We’re out to party all night long,

Now we are done with Christmas cheer;

We’ll see the old year out with song,

And dance into a bright new year.

So don’t sit there alone and mope;

Come raise a glass and join with me,

And drink to love and health and hope

For all our friends and family.

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Football once more that the pundits discuss;

Those that have once played the ‘beautiful game’,

Talk of ‘professional fouls’ without fuss,

Warily dodging a much darker name.

Knowingly fouling to preclude a score,

Just to avoid any chance of defeat,

Has a description that would fit it more;

Isn’t it rather the act of a cheat?

Consciously choosing to break the game’s...

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Snow falling gently

Balances on evergreens

A thick white carpet

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Christmas is nearly here,

A season of good cheer,

And goodwill to all men

Flows so well from the pen;

But not so from the heart,

Where amity should start,

And in these festive times,

We still pursue the crimes

Of hunger, war and greed,

Though people are in need.

We feather our own nest,

To hell with all the rest

Too much “I’m alright Jack’,

Never gonna look b...

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New Year resolutions,

Like politicians’ promises.

Look-you-in-the-eye sincere,

Spoken with disingenuous intent,

Not worth the paper they’re written on.

Same old paper tigers,

Same old top three;

Lose weight;

Lose booze;

Quit smoking.

Went great on 1st January,

Until I woke up!

After last night’s party, I just can’t start now.

Just one more day!

Just finish...

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Who is this person I see in the mirror?

Not me.

He looks healthy and content.

No hint of the aches and pains

Of continued existence,

The failing hearing and heart

That bring their own doubts and uncertainties.

I say the mirror lies,

But it reflects the exterior shell,

So other people don’t see

What I know to be true.

If there were a true mirror,

It would show th...

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I saw you on the bus today;

You smiled.

I basked in the radiance.

I know you, I thought.

Luxuriant, reddish auburn hair

And laughing eyes.

Searching my memory,

Desparately,

Fruitlessly.

You spoke;

Then I realised where you figured in my past.

It had been five years ago.

When we were two other people.

All we spoke of was the bus route,

Then you had to get o...

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There was once a young lad at the Ritz,

Who admired all the ladies’ outfits;

He gave a big grin

When a blonde walked in

With a dress that displayed ….. rather more of her personality than he expected!

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Cold misty morning

Footsteps clicking through car park

Rapidly muffled

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The ghosts of Christmas past

Are spectres at the feast;

The memories amassed,

But sadly now deceased.

Ghostly Christmas presence,

On whom we reminisce,

Opening the presents

As if nothing’s amiss.

Looking to the future,

And specially our kids,

It’s a daunting picture;

The world is on the skids.

With vicious little wars,

And it’s not hard to spot...

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Love can be cruel

My heart is an open wound

No transplant for me

My loveless soul will wither

Such sorrow can have no bounds

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Across moorland,

Between velvet mountains

On sheep dotted hillside;

Sun bathing heather,

And purple flowers glow

In softening light of evening.

Seated on grass,

Surveying silent valley

As clouds gambol towards sunset.

Memories form and reform in sky,

Pierced by warming rays

As they take shape in my mind,

Shuffling through long passed years.

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December arrives

Talk of Christmas is allowed

But not of Easter!

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The russet leaves are scattered all around,

As urban trees cast off their summer clothes,

And in the pool that fills them on the ground

Reflects the naked limbs that they expose.

They seem to claw up to the cold grey sky,

To drag down icy snow and freezing rain,

As happened during every year gone by,

And winter comes around this year again.

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In waking dream my musing turns,

And calls to times so long ago,

When my nostalgic longing yearns

For long lost youth that haunts me so.

For days and days, we’d stray through hills

Of sand, some distance from our home,

Untroubled by the cares and ills

That plague us now, where’er we roam.

