The aging poet

Birthdays, O birthdays
Were it not but for you 
I would feel young again

Foolish child I was 
Looking forward each year
To this most hateful day

Did you not see change

What is a numbers use

As each fresh year condemns

Take me back please do

Return me to springtime

Where fresh is the morning

Then the future was bright

Mountains were there to climb

Stars were to wish upon

There’s no spring in my step

Can I catch that girl’s eye

Or run after the bus?

Birthdays, O birthdays

Yet were it not for them

I could not write these words

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Ferry to France

So I must tell you truly
My stomach is quite unruly
As we sail across to France

It clearly is not easy
When you're feeling very queasy
Leading you a merry dance

Violent is the weather now
I really am not feeling well
So ask that you look askance

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I still need you

We found a path
Through the scrubland
Wildflowers there
Poppies blushing
Dandelions 
Grinning for their worth

Over the dunes
Coastal heaven
Salt in the air
We found our own
Deserted beach
Empty foreshore just for us

Sun was flaring
Coats cast away
Stripping right down
Rush to the sea
A single kiss
Before innocence lost

I am old now
Remember it well
Love of my life
Where have you gone?
I still need you
All my past life unspooled 

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Garbled

"I've been to the dentist, sorry if I sound funny...just why are you laughing?"

"Because you said",“Ahll banta tu le deathlist, thury e ah thoun huny", then "Ooayahu hlahing?"

"I don’t sound like that do I?"

Yes you do as you just said: “Ada thoun thlike thlat du ay?”

"I’m going to bed".

Good idea, wish I was ”howing to ved” too.

Image found at www.davegrodydental.com

The heat of our love

I saw you first that day in autumn
You wore a coat with a fur collar
Then you flicked your hair from your green eyes
Still you did not see me

In winter I saw you in the street
Cold hands thrust deep in your coat's pockets
Gave me a sweet smile of recognition
And we both said hello

Then how you had blossomed in springtime
We held hands your head on my shoulder
I breathed you in as I kissed your lips
As we warmed each other

We went to our sandy beach in summer
Laughing touching we bathed in the sea
Dripping vowing we would never part
In the heat of our love

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She had gone by fall

There was a young man

What a great lesson it was

First pain from lost love

How he loved her eyes

Her turned up nose

Touching her soft hands

She had gone by fall
The sad leaves fell from the trees
And tears from his eyes

She had looked elsewhere

Has love no resilience

What hope future now? 

Did he climb mountains

Sail across the seven seas

To find another?

I will tell you this

That he lead so many lives

And kept his secrets

One day years later

A message from far away
Can we still be friends?

Two loving people

Writing to each other still

But never to meet

Such tenderness there

That sweet breathe of young love had

Now been rekindled

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Bitter you could say

This is the rooster that crowed in the morn
Far too early if you ask me
That woke the judge all shaven and shorn
To give a good impression
That married the man all tattered and torn
Who was a bit randy
That kissed the maiden all forlorn
And got her in the family way which was taboo
That milked the cow with a crumpled horn
Whose family are really furious
That tossed the dog that worried the cat
Who should have bitten the bloke instead
That killed the rat that ate the malt
That they used to make beer at home
That lay in the house that Jack built
Who is the maiden's father and is very taut angry and bitter you could say

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Bitter is a traditional English Pale Ale beer

The traditional Nursery Rhyme "The house that Jack built" has been parodied here.

Sweet scent of spring

My true love for Rose
Is like a sweet scent of spring
As I wake refreshed

You’re so beautiful

This cute young bud of nature

Sleeping by my side

What a thief she is

Who has stolen my heart away

This her only sin

How much time have we?

Before life’s loathsome thorns prick

To burst our bubble

That canker of life

Rose petals sinking in mud 

Despite lovers pleas

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Shimmering sands

It was boiling hot
An Australian summer
Not a crow in sight

Mad rush to car parks

T’was the holiday season

Tempers are rising

Some seeking shadows

Others casting their garments

Blind to sun’s fury

No ripples at sea

Beaches swarming with bathers

Shimmering sands

 

Now laughter erupts

Parents paint their children

Soothing sun lotion

High in their lookouts

Patrols sweep the horizon

For swimmers in trouble

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A grey autumn day

It was a grey autumn day that Maud Clements died in the nursing accompanied by her few meager possessions; they were a grubby torn bible, a faded photo of her late husband and some chipped and cracked china dishes that had accompanied her from her last home. She had told her carers that they were special as they reminded her of Jack her husband. Her family came after they had been told she had gone and saw what little of her life remained; they shook their heads and told the manager, “Just get rid of it all, it’s just rubbish”. The manager nodded politely and instructed the cleaner to dispose of everything as the family wanted nothing. Amanda Perry, the cleaner collected the few pieces of Maud’s life placed them in a cardboard carton and set off for the trash bins ready to dump the lot. As Amanda dropped the grubby, torn and broken items in the bin her eyes glimpsed one little dish of a courting couple; on the back Maud had stuck a label which read, “Just like Jack and me” so she slipped it in the pocket of her uniform.

