Why am I here?

Why am I here, what have I come here for?
No question philosophical is this.
My mind went blank as I came in the door
as age makes neurons fire and often miss.

And why can't I remember yesterday
or find my glasses when I've put them down
or understand what younger people say,
I'm sure that if I knew then I would frown.

Though Altzheimer's, dementia or just age
makes me a fool in other younger eyes,
I've had my time to strut upon this stage,
and flown my thoughts like kites in sunny skies.

Though past is passed and past is oft forgot
for some of us the past is all we've got.

Three Wishes

I wished I'd wake and find you there beside me.
I wished that I could wake you with a kiss
I wished that you would smile and say you loved me
As wishes do come true, I wished for this.

Three wishes I have used and none are left me
I couldn't wish a wish for wishes more.
Three wishes made my life complete, completely.
A life with love from one that I adore.

Remember

I remembered to stuff the turkey
I remembered to dress the tree
I remembered bread sauce, cranberries and beer
I made a Christmas pudding
and I hung my Christmas stocking
but a little something's nagging in my ear.
In all the Christmas planning
there is something I'm forgetting
A big thing on my calendar writ clear...
Don't do that Christmas shopping
for on the train I'm hopping
as I'm spending Christmas day with you this year.

On the ramp again

My car is on the ramp again
cos something's sprung a leak.
My car is on the ramp again
the second time this week.
My car is on the ramp again
it really makes me swear
I think that in it's metal mind
it prefers to be there.

My car breaks down so often I
think its a cry for help.
My car breaks down so often that
it makes my wallet yelp
My car breaks down so often I

am shocked when the wheels turn

I'm doubly shocked to get somewhere

and triply to return.

Pockets

They say that you can't take it with you
Its something that's just not allowed
But when I do die
I'll give it a try
with pockets sewn into my shroud.

Dreams

My heart lies broken deep inside
since you said you won't be my bride.
No joy. No meaning to my life.
No hope. No happiness. No wife.

     But in my dreams my hand you take
     And in my dreams my heart won't break
     So in my dreams this prayer I make
     I pray that I may never wake.

The world is greyer since you left
In shadows now I live, bereft.
No light, I walk in gloom instead
All colour from my world is fled.

     But in my dreams my hand you take
     And in my dreams my heart won't break
     So in my dreams this prayer I make
     I pray that I may never wake.

The days are longer now you've gone
each hour still sixty minutes long
each minute sixty seconds filled
each second my true love is killed.

     But in my dreams my hand you take
     And in my dreams my heart won't break
     So in my dreams this prayer I make
     I pray that I may never wake.

A Christmas Present

The temperature is falling fast
its raining ice not water.
The weatherman has promised snow
and days are getting shorter.
The shops are selling Christmastide
just put it on the card.
all thoughts of thrift are put aside
and folks are shopping hard.
Its a commercial festival
the spirit is quite absent,
except for some, my daughter said
all she wants is a present.
When pressed for greater detail or
asked to be more exact,
She said she'd like a Christmas gift
in Christmas paper wrapped!

Daddy

He's just a face, a strong right arm
that comes and goes throughout the days.
Your Daddy keeps us both from harm.
My ever-present mummy says.

I know him now. I know his name.
He's Daddy and he's big and strong
and in my heart he lights a flame
and in my eyes he does no wrong.



Now as the years go on and on,
things aren't the way they used to be.
Dad now depends upon his son,
but stays a hero still for me.

But now my dad has gone away
and left behind the lessons taught.
He died. There's nothing else to say
except to share this final thought.



Your dad comes with a guarantee
a 'love you for a lifetime' clause.
But read the small print carefully
as it's for his lifetime, not yours.

Tranquility

I like a cup of coffee in the morning
black, one sugar, decaf if you please
A syrup waffle with the syrup melting
and with it my cares melting by degrees.

I'll take my coffee out onto the terrace
and sit there in the early morning breeze.
With all my plans as vague as wispy cirrus
I love my life on summer days like these.

But when at last the summer days are ended
and all the leaves have fallen from the trees.
My morning coffee still tastes just as splendid
when taken with a rug across my knees.

The antidote to all that troubles me
is coffee sprinkled with tranquility.

Just peace and quiet

I don't ask much of life, just peace and quiet
a quiet life to live the way I choose
a life that's free from stress or ruck and riot
a life that just goes by no win or lose

So joyfully I go to work each morning
and swap for pay the service that I give
and celebrate the realisation dawning
that I don't live to work, I work to live.

