Poetry Blog by M.C. Newberry

When the fire within me dies

And my spirit flies beyond the skies

To reach that unknown place that lies

Past earthly need of ears and eyes,

This much I know - this much is plain -

That I shall be but born again

To take my place in the timeless train

Of Creation's everlasting chain.

So, save your tears...your sad goodbyes

This breaking of familiar ties;

Be comforted by...

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Much has been made

Of the part love has played

In the course of human existence.

Once lost, one thing's plain -

That to find it again

Requires some personal persistence!

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I was clearing out old papers when I came across the following poem attributed to "Anon" which

had been a part of a late elder sister's funeral ceremony.  It seems very appropriate to share it in

these difficult days.

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Miss me but let me go

But when I come to the end of the road

And the sun has set for me

I want no riles in a gloom filled ro...

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The ready expression of gratitude

May sometimes seem a platitude

But needs must

Before we come to dust

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With a fond nod to a great "standard" from the past.  Play it Boris!  Will it go viral, I wonder??!!

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We must remember this

A kiss can't be a kiss

A sigh can't be a sigh

The government rules apply

Here's why - so we get by

It's now a brand new story

In this land of hope and glory

A case of do or die

So we do...

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There is a letter in the latest edition of a magazine issued to London police pensioners that describes the

experience of the correspondent and a colleague at the time of the Brixton riots when "Two days  after we

had been bombarded with bricks, and anything else the rioters could lay their hands on", they were back on

patrol in Brixton market when they were approached by a young black la...

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Sure to offend some...but hey -

I was at the bar of the Legion minding my own business the other evening when I was groped by a distinctly unappealing member of opposite sex.

"You're cute" she says, "have you got a phone number?"

"Sure.  Have you got a pen?"

"Yep...I've got a pen."

"Then you'd better get back in it before the farmer misses you."

Cost me a knee in the nuts, but he...

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Have you noticed - that right from birth

Human kind is meant for mirth.

Before a baby knows its place

You'll see a smile upon its face,

And when a child is growing fast

A smile's the thing that's sure to last

When life is hard - not being kind

The face will show how folk can find

A refuge from the grief and care

That somehow seems we all must share.

When pressures see...

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Sure to offend some but, hey..........

I was talking to a young woman in the Legion last night. 

She said "If you lost a few pounds, had a hair cut and

cleaned yourself up, you'd look all right."

I said "If I did that, I'd be talking to your friends over there instead of you."

Cost me a fat lip - but, hey...

when you're over seventy.....who cares?

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Where you are born is the passing partner of chance;

Of whom you are born is the invitation to the dance.

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The words come down the centuries - as relevant now as they ever were.

"We have a natural right to make use of our pens, as of our tongue: at our peril, risk and hazard."

"Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers."

"There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times."

"Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues and earthquakes."

"We c...

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The other day i counted the WOL blogs

In total: forty nine;

There was only one you couldn't like

And that was one of mine.

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From the shade provided by tinted glass

It was an opportunity too good to see pass.

Beyond stood two officers of the Law

The perfect target to get what for --- 

According to what the Butler saw..

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Those who demand respect rarely deserve it;

Those who deserve respect rarely demand it.

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The other evening, intent on avoiding the repetition and depression of news reports on the 24/.7 media

"not-so-merry-go-round", I took a trip back in time via the DVD of the last musical that Astaire and Rogers

made and found myself enjoying the additional presence of Oscar Levant.  He appeared, invariably as the

disenchanted, sharp-tongued pal - reflecting much of his own personality.  H...

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You shall,,

I shan't.

You can,

I can't.

You will,

I won't.

You do,

I don.t.

You may,

I might.

No relationship in sight!

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A liberal landscape gardener

Achieved some sort of renown

Designing each plot with displays of pot...

He was called Culpability Brown !

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There was once regard given to "choice"

In life's give and take it had a voice;

But now it suffers a transformation,,

Defined instead as "discrimination"..

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"Procrastinate" = to defer action.

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If procrastination is the thief of time,

Then to aid and abet it must be a crime!

Let this be an admonition

To each pusillanimous politician.

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I quite enjoy wealthy people

Even though I'll never be one.

I see them like a fairy story -

And those are always fun.

They occupy a different world

With various types of wealth;

Some inherited, some from talent,

And some from silent stealth.

I gaze into their goldfish bowl

At what they do - or don't.

Sometimes wishing I would be them

But more often glad I...

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English folk would bend the knee

For a sovereign or a bride to be;

But there are those whom it would please

To see all England on its knees.

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Am I equal to Albert Einstein?

Am I equal to Usain Bolt?

Do these questions (just two samples)

Give your intellect a jolt?

Am I equal to Her Majesty

Or Jeff Bezos and his cash?

Rupert Murdoch with his empire?

Sense says such claims are rash.

Being equal before the law...

With talent given opportunity

These two we shouldn't ignore 

For the reality of social unity

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Moan and groan,

Whine and whinge

Grate on the ear

Like a rusty hinge.

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Signs of virtue however small

Maybe thought good overall

But the selective sort 

With its sanctimonious retort

Doesn't represent virtue at all.

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Spotted in my London street - a van from a well known plumbing outfit bearing the registration mark -

BOG 1

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An evaluation of the wider ramifications of history................................................................................

The advent of the BLM movement and the assaults, physical and verbal, on the visible evidence of the past

history of the British Empire had me considering a hitherto overlooked/ignored aspect of its existence, not

least with regard to its relationship with bl...

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Please complain to anyone who shares your revulsion and distress at this content.

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Anyone who jumps off a bridge in Paris is in Seine!

Dijon vu - the same mustard as before.

