Wednesday 3 June 2009

EPIDEMIC TO PANDEMIC

The UK swine flu cases
Have now reach sixty two
But the shocking news
That’s being kept from you
Is of the 35 million
Confirmed cases of man flu

FEVERISH

I don’t think I have swine flu
As I haven’t been to Mexico
But I don’t feel well at all
I feel like crap if you must know
I thought of the NHS for advice
On the flu and perhaps its tackling
So I phoned the swine flu hotline
But all I got was crackling

PRISONER OF LOVE

I stole a glance at you
Lustfully larcenous
More than one in fact
I was a repeat offender
A serial gazer
In perpetual regard
Loitering with intent to stare
In open mouthed infatuation
And you caught me
Apprehended me in the act
Of elicit observation
Your arresting look
Took custody of me
A petty felon
With prior form
And with merciless intent
You stole my heart
Without hesitation
No mere act of petty larceny
You took it from me
And at once captivated me
Imprisoned me
Behind the bars of love
Once in your possession
It became valueless
Scornfully regarded
You keep it under glass
On display
Where you can watch it beat
Or by capricious whim
Play with it
Like a cat plays with a mouse
While I die by inches
Knowing you have my heart
But not one of your own
So sits a prisoner of love
In sight of death row
Indefinitely incarcerated
Behind the bars of love
No hope of parole

THE RUSTIC STILE AT LANES END

At lanes end
The rustic stile
Stands sentinel still
Marking that special place
Where the fates conspired
Our souls should meet
Though we purposely
Trod opposing paths
We met at that rustic spot
And to help you cross
I took your hand
Small and silken soft
Guiding you safe to my side
And despite the presence
Of each others companions
We were to all intents
Quite alone
And in those moments
When hand touched hand
We at once beheld
Our lives from that point on
Would be forever altered
And were content
With that destiny

At lanes end
The rustic stile
Stands like a monument
Marking the place of alteration
A significant place
A spiritual place oft revisited
And on such sojourns
We would find renewal
As the energizing memory
Of that special moment
Assailed our senses
Essentially invigorating
Like imbibing the waters
From the fountain of youth
And our hearts would once again
Resound with joyousness
And sweet moments of romance
Those excited tingles
Of loves first passion
When hearts beat faster
And desire courses
Through every fibre
The thrill of blossoming love
Adding to the strata
Of our love laid down
Through all our years
By returning to the place
Of loves wondrous inception
We keep our love alive
And in equal measure
Love returns the favour

ALL OF MY LIFE

All of my life
I have had no talent
Hidden or on show
No gift or endowment
No skill or mastery
No bent or flair
Ability or forte
Nothing to mark me out
From the common herd
Or stand me out from the crowd
All of my life
I have been ordinary
Mediocre and average
Quite mundane and everyday
No hint of genius
Expert only in my ordinariness
But content in my mediocrity
All of my life
I have been un-ambitious
No goals to be achieved
Not driven by desire
In any shape or form
Some might say shiftless
I would say satisfied
Happy with my lot
All of my life
I lived a half life
Until my outlook changed
When I saw you smile
And heard you speak my name
I was born again
With new purpose
A new vocation
To shed my mediocrity
And cast it aside
Like a well used coat
And dig deep within myself
To find that dying ember of desire
That almost imperceptible spark
So clearly visible to you
And breathe life into it
Until white hot
And then fan the flames of passion
You have ignited in me
All the rest of my life
Endowed with your gift
I will feel extraordinary
And with my new found ambition
My one and only goal
The soul purpose of my being
Is to make you truly happy
As happy as you have made me
And with all my heart and soul
I will dedicate myself
To always loving you

ON LIFE’S GREAT JOURNEY

On life’s great journey
When sweet love crosses your path
Seize it with great urgency
Capture it and keep it safe
Do not let it loose from your grasp
Lest it slip through your fingers, and be gone
Hold it tightly
Cherish it, nurture it, and watch it grow
Until it wraps itself about you
Like a great loving cloak
Protecting you from the world
Making you invincible
And you will know true happiness
But when on your life long expedition
And sweet love crosses your path
Ignore it at your peril
For who can say
When it might pass your way again