Grumpy

All days start off well 

 and then get shot to hell.

  I'm grumpy, can you tell?

Lost

Who am I

Where am I

Why am I

Lost am I

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The beauty behind the bar

The brown haired barista with butterscotch skin
smiles with her eyes and welcomes me in
to the temple of coffee and asks for my choice
of refreshment, made sweet by the sound of her voice.
The words Mocha and Latte fall light on my ear
as the sweetest poetry I'll ever hear
but I can't reply for my wits have gone far,
stolen by the beauty behind the bar.

Waving or Drowning

Bad luck and troubles fall from the skies
and everyone's misbehaving.
But I stand firm as the waters rise,
still O.K. not drowning but waving.

The whole world walks past my tired old eyes
and I don't see much that's worth saving.
Some tell the truth but most just tell lies,
still O.K. still not drowning but waving.

But when at the end even true love dies
with grief my heart engraving.
I'll know as I sever all earthly ties
that at last I'm drowning not waving.

American Election Blues

We havin' an election
an' poor boys gotta choose.
We havin' an election
an' we poor boys gotta choose.
Which rich motherf politician
gonna win and who gon' lose.

When I made my cross,
my heart was full of hope.
Well when I made my cross,
my heart was full of hope.
Put my paper in the box
an' it slid down that slip'ry slope.

I saw who got elected,
an' I sure din't vote for him.
I saw who got elected,
ain't no-one vote for him.
I ain't accusing anybody,
but damn sure that fix was in.

Don' matter how you vote,
the gov'ment's just the same.
Don' matter how you vote,
damn gov'ment's just the same.
More money for the rich
and the poor goin' down the drain.

Best Friends

My heart skips when you walk into the room
and un-asked smiles appear upon my face
and where you walk the summer flowers bloom
in nature's own reaction to your grace
and though you may not 'launch a thousand ships'
you launch all mine with just a casual glance
and every word that drops from your sweet lips
is music for this foolish lover's dance.

But I can't tell you how I really feel
for your dear heart is to another given
and it would hurt you were I to reveal
that though my smile is whole my heart is riven.

So if we're to be friends by fate's decree,
then I shall be the best friend I can be.

Chapters

The story of your life is writ in chapters
some cover many years, some just a scene.
With highs and lows and miseries and raptures
from birth to death and everywhere between.
And friends and family are all just actors
who have their time on stage to strut and preen
their interraction's one of many factors
that mean the future cannot be foreseen.

And anyway the audience wouldn't like it,
to know the end before the story's told.
It's paid the price so now you must delight it,
a daily dose of anguish must unfold.
And though it takes the hand of fate to write it
no matter how the wayward ball is bowled
each crisis has its arc and you can't fight it
from fumbled loose to arrow in the gold.

Beauty

I look at her, look at her face
and see her life is written there.
Experience has left its trace
in every line inscribed with care.
But age has brought a certain grace
to parchment skin and silver hair,
allowing my eyes to embrace
true beauty that's beyond compare.

Regrets

A life is short so live it while you have it.
Take chances when they come don't hesitate.
Say yes when opportunity comes knocking
and set your hunter at that five bar gate.

Then when you go to rest, no more to waken,
you've ticked the boxes on your bucket list.
I'm sure that you'll regret some actions taken
but no regrets remain for chances missed.

A new star shines

Fifty years of unfulfilled potential

no focus, just a cloud of getting by.

No hopes, no aims, no questions existential 

a life adrift betwixt the sea and sky.

Then comes a thought, a simple supposition

that I am what I make myself, so why

accept the mediocre life I'm living,

I'll spread my wings and teach myself to fly.

In an instant my whole life condenses

into a single brilliant point of light

A supernova lighting up my senses 

A new star shines upon this world tonight.

The last kindly act

They come to me disfigured and
beyond a doctors care,
or aged beyond the skill of
any surgeon to repair
With tired eyes and sagging skin
and lacking muscle tone,
and it's my job to restore them to
the paragons once known.
It's not for them I do this, as
they're not the ones that ask.
It's parents, children, others who
leave me this gentle task.
It's not their pride or vanity
that brings them down to me
but the love of those around them
who want the world to see
that though the spark of life has gone,
thanks to my art and skill,
they're lying in their coffins but
they could be sleeping still.