We worked so hard, to say we’d play,

Constructing dens to suit our game;

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Words

Flood out

On my page;

Pentameter,

In flowing trochees;

Such expressive free verse,

Pouring forth profound meaning

In multiple, moving stanzas;

Each perfectly projected syllable

Showing imperious erudition.

As I perform my latest masterpiece

To assembled contemporaries

In a moment of reflection

I wonder quizically

When had I developed

Such delusion...

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Is it me?

Or is it just anarchy?

No Smoking sign at the hospital door,

That the smokers around it seem to ignore.

A ‘No U Turn’ sign at the traffic light;

All the cars make their U Turn, nice and tight.

Is it me?

Or is it just anarchy?

The sign at the roadside says ‘Clean Up Zone’;

We can’t see the ground for litter that’s thrown.

Twin yellow lines say you’d better no...

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I really do not want to see

Those reality shows on TV;

They just make me yawn,

I wish they were gone,

There’s movies I’d much rather see.

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as you pass
my already broken heart
breaks anew

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It will soon be bloody Christmas

It’s just two months away

We’ve only got through Halloween

But almost every day

We get the adverts on TV,

With Christmas goods in shops;

And daily now the bonhomie

Once started, never stops.

I wouldn’t mind if it was close,

But six weeks seems so far;

For Christmas trees and fairy lights,

Topped with a flaming star.

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Sun setting behind sparse, shadowy clouds as workers return home from daily toil. Breath mists chill air ahead of their progress. Birds gather in sweeping, roiling flocks, preparing for departure. Nearly naked trees alongside road claw starkly towards the darkening sky, leaves curling in shades of red and yellow at their feet. Pavement glistens with early evening frost, showing footprints of passi...

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Last night I set out to make curry

But was in a bit of a hurry

I know it sounds silly

To double the chilli

Now there’s somewhere else I must scurry!

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first snowflakes swarming

in eddies of icy wind

naked trees shiver

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(A humble response to Dylan Thomas)

I’ll go as I damn please into the night,

As I become more weary every day;

For raging’s how I’ll face the dying light.

There’s wise men who through life seek wisdom’s light,

But me, I will continue with the fray;

I’ll go as I damn please into the night.

When good men give their best, however trite,

My deeds would have me gu...

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If you really think about it

When you can take enough time

After everything’s said and done

When you      get      down to it

Nobody is ever perfect

I’m just a single man

Who      lives

All alone

Quietly

Mostly

But sometimes I just like to be able to get out of the house and enjoy myself.

And those      times, I often find I gravitate towards nights of             ...

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Just another morning;

The sun rises once again,

Greeting the day as it smoulders above the horizon,

Igniting the wakening day

And shimmering the feathery clouds

With roseate aspiration.

Just another morning;

The sun rises again,

Casually unremarked as we go about the daily routine.

No time to pause and look,

And consider wonders

Of the natural bounty

Arraye...

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Another crack,

But this time the light went out.

All your words, stilled for us,

As we realise we

Have no way to say goodbye;

And as you say hello to Marianne,

We must in turn bid you ‘So long’.

In time, the words will live again,

And we will remember.

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Late night, going home

After an evening of alcohol fuelled frivolity.

My friends wanted to move on,

But I’d had enough.

I’d stumbled to the bus stop

In time for the last bus of the evening.

That’s where I saw her first;

She arrived at the stop,

Just as the bus turned the corner.

Pretty, in a vulnerable sort of way;

Long, shining black hair,

With a complexion that l...

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Streaming from above

Into deep eddying pool

Vibrant cataract

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Spring;

Nature awakening;

Brightly blossoming flowers

Painted, wide rolling meadow;

Returned birds singing,

Lambs gambolling friskily;

Winter retreating.

Sky blue through drizzling rain,

Swelling river

-Flowing-

River swelling,

Rain drizzling through blue sky;

Retreating winter,

Friskily gambolling lambs;

Singing birds returned,

Meadow rolling wide, pai...