                                                  A grey autumn day

                                                Unforgotten memories

                                                  As love lingered on

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I lay my head down

I lay my head down 
On her sweet scented tummy
Rocked by her breathing

What delight it is
To rest there so close to her
A hand on my neck

Far away I heard

A nightingale’s song for us

As I closed my eyes

Slowly she relaxed

Then drifted off into sleep

As the moon watched on

I wondered if love

Was ever so beautiful

Or precious as this

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A deck of cards

There was always a deck of cards in our home and as kids we would play simple games such as Snap and Beggar my Neighbor or even Old Maid with each other

Even when alone hours might be spent playing Patience until bored and with that I would decide to make a house of cards myself and see how high I could build them until they fell over in a heap.

Being kids we found a better game to play by flicking the cards against a wall to see whose card landed nearest only to be told off afterwards by Dad because the cards were now bent.

Then at Christmas time when relatives came, everyone wanted to do something as a group and would sit in a circle and play Chase the Ace hoping you didn’t get the Ace that was a low card but if you did could pass it on for a higher one or better still being dealt a king and showing it straight away knowing you couldn’t lose that round.

Eventually when grown up you would play Bridge or gambling games when things got complicated with everybody looking so serious and not laughing at all.

I think I have a deck of cards somewhere around the house now but so few people play anymore unless they do so by themselves on the computer like everything else these days.

Image found at www.telegraph.co.uk.

Those days long past

It was Jock of course
"Aye she's a sassy lassy"
He said beer in hand

He came from Glasgow
We met every Friday night
At the Bakers Arms

Born in the Gorbals
Drank us under the table
He just got noisy

All brawn, raw language
Had an eye for a sweet girl
Quick to take offence

Married Jim's sister
That sure quietened him down
Oh those days long past

Wish I could go back
To be that young man again
Drinking in the pub

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As I lay dreaming

As I lay dreaming
On the summer grass
While you picked flowers
Those weeds from heaven
Which give us such delight
Do you like butter?
She asks flopping down
Placing Buttercups 
Just under my chin

We did love our walks

Hand in hand kissing

Laughing at nothing

Being together

Watching the birds fly

So high above us

And always touching

With such gentleness

Until dark clouds came

Did the wind watch us?

Sending squally notes

In tiny raindrops

To spoil the days fun

She cared not one wit

Blew a kiss skyward

Then thumbed her nose there

And laughing flopped down

For love was her way

But she had the power

The shower now eased

What a fool I was

Should have read the signs

We broke up of course

Who knows why we did

Days of love long past

How I yearn for her

As I lay dreaming

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The country wife

Pit, patter splatter

The rains came down from heaven

On the old tin roof

My wife grins at me

I had moaned we needed rain

When we last chatted

She’s a good lass

Been married thirty years now

Still with trim figure

We’ve always been chums

“Like your chisel jaw’ she said

At the village dance

Left me to propose

A smirk on her pretty face

Hell, I do love her

Then we both heard it

A helicopter whirring

Must be in trouble

Lemon scented gum

Now seems to shake with a fright

Swayed in the downdraft

I love that tree too

Will leave a scar on our view

If I dig that out

He lands it okay

Big storm approaching, he says

I take him indoors

“One more for tea love”

She nods, puts the kettle on

Nothing upsets her

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Uneasy feeling

Slowly I came to
Trying to recall moments 
Of my time before

Flashing images
Distorted clues to my life
So many years past

Good he's coming round
Said sister as she bent over me
I'm in hospital

Uneasy feeling
Just what have they done to me
Images appear

Just three weeks ago 
I was writing a story
Of aliens on Earth

So it was true then
Humans altered for transfer
To a far planet

I started to feel
All over my poor body
I'm dreading to know

Bandages are off
By why have I got gills now
and my digits webbed?

Cute alien nurse
She now tends to my needs
This might be okay

She checks my readings
Then plants message in my mind
Good, she likes me too

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Tears in my eyes

It was our first house
Built on sandy soil
My dad laughed at me
Choosing such place

A blasted heathland
As seen in his eyes
But we both loved it
Was where our hearts were

The land spread for miles
Low scrub scattered trees
Few horses grazing
Seen from our back yard

Our dog loved it too
Scampered through the fence
To chase rabbits
But never caught them

When our kiddies came
Fresh air and much more
Great place to explore
Hawks were hovering

Some pine trees grew there
Close to the dark lake
Whispering their secrets
Swaying in the breeze

But those days are gone
Still I remember
Daughter was born there
I was midwife's aide

Been back there again
The wildness has gone
Packed full of houses
And tears in my eyes

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I notice her waiting there

I notice her waiting there
The evening now darkened
Making her mysterious
Just how could I approach this beauty?