BENEATH THE WEEPING WILLOW TREE

Like the star-crossed lovers,
Romeo and Juliet,
They come from feuding kin
And must hide their love
They meet in secret
Beside the quiet lake
The only sounds,
Are of the faintest breeze
Disturbing the lofty tree tops
And ducks squabbling on the lake
But despite the quiet
Fearful of discovery
They embrace hidden from view
Beneath a weeping willow tree
Whose leafy pendulous branches
Trail down into the still water
Stirred by the gentle breeze
They dip in an out of the water
Like the toes of a reluctant bather.
They kiss there in the quiet shade
And feel at once renewed
No words are spoken
Their language is of caress and kiss
Such tender converse
With limitless vocabulary
And languid pronunciation
Every syllable well employed
And when the final paragraph is reached
They end with perfect .punctuation
Stirring from their lovers languor
They tread separate paths
To rejoin warring tribes
Adopting adversarial manner
No knowing looks to be exchange
No casual brushing past
When for that exquisite moment
Hand touches hand
They must remain entrenched
Until they can once again
Embrace beneath the weeping willow tree

BENEATH THE WEEPING WILLOW TREE

Like the star-crossed lovers,
Romeo and Juliet,
They come from feuding kin
And must hide their love
They meet in secret
Beside the quiet lake
The only sounds,
Are of the faintest breeze
Disturbing the lofty tree tops
And ducks squabbling on the lake
But despite the quiet
Fearful of discovery
They embrace hidden from view
Beneath a weeping willow tree
Whose leafy pendulous branches
Trail down into the still water
Stirred by the gentle breeze
They dip in an out of the water
Like the toes of a reluctant bather.
They kiss there in the quiet shade
And feel at once renewed
No words are spoken
Their language is of caress and kiss
Such tender converse
With limitless vocabulary
And languid pronunciation
Every syllable well employed
And when the final paragraph is reached
They end with perfect .punctuation
Stirring from their lovers languor
They tread separate paths
To rejoin warring tribes
Adopting adversarial manner
No knowing looks to be exchange
No casual brushing past
When for that exquisite moment
Hand touches hand
They must remain entrenched
Until they can once again
Embrace beneath the weeping willow tree

BENEATH THE WEEPING WILLOW TREE

Like the star-crossed lovers,
Romeo and Juliet,
They come from feuding kin
And must hide their love
They meet in secret
Beside the quiet lake
The only sounds,
Are of the faintest breeze
Disturbing the lofty tree tops
And ducks squabbling on the lake
But despite the quiet
Fearful of discovery
They embrace hidden from view
Beneath a weeping willow tree
Whose leafy pendulous branches
Trail down into the still water
Stirred by the gentle breeze
They dip in an out of the water
Like the toes of a reluctant bather.
They kiss there in the quiet shade
And feel at once renewed
No words are spoken
Their language is of caress and kiss
Such tender converse
With limitless vocabulary
And languid pronunciation
Every syllable well employed
And when the final paragraph is reached
They end with perfect .punctuation
Stirring from their lovers languor
They tread separate paths
To rejoin warring tribes
Adopting adversarial manner
No knowing looks to be exchange
No casual brushing past
When for that exquisite moment
Hand touches hand
They must remain entrenched
Until they can once again
Embrace beneath the weeping willow tree

GHURKA WARRIOR

Ghurka warrior
Proud and loyal
How can you take
This cruel betrayal

Always williing
To take up arms
To suffer war
And all its harms

You defended empire
And commonwealth
Fighting hand to hand
And in stealth

You stood and fought
In our nations name
How we forsake you
To our governments shame

Ghurka warrior
Loyal and proud
You now have justice
Let us cheer you aloud

LOVES METAPHOR REVISITED

Not even the angels above
Could make a better match
So please be with me
And I will make you happy
Such is the depth and breadth
Of my lasting love
Intense and profound
Broader than the horizon
And the measure of an ocean deep
Enduring till that watery abyss
Dries to sun baked desert
And its powdery form runs
Through your fingers
And loves metaphor is blown away
Like smoke on the wind