Believe

Hills that rise beyond the tree line
Heights that steal the air you breath
Slopes that drop into the valleys
Mountain mist blows in the breeze

    Push your self beyond your limits
    Heart it is that gets you through
    Win the race against surrender
    show yourself that you are true .    Believe

Though the day is long and weary
you must keep on keeping on
put one foot before the other
soon the dreary miles are done

    Push your self beyond your limits
    Heart it is that gets you through
    Win the race against surrender
    show yourself that you are true .    Believe

At the end comes peace and pleasure
rest awhile in memory
Look back on the miles you've travelled
taste the glow of victory

    Push your self beyond your limits
    Heart it is that gets you through
    Win the race against surrender
    show yourself that you are true .    Believe.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZMQazlzYIM&feature=youtu.be

Alone with you

I'm sitting on a sofa

with

my friends who are most caring

and

we're eating and we're drinking

and

our conversation sharing

but

I feel that something's missing

and

I ask myself the question

and

the answer that I'm getting isn't helping my digestion

for

I feel that someone's absent

and

I find that I am wishing

that

the absentee was present

and

those present were all missing

for

although my friends are good friends

and

their company is splendid

I wish I was alone with you 

and that's my poem ended.

Look within

I take an intellectual knife
to pare away the dross and bling.
To find the meaning of my life,
to make me one with everything.

I cast away belongings and
the base desires to which I cling.
So lightened and enlightened I
can become one with everything.

I meditate, I look inside
with all the focus I can bring.
The universe then springs to life
and I am one with everything.

Here I am

Here I am and here I sit
with cupcake and a cup of tea.
I always come here for a bit
of calmness and serenity.

The modern world is busy and
it's days are filled with work for me
but every day I have time planned
for calmness and serenity.

It's just a little corner that
so far I've kept in secrecy.
A place where I can be found sat
in calmness and serenity.

This office block has many rooms
with few from noise and commerce free.
I share my room with mops and brooms
and calmness and serenity.

I see you

I see ten billion miles tonight
through darkling sky and velvet space
I see ten thousand stars, whose light
is dim beside your precious face.

In daylight I can't see as far
as nitrogen turns sunlight blue
But bright light from our nearest star
is outshone by the light of you.

Now in old age my eyesight fails
and aged brain cells clump and die
Though in the light your image fades
you blaze with light in my mind's eye.

Fabulous

When you ask me how I am
I always answer 'Fabulous'
I'm such a happy man I'm
positively tintinabulous.
Though every path has puddles
I will deal with every soggy thing
as reasons for more cuddles
and that will cause my heart to sing.

Now into every life they say
a little summer rain must fall
I see that rain brings pretty flowers
and pretty flowers bless us all.
So if you try to bring me down
I'm sorry your attempt will fail
For I'm the perfect optimist
and 'gainst all blues I will prevail.

Where will you go?

You said to me Where will you go?
Where will you go when life is done?
I answered, I don't really know
what happens when my race is run,
show me the options I'll choose one.

But some will say I have no choice
God will decide if I lived well
and if I did my future's nice
if not eternity is hell.
Who knows? No-one's come back to tell.

So how about another chance
reincarnated once again.
A good life will karma enhance
A bad life will your karma maim,
but who will referee this game?

I feel that when this earthly play
is done, all that was "I" will flee.
So I can only hope and pray
in someone's mind the bit that's me
remains a happy memory,

I will miss you

My job is moving me away
The worst event that could befall
A thousand miles, to my dismay
and I will miss you most of all.

The atmosphere is different
My desk is not as I recall
My office mates are all absent
and I will miss you most of all.

But life is change and life is short
and though I miss you most of all
I am delighted by the thought
we can connect with a phone call.

Tis better to have loved

'Tis better to have loved and lost
than never to have loved at all.
These are the words of Tennyson
and to my broken heart they call.
For lost is what you are to me
and all my life's ambitions pall
as dust to dust is spoken o'er
and winter's night begins to fall.

But after winter comes a spring
and sun returns day after day.
The sap will rise and birds will sing
no matter what I do or say.
And as the days and weeks and years
go by, my memory will say
"We had good times", and soon the tears
will wash the misery away.

My life must come to its own end
some day, the curtain has to fall.
The river Jordan must be crossed
and verdict giv'n in judgement hall.
No matter how the dice are tossed
I'll take what comes and then recall
Tis better to have loved and lost
than never to have loved at all.

