Those days have passed

"Those days have passed" she said to me
As I gently touched her calm face
Recalling those sweet memories
Of weeks before we both left school

We used to go to the town's park
To kiss in the dark shelter there
Or walk up the mounds winding path
Holding her warm hand, which was cool

She's right of course those days have gone
We both went our separate ways
That look in her eyes is still there
My heart still leaps, Oh what a fool

Just why does love endure so long
I guess she is still part of me
Now locked in my brain evermore
It hurts to leave my girl from school

Image found at https://www.videoblocks.com

What if I said

"What if I said I didn't love you anymore?"
She didn't look at me when she said those cold words
I was drawing the curtains in the fading light
A black crow looked at me as if to say "Goodnight"

Then I remembered the first words I'd spoke to her
I'd said "What if I asked you to marry me?"
Recalled her grin and the sparkle in her eyes
As she held my hand expressing such sweet delight

Oh the years have passed and we've made a mess of them
I've strayed, she knows and has forgiven me...I think
But she's spent a lot of time going her own way
Craft and clubs which bored me but for her did excite

So sadly, gradually we drifted far apart
Now living together strangers in our own home
Never facing the truth that we might part...until now
"What if...?" she paused, "we parted?" in the fading light

As darkness fell, curtains drawn, we were all alone
I protested "I do love you still, believe me"
"I know" she said, "but I need to be free again"
The trouble was, I did love her, this wasn't right

"What if we sleep together one last time" I pled
She shook her head...but crawled in my bed at midnight
We wrapped each other in our arms and both cried
In the morn she'd gone like a whisper in the night

Image found at https://stock-clip.com/video-footage/old+couple/108

Sorry about this sad piece but I started writing and it just wrote itself as I seemed to be a bystander as I tapped away, with my muse dictating over my shoulder.

Mary Ann

Audacious would I call Mary Ann
Little minx quite aware of her charms
She smiled and flirted her way up
From mere office girl to bosses aide
Who probed and check us minion's work

Granted that she had got her degree
It was the way she'd spoken to us
At school she'd kiss each one for fun
Thinking she could control us now
As though that gift was some kind of deal

That was not the case with Thomas Bates
Left school and missed that gift of hers
Thought dating would be a good idea
The joke then made a terrible turn
She turned him down, and his fate was sealed

This all happened at the end of Spring
But I learned of it much later on
His corpse was found close to a farm gate
Meanwhile the culprit was rounded up
Young Mary Ann copped a fifteen year span

Image found at https://pixabay.com/en/business-lady-woman-girl-computer-3560922/

A day in the forest

Dawn; faint glittering rays of sunshine
Now beams through the branches of the trees
The forest awakes this summer morn
Now some unwelcome guests appear
Just up Hillside road woodcutters are here

Trucks arrive as teams now start their job
Trees chosen are cleared at their base
For first bite of axe this day's morn
Then faint groans, birds fly off in haste
The workmen's manner quite wooden faced

As trees fall, forest life has all fled
Rotary blades trim off the waste
Trees left now whisper quite forlorn
As smell of sawdust fills the air
While workers joke a laugh without care

Felled timber is taken from the scene
As melting sun sinks in the west
A terrace of tree stumps looks forlorn
Returning wildlife see their sad plight
They know they'll need new shelter tonight

Image found at https://pixabay.com/en/forest-cut-down-a-tree-trunk-tree-2995502/

Scattering poems

In the street of the sky night
Walks scattering poems
That man that I once was
And one I might have been

Now gone with no hand to hold
With no sweet lips to kiss
No breast to lay my head
No more sad tears to be shed

Oh, to be able to touch you
Once more with me in bed
Perhaps you read my words
Of all this my poetry

Will you clap your hands in glee?
Find me, then hand in hand
Walk scattering poems
In the street under night's sky


Image found at https://freerangestock.com/photos/39900/romantic-couple-watching-the-stars.html

