Demon drink

Oh no! I am awake
January the first
Kids are in the backyard
They're playing with a ball
Bang, bang, bang against the wall

It is always the same
This I learn to my cost
My friend the demon drink
Is really mean to me
For my eyes can hardly see

Now cruel teenager son
Bruises my ears as well
"Boots are made for walking"
Please put me underground
To muffle out all the sound

Image found at www.menshealth.com/health/your-journey-through-drunk-sleep

Her eyes sparkle

"Cast off forward; Cast off aft"
We slide slowly out to sea
Into the shipping channel
Then it is full steam ahead

Engines throb their rhythm
She grabs my hand and pulls me
On deck we go up forward
The gulls scream up above us

The wind blows in our faces
The salty spray makes her laugh
Her eyes sparkle with delight
For we first made love last night

Image found at www.tedandsarah.com

Crispy frosty morn

Crispy frosty morn
A chime from the church tower
Calling us to mass

We slip slide our way
All wrapped up cosy and warm
On this Christmas morn

To get there just in time
To sing Alleluia
Jesus Christ is born

Sun peeps through the clouds
As we make our way back home
A sign all is well

The snow drifts melting
We all stomp our feet outside
Our minds now on food

That pile of presents
Has waited there for days now
Underneath the tree

But first the turkey
As all the family sit
Dining together

Happy little flock
Baby with gravy on her chin
Grinning in Dad's lap

Present time is here
Kids are going bananas
Time now to unwrap

Shouts of joy and thanks
Paper strewn on the floor
Every face a grin

Adults settle down
Gathered round the burning fire
Toasting absent friends

Even Grandma smiles
A drink she did not decline
She's now fast asleep

Image found at www.commons.wikimedia.org

The Revenant

Bright white lights of the city
Now glare down at me again
And candle toting kids beam
White Christmas, is this a dream?

Born and worked here long ago
Never in my wildest thoughts
Did I think I'd be here again
Back home after so much pain

Scent of pine is in the air
I watch them all every one
Passing shoppers do not see
This man from a far country

Cars are honking in the street
Painted call girls pass me by
Don't care to give me the eye
Swish off to a safer guy

Roll up my sleeves I'm back home
Start my life over once more
Streams of living water flow
My past has gone long ago

Image found at www.londonperfect.com

You're so very kind

Oh, Christmas time is one to dread
Everyone thinks you should be fed
For I just can't refuse
A piece of cake or mince pie
No matter how much I try

It's sad to see this season come
I've really got to watch my bum
My fingers try each one 
A bowl of chips and dip too
It's not my fault it is you

There's pork scratchings and hummus dip
Plus all the drink that I will sip
New Year I'll have to slim
I know you're so very kind
But I've got a fat behind

Image found at www.mirror.co.uk

The sadness of scars

For a change this week I have written a short six verse poem

Unblemished when we were born
Soon our flesh is cut and torn

To our mothers we do run forth
Crying out for all we are worth

But soon wounds are just normal fair
We proudly show our scars with flair

But it is marks and scars unseen
That linger long and are so mean

The ones that hurt the heart so much
The loss of love the loss of touch

And so it is this time of year
I wish once more that you were here

Image found at www.dreamstime.com

End of year party

The Christmas get together
End of year party
Eyeing up the office girls

No matter just how I tried
To woo one over
'specially the one with curls

A bashful one now glances
I love her turned up nose
She's the best of all the pearls

I never seen her before
Just like a rosebud
With drinks she just unfurls

So I talk and dance with her
She was mine alone
As she moves with pretty twirls

Clunker I have made for she's
Daughter of the boss
Dagger looks at me he hurls

I return her to her seat
So I now resume
Eyeing other office girls

Image found at www.warble-entertainment.com

Kissed by the rain

I drew the curtains
The weather was miserable
A somber grey day

Sad clouds rushed above
Pushed about by bully wind
The thunder clouds coughed

Then the lightning struck
The clouds wet themselves with fear
and I laughed out loud