DESIGN FOR LIFE

lWhen you look out
Across the cityscape
The first impression is one of planning
With order and method
A systematic landscape
Above a thriving community
Running as a well oiled machine
Every element doing its part
A symbiotic relationship
Every person a cog in the machine
A perpetual entity
Evolving and changing
Redesigning itself
Outside the conurbation
As if in stark contrast
The country side and nature
Appear chaotic and haphazard
Without order or method
Simple and ordinary
Lacking the sophistication of civilization
But in reality the urbanites live in chaos
Dysfunctional and self-destructive
While in nature there is structure and order
And the closer you observe it
The more of its complexities
And intricate structures are revealed
Everything precision engineered
With order and purpose
Every organism contains nature’s code
The building blocks of our world
And of our universe
True sophistication exists at every level
Complex and extraordinary
So let man builds his cities
While God builds everything else

I HAD FORGOTTEN HER

lI had forgotten her
I had forgotten
The way she looked
With her bright elfin face
And brown soulful eyes
I had forgotten
The sound of her voice
With its sweet honeyed tones
And her infectious laughter
It had been hard
But I had forgotten her
I had forgotten
The smell of her hair
The taste of her lips
The touch of her skin
I had forgotten her
She was off my radar
My senses were free of her
Free of her intoxication
Free of her narcotic
It had taken months
Going cold turkey
To cleanse myself
To detox
To shake her from my consciousness
And exorcise her from my soul
I changed jobs
Decorated the house
Rid myself of everything that reminded me of her
And I was free
My life was once more on an even keel
The stormy seas had been quelled
All was calm and safe
Such comfort there is in safe
The wounds had healed
Though the scars remained
I had peace of mind
Since I had forgotten her
Well I had forgotten her
Until that fateful day
When I found it
Down the side of the sofa
A small pearl button
Such an innocuous item
Evoked such potent memories
Of a violet lamb’s wool sweater
That accentuated her breasts so well
The button was a casualty of an encounter
Discarded in our passionate haste
And in that instance of recognition
She was all at once back with me
My senses reawakened
Her scent was in my nostrils
I could feel her lips on mine
Her caress on my cheek
I could hear her infectious chuckle
And I saw her sitting beside me
Close enough to touch
And as the wounds reopened
I realised I had not forgotten her
I had just shut down
Disabled my interface with the world
Hid in my castle and pulled up the draw bridge
And created my own world within
I held the button in my fingers
As my castle walls fell
And the world flooded in
That little pearl button
Spoke to me in volumes
And I knew I loved her still

DIFFERENT STROKES

lWe are poles apart
You are north to my south
We are different ends of the solar system
You are Mercury I am Pluto
We are contradictory
You are black to my white
We are from different ends of the earth
We inhabit different hemispheres
You are up and I am down
We should be knife and fork
Brush and paint
Cup and saucer
Pepper and salt
But we are not
How did we become man and wife?

ABSENCE MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER

lAbsence makes the heart grow fonder
Is that really true I wonder
Does it work without fail
Or is it just an old wives tale
I’m not sure the advice is the best
And I’m fearful to put it to the test
For if I were to go away
For a month, a week, a day
I fear I wouldn’t miss you and pine
But would think our separation fine

SNAPSHOT

I held her picture
Posed for posterity
A picture of a young girl
In a summer dress
A “hand me down”
Pattern faded
With fraying hem
A pretty young woman
Face of innocence
Framed by brown tousled hair
Naïve and unaffected
Unsure of her beauty
And more beautiful
Because of it
Such a wonderful snapshot
Of a perfect moment
So long ago
I fell in love with her that day
My heart melted
Like the snow in spring
I love her still
And every day in between
Tears welled in my eyes
As I looked at that picture
Of naïve beauty
And they fell unchecked
As I remembered
The woman she became
And the love we shared
Until she was taken from me

TAINTED LOVE

lCruel fate
Cursed our souls
When cupids arrow
Missed its aim
And speared our hearts
Hearts not free to love
Hearts otherwise wedded
In blessed union

But cupids strike
Left us fettered
Bound togetherWith loves chains
Enslaving us
Bonding us with love
Conjugated by fate
Entangled marionettes
Puppets of love
Reluctantly performing
To another’s will

