Nip it in the bud

Love like trees, grows in many ways
Some trees are straight, true and tall
Though high they can be lonely
Certainty and growth is all - unstopped
Growing hard to reach the light
This love can be more selfish and possessive
And more vulnerable to changing winds

Love is often nipped in the bud
Stopped as it grows - it causes hurt
But through this pain is new growth
As other branches shoot and spread
This tree is broad and rounded in form
This tree is sure, balanced and strong
Deep roots reach water and bind the earth

As the love grows in each new bud
There can not be enough pain to stop them growing
The roots draw from the source nourishing feeding
The trees branches, twigs and leaves
This tree becomes the largest shelter of them all
Years of giving back to the ground
allowing others around to grow

Each season changes its look as you approach
Spring bursts with life and newness refreshed
Summer allows shade and succour to be sought
Autumn reintegrates learning with the soil
Winter rests and allows learning to be absorbed
Each year round the cycle of life and growth
Is repeated and expands with every circle of time

The right to refuse

Whose choice is it anyway?

Think hard on the words
“I didn’t have a choice”
What do they really mean?
And said with whose voice

“I didn’t really have a choice”
Reflect on those words you use.
Do you understand what you’re saying?
You know you can always refuse.

Marvelous little surprises

What a day
What a funny day
Not funny ha ha
Not funny at all
Not in that way

News from a colleague
His wife has a turmour
A friend of old split
With his girl after
Twenty years
A friend’s dad
With a nether bump

What a day
What a funny day
Not funny ha ha
Not funny at all
Not in that way

A carpet pulled
Certainty gone
What is solid?
And what is not
A shake and
Quicksand forms

What a day
What a funny day
Not funny ha ha
Not funny at all
Not in that way

Trust only this
Life is precious
And it is short
With two hands grab it
Live and love
Be true and be you

Pleasures 1: A Bath

Splish splosh
a soak in the bath
Glass of wine to hand
bubbly foam
Cheese to nibble
a classy relax
Time to myself
a pleasure
Simple things really
Warm water
and nakedness
Enveloped helpless
And in control
this time choosing
what to have.
pleasures in life
a selfish moment
for the good of all
more yourself now
after a bath!!

These people these forgotten people

These people, these forgotten people

Women children and men all were
War heroes brave and courageous
These people who have seen too much
Have so much inside remaining hidden
The new republic has moved on
These people have been left behind
Mental collateral, damaged and scarred
But all for the good of the cause
These people now forgotten and abandoned
By the nation they created
Through blood death and continuing pain
These forgotten people still wounded from the past
They hurt in the present - not who they were
And the future is a dark and uncertain place
These forgotten people often chose to drink
Their way to forget their past - not to think is bliss
To miss the present and not look beyond the next glass
These forgotten people forget their heroic hour
They stood shoulder to shoulder for freedom
Now forgetting - they drink and sing arm in arm

These people, these forgotten people

Receive as you give

What a giver from a family of givers.
So much of you invested in others
You truly give when it is of yourself.
You seek for naught but the task well done
You give best when you are giving freely
You give with your heart and your heart is filled
You give and also be mindful of others who give.

Some lessons in receiving are still to be learnt.
Unasked for gifts given in understanding
Should be taken in, open-hearted and with joy.
Do not presume the need for gratitude
Tying you to the person who gives freely.
For you to be uncertain and feeling beholden
Puts in doubt the spirit in which the gift is given.

Unclaimed memories

A beach and waves
Shells on the sea shore
Memories waiting
To picked up
And taken home

Looking at the sand
I see broken fragments
Of shells left behind
There are so many
Unclaimed memories

Marlboro Lights

Marlboro Lights
My daily delights
A puff a drag
A wheeze
Smell them
On the breeze

Sunshine a tan
My pension plan
Smoke fags - no fear
Of life running on
Limit my time here
When my spirit is gone