That Girl

I was standing behind her when queuing to pay
for my solitary sandwich at lunchtime that day
and though trembling with nerves and full of self doubt
cleared my mind, cleared my throat and then asked that girl out
The second that followed was a lifetime of stress
'til she turned and she smiled and then she said yes
My mind just exploded, my heart filled with joy
that the girl that this boy liked also liked this boy

Now though we'd been working together for years
the days 'til the weekend were filled with the fears
known by any teenager going on a first date
I was sweaty and shaking, in fact, in a state
But everything settled when that girl stepped down
from the bus at the stop in the center of town
Although I must confess my knees went a bit weak
when she reached up and gave me a kiss on the cheek

We were ten minutes late for the six o'clock show
so we missed all the trailers and I still don't know
what the film was about or who was the star
for that girl outshone everything else there by far
Then after the movie we sat in the park
and we talked and we talked while around us the dark
stole away all the details of that little town
'til the world was that girl in whose eyes I could drown

Then after the talking and talking was done
I walked that girl home while the autumn stars spun
and fell all around us like fireworks galore
'til the evening ended outside her front door
It's late now she said, it's the end of the day
The last bus is long gone so why don't you stay
My house is a small house, that can't be denied
But my heart has enough room for one more inside

The Tramp

Smaller than many and older than most
The scruffy little tramp slinks away down the coast
Taking coal for the depot or tar for the road
and going wherever to find the next load
Until at its end when it's run its last lap
It is sent by its owner up river for scrap
Where the torches and hammers will silence the boiler
that beat like a heart pumping not blood but oil. For
it's profit that says what must go or remain
and this steamer must go now and that is a shame.

For she's more than just rivets and rusty steel plates
She's got personal history and character traits
that will live in the memories of captain and crew
like her name on their arms in a blue-black tattoo

To rise again

Now as the year runs down towards its end
Each morn's sunrise is later than the last
Each night the sun does earlier descend
Each noon the sun climbs less far up the mast
And as we see the sun fail day by day
We all regard the dying light with fear
We tremble at the light of life's decay
We wonder if this is its final year.
But come the winter solstice all things change
and earlier we see the sun arise
and our star in its splendour does arrange
to linger longer in our evening skies

Each year on year we're taught the same refrain
The sun must fall ere it can rise again

Teasing Sun

You teasing Sun
in your evening vignette
flashing your finest clothes
as you sink into sunset
and changing as you go
into the brighter dress of morn
as one land's sunset
is another land's dawn

Not alone

Each falling tide I walk the sand
to build my short-lived castles there
and scan the beach for flotsam and
the treasures that each tide may bear.
But one day as I started back
I paused and saw to my delight
a dark green bottle in the wrack
all sealed with wax and stoppered tight

I took it in my trembling hand,
removed and read the heartfelt plea,
"I'm all alone on tide swept sand"
said someone just as lost as me.
This bottle cast up by the foam
has cured me of my dark despair
To know I'm not alone alone
and others build their castles there

The victory of time

Dry up the sea and empt the sky
Return all living things to dust
Grind down the hills and with a sigh
reduce all man's great works to rust
Eat up the moon and earth and mars
and with a universal chime,
snuff out the sun and douse the stars
This is the victory of Time

A time will come when time is all
that's left and matter wears away
Then time will raise his voice and call,
Let there be light is what he'll say

Here

I was born here
I grew up here
I was wed here
had my child here
lived my life here
and grew old here
when I'm done here
I will die here

Dig my grave here
place a stone here
carve my name here
and the date here
as I lived here
so I'll lie here
resting till the
end of time here

The Question?