Together

They're holding hands as they walk along
Like love's young dream from a silly song
Their eyesight's weak but their love is strong
And they've had sixty years together.

They walked and wooed and wedded fast
Their friends all said it couldn't last
But they've proved them wrong as lifetimes passed
And they've had sixty years together.

They walk their path upon this earth
form parent's death to children's birth.
They cry their sorrow and laugh their mirth
And they've had sixty years together.

She walks alone on silver sand
He went ahead to the promised land.
Still in her heart he holds her hand
as they had sixty years together.




Holding hands for sixty years
Sharing joys and sharing tears
Memories for souvenirs
of sixty years together

Zombie 'Pocalypse

Dear Sir, I take my pen and ink in hand
to write a note to you of targets missed.
Of cunning schedules made and routes you planned,
that I discovered left me off the list.

I stayed at home all Friday afternoon.
I waited in my room 'til half past six.
But no deliv'ry came to me and soon
the fear of death will my poor heart transfix.

For sunny days do leave me un-alarmed,
but come the night, fear has me in it's grips.
As you have left me standing quite unarmed
against a vampire zombie 'pocalypse.

I sign this letter sadly, as implied,
with "Yours Sincerely, clearly zombified."

Economics

It's a question of economics
that really isn't funny.
Why is there so much month left,
When I've used up all my money?

Thunder and Coffee

The sky is all lit up with lightning.
The air is all thunder and frightening.
Drowned rat families rush in off the street
searching for sanctuary and a nice dry seat.

The rain comes down hard, hits the street, bounces high,
falls again, fills the gutters and rushes on by.
Fills the drains, floods the streets and the squares of the town.
No-one's going out until it settles down.

A black coffee for dad and a Latté for mum,
Frappuccinos for kiddies, and cookies all round.
Starbucks is busy and a good place to hide
while all natures fireworks are going off outside.

The rain stops falling and the sun starts to shine.
The clouds fade away and the air tastes like wine.
The pavements are steaming and drying out fast
and families can finish their shopping at last..

Two Hours at a coffee shop table

Ten

A child with blue eyes and blonde curly hair
Daddy is counting her toes once again
Sat in her buggy she hasn't a care
always a surprise when the answer is ten

Pink

Blonde hair and ponytail, cats on her shoes

Pink glasses peeping out under her fringe.

Sticking her tongue out at her older brother

Her entire life has a sugar pink tinge.

Continuum

Sat in the chair with a coffee and crossword

Vacant expression upon wise old face.

Waiting while women do shopping and chatting.

Nine letter word meaning 'All time and space'

Ladies

Taking small bites out of their lemon cheesecakes

the ladies who lunch in their usual seats.

Taking small sips making small conversation.

Usual coffees and usual treats.

Equal

All men are equal in the eyes of the law
which ignores one pertinent fact.
That everyone's different, not equal at all
the odds are not equally stacked.

If you're clever or pretty then you will succeed
If you're bestest at something you'll win.
Whether poet or pugilist, flower or weed
real life is the contest you're in.

But winning or losing's no absolute state
it depends on your own point of view.
And if losing three nil is your natural fate,
getting one past the keeper will do.

The Photos of my Youth

The photos of my youth are all in sepia
The movies, black and white, and silent too
No instant replay from digital media
No internet to send them on to you

But though my yesterdays appear much duller
I can remember them in technicolour.

Truth

I am an idea
Born in the  mind of a suffering man
Passed on by voice as the story began
Filling the Earth through millennial span.

I am a hazel twig
More power in your hand than the mightiest sword
Divining the facts from the evidence stored
A weapon revealed by the turn of a word.

I am a lightning rod
Feet planted in earth and head in the sky
Roaring defiance at the storm passing by
Strike as you like for I cannot die!

Hooked

Though true love strikes
sometimes the hook comes free
so cast again
there's more fish in the sea.

and should you catch,
your fish is sure to fight
against the pain
of true love at first bite

so get a grip
don't let your passions flag
until at last
true love is in the bag.

Living the dream

It's Friday night and we've bin paid
us lads from 'factory floor
so now we're gone down to th'arcade
to show them all what for.

In drainpipe jeans and Oxford shirts
us lads from 'factory floor
we makes a beeline for the skirts
to see if we can score.

      Reeking of sweat and pheromones
      us lads from 'factory floor
      living the dream of the Rolling Stones
      in nineteen sixty-four.

