Happy Bunny

A smile is free
 said the man on the ground
then he smiled at me
 and it cost me a pound
There is no such thing
 as a free lunch, I've found
and it's a long wait for what's gone
 to come back around

But I don't mean don't smile
 or be mean with your money
Some days are grey
 but others are sunny
Look on the bright side
 laugh out loud at what's funny
And hop through this life
 like a big happy bunny.

God's Waiting Room

It's Thursday so they go for tea
Their favourite cafe in the town
They choose a table at the back
take off their coats and sit right down
The waitress brings their usual drinks
Two slices of their usual cake
They sit and eat and drink their tea
No word of conversation make
And when the tea and cake is gone
their usual sixty minutes spent.
They rise and put their coats back on
and leave, apparently content

I see them and I think somehow
that I would want a little more
from life than this weekly routine
of going where you've gone before

But going where they've gone before
brings them enjoyment in the gloom
as everything in life slows down
while waiting in God's waiting room
And all they need is what they've got
Their lives a living museum
to all they've had and all they've done
as they stroll to Elysium.

Reach

If there's a lesson I can teach
to those that ask the question why
am I in tears here on the beach
and not in glory in the sky
It's have a target you can reach
for if that first step's set too high
you'll fall down in a heap at each
attempt and soon no longer try.
So if you want that topmost peach
don't spread your arms and try to fly
but climb up branch by branch and each
branch that you reach will make you vie
to stretch for higher branches till
your greatest wish you will fulfill

Pastoral 2 (Happy ending)

The chalk downs stand as they have stood
unchanged for year on year on year
Where grass grows lush as any could
and lays an emerald veneer
Where you may wander where you would
no hedge or gate to interfere
'cept the occasional copse or wood
that punctuates this green frontier

The sky is cerulean blue
The scanty clouds are whispy white
The sun shines with a brazen hue
and bathes the downs with heat and light
The air is noisily shot through
with buzzing from the bees in flight
and skylarks soar beyond our view
to play their flutes for our delight

High on these humpbacked hills of chalk
the aimless sheep may safely graze
No predators among them stalk
and they keep all the lambs they raise
For with the sheep the shepherds walk
to keep them safe and rescue strays
The only price paid by the flock?
The fleece that's shorn on late spring days

O'er all the downs the shepherd's king
and rules the land in any weather
Through burning sun or hailstone's sting
Counting his sheep with Yan Tan Tether
No golden crown or pearly string
just homespun cloth and boots of leather
With magic from a faery ring
the king holds court among the heather

Yan Tan Tether is an old English counting scheme

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yan_tan_tethera

Pastoral

The chalk downs stand as they have stood
unchanged for year on year on year
Where grass grows lush as any could
and lays an emerald veneer
Where you may wander where you would
no hedge or gate to interfere
'cept the occasional copse or wood
that punctuates this green frontier

The sky is cerulean blue
The scanty clouds are whispy white
The sun shines with a brazen hue
and bathes the downs with heat and light
The air is noisily shot through
with buzzing from the bees in flight
and skylarks soar beyond our view
to play their flutes for our delight

High on these humpbacked hills of chalk
the aimless sheep may safely graze
No predators among them stalk
but still they lose the lambs they raise
For with the sheep the shepherds walk
and take their tithe on late spring days
when lambs go to the auction block
The freedom price that each flock plays

I Can't Remember

I can't remember what I did
I can't remember what I said
I've slept since then I always say
and any chance of recall's fled

You get past fifty and you find
that memory no longer floats
So write it down and hope you can
remember where you put your notes