The future of our union is in question
Though most of those involved won't get a vote
For only in the north
will the ballot box go forth
to ask if this idea can really float

And the question is can Scotland be a nation
that stands firm on its own to face the world
or should it decide to stay
the northern branch of the U.K.
and forever keep the union flag unfurled

Now the arguments for this divorce are many
As many as the reasons not to part
but they mostly seem to be
just financial sophistry
designed to sway the head and not the heart

So if you're in the north and face this question
Should Scotland be a nation on its own?
Ask yourself just where you sit
Are you a Scot or still a Brit
and let your heart choose
where to cast your stone

The answer

After many years of searching
for the reason or the meaning
of the life that I am living
if that is the thing I'm doing
I have come to the conclusion
that I'll never have the answer
So I'm giving up philosophy
and going to be a dancer

A message for my children

I've worked all my life to earn a good living
I've brought you all up as best as I can
So now that you've left home and are self-sufficient
it's time for me to be my own man

So I've sold the Volvo and got me a mo'bike
Growing older's compulsory, growing up is a choice
Ninety's the new sixty as I head down the highway
singing "born to run" at the top of my voice

Now I've left no money for coffin or funeral
So when I crash just break me for spares
Take them all I shan't need them wherever I'm going
and maybe the credit will help pay the fares.

Thanks

Before I eat I bow my head
and thanks I give for daily bread
Before I sleep at close of day
a quiet prayer of thanks I say
For family and friends that live
in peace and quiet my thanks I give
And all these things I say and do
are things I say and do for you

Letter from a father in 1919

Dear son I sit here safe and sound
and free from existential fears
With friends and family all round
but still my cheeks are wet with tears
For one who's absence I have found
does not diminish through the years
is buried in some foreign ground
with oh so many of his peers

You answered to the trumpet's sound
You looked so sure, you volunteers
So smart and brave as duty bound
you took your orders with three cheers
But life is short as canons pound
and modern warfare interferes
A generation's best cut down
as battle's glory disappears

My son I write these lines for you
remembering the life you gave
and pass them on to others who
you sacrificed yourself to save
And hope that they remember true
their debt to the forgotten brave
for you're an unknown soldier too
An unknown corpse in unmarked grave


Postscript 1939

Our racial memory is short
for having lost our fine young men
When only twenty years have passed
we're face to face to fight again

MyMuse

Like you I aspire to greatness
Aspire but rarely achieve
And those moments when
through the work of my pen
I do, then my muse I'll reprieve

For she stands on the edge of destruction
Accused of letting me down
and leaving me lying
all thoughtless and crying
enough tears that my muse could drown

But those flashes of rhyme inspiration
and wonderful metrical feet
that she is supplying
dry up all the crying
and look, there's my poem complete

Compline

It's midnight and all through the house there is silence
except for the grandfather clock in the hall
Its pendulum slicing the night into pieces
the seconds that echo tick-tock as they fall

There's no-one awake to remark on their passing
They fall and are lost in the dust on the floor
Disturbed in the night by a mouse and then vanished
away by the draught that blows under the door

From midnight to midnight the clock keeps on ticking
Counts eighty six thousand four hundred each day
Eternity keeps on renewing the seconds
The clock never runs out of things it must say.

Lauds

The darkness of night time is tinged by the morning
The stars fade away in the first light of dawn
And now from the eastern horizon is spreading
a glorious light as the new day is born

The sun wipes its feet as it creeps past the shutters
Turns everything golden that used to be grey
and stray motes of dust dance their dance in the sunbeams
the house comes awake at the start of the day

Then finally sunshine sneaks into the bedrooms
and banishes darkness with soft golden light
and gently awakens the snorers and sleepers
Come, here is the day, say farewell to the night

Vespers

The children are all getting ready for bed now

the sun's throwing lengthening shadows on walls
The heat of the daytime is gone and the garden
is quiet and peaceful as evening falls

The cares of the workday are gone now, forgotten
with worries dissolving in glasses of wine
The barbecue's cooling and friends are relaxing
and as the sun sets the moon comes out to shine

And sat in the moonlight in that tranquil garden
they count all their blessings and mark where they fall
Full bellies, full glasses, full hearts, but the greatest
of those is the love that encompasses all.

Surprise

I woke up with an aching head
and looked around, surprised to see
that I was lying in your bed
a place I never thought I'd be.
Where you, all inhibitions shed
still fast asleep alongside me
just dressed in skin from foot to head
were lying there relaxed and free.
Then I recalled what had been said
the day before on bended knee
and how I felt when all doubt fled
as you agreed to marry me
and how our vows aloud we read
before the priest who heard our plea
and how he said that we were wed
and never would we sundered be.