So I went outside
Standing there unprotected
Now kissed by the rain

Image found at www.ForWallpaper.com

Christmas pudding

How I miss Christmas
Long gone days of poverty
Ma made the pudding

Us kids helped of course
Stirring the sticky mixture
Licking the raw mix

Dad read the paper
In the parlour, "He's best there"
Mum muttered grinning

Old recipe used
Suet, flour, eggs, and raisins
All gave it a stir

Went in our mouths too
Absolutely none wasted
The dog licked the floor

Mum added the prize
Some silver threepenny bits
Lucky to find them

When it was cooking 
Us kids then went out to play
Still smacking our lips

Those days now long gone
Such the warp and weft of life
Memory fading

Gone sticky faces 
Gone days when we had little
Who now cares a fig

How I miss that time
Happy days of poverty
Home made Christmas pud

Image 1 found at www.christmas-plum-pudding.jpg
Image 2 found at www.taste.com.au

Babysitting

We had the couch to sit on
Babysitting in the Lounge
Oh so many years ago
Back in the nineteen fifties

A wind up record machine
Put the needle in the groove
Sinatra grinding out love songs
Volume down in case kids hear

Sewing machine on stand
In bay window of room
So I beckoned Pam to me
Hoping she would relax now

We held hands then I kissed her
Pushed her back on the cushions
There was a knock on the door
Panic, I jumped up quickly

It was their little boy there
"I've wet the bed" he muttered
Never heard Pam laugh so loud
Little boy my job; girl hers

My grave face nodded, then smiled
Took him back to change his clothes
Older sister woke, went downstairs
Sheet now replaced, read him story

Asleep again hour later
So slowly crept back downstairs
Sue, me and girl then played cards
Snap as she knew the symbols

At last we took her to bed
Just at the bottom of the stairs
Colliding with parents
Hope they believe our story

Image found at www.winecountrymum.com

The extra mile

Wend you way on twisting path
Obstacles can be overcome
So climb over that awkward stile
Or even run the extra mile

Walk up that hill right to the top
Swim across that river broad
Go right up to the girl named Sue
She will be glad you asked her to

Never fear for you have got it made
For nothing is impossible
The world is yours go grab in now
See Sue likes you, so take a bow

Image found at www.shutterstock.com

Who we really are

I went back to the place of my birth and where I lived for the first nine years of my life before becoming who I am. It has all changed; those fields once haunts of runaway boys set on adventure are now full of houses.

The little stream and pond where frogs spawn was gathered in glass jars to watch tadpoles change into frogs is gone too but the pine wood is still there still whispering its secrets to those few that care. It is there in its silence us kids found three little stone gravestones sprinkled with pine needles just recording names and the year of death.

These were the resting places of the Manor House dogs who buried with love and care are remembered still but just by me. How eager we were then to grow up and see the world but in the end when we look back we can see who we really are.

Image found at www.filipoe.deviantart.com

Kookaburra's glee

I could never bear
Old Kookaburra's glee
Always taunting me

Vain bird laughing on
I'd prefer a gentle song
Not his wakeful gong

Unacceptable
Such chatter would wake the dead
I shout from my bed

Image of Kookaburra calling can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXA0-YAoo9Q

Angels seemed to sing

Strange I never was a musical man

Though did mostly tap or hum

But I could just beat the drum

'Til I met this girl with eyes of green

Who flicked the hair from her face 

And walked with such amazing grace

Light opera was her passion then

Soprano in the chorus line

Heard her sing wished she was mine

I asked if she would go out with me

She nodded as her eyes did flirt

We went to our first concert

So it was that in time we were wed

On her finger I placed a ring

As angels now seemed to sing

Image found at www.scotsue-familyhistoryfun.blogspot.com.au

Tiny diamonds

Her eyes were weeping 
Tiny diamonds on her cheek 
A child of our own

Pleading to heaven
Not to have her medicine
Our baby daughter

Wife found some candy
Swiftly tears turned to drizzle
Her smile now returned

She reads her a book
Her dark tunnel of despair
Has now passed its peak

My wife is a saint
We have been married six years
Have now put down roots

Hers a tale of woe
She had no love in her life
Until now that is

Came from a cruel home
All that is now behind her
But not forgotten

Not always easy
How she has blossomed today
A perfect mother

Image found at www.kolcraft.com

A vision splendid, sometimes

What vision this that stirs a man
Who treading first upon a land
Will settle there and rest his bones
And a country is born