Condoms should be used on every conceivable occasion.

Definition of a will: :a dead give away.

Wi...

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Warning - some viewers may find the following content distressing, disturbing and likely to offend, coming 

as it does from a more robust time.  (Well, you have to laugh, don't you?)

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Definition of a shotgun wedding:  a case of wife or death.

A man needs a mistress jus...

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Justice delayed is justice denied

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Despite not yet being tried and convicted

A woman has had a year's jail term inflicted.

Despite reservations, I feel conflicted

At this long delayed justice we see depicted.

Even if the accused woman abused her bail

The final result would still find her in jail

No ...

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Excuse me if I don't wilt

Under post-colonial guilt.

History is chapter and verse of the past,

For better or worse, its die is cast.

If wounds persist requiring sutures

Then let those sutures be better futures

For logic will say that this much is real:

Keep picking away and no wound can heal.

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Something to sing in Country style.  Thanks to Pete Dymond for the vocal.

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I wonder - when she wakes in the morning

Has she been dreaming of me?

When the darkness defers to the dawning

Is my face the face she would see?

I wonder - do her days feel longer?

...

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Common sense can be heard to beseech:

What has been done to freedom of speech?

Now the prisoner of opinion and offence

None of which makes very much sense.

Words chosen have to be - shall we say "foxy"

To avoid the wrath of the me-me orthodoxy,

Like the Hays Office that controlled what was seen

In days long gone on the cinema screen

When couples on a bed had their feet on t...

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I wish for a cure

For what is obscure

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I can't help but notice the proliferation of signs that are evident around virtually every road and road junction.

Here's my suggestion for impatient drivers wherever they are.

CARING UNDERTAKERS LOVE CARELESS OVERTAKERS!

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Great writers are relevant to any age >>>>>>

"The Americans are certainly great hero-worshippers, and always take heroes from the criminal classes."

Oscar Wilde (from a letter).

"Washington has too many bronze generals."

Oscar Wilde (in conversation).

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Criminal deceit is out on the street

Along with its partner in crime called conceit.

The far right's in plain sight,

The far left's more discreet.

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Taking a lead from the excellent JC....and with a nod to a famous song from Al Jolson.  Sing along!

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Foot, foot, footsie - I sigh

Foot, foot, footsie, - Oh my!

Even though the virus now forsakes me

Away from you no words can tell how sad it makes m...

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Anyone with an interest in the American Civil War

Who fought where and when, and what for...

Will know of the Massachusetts Fifty Fourth

A regiment that fought and showed its worth.

Strange that BBC online made no mention -

In the circumstances a very curious abstention -

Of the BLM daubing of its famous US memorial!

My thoughts on that are inquisitorial..

Just what was it ...

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Here, in the embrace of England, with its detailed history of "class"

There's a movement abroad intended to make equality come to pass.

But that presumption tends to present two rather pertinent questions:

Equality with whom?  Equality with what?  PLEASE SUBMIT SUGGESTIONS.

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Equality is a hocus-pocus word

Crusades in its name are frankly absurd.

A flight of fancy...a myth...a mystery -

A "never been known" throughout human history.

In reality here's a reasoned reference:

Those who claim it aim for preference.

Better by far for social unity

To strive for equal opportunity!

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As I plough on through my 8th decade it seems to be that the various "isms" that have obtained currency in 

the latter decades of my lifetime are based in nebulous notions, the foremost of which is that of "equality".

I dare anyone to define that single word in any way that is recognisabe, or achievable in life.

It has certainly never been known on any continent, in any country or any cul...

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What to make of the desecration of Churchill's statue?  Perhaps it's best to think that WSC would have merely

jammed his cigar firmly in one corner of his mouth and growled "Let 'em do what they think best. That's the

democracy that I and this country fought to preserve."  

But there is a lingering contemptuous distaste for the ignorance of the fact that without that old man and his

pu...

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The following is a piece of fiction within its context but I wish it had been seen at the time in place of the

inflammatory assumption and supposition.

"A man's suspicious behaviour in Minneapolis led to the required attendance of police to investigate.

The ensuing interaction between the suspect and the officers resulted in the former being held on the

ground under forcible restraint,...

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The other side of the coin that rarely gets any currency in a country that has arbitrary death in its DNA.

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One hundred and thirty one left for work

During the year two oh one nine.

They never returned to kith and kin,

Nor did any retire or resign.

"Killed in the line of duty" remains the log line

Added ...

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 Don't talk to me of "due process"

When I'm marching with the mob;

It messes with my actions 

And how I view my job

Of trashing up the neighbourhood

And plundering the shops,

Making hay as the sunshine sets

On the guilt or innocence of cops.

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Say what you must

And do what you can -

That's my idea

Of an admirable man

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They say "Everything comes to those who wait"

And that includes the farewell breath;

But most would have it hesitate -

That final curtain called death.

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Can you separate love from lust?

Religion would remonstrate: "We must"!

But how better to put both to the test

Than try to work out which is best.

What joy to know they're hand in hand

To lead us to that promised land

That's often sought but seldom found

When sentenced to remain Earth-bound.

Lust has its place to draw us in,

There's much to say for so-called sin;

Then...

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The lines below are a result of an incident just witnessed in the street outside my flat. 

I've just been leaning out of my bathroom window

Taking a breath of much needed air

When a young woman with a dog paused below

Looking on as her mutt did its business there.

I watched, somehow knowing she wasn't prepared

To clean up when the doggy deed was complete

And sure eno...

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When humanity and nature become corrupted

The health of both is interrupted

And hidden forces find a way

To grab their chance to make both pay.

The unlucky are like lambs to slaughter

While the rest seek hope in soap and water.

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