I loved her nose and her eyes
That looked down as I neared
But I saw so much in her
Sweet soft flower blooming in the night

Respectfully I nodded
Together we caught the train
Sat close but said not a word
Our shoulders touch, sweet kiss from heaven

I could stay here for ever
But as my station approached
I rose to stand by the door
Now I find she is right behind me

I haven't seen you before
I say as we leave the train
She says that she's just moved here
Her sweet smile is such a precious gift

It has become quite dark now
Tell her I live up the hill
She nods then say quietly
Let's walk together in the moonlight

I couldn't believe my luck
You don't remember do you?
She says as the moon smiles down
You held my hand in kindergarten

Let me hold your hand again
Her smile is so enchanting
Places it mine laughing
If this is a dream I must not wake

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Can I walk you home?

She longed for him as he was tall and sporty but he never seemed to notice her at all.

Yes, she was a bookworm and he seemed to be such a gentle person when he wasn't playing football; not that she watched the games but that is what the boys talked about all the time.

She turned one day in class and found that he was staring right at her so she gave a little smile then turned back round again trying not to blush.

However that incident was enough, he was waiting for her at the gate as she went to catch the the bus home and he was grinning as he asked her "Can I walk you home?"

Her heart skipped a beat but she said "But won't that take you out of your way?"

"No" he replied, I found out you lived quite close to me but if we walk I'll have much longer time to talk to you."

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It was Friday night

Nibbling on her ears
We cuddled up together
It was Friday night

We had the front room

All to ourselves so we thought

Sue was my girlfriend

But it wasn’t long

Before her young sister came

To spoil our fun

I breathed heavily

This outlandish behaviour

Her parents bored her

My girlfriend just smiled

She wasn’t perplexed at all

She expected it

Sis made us some tea

Be glad when she has boyfriend

I heave a big sigh

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Crying alone

Was it that hard dear

To keep your promise to me

To stay together?

Where have you gone now?

Leaving me to yearn for you

But your love's not lost

In Spring you are here

When the daffodils bloom

My tears are showers

The heat of summer

Stirs the warm scent of your body

For me to yearn for

Now in the Autumn 

Leaves fall that whisper to me

The wind sings your song

Tears are the ocean
Of those who left their loved ones
Who walk by the shore

Was it that hard, dear

To leave me cold in Winter

And crying alone?

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The girl on the train

She has hazel eyes
One glance from them I felt limp
We spoke not a word

Each morning the same
On the train we took to work
Went on for months

Then I sat by her
Only seat left in carriage
A small glance from her

My heart then softens
So I dare to speak to her
Just to hear her voice

Oh how sweet it is
Getting her to talk in this way
I could kiss her cheek

She talks about work
About her family home
I could hold her tight

I check her fingers
A small scar but there's no ring
Good she's not engaged

But her eyes notice
Then pouts, "You checking me out?"
I love her spirit

Her name is Anna
We're always together now
We sit side by side

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The day was a howling success

We both stood stock still
Bird watching in the forest
On Queensland's coast

Looking for one bird
Hoping it would break cover
Shy Noisy Pitta

We were off the map
Lost from sight and on the move
He should be just here

We did not split up
In case that one did see it 
And the other not

We moved so slowly
Lest we frighten it away
Then sat down to rest

Quietly we drank 
And ate some food together
Then heard a faint sound

At the rear of us 
We turned to see it pecking
In the undergrowth

Flicking leaves about
Slowly disappeared from view
We grinned with delight

At the parking lot
Lace monitors were waiting
What a day this was

So then we split up
One would open up the car
But the other not

That was our best plan
To divert their attention
For our getaway

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Image 2 found at www.louise-twentyfourseven.blogspot.com

The sun still shone

I remember seven
Back in nineteen forty three
It was wartime then

It was all I knew
Tanks, planes, bombs and doodlebugs
We kids loved it then

Everywhere shortage
Even I was short then too
We had milk at school

Didn't play with girls
Climbing trees was a boy's job
And scraping our knees

Few dads were about
'Less they got back home on leave
Then they looked so tired

But the sun still shone
And the rain bucketed down
Just like aunties tears

Uncle stayed out east
Because he never came back
Died in prison camp

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The girl at the flower stall

He was in a rush to get home
Glanced at his watch
He was going to miss his train

So decided to slow his pace
Catch the next one
For he now had plenty of time

As he looked all around him
Nudged into her
The girl working at the flower stall

"I'm sorry"he said "It's my fault"
She smiled sweetly
But said 'Take time to smell the roses"

Nodding 'I'll buy some for my wife
for I'll be late
I will take a bunch of the pink"

"She'll be pleased you thought of her"
The girl then said
"Working here mine never bothers"

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