Then a young lass espies a man
She'll surely catch him if she can
So long as he makes the first approach
And a new love is born

Charcoal scrawls and daubs of paint
Model poses unlike a saint
His eyes flash with such artistic skill
A master work is born

The gardener paces up and down
His brow wrinkles with a frown
He's busy planting for all he's worth
A new landscape is born

A politician scans the map
Then rants and raves then takes a nap
Now he's upset nations near and far
A new conflict is born

Image found at www.renoir.net/renoir-paintings.jsp

No interest

Grimy fingers hair in tangles
Streetwise she knew all the angles
Forgot the shame, ignored the scorn
Even the day that Christ was born

Smutty language her only shield
With hidden knife she would wield
Unsteady gait was more a trot
People thought she'd been smoking pot

She'd sit sometimes in doorways bleak
Palm out flat some cash she did seek
Maybe touch a dollar or two
To get to the pub for a brew

Cared not about her tarnished life
Didn't want to be someone's wife
Didn't want anyone to touch
In fact her life was just not much

So was she ill or just insane?
As living seemed to be a pain
Her life and others would not mesh
No interest to start afresh

Was she waiting for the end to come?
Was her life just sad tedium?
To rejoice at the end of days
And just disappear in a haze

Image found at www.thinkprogress.org

A sport to play

Love is a game a sport to play
Involving two people or more
There may be tries and fouls galore
When yellow cards are given out

When people hit on each other
Always think they have scored so high
Some players lose their momentum
Their survival instincts are then lost

Like a game on a Scrabble board
Or just spinning the Roulette wheel
Playing around could cost a lot
Which is no answer to win love

Image found at www.michaelfulcherlaw.com

One to keep

And do we seek love
Or does she find us?
By searching us out
Scared, wary almost
Lest we be caught in the net

Perhaps seeker born
Glancing here and there
First checking their eyes
See the smile on their face
Or the colour of their hair

Are they bold or shy?
The first words they speak
Your urge to kiss them
To hold them in your arms
Finding a place in your heart

When the longing comes
Saying you have found
One to love always
As they look up shyly
You have found the one to keep

Image found at www.menscosmo.com

She felt him move

She felt him move from her side
Opening her eyes at the dawn
The sun embrarrassed blushing
Seeing her still naked form

Off to work he had to go
Not seeing she was awake
"Come blow me a wish" she thought
Put the icing on the cake

He paused, saw her naked there
Enough to return to her side
Planted a kiss on her lips
"I'll be back at eventide"

Drifting off in dreams again
Grabbed the pillow on which he'd laid
Hugged it in a warm embrace
Recalling all he had said

Image found at www.examineropinion.wordpress.com

I've missed you so much

Shelley had made a mess of her life ever since she had run away from home when she was just sixteen. She managed to get a few part time jobs and was able to crash with friends she had met but nothing had really seemed to work out.

In fact she was just about flat broke with no chance of a job until spring so she decided to eat humble pie and make her way home. She half dreaded the reunion, all the questions with her Dad shaking his head, her Ma showing her disappointment but she just had no other place to go.

She rang from a callbox just a short way from their house and her younger sister answered and sounded so pleased it was her, saying "I'll tell Mum you'll be coming soon. Shelley had to knock on the door as she didn't have her own key anymore and she heard the rush of feet in the hall and at the door her Ma wrapped her up in her arms saying "I've missed you so much Shelley" and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Image found at www.getkidsinternetsafe.com/

The wind blew

The wind blew outside
We sat close to the fireside
Snuggled together

Then the lights went out
Snuffed out by a power cut
I held her warm hand

So then I kissed her
It was tempting to go on
But she shook her head

A knock at the door
"We are off to bed now love"
"OK Dad, night night"

Heard them go upstairs
Her face shone in the firelight
"What were you planning?"

