Having the urge

Ever since childhood I've had that urge
To collect something, that can't be purged
Noting steam loco's numbers on railway line
As a youngster at stations suited me fine

Then was a fad for collecting birds eggs
Thinking of that now makes my mind beg
Stamp collecting was a far gentler sport
Learn't geography from this as I ought

But growing up led to far milder ways
So bird watching with wife spent many days
I collected old postcards whilst rain showers
And she spent time doing jig-saws for hours

But getting old makes one recall the past
So I gave family history a blast
To delve in those days of another age
You find the method to turn back time's page

And how you laugh at their indiscretions
Large families, funny names and passions
So many children and many a death
It makes you want to gasp with such sad breath 

What will people think knowing your passion?
Perhaps they'll wish to have the same intention
Or look at you with strange contemplation
'Cos they're glued to Netflix on television

Image found at https://pxabay.com/photos/steam-train-haverthwaite-railway-3874986/

It was the birds

It was the birds that set the scene
As they each left the fields
Flew up into the sky
Circling flew away for the night

I sat still taking it all in
Cattle lowed bound for home
T'was milking time for them
Their usual path they'd be alright

Then following their trail a fox
Paddock fence was open
So great chance for a snatch
And overhead flew a soaring kite

An owl woke up now looked around
As he watched for some prey
A mouse, a chick; all game
His day was starting so took flight

Milking over, cows back to graze
Settle for quiet night
Farm dog sits by back door
Likes to keep master within sight

Image found at https://freedesignfile.com/36049-farm-dusk-beauty-stock-photo/

Warm bright flames

The warm bright flames from the open fire
Light up your flesh as you sit by me
I never thought we would last this long
Thought we'd part to sing our own song

There's something pure about our love
You don't moan at my shapeless clothes
I'm happy you have girl's night out
With friends from work to twist and shout

I think you're an angel in disguise
You cuddle, whisper "I feel safe"
Twice we had thought about a change
We both thought that would be quite strange

We don't cheat for we trust each other
No, we don't wear each other out
Yes, we allow freedom that's true
But we will never say adieu


Image found at https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-752088.html

I awake early

I awake early from my sleep
Summer sun has not risen yet
The air is still it whispers not
Even Moon has already set

Listen for twitter in the trees
Even the owls throw in the towel
It's magic just me by myself
Time for poet, verse and vowel

Horizon lightens as I stare
Prompting twitters from above
A wombat's grunt comes along
Cooing starts of Turtle dove

Now the breeze whispers quietly
Lest the humans wake far too soon
Then the Sun's rays light up the sky
As the early birds sing in tune

Hear the distant hum of traffic
As man scares the wild ones away
Now there's a rumble of a train
Horns are sounded...another day

I come in to find solitude
From mankind's crazy noisy way
There's nothing like nature's stillness
To lift me up to face the day

Image found at https://wildambience.com/albums/dawn-in-the-valley/

She leads

Could have been great disappointment to wife
Even though she was the love of my life
I first saw her in the street one fine day
Proposed a date, "Yes" she answered, hooray!

Date went well, held hands as I walked her home
Discussing what else could be done
It soon was clear she liked to dance a lot
Kissed goodnight, went home; brain lost the plot

I had two left feet and my mind went wild
Hopeless me, I almost cried like a child
She ticked all my boxes; but what of her?
Below standard me, she'd surely demure

We stuck with films and concerts for awhile
Until I told the real truth without guile
But she didn't despair or so I thought
So stopped at shop, box of chocs I bought

Clearly I knew how to turn the life's tide
Not long before with me she would abide
As we married less than a year later
Garden reception with lots of waiters

Dear one, she chose to take me just as I am
Marriage was good, could say t'was topped with jam
If we ever danced it was she who leads
She considers me one with special needs

Image found at https://www.overstockart.com/painting/renoir-dance-in-the-city-933623727

Everything is a blur

Everything is a blur

I just don't know who's to blame

I close my eyes and wait a bit

Just who is playing a game?