Before our eyes

I can smell the smoke of the forest fires
And see trash floating in the Coral sea
I lose count of the bins full of plastic waste
You're right this world was a beautiful place

Oh where are the days of the paper bag?
When fruit and veg' we always washed at home
Not wrapped as now in so much plastic film
While tycoons sneer at the world; such disgace

The seas are killing fish, whales and much more
The climate's changing and we wonder why
We see wild fires burn as never before
You're right this world is a peculiar place

The Arctic ice caps melt, this is so bad
Starving polar bears mourn their now dead cubs
Few birds migrate south to visit us
Their homes in Asia built on disgrace

Who cares that our dear world changes so fast
When money builds in people's bank accounts
As the Earth dies sadly before our eyes
You're right this world is a horrendous place

Image 1 found at https://pixabay.com/en/forest-fire-blaze-smoke-trees-1161868/
Image 2 found at https://pixabay.com/en/garbage-environment-beach-pollution-2369821/

When I was courting

When I was courting
We often used her front room
Just the two of us

There we might listen 
To her classical music
And we would unwind

Amid sighs of joy
We'd listen to Ludwig's ninth
And other movements

At the slightest sound
I would control my ardour
Switch from bold to cold

Skeptical sister 
Would then burst through the doorway
Grin on her young face

"Can I come in here?
It's boring out there with them
I've drink and cookies!"

No sword defeated
A great battle plan so well
As that kid sister

Image found at https://thoughtcatalog.com/


This poem from 2013 has been been waiting for a rerun so this is it's chance

I misjudged her

Her star sign was Cancer
Perhaps that's a warning
Now that she has ripened
As an adult with zip

Those leather belts she wears
The way she walks and turns
Silver bangles jangling
Now who wears kirby grips?

Empty pleasures attract her
Horse racing's betting ring
Flaunting her new oufits
Girl, you give me the pip

The way she laughs out loud
Her silly wave to me
I recall who she was 
My girl in a gym slip

When I had op on my spine
Of my friends she was the first
To visit me and that's
How to measure friendship

Image found at www.https://www.videoblocks.com

The green fairy

The girl in green hides in the mist
She caught my eye and stared at me
Then disappeared through the pine trees

Her sweet face one I could kiss
The fog rolled in to blanket all
I love the forests mysteries

Wist these howls and puckery
What's the meaning of ancient tongues?
Now gone like smoke by witchery

I never thought I'd see her again
As I lay in bed some days passed
At the window, a rap, a plea

So I got up at once to find
Her smiling face through hazy glass
Let her in...I'm a fool you see

Not so much to regret that day
For our sweet love was well worth while
Together now for centuries

Image found at https://www.theherald.com.au/story/2880267/absinthe-its-easy-being-green/

What shall I do?

I think that I shall never see
The one I loved who set me free
And took a path away from me

Left me to cope as best I could
Like a stranger in a wild wood
Sadly now all alone I stood

Lost now in a bed meant for two
Lovers no more to bill and coo
Then wake alone, what shall I do?

I think that I shall never see
My dearest love who set me free
To take that path away from me

Image found at https://citydesert.wordpress.com/2014/07/05/anything-but-time-alone/

History on a flag

Why write your history on a flag?
When all you need is your identity
Rather than who ruled you long ago
That does not reflect the here and now

Are you proud now of the distant past
First settlers were convicts not the free
Now you accept those from whole wide world
What flag for them should be now unfurled?

Oops! I almost forgot native folk
Who fly a flag of their very own
Aboriginees whose land this was
Once counted as fauna and that, because?

