You let me see the face within your face Human,lowly,humbler than an ant The pathos in your eyes made sad my gaze The other face, defended, has no grace With it ,you appear quite confident. Yet you revealed to me your hidden face I know now of the suffering of your days A fear of tragic pasts feared imminent The pathos in your eyes made sad my gaze The mental torment heavy all your days. Yet you must hide from men intolerant You revealed the face within your face Like martyrs, you were tortured and disgraced You wandered feebly,lost, itinerant The pathos in your eyes makes sad my days If Love exists then would that not embrace The lost, the lonely, even the vagrant? You revealed the face within your face The pathos in your eyes made me feel base
Anyway I’m losing weight and my genes that were tied to weeks ago I know dropping off me so if you want to find me you can just follow the trail of jeans or genes
Mary put on her light tweed trouser suit and the pair of brogues she always thought just right for walking around Aldeburgh. It was not really Mary’s style. She had been reading private patient by P.D James who obviously admired thin or thick tweed trouser suits. But not for changing the tyree on your car. That’s the big advantage of jeans.
She went into Annie’s room in the small family hotel. it was a beautiful room decorated in turquoise and light blue and she said furtively
I’ve just remembered that there is a Nursing Home near here. Someone I used to know when I was young called Maggie Heldridge has been living here for about a year. She fell over and couldn’t walk properly so she came here for rest and physiotherapy. I’m wondering if she’s going to go home again so we could call and find out. Most women like visitors but are Mary and Annie normal visitors?
Are you thinking that we should go and visit her while we’re nearby? Annie asked her?
Well it will be an act of hunan kindness wouldn’t it? She never married so she probably doesn’t have many visitors. I’ll give the place a call and we can go around there for coffee this morning.
Little did they know what was in store for them on this sunny morning.
Emile woke up.
Can I come with you, he asked politely? I’m not very keen on building sandcastles nor rolling up my trouser legs so I can paddle in the sea.
We we could give this rucksack a trial to see whether I could wear it for a longer walk up the beach.
Rose House was not difficult to find. They went up the Town Steps which led to a slightly higher road on which the Catholic church was located. Why they built the church up there I have no idea. Rose house was opposite the church
Maybe they were afraid of the church being washed away by the sea given what had happened at nearby Dunwich
Press the buzzer on the front door of Rose House and you will find a determined receptionist inside who will allow you to get in because she knows the secret code.
They introduced themselves and told her that they had come to see their friend Maggie.
Maggie.,. we all love her she is so beautiful, she wears very trendy clothing and she’s got beautiful skin I have seen it myself because I used to be a Carer but I went to college and did some training and now I’m a receptionist
We are going to have a beautiful bottom competition this year were I myself I’m going to photograph the bottom of anyone who wants to enter. When we will pin a number of them on the wall and people can decide which one they like the best.
What is this place? thought Mary
It seems a bit weird to me. Is it legal to take a photograph of anyone’s bottom? I suppose they give their consent its okay. They may not want to upset the staff by refusing.
Actually if you like I can take photographs of your bottoms while you are here although you can cannot enter the competition unless you are a resident.
The two women looked at each other in wild surmise. They picked up the rucksack and ran out of the door into the car park as there was no other place that you could get to from the door. Unless you had wings.
They ran into the nearest coffee shop and asked for two large cappuccinos with sugar as tea was not available. Forgotten all about Emile but where was he?
We can’t we can’t let Maggie down Mary said we will have to go back but not today I will telephone and explain that you have got a sudden attack of claustrophobia so you need to see a doctor urgently
I can’t tell lies to the doctor. It seems wrong
Why not? We are post truth now you know. And it’s all because of Judith Butler and Heidegger.
Don’t worry I never played with them in the school playground.
You will never play with them anywhere.
I don’t mind whatever you say and the two women walked along the streets with a happy Emile in the ruck sack on Mary’s back. What’s a miracles that is
If God had made us with paws like dogs and fur like tigers then we would not need to buy clothes and we would not need money as much as we do.
Furthermore if we ate grass we are not need to go to the supermarket.
If we had fur would that be sufficient to keep us warm in the northern winters because tigers don’t live there but they’re living in Africa and India where it’s hot.
Can someone invent a new form of fur?
However if we had four legs under arms it will be hard to read a book especially if our eyes are set further to the side like cats eyes look to be. After all we don’t want to have curved books, do we?
Would you like a tail like a cat? Would we still have looting contests?
