile
As neo-liberals lose the human race
I spend my life in Pascal’s counterfoils
One by one the tiny x’s file
Through my dreams to weave the demons’ lace
The holes of calculus were over-tiled.
When do we know we have found our place
Will it be the black holes of disgrace?
I spent my adult life in grey turmoil
Neither calculus nor boiling oil.

I’ve been reading for the last two days and article about a woman of 91 who died on a fiirst day in a care home.
A lot of the articles blame two workers who did not speak English properly so they said.
But if this home and people will dementia and other illnesses then it will be a nursing home and there has to be a nurse on the premises all the time.
The newspapers are blaming the care workers because when they rang 999 they could not explain what had happened properly but there should be a nurse fully qualified and someone from management so to me it seems like the home is to blame for leaving it up to the Carers to ring for the ambulance.
The poor woman has been there only one day and she died. Book to be perfectly frank with you I think her life would not have been very good in that place. I have heard residents saying that they want to die and one person with severe dementia asked me to kill her. When I tell the I couldn’t do that she said I was a coward.
Unless you know a place I will be very wary of putting a relative into one.

Triolet
The summer weighs us down with sullen heat
Even cats and dogs sit blank as stones
Gone are lovely flowers with fragrance sweet
Late summer weighs us down with bullying heat
The hot flagstones return my angry beat
As gaudy people sweat with ears to phones.
How summer weighs us down with sullen heat
Now all cats and dogs are turned to stone

The cyclamen, the lily and the earth
The potted plants ,green leaves , distil the air
The lily is for peace. the rose for worth
Let no human live in pain or cursed
Let the golden light en-wrap them here
The cyclamen, the lily and the earth
The waxy flowers of cyclamen bring mirth
Bring gratitude in winter when all’s bare
The lily is for peace. the rose for worth
I feel my hands are reaching for a brush
The watercolour paints bring their allure
The cyclamen, the lily and the earth
Then I see a flower trod on and crushed
It seems to bleed like Jesus,tears my eye.
The lily is for peace. the rose for worth
Nature has its truth and so do I
Many times I weep, bewail and cry
The cyclamen, the lily and the earth
The lily is for peace. the rose for birth

Moses was an Eruption I hear.So he had to be kept warm in a basket.
Then Foureyes daughter let him gloat down on the River Nile…till a bull rushed him
Then he turned into a shrew and found God.. or God found him
But God would not let him find Galilee so he found Emilee ,Loelee and Phoebilee linstead.
He had many children such as Matthew,Hark,Look and Gone.They were all men and had more children with no wives.They didn’t have any women so who did Cain and Abel marry?Eve?
Is this what Freud never realized… men used to marry their mothers and later their daughters who were also their sisters,Crikey,what a blunder
Blimey what is this Bible?Libel?
As we were taught in school Daniel lived with a lion and a lamb.I’m unsure if they had children…. it might explain a lot if they did.
And finally Solomon was very wise.It was easier then when there was no judge or jury to stop him cutting a baby in two… well, he was just pretending.
I say,the Shrews were very shrewd and clever.Like who told Adam and Eve what to do before Masters and Johnson wrote that book.. the Human Textual Despondency?
In any case Adam could not read.In fact they didn’t write either.And to think children here can write so young.Adam and Eve were a bit lacking but they have lots of family
Everybody on Earth… pity they are dead and can’t see us though God knows they’d be shocked if they saw our behaviour to our family here on earth
Some misunderstanding?
1.A man must wear a cat at all tim
es ,except in bed when he may wear pyjamas over his head if he wants to [unless his wife likes his face] I was told this by my neighbour who is now a widow.Why?
2.One must never eat pork hostages
3.Women must be immodest so that men can pick and choose
4.Men must prey at least 5 times a day except on the Sabbath .She always was bad at spellingHowever, one can pray mentally [but not while eating dinner]
6.A man must love his neighbour but is it the right hand one or the left hand one?It sounds like musical chairs.Do women love their neighbour? It’s transitive
7.A man must not convert his neighbours’ wife to a new political person
8 No-one may hero worship a golden oldie or their neighbour’s calf or heel
9 Women are both seen and heard whereas men make scenes. and gird their loins
10.If you worship a golden owl ,don’t tell anybody as the cat may be jealous.Not to mention the Divine
Advice:.If a burning bush appears,keep still and listen respectfully then run
And never kill your nanny’s goat unless she orders it
Down the slanting, new laid garden path
I saw the young wood pigeon in the bath.
We rarely went down there in recent years
The bird was not afraid, he stood and stared.
Then having splashed in joy, he flew away.
I miss my quiet garden and its peace.
My heart is overflowing with this grief
What’s the point of living, keeping safe?
When we shall no more feel love:s sweet embrace.
Gold stone from Cotswold quarries young men brought
And built into a way of life for those who bought
Their lives so cheaply,
And did not see
The children’s eyes,the ball,.the game ,the tree
Of life that grew in small backyards and gave all
To those who climbed into its arms.
Why should this not be you?
Oh,Eden,I see that you are nearer now
In lowly homes where love is free
Than in the temple, grove,and soft set brow
Of those who worship God in churches built of gold.
Now we must know that this is easy to behold
When sun is setting,and escapes the ashes
Thrown up and floating in the watches
Of the days of voter’e eyes cast up to skies
and,wondering fearful, what will come
when all the secret deals are done.
So take the gold of life and let it fall
Into your children’s growing souls
And let this Cotswold town and spires
Melt into sunset’s glowing orange fires.