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Courting birds in song

New leaves bursting forth in trees

Waking forest floor

Ramble amongst grasping ferns

Soaked with early morning rain

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Icy blast spreads leaves

Stark branches clawing at sky

Warm fireside beckons

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Pale wraith emerges from the cloud,

Takes on her fearsome form,

She stands magnificent and proud,

Hair flails as in a storm.

As piercing eyes perceive my fear,

Her staff it flares and glows;

She stabs me with a steely sneer

That chills down to my toes.

A fell horned beast beside her howls,

Wings flared as though in flight;

With monstrous fangs in scabrous jo...

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In springtime when the forest greens,

And buds dot woodland bed,

I love to view these wondrous scenes

To clear my wintry head;

Where rivers flow among the trees,

And splashes echo on the breeze,

            Where rivers flow,

            Where rivers flow

To bumbling buzz of roving bees.

In springtime when the forest greens,

And life returns to earth,

Once hel...

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Long nights close in as harvest time is done,

When Samhain calls the sidhe to rule the night,

And careful ones the darkening forest shun.

The faerie folk may now come into sight,

And souls of forebears tread familiar trails,

As anxious kinfolk cower home in fright.

The Otherworld doorways this night will fail,

And off’rings to appease must now be made

To keep the ...

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Impulsively she embraces

Each new venture that she faces;

Can’t abide those empty spaces,

Giant paces, giant paces.

He goes through life his nature showing

You can trust him, always knowing

That his world is stable, flowing,

Easy going, easy going.

Got together, now they share

Relationship that is so rare;

Such biding joy to make you stare,

It’s love I sw...

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Misty rain mizzling on light breeze;

feeble yellow glow of sodium lights

struggle to ward off enveloping darkness.

Muffled traffic noise throbs,

forming a faint, rumbling bass

to the smothering symphony of night.

Footsteps clack on damp pavement,

resonating in natural echo chamber

of towering terraced houses.

Dark trenchcoat shrugged further round shoulders,

hunching,...

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A restaurant is what you want

When you go dining out in style;

Specially when you want to flaunt

Your prowess as a oenophile.

A diner’s where you want to go,

When to cook you’re just too lazy;

It’s standard fare but you will know

Prices will not be so crazy.

A café now is just the place

For a welcome cup of coffee;

Perhaps a scone you may embrace,

Maybe y...

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Starlings flock and swirl

Migration’s compulsive call

Fly on freedom’s wings

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He crouched, as if to spring into the air;

A thousand yards he stared across the waves,

While concentrating on the mental search

Across the world to scry the lost enclave.

To find again his broodmates was his dream,

Their disappearance heavy on his heart;

The long, long months he’d searched across the land,

Despairing at the time they’d been apart.

He stretched in...

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In dreams she came, my perfect girl,

To send my feelings all awhirl .

My dreaming eyes with joy would gleam

To see her beauty so supreme

I almost thought my toes would curl.

So when those dreams came to unfurl,

And tenderness my senses twirl,

In passion nightly it would seem

In dreams she came.

No matter were I king or earl,

Nor yet reduced to lowest churl,

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Solitary leaf

Adorns ominous dark tree

First frost approaches

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Lonely pallid streaks

Glimmer through low hazy cloud

Soon departing warmth

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I’ve come to believe that people are strange;

You never quite know what they’re going to do;

And there is one thing that’s not going to change;

The obvious way is not what they do.

They think and act, defying all logic;

You’d think they were stupid, or maybe just mad.

They seem to think things happen by magic.

Thinking about it, it’s really quite sad.

All this str...

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Tall trembling trees

Rustled by whispering wind

A curling leaf falls

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I toss and turn, and wake in fright

With heaving breast and fevered brow;

Recalling from my sleep somehow

My dreams of demons in the night.

For in those dreams doubts soon unroll,

When sanity begins to fail,

And trembling terrors then assail

The deepest reaches of my soul.

Then quaking in my sodden sheets,

And breathing deep to stay my fears,

My fervent pray...