Could we still buy stiletto heels to stick to our whores?Sorry, laws.
My mother bought some rogues in Hotters sale. She bought just one pair. Four colours black brown yellow and white. Sorry they don’t have them in khaki
My wife said to me if you want to have a bath there are plenty of clean trowels in the Bering Coven.
My friend is buying a flat. What else can you do with them?
A holy stone is good for a rest or to throw at a pest. Too many dirty books caused me to need a wash and get really tense! Flask’s are not what your auntie can fill for you, but you can do one for your auntie if you are a pest.I mean pressed. I was asleep at the spinning wheel trying to beat a record for the longest tale in the world.I misread it..longest tail in the world.Oh, what dead luck. Why does the ass face backwards? Pass the tea bag over the kettle to flavour the theatre At the back of Dawn stood a very big bad bald man At the flop of a hat he jumps into bed At the eleventh power failure she went over the edge and I had a very nervous breakdown on my hands.I p ulled her back from the brim of the coffee mug as she wished to drown her sorrows I was at the far end of my mope when the priest called out for wine..They used to drink tea once but they now say tea was never mentioned in the Bible.As for cappuccinos… do you think Jesus would have did what He did if he was in Starbuck’s. all morning? See,that’s what thinking does for you.So stop now At the end of the day coffee keeps you awake all night choosing the hymns for your funeral. At the bend in the book-keepers’ folder was a gold coin.Father Xmas left it for him,so he said At the last minuet I’d like to be alone with my own soul or a fried sole She made me eat the witch’s sandwiches.They were pearlicious.But the witch is now malicious which bodes ill for the New Year not to mention the full moon.What is it full of anyway? Ll
When the weather began to improve and the sun was getting high in the sky, Mary and Annie decided to go for a holiday on the East coast
I would really like to take Emile with us Mary told Annie.
He’s had a hard time during the last few years and it would do him good to have a change.
But do you think it’s safe to take him?
Do you think he should have a collar and lead?
No I think that we will get a rucksack made of leather and we can put a soft wool cardigan in the bottom and it must be quite shallow so that if he wants to he can sit up and put his head out of the top even though he’s on my back.He should be able to hear the sound and smell the tang of the sea.
So Mary said to Emile
We’re thinking of going on holiday to some quiet Hamlet on the East coast. We thought you might like to come with us.
Oh mother I would really love to come with you. Can I go in your handbag? I can put my head off of the top and if anybody who comes near you I can bite them with my teeth.I’ll make sure that my sheet teeth are very sharp before we leave home
We will talk about that when we’re near the time because Annie and I have got to choose our clothes shoes and get some makeup and sun protection cream not to mention having our hair cut blow dried
Oh you women cried Emile.
The wind will blow dry your hair when you walk along the beach.
Oh,my hair is is thin enough already without being bblown off by the wind.
Well, I like it said Emile manfully.
Thank you so much, Mary told him. What a courteous cat you are
And so say all of us
I hope that one day I will have another cat just like Emile
We do not allow men and women to share beds in the Cardiac Unit
[That’s good.I am homosexual. or neuter]
{ Now, you might think it would save money if we all chose a partner on the ward]
We do not allow patients to open the windows
[Are you afraid the people in another ward might want to climb in?}
You must not complain about the food
{Where is it?}
We keep you here until WE decide.[Not the Royal Sea Hospital where we had your angiograms]
We change the sheets every day.
{That’s the only benefit of being in hospital]
The nurses are all overworked
{So is everyone, including the patient]
Do not get washed in front of the Consultant
[We wait till he turns round then ?]
That bowl of water is not a cup of tea
[Wittgenstein, thou should be living at this hour]
Please do not watch porn on your iphone as it may be stolen.Buy a cheap one before you come in here.Be prepared and always keep it to hand
Remember actual sex is forbidden except in the bathroom.And it is unwise there.
{ What’s this, a convent?}
No,matron I was just feeling itchy.
[They believe anything]
If you can do that, you can go home.
[But I won’t have an audience at home.]
Would you believe some people have heart attacks just to get into a Cardiac Unit?
{Me neither. unless I was an asylum seeker]
We are always able to make you a cup of tea.
{But are you willing?}
The last rule is pray hard and keep smiling
Oh, to be beguiling
Please do not die when you’ve just had clean sheets on your bed
We’ll leave the dirty ones on then
Free death now!
You must lie flat in the Cardiac Unit
So we can’t lie upright?
Can the upright lie?
Breakfast is a cornflake
Milk Snatcher!