"Nothing specific"
As I unbuttoned her blouse
Her eyes shone with fire

Image found at www.pinterest.com

Flying high

I have often wondered why
Man has this strange urge to fly
Soaring in the sky above
Like a wren, or hawk or dove

How stupid, he has no wings
So unlike a bird who sings
Icarus made this mistake
I will not that same route take

Foolish always is my way
With my bride on wedding day
To Paris flew with my love
Cuddled up like turtle doves

So it is the years since then
I've flown high just like that wren
Who across the world migrates
Thankfully near heaven's gates


Image found at www.dailymail.co.uk

Cold hearted season

Autumn shed her sad leafy tears
As Winter coming pushed past her
And watched her slowly die

He was a cruel cold hearted season
More exceptional by his breath
Which blew hope far away

How we suffered his long torment
Longing for the first glimpse of Spring
To come back home again

Then the crocus broke through the snow
It was the first joyful sign seen
Hinting of warmer days

Dark storm clouds now filled April's skies
Loudly laughing pouring with rain
As the chill lost its hold

She now having had all her fun
Gave way to Summer's languid ease
Sharp shadows now outlined

With sleepy breeze we now enjoyed
The balmy ease of the warm sun
Ere hard times came again

Image found at www.abcnews.go.com

On his way to work

The screeching of parrots overhead and the kookaburras chatter in the trees woke him up. It was already light and her bare back faced him as he rose to start another day. He brushed aside the net curtains and saw that it would be another scorcher.

He looked at her warm brown body heaving gently and thinking better of his plans sat on the bed tracing patterns on her bare back with his fingers marveling at her anatomy as she grunted contentedly still dead to the world.

He had to get the files in order in his office before his appointment with the accountant so he showered and dressed and quietly locked the door and drove into the city trying to forget her figure and reload the profit and loss numbers in his mind.

                                              Lucky is the man
                                     Who loves his wife in the morn
                                            On his way to work

Image found at www.serendipitypatchwork.com.au   

My inner self

I am an old man
But I never really grew up
For that I'm thankful

I lay on the grass
Looking up at the blue sky
While the clouds race past

The sun smiles at me
I wade barefoot in the stream
Fish nibble my toes

I am who I am
Happy with my inner self
In love with my life

You can walk with me
I will even hold your hand
Trees whisper to us

I am so thankful
Not ever really grown up
And still a young man

Image found at www.theartstack.com

I met her in winter

I met her in winter
Her eyes were as green as a spring day
And my heart leapt at the sight of her

Wrapped up in her warm coat
I didn't know that she had seen me
She had for she told me later on

I'd dreamt of her that night
So I watched out for her the next day
Shyly she smiled as I waved to her

So we arranged a date
Holding her hand in the cinema
Afterwards I walked her to her home

I saw her often then
Was invited in to meet the parents
Then were allowed to use the front room

We cuddled each other
In front of the warm open fireplace
Together we hardly needed it

Then a knock on the door
Her young sister now came to join us 
"It's boring out there with them" she said

I wonder even now
After our fifty years of marriage
Whether what she said was really true

Image found at www.recuerdodenoche.blogspot.com

Note that each stanza has 6/9/9 syllables

Your touch at first

Your touch at first is rough as you throw me about until I submissive sit there sullen before you.

Then you slowly make me turn around in some endless dance as you push and knead me with your strong hands.

You wet me and as I sit there glistening you gently make me spin again touching me in your persuasive way shaping me to your will.

I bend and twirl with delight as you change me from being an inert lump of clay to become beautiful just by your touch with curves and shadows, texture and form and I have become a new being.

Now you place me in a fiery furnace but rather than be destroyed I have become firmer, stronger with such treatment but not satisfied with all this you start painting me with glaze and pretty patterns and I love that you treat me in this way.

I hear other voices say how beautiful I am and as I look at you I see you are in love with me too.

Image found at www.decoist.com