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Wild eyed, crashing midst the spectral trees,

As mournful howl drifts on the breeze;

Gasping as she runs in fright,

Through dark and dread-filled night,

To escape the fear;

Becoming clear;

Stalking near;

Not dreams,

Screams.

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Sharp mouth and elbows

Jockeying for position

Endless race of life

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Fading memory

Frustrates thoughts of yesterday

From misty recall

Faraway days of childhood

Flood perfectly into view

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Leather on willow

Thwok echoes over outfield

Men in white running

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Happen tha knows abaht cricket

And mebbe tha’s heard what we’re told

When Yorkshire’s the top county ticket

Then England are cock o’ the world

Now sitha that just doesn’t jell

Dassent tha think it sounds odd

For if Tykes are playin’ so well

Then half o’ t’ team’s in t’test squad

Why if all t’best lads are gone missin’

And laikin’ for England tha’ knows

Then ...

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I fidget and squirm on the thin mattress

To try to find a more comfortable position;

The rats nest of wires pull awkwardly,

Perilously close to unsticking the patches

From their assigned positions on my chest.

The screen above my head flickers and beeps,

Displaying its investigative hieroglyphics

To any who might be able to understand them.

The band on my arm inflates again...

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The roiling black thunderhead partially obscures the sun,

Hovering over the landscape in melodramatic counterpoint

To the glimmering light of late evening.

I cast frequent glances across the swelling tide

Toward the harbour at the other side of the bay,

Trying to locate the boat that should already have left.

The faint aroma of a turf fire drifts up from the village,

Inspiring...

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Thinking of home I dream of childhood days,

Though thoughts are clouded with the mist of time;

Rose tinted reminiscent backward gaze

Conceals childhoods’ real or imagined crime.

For home recalls the distant days of school,

When daily lessons endlessly conspired

To fill our heads with knowledge as a tool

That aided us however life transpired.

Many went to garner gr...

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I once had a teacher, let’s call her Mrs J.

She taught ‘O’ level French, and really was ok.

I learnt a lot in class, I never thought I would,

But she seemed to have a way to make me think I could.

She once went on a trip, my school had set it up;

I didn’t go myself, it clashed with the world cup.

They went across to France to brush up on their French,

But then t...

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Hiding as though in foreign land

To just ignore me out of hand

I write but to no avail

You return all my mail

Unopened, unread

With nothing said

Feelings dead

As I

Cry

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In the deepening shadows of the early evening,

A dispiriting apathy keeps me from relinquishing

The seat at my desk to switch on a light.

The lack of illumination seems symbolic

Of my own lack of inspiration,

As creative juices appear to have dried up,

And the blank page stares accusingly back at me.

I consider ways to kick start the business of writing.

My chosen topic has...

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(With apologies to the Bard!)

A bee, or not a bee - that was the question

Whether I’m to be nobbled so unkind

By the stings that harrow with outraged attention

Of hornet, bee or wasp

Or take harm from all three redoubled

And then propose to end them.

They’ll fly, and creep no more

As by a sweep of hand they meet their end.

The headache of the thousand that will floc...

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The sky above the beach has turned to grey,

And soaks us with torrential floods of rain.

Then there is a jagged bolt of lightning,

Echoed by a rolling clash of thunder

That stridently stirs in the roiling cloud,

And driven on by icy cold north wind.

I brace myself against the beating wind,

With gaze turned upwards at the steely grey,

Praying for a break in glowering cl...

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I dream of days, of years gone by,

As sitting here I softly cry,

Beset with introspective pain;

Those choices can’t be made again.

Through carefree youth of thoughtless time,

Before I reached my promised prime,

Ignoring counsel, worded plain;

Those choices can’t be made again.

As I approached maturity,

And gradually began to see

Decisions are not preordained...

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Thoughts freely spoken

Expose stream of consciousness

Or mindless drivel

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Driving down life’s highway, forging through the veiling mist,

Looking for the turning that I think I might have missed.