Don't write your history on a flag
But let it shout aloud with great pride
This is my country we are all but one
We're proud of our land we get things done

Image found at https://www.mamamia.com.au/australian-racism-sarah-macdonald/

You look at me

We're holding fingers walking along the strand
With the sea gently lapping on the sand
There's nothing in the world we want more
As you look at me and I at you

Seabirds fly off and crabs scuttle from our feet
How blessed we both were when first we did meet
As we walk you take a glance at me
Knowing that my eyes are on you too

And when we reach the end of the golden shore
I see your eyes pleading for so much more
So venture in the dunes out of sight
Kissing and cuddling clothes all askew

The evening falls and the moon shines down on us
As we hear the seas constant hiss and hush
So we wend our way wearily home
Paddling along the seashores foam

Image found at https://pixabay.com/en/photos/?q=Couple+walking+on+beach

Longing for you

I drove along the dusty track
Sun brilliant in its mocking way
Speckled sky showed no hint of rain
Not one thin hope to assuage the pain

Oh how I miss your lilting voice
Our days of quiet harmony
You said seeing my lust for you
'I'll not yield no matter what you do"

But you came back when the rains broke
"An extra hand to help" you said
Rain teemed down from the rippled sky
You held my hand, we blend you and I

Image found at  https://jooinn.com/rippled-sky.html

Boys night out

Father and son to the pub they go
To quench their thirst on this cold night
Downing beers and ales to their delight
Sozzled faces gleaming with a glow

Meanwhile the missus at home alone
Watches the television sat down
Now ready for bed in her nightgown
Starved of love, dreams of another one

Who rescues her from her parlous state
And on his horse they gallop away
She holds him tight for a night of play
Their bodies entwined 'til very late

Meanwhile the men sway with the grog's grip
Get cluck from the barmaid and the boss
Against their will from the inn are tossed
So wayward home do stumble and trip

A blast of night air cools their spirits some
As they battle the wind's icy blast
To reach their own front door at last
And find missus nursing a pillow at home

Image found at https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/92816442301554733/?lp=true

I have lost you

Oh how I wish you were with me again
I have lost you
How we enjoyed life despite its foilbles
We'd stick like glue
Wrapped up in each others arms
How high we flew
Travelled the wide world and laughed with joy
The skies were blue
We found a nest where we could live in love
I have no clue
Why you were stolen right out of my arms
Turn of the screw
You bade goodbye and not a single eye was dry
I loved you true
Oh to hold you tight in my arms again
Surely all our love was not lived in vain?

Image found at https://pixabay.com/en/pair-couple-coast-sea-human-mood-843320/ 

The girl sat awhile

The girl sat awhile, gazing out over the waves
I paid her no mind as I walked to the jetty's end
Was splashed by the incoming tides angry foam
So thumbed my nose at Neptune, should have stayed at home

I turned and strolled along, the wind now at my back
The girl had stood and then on the railings did climb
It then struck me she meant to jump right off the pier
I'll not forget that her face showed no sign of fear

I started to run hoping she'd change her mind
Her sad eyes were not for me but the welcome surf
I ran and managed to grab her before she flew
She screamed "No please let me go, if you only knew"

Sobbing in my arms, she moaned as we sat all alone
"Nothing 's so bad that you should lose your life" I said
She shook her head "My parents are cross can't you guess?"
"Boyfriend's gone, with baby on the way; what a mess!"

I took her to a kiosk for a cappuccino
"Thank you" she said "I didn't know what to do"
"I'll take you back home, decide if you want to keep it"
"With or without the baby it is best not to quit"

We walked to my car and drove to her parents house
"I didn't feel well, this man kindly drove me home"
That was the last I saw of her, she rang but once
Said, "Babe's come, I kept him, I really was a dunce"

Image found at https://pixabay.com/en/boardwalk-pier-water-sea-coast-1783862/

Where's the point?

What's the use of poetry?
What is the point of rhyme?
Will it put food on the table?
Or just be a waste of time?