Held in love's grip
By fates curseThat bitter sweet gift
Of deceitful ardour
Duplicitous romance
Forbidden passion
That gift of love
With the curse of betrayal

Knowing loves intimacy
The joy of closeness
The warmth of tendernessPassion made manifest
Emboldened the psyche
Elevated the soul
Flames of passion
Burning deeply
Cleansing all
But the guilt

Enchanted by Eros
Beguiled by Amor
Spellbound by adoration
But gripped by fear
Fear of being together
Fear of discovery
But the overriding fear
Of separation

RAINY SUNDAY

lIt’s a rainy Sunday
And I’m feeling blue
Remembering the past
And thinking of you

Do you happily look back?
Across the years
Or do you view them
Through bitter tears

Do you ever think of me?
Just once in a while
With a furrowed brow
Or rueful smile

You thought our love
Would last an eternity
But I was quite happy
Just to wait and see

I just wanted us
To enjoy the laughter
But what you wanted
Was happy ever after

I loved you so much more
Than I would ever say
When we broke up
On that rainy Sunday

When you asked me
I should have said
“I really do love you”
I just shrugged instead

I wish I could go back
To that rainy Sunday
I would get on my knees
And beg you to stay

ADDICTED TO LOVE

I have given her only love
And tender affection
In return I get only contempt
In its equal measure
I cannot cut the bond
The unseen umbilical
That binds me to her
I am a slave to her will
Chained and imprisoned
By a dominating mistress
Cruel and controlling
In an invisible metaphor
Her words are like whips
That lash me with cruelty
Each word laced with
Bile and poison
That cuts into me deeply
But never scars my flesh
If only one word
Bore but a hint of kindness
I would be uplifted
But I remain down cast
My hopes and dreams
Have faded into ether
Enslavement has led
To a foul dependency
Now I am addicted
To her poisonous love
The stuff of nightmares

A PORT IN A STORM

Is it too much to ask
For my love to be returned
Just one simple gesture of warmth
That is all I’ve yearned

A burning passion is hoped for
Though in truth not expected
A heartfelt acknowledgement
But no heart has been detected

Drifting in and out of my life
As if I’m a convenient respite
Then when interest wanes
I am again alone in the night

Each bland uncaring rebuff,
Is another dagger to my heart
My love is treated with apathy
But I miss it when we’re apart

I chastise my self for my weakness
For accepting it and making do
I deserve better than this
I deserve a love that’s honest and true

I have paid all my dues
I have paid in like an endowment
Never made a withdrawal
Still there is no return on my investment

Now my will to continue is gone
As I am left once more Forlorn
I pray my for anguish to be at an end
Like a bird impaled upon a thorn

GONE ARE THOSE JOYFUL DAYS

Gone is that joyful day
When we stood before God
Humble in his blessed presence
And we were joined as one
Everything ahead of us

Gone are those joyful days
Full of love and laughter
Days of tender moments
And heady nights of passion
Everything ahead of us

Gone are those joyful days
When we walked along the shore line
Sunlight glinting on the water
The sea breeze blowing through our hair
Happy and carefree, hand in hand
Everything ahead of us

Gone are those joyful days
When God blessed our union
And delivered perfect joy into our lives
As our little family grew
And we had everything we desired

Gone are those joyful days
When your smile lit up my life
And my heart brimmed over with love for you
Before it was broken in two
And you were still here with us

Gone are the joyful days
Since you have gone ahead of me
Now God has you by his side
And I will miss you deeply until that day
When God has reunited us

I look forward to that joyful day
When we stand once more together
But though my heart is broken
I must delay our reunion
Our sweet children need me
And I must love them double now

THE SEASONS OF LOVE

Our love was born with the lambs
In the freshness of spring
And like the lambs we stepped unsure
Uncertain of what life would bring

When spring turned to summer
We had caught cupid’s eye
Our hearts danced like flowers in the breeze
As he shot his arrows at you and I

When summer waned into autumn
Love changed colour like the leaves
Life draining away dying leaf by leaf
And began to drift away on the breeze

When autumn gave way to winter
Love lay bleeding in the snow
Each flake of snow buried it deeper
Nothing of our love was left to show

WHO KILLED COCK ROBIN?

