She was standing just as silent in the forties when the war
sent our allies to us wounded, caring, waiting, sick and sore
Then returned them to the battle, some of them a last deep breath
Some to come and bless the silence and forget the fields of death.
She was there in the fifties when the jitterbug went down
How her walls creaked out in protest when a jukebox woke the town
How she spluttered, loudly tutted, when the young girls even then
Knew their maidenhead was forfeit to attractive, sex-crazed men.
In the sixties the old homestead saw … Read the rest
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A man whose thoughts are all on passion bent
Will strive to read what makes his lady kind,
But careless in his haste with good intent
May not perceive her actual state of mind.
A man who witnesses a heinous crime,
His mobile used to shoot the deed on tape.
Who fails to ring in details at the time
May wreck a crime scene in his drive to escape.
A teacher with no plan to discipline
And teaches with attention not entire
But claims his students cannot hope to win,
Cerebral synapses just fail to fire.
Man’s frailty is widely … Read the rest
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A fine university is where you reign,
decorating the halls with your fresh young beauty,
dispensing greetings as you progress to your room,
accepting the plaudits you feel you deserve.
Alive, invigorating, bursting with good will,
A two-faced specimen
at home in a sea of snakes.
Chief Snake joins you for coffee.
Your closeness to the Dean
is known as solid,
convenient for those who would spread
their own events horizon,
as, it is whispered,
you enjoy with him your own horizon.
A paper that’s not quite there
but manageable if he puts his slant on it.
The approach is … Read the rest
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With climbing roses at her cottage gate,
A gaggle of gossips gathering late
to smell the perfume, in pompous decreeing
sought out a weakness in all they were seeing.
Profusion of colours in artistic array,
Reds, yellows, apricots all on display
Condemned – lacking discipline – all in together.
Mother took the verdicts, as gracious as ever.
And while she is busy watering her plants,
A genuine rose amid sycophants,
she listens without speaking, bar salutations,
is appalled at the slaying of friends’ reputations,
sees through the chatter of the empty noise-gnomes
while hidden within, her great spirit groans.
Cup … Read the rest
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Recalling Shakespeare in
SONNET 1
Just now you know the feeling of great loss
that aches like green ant’s fire within your flesh,
The sharpest minds surrender at great cost
and lose the chance to heal in love’s caress.
False sailors claim they’ll sail the wildest seas
and bring their king and nation glorious wealth,
But drown their maker out with mercy pleas
when braver men might plan and win by stealth.
I too have faults I’d rather not be shared
with friends whose ev’ry thought has thrived.
It is my burden hid. I would I dared
believe that love … Read the rest
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