Ghosts sometimes have mobile homes.Ignore them
I need someone in my bed
It’s not yours.You are dead.
I don’t believe it!
Ask for a certificate then
A deaf certificate?
Cockney!
The PM is fond of women>Please wear dressing gowns when he pays a visit
And when I pay a visit?
Please do not mention hair when Mrs X is near your bed Who, her?
Please pray silently.Respect atheism tonight
They’ll be having Services soon with their own organ
We do not need the News blasted from your phone
Truss kills.
Why have the weather forecast on when you are dyinlg,
Just a bad habit, as Thomas Aquinas said
When the PM arrives we will all cry in one voice Alleluya
Is she God now?
When he leaves, shout it twice
Why can’t the doctor do it,we are sick
So are the doctors.How do they feel?
Quite nice,I have found.
Don’t touch them!
Well, they touched me first
That was for your angiogram
I prefer a radiogram
Think of your Art.
Chalk it up to experience
On a blackboard?
It’s a metaphor
For whom?
The bell tolls
Stan was wearing his best suit,topped by a denim apron, and wad polishing the big windows with a microfibre cloth ,as he waited breathlessly for his stunning wife
.Mary entered the room wearing a long purple and mauve dress which clung somewhat tightly to the curvaceous contours of her beautifully rounded body.
On her feet she had some smart pewter ballet slippers and in her elegant hand she carried a huge pewter clutch bag which contained some of her many medications.She addressed Stan,
“I think I can leave my handbag behind if I put my mouth spray into my bra.”
“That somehow detracts from the romance of the evening.” Stan pronounced openly.
“Well,you know,I never had a cleavage until lately and I fell I ought to make the most of it.”
“Surely I should be the one make the most of it,” he riposted jocosely.
“Of course you may, my angel,but not in the restaurant,”she answered back sweetly
“I’ll put your spray in my pocket then,shall I?”
Suddenly the doorbell rang.
”Who’s this?”
It was Annie,their next door neighbour.
She was wearing a coral velvet track suit with matching Reeboks and sun hat.
“Hi,I just came in with a little prezzie,”She declaimed.In her hand was a huge box of chocolates.
“Gosh,Mary you look lovely in that beautiful long dress but you’re not
going on your bike,are you?”
“No,we are having a cab,but it’s not come as yet.”
“Well,never mind.I’ll ring 999 and get them to send an emergency ambulance for you!”
Fortunately,as luck would have it the minicab appeared and it was only as they were entering the restaurant that Stan realised he was still wearing his old denim apron.
“Shall I take it off?” he pondered.
On the pro side I will look smarter on the con side I might spill some soup down my front.I wish I’d done more logic at college.
So he kept it on.Mary didn’t seem to notice.She just took him for granted.~
If he stood on his head and sang”Jerusalem” she probably wouldn’t pay any attention.
Then he noticed that Mary was wearing an apron too.It was the same colour as her dress.What a brilliant idea,he thought.
“There may be money in this.” He could start a small business,
“Aprons R You” selling lovely aprons in all colours of the rainbow.
Suddenly he heard noises;he awoke and heard Mary shouting
“How can you go to sleep when you are out with me?”
“Would you prefer me to recite the Periodic Table?” he snapped gently.
“I’d prefer a poem,” she cried…
All right,Petal,I’ll think of one soon.In the meantime would you like a fool?”
“No.I’ve got you,” she responded handsomely.
“I mean for a pudding?”
“Oh,yes please.A Rubik fool would be lovely.It will pass the time.You know I get so bored.”
“Well,I do my best but it’s hard keeping up with you.would you like to read a few truth tables whilst I finish my mea.?”
He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small leather bound book.
“Truth tables and levitation for geniuses,” by Bertha Russell.
“Oh,Stan,this looks interesting .I’ve always wanted to fly like an angel or an owl.”
“It’s never too late to say never.” he responded.
“Whatever do you mean?”
“I don’t know.Just because a sentence is grammatically correct doesn’t imply that it means something.”
“Yes, quite right.And conversely a sentence can mean something even when it’s not grammatically correct.”“Isn’t thinking exciting!”
“Yes,indeed.I was thinking how exciting it will be to go to bed with you.”
“Wow,good grammar and full of meaning.I am yours.I am like a ripe plum ready to drop off the tree.I am a cat ready to mate.I am a song waiting to be sung.”
“Gosh,are metaphors your bete noir?”
“Je ne parle pas Francais.”