The opening I’m seeking should not be left to chance,

Or the path I’d pursue would be left to happenstance.

The route I would follow had promised of life’s bounty

Designed to deliver benevolence and plenty.

An error of direction takes it out of my own hands;

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As I meander through familiar dunes

That undulate between beach and road,

The light of early sun flashes on undulating waves

In shivering salutation to May morning.

Distinctive, piercing tones of hovering herring gulls

Form a shrill counterpoint to sea’s susurration,

As waves break and retreat over silvered sandy foreshore.

Spiky marram grass sprouts haphazardly through sand ...

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To be your friend is my desire;

And friendship’s bonds we can acquire

That last lifelong, through all our days,

With such a strength to brightly blaze

Though tested by misfortune’s fire.

So to this friendship I’ll aspire,

And set a mind that will not tire

Of finding all the many ways

To be your friend.

And in my turn I will conspire

To gain your friendship a...

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Are you my friend?

Or just someone I chance to know.

Are you my friend?

Who will be with me to the end;

Through thick and thin, through high and low?

Or fade away in time of woe?

Are you my friend?

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Swirling dreams in a pale mist;

Part-remembered shades of a distant past,

Creeping ethereally as wandering wraiths,

Drifting on the edge of consciousness,

Hovering on the threshold of perception.

A memory, or just a fantasy?

Following the tenuous subliminal traces

Of the ectoplasmic emanation

Elicits only faintly fleeting echoes

That reverberate with unresolved recogniti...

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If you desire to aim for something new,

A vision burning as obsessions do;

If you can dream and make that dream come true,

Despite the trials and all the ballyhoo.

The craving that may start within your head,

That you with your ambition’s hopes have fed

With passion such that that fleeting fears and dread

Are banished as your aspirations bred.

Then you can now successfully ...

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How could I ever be so blind

To miss what was so plain to see

If I unlocked my shackled mind

How could I ever be so blind

With open eyes I’d surely find

Such love I thought could never be

How could I ever be so blind

To miss what was so plain to see

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When scorching sun is at its highest height,

To wash the darkling world with starkest light.

When shining stars abound on deepest night,

And vaulted sky is black and brightest white.

Then is the land with vibrant flowers blest bright,

Painting the woodlands as an artist might

With countless colours that with zest invite.

Us to the grassy glades of forest sprite.

Sweet scent...

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Back in the vaunted days of sails,

When ratings served before the mast,

The bosun oft’ would tell the tales

Of voyaging the ocean vast.

The landsmen then would quake in fear

Of seas that dwarfed the mizzen mast;

When sails would shred and spars would shear

With winds that drove them wild and fast.

Or in the doldrums hot and drear,

To hold them while the long da...

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New day dawns over gently rolling sea. Ebbing tide sweeps across glistening shore, eddying and whirling as water retreats beneath rippling waves. Striated sand, scattered with swirling coils of worm-casts, is sparsely strewn with yellowing strands of kelp and wrack. Watery sunlight slowly shortens shadows thrown by looming headland. Far above, smudges of cloud paint shimmering blue sky with wispy ...

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Time travel’s a reality,

We do it every day;

A function of causality,

But only goes one way.

That’s how it always seems to me,

Despite what Einstein said;

I’ll never make the speed of light

To turn time on its head.

So though time’s only linear

And no-one has the knack

Life might be so much happier

If some could travel back

I’d get to whisper in m...

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White clouds high in sky

Drifting in welcome warm breeze

Expose burning sun

I, on the long sandy beach

Approach cooling cobalt sea.
 

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Some nights I lay me down to sleep,

And fail, despite the counted sheep;

For as the waking minutes pass,

My thoughts in turmoil cry, alas.

Though logic says all will be well,

Imagination conjures hell.

And then the waking nightmares churn,

So all the night I toss and turn.

And as the skies begin to bring

The dawn’s light, calling birds to sing,

Slumber finally approac...