My heart is crushed like petals on the road
When spring winds blow and cars speed by like shot
The weight of caring is too hard to hold
Yet such a pastime seems to be my lot.
When buds appear I dread the frost of sin
When leaves uncurl ,I bear my breathless dream
I was not always of this mind so grim
Neither did I ponder complex schemes.
Shall I descend to ploys and plots of doom;
Wreak revenge on those who trouble me?
No,I ‘ll not give home to conquering gloom
I’ll sit it out and find what good’s for me.
My heart is crushed but I shall live again
Far from the habitat of wolf-like man.

Mary was in the teal coloured kitchen of her almost detached house making a jam sponge pudding when the doorbell rang.She wiped her hands on her new purple trousers because she didn’t want to dirty a clean towel.
She found her colleague Dr Rosa Benchez standing nervously outside shivering
Come in , Mary cried.
Would you like a cup of tea? You need to sit by the fire and get warmer
I’d love that, Rosa said politely but distantly
A few minutes later they were sitting looking out of the bay window watching a blackbird sitting on the fence;they hoped it would start to sing
May I talk to you,Mary? I have got rather more agitated than ever before
.I am wondering if I need counselling or maybe shooting, she joked morosely
OK,said Mary cautiously.Has anything unusual happened ?
Yes, my sister has had her driving license taken away because of big panic attacks she had crossing the Humber Bridge …. you know how huge it is.She got out of the car and screamed,Help! Help!
That was dangerous with so much traffic about
She is furious and says we live in a Nazi state and is writing to the Times
Well, it can happen that you lose your licence,Mary said,but when she has learned to deal with the attacks she can re-apply and get her license back.Simple things like not eating and being tired can bring that on so I have heard.And fear of fear, too.
As well as that,Rosa said,my son has got a recurrence of cancer and is going onto some new drug-type chemo.My ex husband is very distressed and so am I as it was unexpected.
And even worse my new fiance Prof. Charlie Blogge has broken off our engagement with no reason.I can’t think of any at all.Shall I ever trust a man again?
He said I can keep the ring which is a blue sapphire ,supposedly, but when I had it valued they said I was mistaken and you can buy them on amazon for £57 and less.
So she took off the ring and hurled it into Mary’s coal fire where it looked very nice as it got hotter and hotter glowing like a lighthouse off Portland Bill in a sea storm or a banger about to explode
Good grief, said Mary.No wonder you are agitated.We may have to phone Dave the bisexual lovable paramedic available on the NHS 24 hours a day.Or we could have our hair permed and dyed red instead, she murmured to herself
Which of these events bothers you most,Rosa? She continued gently while hoping she would cope.
It is my own feelings that worry me most.I wake up feeling very sad and nervous;I wonder if I am having a breakdown.Then I feel worse as I turn it over in my mind trying to decide what to do.Then I get up and get food into me and think it all over and over again while drinking my tea.
Well, you know it is normal to feel sad, anxious or distraught when bad things happen,Mary told her.
But most people look happy when I see them in the town , Rosa shouted angrily
That is because being outside they put on a mask.They could be feeling worse than you.Anyway, why bother about that? We are all different.Some people think I am very calm but they don’t see me when I’m not.I go stiff like a piece of wood.Then I pass out
So what do you do? Rosa asked her nervously,twirling a golden ringlet around her finger as she watched her engagement ring melt in the fire.
I don’t do anything,Mary said.This is one of the fundamental errors in our society that action is needed for so many things and especially for negative feelings.But it’s usually part of life.Things pass.
I pretend I have a big round box inside me and I let the anxiety live in there nice and cosy until my mind has absorbed and dealt with the pain.Once my box was quite small but it has grown bigger now and so it has room for mad or bad feelings.I do little tasks and listen to music.
Then if I feel really bad I listen to Leonard Cohen and tell myself, he had it worse.But he made money out of it! Not that you can make money out of yours. though it’s worth musing about
Well,Rosa replied.Thank you,Mary.I am glad I am not the only one who feels so anxious sometimes.I shall try to get a box like yours.
You are welcome,said Mary jovially.Come round on Sunday for tea.Emile is out hunting but he loves to see you and so do I
The women hugged cautiously and Rosa went out looking less cold and nervous as she bravely carried her box away .It was invisible to the people walking nearby

You know the widow’s sad and can mourn and grieve all day
But the anger and the hatred,she’s not supposed to say
She can cry upon the duvet, she can moan under the stairs
But the rage and irritation are not to be declared
She can order man size tissues in boxes multiplied
But the venomous ,vindictiveness imply that love had died
She can be dissociated, she can be without affect
But if she says how well she hated him, everybody’s vexed
Who can live so closely for forty and five years
Without needing a dressmaker to sew up all the tears?
Who can be accepting when money and time’s scarce
There’s a war inside the heart of us everybody hears
Scratched and bitten daily, struck by falling stars
Who can come to help us from our warring hearts?