Sing your songs, write poems for me

As we waste our lives away

Let's smoke those Gauloise cigarettes

For nothing will be the same

I saw that you've bleached your hair

Whilst I have grown my fine beard

We're just dancing our lives away

Only me and you to blame

Where did you go my sweet love

On that Paris day in Spring

When it was five, dizzy I woke 

You never answered your name

I waited so long in the flat

And fearing the worst of course

Humiliation seeped through my bones

For I had lost the endgame

Image found at http://favim.com/image/165965/

http://favim.com/image/165965/

I was so in love

"Indeed ; why should I not admit it? -in that moment, my heart was breaking"- Kazuo Ishiguro - The Remains of the Day

Nineteen, I was so in love
Always welcome in her home
He parents happy I came there
In their lounge was my own chair

We'd go for walks, spoon of course
Hold hands deep in the woods
I carved our names on tree's trunk
Loving her like being drunk

Went on holday with her
At invite from her parents
Close to the sea much to do
One last treat before her adieu

It broke my heart, I was lost
I only ever thought of her
She'd said "Should try others out"
I wanted to scream and shout

That was the end of our affair
Oh so many years ago
Then one day when I was old
Message came, who could have told?

So we wrote of this and that
In love and such confidence
She's now died, I've shed my tears
Thus it was in our last years

Image found at http://vcool.com/good-first-date-ideas

Breathing her scent

There's comfort in breathng the scent of your wife
As you wake on a summers morn

If work has gone badly and you hurry home
Walk in the door and you feel reborn

The first thing she does is a hug and sweet kiss
As her eyes light, sees you are worn

There's nothing like having castle of your own
Her one look and I'm not forlorn

How important it is to trust each other
Told me baby's soon to be born

We couldn't keep smiles from both our proud faces
Soon son will rise on a new dawn

Image found at https://www.fool.com/person-finance

It's your birthday

She ran along the road in her bare feet
One vagrant child of many running free
Pulls coats and dresses begging "S'il vous plait"
If the gendarmes were not about that day

Most men would merely flick her aside
Or ignore her as if she was not there
Ladies could not be predictable
Even those whose fur coats were of sable

One clearly loved all children as she turned
Gave her a trinket fastened to her dress
Girl's grimy face beamed with a radiant smile
So lady chatted for a little while

She could see much more than others there
Wished she had more trinkets she could give her
But just smiled then turned round to walk away
Turned back "Keep it, pretend it's your birthday"

Image found at https://www.change.org

My world alone

Where has my life gone?
I'm but a bathering old fool
Doddering about aimlessly
In my world alone

With my wrinkled face
Thinking back to days long gone
Balding skullcap, lines galore
Now just a disgrace

Wife died years ago
Sons and daughters just who knows where?
Look inscrutable to passers by
Why angry? "Dunno!"

Recall velvet days
Boy of fifteen far to go
On the prowl chasing skirts
Listened to their ways

Where has my life gone?
It has been lived that's for sure
Pity I can't have second go
This time really shone

Image found at https://reddit.com/r/transitiongoals/comments

Waiting for the rain

We were waiting for the rain
Well Jimmy my husband was
Staring at the dry paddocks
But his face was full of pain

This happened every year
For sun we get a'plenty
Rain comes in winter we hope
Else there'll be many a tear

The dog knows there's something up
Hiding any place he can
Master's not a happy man
Waiting for his "Come on pup!"

While I watch what words I say
As Jim sits there whittling wood
Then gets up, quietly says
I must give the stock some hay

"Need a hand?" I said to him
He nodded grinning just a bit
We load the trailer, so I drive
He cuts the bales, face quite grim

There's a band of cloud out west
A slight chance that we'll have rain
We cut the bales, spread the feed
So stock rush up up for their feast

We've got enough to last a bit
As we complete today's task
And exhausted we take a rest
He looks worried, I admit

In bed that night cuddled up
Heard the first drops of rain fall
Then how it came pouring down
As I heard a bark from pup

I got up to let him in
Rain fell heavy on the roof
So then I went back to bed
Jim looked at me with a grin

Image found at https://www.picturenative.com/stock-photo/calves-in-a-dry-land-9755.html

Job for you up north

"Job for you up north" Boss said, "Give you time to wind up here, find accommodation, expenses paid. Salary will be lifted two grades while you're there but we don't pay overtime. Talk it over with your wife, let me now tomorrow, Okay?"

Wife had already told me she was pregnant but I knew her answer "Yes, do it!" But could she cope with two kids already and me miles away? She said she could see the advantages and she had her sister living close who would help.