Our chat-up lines are all first class
us lads from 'factory floor
so arm in arm wi' lucky lass
we go through 'palaise door.

We drink and dance and try our luck
us lads from 'factory floor
but good girls never give a - chance
that's not what they're here for.

      Reeking of sweat and pheromones
      us lads from 'factory floor
      living the dream of the Rolling Stones
      in nineteen sixty-four.

Waves

The waves run up the sandy beach
trip over their own feet and fall
and run away back out of reach
to gather and repeat it all.

A man is born and lives his life
he marries woman, fathers son
who in his turn will take a wife
and so the story carries on.

And stars that in their glory shine
will in a supernova die
continuing their stellar line
spreading their seed across the sky.

Platforms

Platform one a vale of tears
of couples riven by goodbyes
the claret stain of broken hearts
washed clean by tears from bloodshot eyes

Travelling-far travelling-far
Cardiac beat of the railroad car
Hitch your coach to the morning star
Travelling-far travelling-far

Platform two a joyful crowd
well met and reunited here
the prodigal returning, vowed
to never leave his near and dear

Travelling-far travelling-far
Cardiac beat of the railroad car
Hitch your coach to the morning star
Travelling-far travelling-far

Platform three for stepping out
the first step on adventure bound
with heads held high no room for doubt
with world striding ambition crowned

Travelling-far travelling-far
Cardiac beat of the railroad car
Hitch your coach to the morning star
Travelling-far travelling-far

Platform four and feeling down
the wage slaves on their daily train
dragged unwilling into town
and dragged unwilling back again

Travelling-far travelling-far
Cardiac beat of the railroad car
Hitch your coach to the morning star
Travelling-far travelling-far

Platform five for coming home
the journey that we like the best
the voyage o'er no more to roam
and in the family's heart to rest

Travelling-far travelling-far
Cardiac beat of the railroad car
Hitch your coach to the morning star
Travelling-far travelling-far

Rhyme & Rhythm

Arrange some words with rhyme and rhythm
and you can make a poem with'em.
But leave the rhyme and rhythm out
and all your work will come to nowt.
For rhyme keeps memory alive
and rhythm makes the poem drive.
and so to let your genius show
let the rhyme and rhythm flow.

She walks in beauty

She walks in beauty through my days
and as she walks the sunlight plays
on satin skin and sets ablaze
a flame within my heart that stays.

She walks in beauty through my nights
with beauty that outshines the lights
of moon and stars and reunites
my soul with heavenly delights.

She walks in beauty through my dreams
where all my most romantic schemes
succeeded and my diamond gleams
on her left hand - or so it seems.

She walks in beauty through my life
and leaves behind a trail of strife.
The truth that cuts me like a knife.
That she is someone else's wife.




With thanks to Lord Byron for the theme.

My other half

You know I sigh for you
I even cry for you
Sometimes I pray to God up in the sky for you

          Cause you're the one for me
          The other half of me
          You are the other half that makes the whole of me

My heart I give for you
My life I live for you
All your bad habits I'd gladly forgive for you

          Cause you're the one for me
          The other half of me
          You are the other half that makes the whole of me

So I would fly for you
So very high for you
All earthly bonds of gravity untie for you

          Cause you're the one for me
          The other half of me
          You are the other half that makes the whole of me
          You are the better half that makes the best of me

Breathing

Breathing, how do we begin it?
In, out, twenty times a minute.
The reason for this life we share?
more I hope than recycling air.

Hot, Dry, Still.

It's Hot, and from the brazen sky, the sun
beats down so hard upon the anvil ground.
The soundtrack by ten million crickets sung
of heat reflected off a wall of sound.

It's Dry and in the sky no hint of cloud
no stately ships to sail the sun's domain.
No rain falls on the ground so freshly ploughed
no rain until the seasons turn again.

It's Still. The only motion is the haze
that roars up from this crematory plain.
No creature dares the sun. All nature stays
at rest till restless night falls once again.

But nothing lasts forever and the fall
will come and change the weather for us all.

Red Ink

Self hatred scribed on flesh with blood red ink.
My cry for sympathy so plain to see,
that no-one sees, and so I eat and drink
self hatred. Scribed on flesh with blood red ink,
a message that I send to make you think
in letters big and bold. A bloody plea.
Self hatred scribed on flesh with blood red ink,
my cry for sympathy so plain to see.