"Who killed Cock Robin?"
"I," said the Sparrow,"With my bow and arrow,
I killed Cock Robin."

"Who killed the sparrows?"
"We," said the Humans,"With out many deftly hands,
We killed the sparrows.”

“Why kill the sparrows?"“Because they are so small,
And don’t matter at all,
That’s why we kill the sparrows.”

"Who killed the humans?"
“Mother nature did the act,
For mans breach of contract,
Mother nature had to act”

SPRING IS HERE

Before the dawn has fully broken
I am all at once awoken
By wondrous songbird symphony
Though to some it is cacophony
But to hear the dawn chorus
Singing songs, loud and joyous
So my heart is simply soaring
For the season that I’m adoring
Now that its Spring my heart is lifted
For another Spring that God has gifted
When daffodils burst from the ground
And in the breeze they dance around
Grass is growing lush and green
The greenest that it has ever been
And with cherry blossom on the tree
Spring is here for all to see

FROM BEGINNING TO END

From school days
To pay days
From a lowly newbie
To the top of the tree
From earning a salary
To redundancy
From numerous applications
To endless rejections
From a life of worth
To a state of dearth
From adolescence
To obsolescence

ANYTHING GOES

The Cole Porter classic “Anything Goes”
Is a song everyone knows
“In olden days a glimpse of stocking
Was looked on as something shocking
Now heaven knows
Anything goes”
Which attempted to define
The moral decline
Well little did he know
How low morals would go
Now little is left to the imagination
When it come to female emancipation
Woman display themselves to readily
Or dress inappropriately
Their varying degrees of undress
Expose pierced and tattooed flesh
In thongs with exposed arses
Or skirts as short as west end farces
Naked midriffs of all shapes and sizes
Leaving no room for surprises
Flesh erupts like a muffin
Over waist bands unable to keep it in
And no one should ever wear Lycra
Unless their figure is micra
There are things that should remain hidden
And only revealed when bidden
Equally there are also things about a woman
That does not need to be revealed to a man
For example a cause of great consternation
Is that we get to here about their constipation
Loss of bladder control issues
Feminine freshness wipes and tissues
Then there is the shaving and waxing
And treatments men would find quite taxing
There are things we don’t need to see or hear
I just want to make that clear
One behaviour that’s quite disturbing
Is a mother in public breast feeding
Nursing a baby we don’t want to see
No matter how nice her nurses maybe
But the very worst thing to see
Is when they are out socially
Woman kind when emancipated
Failed to do what was anticipated
In taming the animal in men
And preventing his wildness emerging again
Instead women have fallen into the pit
And show know intention of leaving it
Laddettes and matrons who should know better
End up drunk laying in the gutter
Even at a holiday resort
Men look on as they disport
Cavorting bare chest-ed
Free of the clothes they have divested
As they display manicured muffs
And unmatched collar and cuffs
The tattooes, piercings and body art
Are the only way to tell them apart
Full of cocktails and beer
And the odd infection I fear
I’m not sure Mrs Pankhurst
When the idea struck her first
Envisaged that this would be the way of it
And Cole Porter didn’t know the half of it
“In olden days a glimpse of stocking
Was looked on as something shocking
Now heaven knows
Anything goes”

YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE

He lived his life in the shadows
Hiding from Gods light
Not acknowledging his existence
Thinking he was out of sight
He thought he walked the road alone
Without the Lord by his side
But at the hour of his death
His faith could no longer be denied
On the darkness of this death
God lights a light to show his way
Shining his light of love
To comfort those left in disarray
As he walks in Gods light
Within the sound of Heavens bells
God illuminating his path
Now he walks with the angels

I WENT TO A FUNERAL TODAY

I went to a funeral today
What a totally depressing day
In was a humanist service
Cold and utterly soulless
With some mumbling buffoon
Waffling on in monotone
A couple of poorly read poems
From some well thumbed tomes
And ended in a fit of irony
To the tune of “stay with me”
He was not religious I will concede
But even a man lacking a creed
Should be launched into oblivion
To the sound of a rousing requiem