“Aimez vous ein Nederlander?”
“Sprechen sie Deutsche?”
Ist sein mutter immer krank?”
Lehitraot, auf weidersehen,au revoir,
Je suis un parallel line
From time and place and season I am lost, Disorientated ,missing tracks well worn. Do not suppose I’m unaware of cost, Nor label me with epithets of scorn. For usual paths lead to the usual place. The safest way to live and perhaps to die, But wandering through the woods I find new space and in wild grasses with the fox I lie. Through distant trees, I see a way to go As narrow as a slit in pale limestone. I pass in silence as if in deep,deep snow. My courage rises even as I groan.
Remember when we’re lost ,we may then find Another way,a place,another mind.
Would you like to be my friend? No, I’d rather be myself
Would you like to fall in love? I’d rather swim through it
Would you like a new car? I’ve not got an old one
What is your name. No, it’s not, it’s Nat
What shall we eat tonight? I can chew my nails after putting mango chutney on them
I don’t like to eat snails but neccessity is the mother of invention Will you saute them in olive oil? No, I’ll stuff them into a tomato You need a big one I’ll crush them How cruel cookery can be But not as bad as Goering,Stalin,Hitler or Nero. Snails won’t know that But we know
Where are the children? I didn’t know we had any
Why are we in bed? Because we are married Since when? Gosh, you’ve got dementia already Well, we do live in a Care Home Wow, only 29 and in a Care Home We run it
She lay there in her Per Una nightdress and cried because she was having her persistent dream.Stan had died but in the dream he was alive and holding hrr hand as he pulled her urgently along the street and then wanted her to run faster an faster.
She recognised the road because it was the place she had gone to register his death. Because he had not died near their home
Stan cried
Hurry hurry the car park’s around that corner but when they got to the corner there was another corner and round that one there was another corner as if there were an infinite number them. Sometimes it’s a great handicap to be a mathematician.
Stan said we’ve got to find the car otherwise we can’t ever go home again1 They passed a new coffee shop but Stan didn’t want to go in. They were both out of breath then all of a sudden Mary woke up but she was not holding the Stans hand. She was holding Emile’s tail
Emil turned around and bit her hand.
Ouch Mary cried. Why are you biting the hand that feeds you?
Welk you keep pulling my tail. I can’t escape you’ve been holding my tail for two hours.
Thank you Emil I didn’t know that I was doing this so I am sorry about it but Stan was trying to make me run and he was holding my hand and pulling me along.
Well it’s nice to dream about him maybe but I was afraid that my tail would come off completely.
I just saw something in the newspaper about awoman who went round to the house of a man that she fancied and when his wife answered the door she got hold of her hair and pulled hm to the ground and some hair came right out and her head was bleeding.
That seems rather stupid, Mary commented. Did she think a man would fall in love with her and leave his wife because she pull his wife hair out?
If I were he I would be afraid that she would pull my hair out and that’s not conducive to sexual relations for most of us
If anyone pulled out my fur I would feel very cold said Emile and I would be angry.
I wonder how long it would take to pull out all your hair Emile?
I don’t want to even think about that.
St Mary fell asleep again and had exactly the same dream. Do people stay around after they have died trying to get their loved ones to pull them back to earth or hit me like a wishful fantasy on the part of the surviving spouse? Mary thinks she better call Annie to get her opinion on the matter.
Another branch has broken from the tree For nine short months, it weakened and grew dry. It fell to earth with solemn gravity
Is comparing us to trees good simile? I’d find a better if I’d guts to try Another branch is sundered from the tree
The tree grieves not, for it likes to be free Its main desire is stature, to be high. Dead branches fall to earth by gravity
Some compare life to a drunken sea; Or to the sky where dance wild nuclei Yet one most ancient symbol is the tree
The strong hang on in their tenacity Even as their leaves and berries fly Weaker branches fall with gravity
Death comes so much harder to the high This is no truth but neither is it lie Another branch has broken from the tree It disconnected all its twigs; lay down in lea.
The widespread scattering of the Jewish genes Caused by pogroms cruel and holocaust A Russian mother, Father, German seems Now all of them, have turned to earth and dust.
Then the city French called Montreal Safe home to refugees of every sort Here Leonard found his path, he heard the call And learned to bear the suffering of the heart.
Where some men leave this world by their own choice, The isolating loneliness, the fear Instead, he struggled, strained, gave us his voice Even after death, we feel him near.
A man descended from Aaron, the priest, The same people that gave us G-d and Christ