The Judge

I look at a person and what do I see
I see somebody who is not like me
Taller or shorter, skinny or fat
Wearing a turban or wearing a hat
Smarter or dumber, richer or poor
Blessed with a feature the world can't ignore
Beautiful, ugly or just a bit plain
Lacking the sense to come in from the rain
Fashionable, trendy or dressed in a bag
Riding the bus or driving a Jag
and I pass a judgement on each that I see
my mind sets a value on those not like me.

Some I look up to, on some I look down
I catch myself doing it and start to frown
How can I measure another man's worth
what made me the judge of all men on earth

So I look away and then look back again
and marvel at all that this world can contain.

Lonely Bar Blues

My daddy he is gone now
just gave up his last breath
and took that final step
along the road to dusty death.

He never was the same
since momma went away
Turned his face round to the wall
never had a word to say.

So family's all gone now
got no-one to lean upon
I am so alone
even my dog is gone.

That's why I'm sitting here
a drinking on my own
even the company of strangers
is better than being alone.

The passing year

Spring is Coming
A change so small it hardly seems
that anything has changed at all
but warmth sneaks in to icy dreams
and breaks them free of Winter's thrall
The skies are limned with hazy beams
and rain not snow from clouds will fall
as life returns to frozen streams
beneath the season's snowy shawl

Spring is Coming
and faster now and faster still
the snow is melting day by day
and water rushes down each hill
to fill the streams and run away
and streams join streams and streams until
a river runs and people say
"Today's the day that Winter's will
was broke and Spring is on its way"

Spring is Coming
The sun climbs in the sky and shines
down where for months no light has shone
as Spring confirms with many signs
that seasons change and Winter's gone
Bright blooms in thousands of designs
come forth for bees to light upon
while hibernation's snug confines
release all sleepers to the sun

Spring is Coming
The last steps of this great design
returning life to every clump
The season's heart must beat in time
a billion tons of sap to pump
And powered only by sunshine
a single great systolic thump
resounds through every stem and vine
and new life springs from last year's stump


Summer is here
The final fogs of spring are gone
the temperature begins to rise
and glens where once no sun had shone
are bathed in light from azure skies
and mother nature smiles upon
each other mother and her prize
as new life spreads itself anon
and sees the world through brand new eyes

Summer is here
And where there once was barren clay
in green and gold the fields are spun
where crops grow taller every day
and apples ripen in the sun
Where fields of grass turn into hay
and record yields are all outdone
and all across this land will say
this year our cup doth overrun

Summer is here
The air is warm, the sun is high
and from the fields so fresh and green
a lark ascends into a sky
in which no single cloud is seen
And as these halcyon days go by
with moonlit starlit nights between
all human hearts will heave a sigh
of pleasure in this life serene

Summer is here
The children have all day to climb
to run and jump and sing and play
For games and friends and joys sublime
with no thought for another day
To plant the seeds in summertime
of memories to put away
until when old and past their prime
they can recall this summer's day


It's Autumn
But no-one sees when Autumn starts
(Though start it does as Summer ends)
until the southbound flocks depart
with Swifts and Swallows and their friends
Then Fall is felt in human hearts
as Autumn's chilly hand extends
it's message from the weather charts
that nature's own timekeeper sends.

It's Autumn
The days go past much faster now
and Autumn's bounty is revealed
as harvester instead of plough
works back and forth across the field
and orchard fruit from off the bough
is added to the annual yield
'til all that nature can endow
is gathered in and doors are sealed

It's Autumn
The barns are full, the cattle fed
and workers thoughts begin to roam
to one long night, no sign of bed,
just mugs of beer with heads of foam
and great big chunks of fresh baked bread
warm, spread with honey off the comb
and all the words that must be said
to celebrate the harvest home.

It's Autumn
The pressure drops, the tempo slows
and harvest tools are put away
The fresh-hewn logs are stacked in rows
as it gets colder day by day
And as the bully north wind blows
the blue sky into shades of grey
each watcher of the weather knows
that Winter's just a breath away


It's Winter now
The sickly sun is slow to rise
and then bare overtops my head
Though at its height in leaden skies
the heat that's giv'n is quickly shed
and any light it brings to eyes
from where all hope of spring has fled
is lost, as quickly daylight dies
and sun goes early to its bed.

