Remembering

Now lest you think me a pagan ass

Remember I talk with forked tongue                              

Once when I was so very young                                      

At school I sat dumb in Latin class                                   

Why was I learning a language dead                              

Spake by Romans as conquests they made                  

As with nubile maidens down they laid                          

Except now by chemists to earn their bread                  

I was bored completely in my brain                                 

So carved my initials in the desk’s top                           

My knuckles wrapped soon did make me stop               

Teacher said my future was down the drain                   

If only he’d told of their heroic deeds                              

Monsters and voyages far from home                                       

Of gods and goddesses sowing seeds                           

Then my mind would not have roamed                         

I couldn’t wait for the class to end                                             

To get out on the sports field with a ball                          

Then joyfully homeward I could wend
Now hand in hand with my sweet gal                            

Image of Perseus saving Andromeda found at www.en.wikipedia.org

A talk with you

Hello my forest friends
You’re not so different from me

Why did we part company

Something in our DNA

Or just our poor manners

May I walk among you

Can I cross that wide bridge

Skirt our stagnant pond

Sit down and talk with you

Please don’t show your teeth

We are so much alike

Cells, organs, hearts beat as one

But what we have kills us

It’s money that we worship

An ivory tower we cannot escape

That maleficent power

Rules everything we do and say

Come secretly signal to me

Can we escape this compulsion

Be some value to the world again

There followed a long silence

Then a cold breeze blew up

The animals sadly shook their heads

My dog got up and joined them

In praise of rich nations

Can these verses speak
demanding answers for the wars
while you keep silent

Tell of its foul stench
scars inscribed on my people
poor shoeless children

Those planes flying now
Pretending to end conflict
Blood's scarlet stain spreads

It's a game you play
Big cash holdings in the bank
Though sadly we die

Image found at www.havacuppahemlock1.blogspot.com

Lover's lament

She turned in her sleep

So he wrapped his arm round her

Dreaming she murmured

“Darling Paul” she said

The wind’s late whispered warning

Did not reach her ears

He was gone by morn

Hunted by the family

Of the dead woman

They did not find him

Long drowned dead by his own hand

In the deep peat bog

I am so restless

My beautiful and most fair

Oh how I miss her

Image found at www.ballycroynationalpark.ie

Maggie May

Maggie May an old family friend of his mother’s had died so the lawyer’s letter had informed him and he was mentioned in the will.

Yes, he remembered her from when he was a small lad not yet at school for she looked after him at home when his own mother had worked in the wartime.

She was a widow from the Great War and had no children of her own so she loved being his minder.

He hadn’t seen her in for many years and was surprised that she even remembered him from so long ago but she had and left him all she had.

Her possessions were few and they would be hard to give away and would best taken to the dump except for one small box of her little treasures of a lifetime which mainly consisted of photos of him as a child.

He was content with that though as he could feel her love for him come through as he recalled all those times when she had been a mother to him.

Image found at www.ravepad.com

Twist of fate

Jim squirmed in his seat

Elastic contortionist on stage

He hated such acts

Amusing the crowd

Impossible shapes and turns

Only made him ache

So looked at her face

He then fell deeply in love

What a twist of fate

Image found at www.crystalkiss.com

A real keeper

Jimmy liked to play the field                                   

See how easy they might yield                             

Test his prowess as a beau                                  

Just to see how far they’d go                                 

Tease them, squeeze them, that’s his way         

He had no mind for future days                            

Girl’s romance ends before it starts                      

Left in field of broken hearts                                  

Then Joan came upon the scene                         

Cutest girl he’d ever seen                                     

Not the easiest one to woo                                    

He had much more work to do                              

Jim’s watershed moment came                            
For this girl was not the same 

Loving her was that much deeper 

For he'd found a real keeper 

Image found at www.umnet.com