Oh, can't you see its beauty
Your thoughts are given voice
Images colour your mind
Words dance and you can rejoice

Each line transmits a message
A scene before your eyes
Takes you to another place
Full of wonder or sad sighs

A place to express your thoughts
A way to show you care
To tell of love or sorrow
Or save lives of wolves or bears

You can laugh or you can cry
With people in the world
Talk of life in your own home
With loved one happily curled

I can weep with your sorrow
At plight of other folk
Saving forests or of whales
It's sure time the world awoke

You can talk about yourself
Hidden in such strange rhyme
That others will discover
When your own clock sings out time

I write because I love life
And smile at everyone
The world gives such great ideas
Fuel 'til all our days are done

Image found at https://pixabay.com/en/photos/?q=man+and+forest&image

One of those days

It is one of those days

I'm awake early again

And struggle to get up

It is barely dawn and it feels cold

Reluctantly I draw the curtains

And when I do I see

The trees swathed in a lifting fog

And silence all around

It was so beautiful it seemed as though

I had caught the day slowly revealing

Her enticing secrets

With but me to observe her

I quickly dressed

Then hurried from my door and

Walked briskly to the village pond

As the cold misty morning lingered still.

My breath puffing clouds

As I carefully made my way

To the edge of the water

Where the birds paddled there

Slowly I squatted down on my haunches

To be less conspicuous and quite still

Scarcely breathed as I too

Became at one with the scene.

As they searched for food they were

Lenient with me and paid me little account

As scarcely a quack or a chirp warned

Of my presence by those still waters.

Brightening now as the sun struggled

To burn away the ponds shroud

I felt exhilarated that I was too

Part of nature’s dawn

Image found at https://pixabay.com/en/photos/?q=Misty+water

In disbelief

We climbed the hill and ran down the dale
To the babblling brook down there
Your fingers entwined in mine
How soft they were, how divine
As I observed your sweet neck
And the way you flicked your ponytail

Wild crocuses grew on the river's bank
Small fish darted in the stream
Leaves rustled way up above
Then as a token of your love
You wrapped your arms around me
I stopped as I smelled something rank

It was a body with maggots galore
"No" you said in disbelief
I called the police at once
And so quick was their response
As you sat down some way off
While I explained things to the law

They let us go, getting each address
I took you back home again
Your face was so pale and sad
You'd had enough that was bad
Then ran straight upstairs to bed
Your Ma made a cup of tea, for stress

Image found at http://nation.wikia.com/wiki/File:Grassy_river_bank.jpeg

Entwined by the young

Grandchildren run down the beach
Buckets in hand
Across the sand
We settle in a deckchair each

I keep an eye on the wee pair
They pick up some stones
As I rest my bones
But close my eyes in the deck chair

The seas song sooothes me fast asleep
Shading my eyes
While Seagull cries
Until I hear not a single peep

I know not how long that I'd slept
Heard distant drones
Weight on my bones
Woke, found that I was quite inept

A seaweed skein draped on my head
Shells on my chest
Pebbles and rest
That weighed down my merman's bed

Soon sea shanty's refrain was sung
Crowds were abuzz
Laughed at the fuss
No shame to be entwined by the young

Image found at https://depositphotos.com/97825174/stock-video-senior-man-sleeping-on-deck.html

Sweet Elaine

I picked two flowers for you
From a neighbours garden
Hoping you'd call on me
As you often did weekends

I placed them in a tumbler
Which sat in pride of place
Grinning out the window
To be first to see your face

But you didn't come that day
Or even send a text
I had no word from you
That day or even the next

How was I to know you'd met
Another Romeo
Walked with him holding hands
Kissing in his studio

The flowers died like your love
I'm all alone again
How I'll miss your sweet lips
I loved you my sweet Elaine

Image found at https://www.wikiart.org/en/adolph-de-meyer/still-life-1908

He looks from the mirror

You look at me jealously
With a smirk on your face
I think you're my brother
Who had fallen from grace

That is putting it lightly
Every task you would meet
Whatever you would touch
Fell ruined at your feet

All the money that you made
Paid for pleasures alone
When the bills all came in
Cash for those you had none

So I learned so much from you
Though you've gone heavenward
I value that fine lesson
It still pricks like a sword

Your smug face in the mirror
Does reflect every day
For money you receive
Do not squander away

Image found at http://www.nickcerda.org/whos-looking-at-you-in-the-mirror/