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Gentle morning haze

Filters hesitant sunlight

Promised radiance

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A whatchamacallit, know what I mean?

Its name’s right there on the tip of my tongue;

A thingumabob, no nothing obscene,

I had the doohickey when I was young.

A doofus, I see it there in my mind,

It’s really familiar I’m sure you’ll find.

A widget for doing that difficult task;

A hoojamaflip, made just to make it

Perfectly simple, what more could you ask?

The ideal c...

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Life begins;

Like a spring, surging out in the mountains,

Gurgling and squirming through its fragile infancy,

And seeking hither and yon to test its way.

Gathering pace, it forges an uncertain path,

Learning, growing, strengthening.

Steadily it develops,

Becoming more confident in its pursuit of progress,

Amassing the wherewithal to thrive,

And the river of life is born.

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(With apologies to John Masefield!)

Down the rugged coastline where the sea strikes cruelly,

Breaking on the jagged rocks as tide recedes,

And the golden sand lies placidly,

Strewn with stranded jellyfish,

Flotsam, jetsam and long straggling seaweeds.

In the mournful mountains where the mist lies bleakly,

Rolling down the scree slopes where the stray sheep hide;

W...

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Throughout my years of temporality

I had such trust in my vitality

Despite the clear irrationality

Of my great dreams of immortality

So as I wake up to reality

After the cardiac causality

Brought fears of imminent fatality

That then assaulted my mentality

And my delusions of centrality

With recognition’s cold brutality

And I accept the actuality

Of life’s ultimate ...

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Cirrus striations

In clear cerulean sky

Blinding golden beams

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So now we’re out, what will we do?

For I don’t know, and nor do you;

When will it be and who will lead?

And all the while we’ve mouths to feed.

Will money still keep coming in?

Or does the hardship soon begin?

Will we all still keep our jobs,

Or unemployment breed great mobs?

Will borders now become secure,

Or will uncertainty endure?

And what of travel? Can we go

...

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I’m not well, you know.

I’ve had this cough for ages now;

I’ve been to the doctor’s,

And they’ve got no idea.

They say it’s just a virus,

But I know better.

It’s far more serious.

I can’t have a trivial illness;

It wouldn’t do on social media.

And anyway, what do they know,

They’ve probably never seen this before.

They’ll probably have to invent a name for it;

I...

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Don’t buy any green bananas

Half in jest boon companions say;

Passing years advance the creeping doubts

Each time a new or fancied ailment

Tugs unlooked for at the net-curtained edge

Of wary consciousness

Is this reality?

Or is it an illusion?

A windmill to tilt at on Rocinante reincarnate?

A giant of medicalert magnitude

Or just a vacillating virus

That lurks to s...

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I should have done it differently

Had my neck been less stiff

Treated it all less flippantly

And now I’m thinking ‘if’.

My mind was elsewhere when you came

Wandering for a jiff

Daydreaming is all I can blame

And now I’m pondering ‘if’.

If I’d just thought before I spoke

Too caught up in the tiff

I only thought it was a joke

And now I’m left with ‘if’.

...

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Is it the left wing in?

The right wing out?

Or is the Euro hocus pocus

The other way about?

In? Out? In? Out?

What’s it all about

Does anybody really know

I really have my doubts!

We’ll do the Euro hocus pocus

And we’ll turn around

And vote either in or out.

And if we vote ‘in’

All that voted out

Will only point their fingers

And they’ll scream and shout,

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Cold, gloomy clouds of yesterday banished as golden orb slides sluggishly across hazy blue expanse. Scarcely audible drone of traffic masked by desultory calls of lingering birds accompanied by faint counterpoint of rustling shrubbery. Gentle breeze riffles creamy hawthorn blossom, mingling its heavy fragrance with scent of newly mown grass. Errant cuttings drift languidly across green sward, slow...

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Pale hawthorn blossom

Amid slow fluttering green

Approaching solstice

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Float like a butterfly, stung like a bee;

But just what did he mean to you and me?