It's winter now
The snow is deep on field and fen
the land is iron hard and cold
Fell creatures stalk the lands of men
like those from ancient stories told
And autumn's bounty laid down then
by prudent folk in hidden hold
grows less and less in lair and den
and rich men learn they can't eat gold

It's winter now
As hard it was, it's harder now
and young and old are first to go
The babes just fade and old allow
themselves one last walk in the snow
The few survivors wonder how
they will get by when all they know
is gone and darkness does endow
the frozen night with fears that grow

It's winter now
It's winter now and silence reigns
Nobody lived to tell this tale
The people died, all that remains
is fallen stone and broken rail
But what was lost another gains
as wolves run fat in this lost vale
and never roam the frozen plains
so other villages prevail

Autumn

It's Autumn
Nobody sees when Autumn starts
(Though start it does as Summer ends)
until the southbound flocks depart
with Swifts and Swallows and their friends
Then Fall is felt in human hearts
as Autumn's chilly hand extends
it's message from the weather charts
that nature's own timekeeper sends.

It's Autumn
The days go past much faster now
and Autumn's bounty is revealed
as harvester instead of plough
works back and forth across the field
and orchard fruit from off the bough
is added to the annual yield
'til all that nature can endow
is gathered in and doors are sealed

It's Autumn
The barns are full, the cattle fed
and workers thoughts begin to roam
to one long night, no sign of bed,
just mugs of beer with heads of foam
and great big chunks of fresh baked bread
warm, spread with honey off the comb
and all the words that must be said
to celebrate the harvest home.

It's Autumn
The pressure drops, the tempo slows
and harvest tools are put away
The fresh-hewn logs are stacked in rows
as it gets colder day by day
And as the bully north wind blows
the blue sky into shades of grey
each watcher of the weather knows
that Winter's just a breath away

Spring

Summer

Winter

I see her still

I see her still, though years have passed
in my mind's eye she's still the same
That girl for whom my love was cast
that set my teenage heart aflame.
And though the gulf 'tween us was vast
I'd hoped one day her love to claim
until I faced the fact at last
She didn't even know my name.

I see her still, my next girl friend
remember how she held my hand
how on each other we'd depend
and all the futures that we planned
and how I could not comprehend
the teenage storm, could not withstand
the adolescent angst. The end
came watching all my dreams crash land.

I see them still, those other dears
romantic notions reinforced
those girls I've loved down all the years
this white knight that can't be unhorsed
through vales of happiness or tears
while single, wedded or divorced
the loving heart just perseveres
and hopes for love to be endorsed.

Choose

Sister Joyce held her big black gun
to my head and said to choose
I though of all the things I'd done
and what I had to lose

I weighed up every cost
and benefit that I could see
and replied that all in all
I'd have the coffee not the tea

Happy New Year!

We wish the world a happy year
while we attend the annual wake
at which, well fortified by beer
we tell the world what steps we'll take
to move us on in our career
or to improve ourselves and make
the world a better place. Sincere
when made but oh so soon to break

So each year starts with good intent
which fades before the passing night.
Each broken promise's descent
does our weakness of will indict.
But each dark cloud by light is rent
as from the darkness of this blight
the only way we can be sent
is up towards the shining light.

Summer is here

Summer is here
The final fogs of spring are gone
the temperature begins to rise
and glens where once no sun had shone
are bathed in light from azure skies
and mother nature smiles upon
each other mother and her prize
as new life spreads itself anon
and sees the world through brand new eyes

Summer is here
And where there once was barren clay
in green and gold the fields are spun
where crops grow taller every day
and apples ripen in the sun
Where fields of grass turn into hay
and record yields are all outdone
and all across this land will say
this year our cup doth overrun

Summer is here

The air is warm, the sun is high
and from the fields so fresh and green
a lark ascends into a sky
in which no single cloud is seen
And as these halcyon days go by
with moonlit starlit nights between
all human hearts will heave a sigh
of pleasure in this life serene

Summer is here
The children have all day to climb
to run and jump and sing and play
For games and friends and joys sublime
with no thought for another day
To plant the seeds in summertime
of memories to put away
until when old and past their prime
they can recall that summer day

Spring

Autumn

Winter