So I said "Yes". With a hirecar provided I worked 150 miles from home coming back most weekends reporting to the office. I chose a hotel, expenses paid to make it easy.

Up each morning to check the contractors on building sites, pouring concrete and constructing various structures in town as well as viisting other sites within a 100 mile radius.I spent time in the hotel each evening with locals and visitors like myself chatting at mealtimes or propping up the bar. Each morning before work I'd go for a run to keep fit.

One morning after my run the hotel owner's wife met me as I came back before work. "I'm glad you're back" she said "Your wife's gone to hospital to have the baby!"

I gulped with surprise, baby was coming far earlier than expected. I thanked her and rang my sister in law to check. "Everything is OK" she said, "Baby's being born now!"

I drove carefully back home letting others overtake me and arrived to see my wife and new baby girl in hospital. Both were well and were cleared to come home a few days later.

Image found at https://www.rms.gov.au/geared/your_driving_skills/driving_skills/driving_safely_at_dusk.html

The good old days

The finches chatted in the trees
Then flew to ground to pick up feed
Then up again, wind swirling round
I glanced at them, reading my mail 
Rarely sent this digital age
Makes oldies go off in a rage

Posties delivering less and less
Spam callers on home phones each day
Kitchen fridge piled with post-it notes
Filled with ready cooked frozen meals
Greasy home cooking rare sight now
No burnt knuckles or scalded brow

Why curb my needs to do it now
Wanting those old days back again
Don't spare me doing things myself
Just in case the power cuts off
Yes, Let's get water from a well
Get the night soil man call as well

Image found at www.https://pinterest.ca/pin/370421138073638359/?1p=true

Please forgive my dark humour here as oldies do tend to yearn for the past while they forget the disadvantages of the good old days when some necessities were quite primitive!

My first love

Joan you were my first love
So many years ago
One day you just let go
No longer hand in glove

I wept, you broke my heart
But it did heal in time
Dating others was no crime
So I made a new start

Sixty years have flown by
Had wife and family
Living life happily
Now widower am I

Then came Facebook message
Do you want to be friends?
What thoughts the message sends
What can one envisage?

So we wrote lovingly
All those years did not cost
As our love was not lost
We could chat happily

Then your daughter messaged me
Tells me you too have died
There's more grief so I cried
No love now, I'm lonely

Who knows where you two've gone
Loving girls in my life
One first love, one my wife
So I sing love's sad song

Image found at https://depositphotos.com/98716516/stock-video-old.man-using-a- persona.html

Boys are horrible

Boys are horrible and I should know
I caused havoc wherever I'd go
With a whipping stick in my right hand
I'd join my mates on the farmers land
We'd play hide and seek in the ripe corn
Acting the fool as we'd done since born

The war had been on for a few years
We played and laughed while mum's were in tears
Most kids dad's were overseas at war
She struggled to cope as we were poor
She had to work hard to make ends meet
So she served in a shop down the street

We kids went to school five days a week
I got bullied of course 'cos I was meek
Soon I was with a gaggle of friends
But we'd all meet up at the weekends
Sometimes there'd be a gap in the class
We'd pray for him, he was not the last

Summer we'd walk to school on fine days
Mum came too "It's good for us" she says
We had to be careful what we spent
She's worried where all the money went
Kids minds are ever on other things
Like hearing the songs Vera Lynn sings

We were mad keen on spotting the planes
Or hearing news on Army campaigns
Watching convoys with soldiers aboard
Tanks and trucks now being sent abroad
How we collected such useless things
Like fag cards and feathers from birds wings

In wartime you rarely had a thing
I still recall my mother did sing
She was frightened but hid it from us
With her smiling face we caught the bus
So the war went on we were not afraid
"Your Dad will be home next week" she said

Image found at https://1940sradio.com/index/php/gallery/1940s-flashbacks/ww2-gas-masks

Note: This was the situation for many families inn WW2 in Britain however I was luckier as my father who worked in London did come most nights of the week because he was what was described as being in "Reserved Occupation" as he ensured the Electricity supply was maintained there. Most of my cousins dads were in active service in Britain or abroad, but almost nobody was well off with the rationing and shortages at that time.