World heavyweight champ, most likely the best,

Beating all comers, it was no contest.

But his greatest fight was outside the ring;

Stood up for beliefs and what that would bring.

They stripped him of title for a perceived wrong

When he would not fight with the Vietcong.

But when he came back,...

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And what of the children as yet unborn?

Who speaks out for them and will take their part?

As the world watches the hellbound handcart

Spiralling downwards with future stillborn.

When our great great grandfathers walked the land,

It should have been simple to chart a course

Keeping hold of hopes to husband resource,

But now supply is outstripped by demand.

So what ...

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Insanity’s hereditary

You get it from your kids!

You love them but they’d drive you mad

With all the things they did.

Through scary childhood illnesses

And all the hurts and spills

You just hope that you can balance

The terrors with the thrills

When your little prince or princess

Causes all those ructions

You realise that when they came

You got no instruc...

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Reflecting on the passing of a friend,

It’s hard to pass the sorrow of the day.

With all the thoughts that sadness will not end;

No matter how you seek to find a way.

The pulsing pain that pierces like a dart

To stab you and constrain your happiness

In mournful clouds of bitter mental strife;

You strive to strike apart

These shackles so that you can then address,

The joy...

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A rambunctious giant was Finn MacCool

Through Ireland he did roam

And Fort-of-Allen in County Kildare

Was where he called his home.

He built a Causeway ‘cross the Irish Sea

Made out of cobblestones.

Six sides each one had and so neatly laid,

‘Twas like a honeycomb

To Benandonner Finn shouted and yelled,

A hostile giant Scot.

Challenging him outright to come ...

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To be alone and yet content

To live a life with liberty

To keep this freedom by intent

To be alone

To make this choice that friends may see

To be at ease with their consent,

To proffer this autonomy

To truly see I don’t lament.

To spend my time effectively

To relish every moment sent

To be alone.

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Warm yellow flickers

Through freshly budding branches

Rain glistens brightly

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I’ve signed up for on-line dating,

Now I’m sitting here and waiting,

And it’s truly quite frustrating;

I thought it would be elating,

But it’s not.

I wrote a profile summary

Without committing perjury;

Tried not to make it flowery,

But is it now too cursory?

Hope it’s not.

Maybe I should add a photo,

Taking extra care to veto

Those that make me look fr...

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Do not regret the choices you have made

In musing on the pages of your past;

Rejoice before your memories can fade.

It’s pointless thinking chances thus portrayed

Could ever pan out as your hopes forecast;

Do not regret the choices you have made.

The grass is always greener, so it’s said;

But wishful dreams can wilt and wither fast.

Rejoice before your memories ca...

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I’m stalking through the forest

On fresh deer spoor

As evening steals in.

The birds fall silent.

A sudden frisson chills my neck.

I look round uneasily.

Who is the predator here?

Is it me?

Or…….

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I.

Me.

That’s who.

I did it.

It’s what they all said

When they were assigning the blame.

All I tried to do was write lines with progressive length,

But ultimately I ran out of space to fit in all the words I need on one line;

And then it had to spill over, and I began to realise that it was frankly pointless to continue so I decided to stop.

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Do I my sweetheart’s face perceive

Her dazzling eyes can I believe

And there sweet lips I can conceive

Or is it but a cloud?

Nay, there I’m sure her glowing cheeks

Those tiny ears my fancy piques

Through tousled hair I’m sure she peeks

It’s surely not a cloud?

What magic shows her to me now

So pert her nose, so cute somehow

From dimpled chin to silky brow

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I thought I knew you oh so well;

A kindred soul to meld with mine.

Your hand in mine so pure and right,

And lips so soft against my own,

When time itself would seem to pause

In moments of such wondrous joy.

Your words named my unspoken thoughts

Before my mind could give them voice;

And thus within my deepest core

I really thought I knew you well.

Then little things be...

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