A stone’s throw

A stone’s throw from the hillside
and a stone’s throw from the beach
Gosh! I am a lucky fellow
to have this in easy reach

And what’s more I have a river
from the sea into the hills
so if I tire of either
I have that to bring the thrills

First XI

11 of 12 in the Jemverse ’12 months III’ series

We’re half way through the summer
but I hope it won’t go soon
as now it is first of July
and fades the month of June
The sun at least has been a friend
for weeks now it appears
helping to dispel the dread
that grows from Covid’s fears

So I really hope the summer
stays with us for a good while
as it warms the cockles of our hearts
and certainly brings a smile
And yes the social distancing
on the beaches is a thing
but who can really blame them
when the sunshine has a fling

Hot III

I thought I’d write a poem
but my pen was really hot
I’d left it out in sunshine
so the poem it was not
At least for just a while
til the pen it had cooled down
then I could write the words
on this page without a frown

Atoms

Is matter
What matters?

or

Is what matters
More than matter?

Oh, Child

Dear child, do not ask me why(?)

this, I can not explain,

why hate haunts every corner

and a president fuels the flame

but this, this I do know

the hate must clearly go:

Hug me before nightfalls…O’Prunty 6/2020

Virtual hugs

What I wouldn’t give
for an actual real-life hug
but that’s not to be so when
we meet we smile and shrug
throw wide our arms as always
for a virtual one that’s best
under these cruel circumstances
Covid’s given us to test

What She Loved…

~ What She Loved

Was the purity in the lily

Graceful petals

Reaching heaven bound

As porcelain arms in praise

And the twisting winding roses

Traveling the trellis

Scaling the distance

Between roo

t and also heaven bound

Permeating her world,

Her waters seeping sensual oils

Then the wildness of the tiger lily

Growing wild and free

Surviving without tending

The tender touch

of the gardeners hands

Not required,

still exotic the pulsating petals

And the bleeding hearts

Delicate, dainty

drops of colors fused

And the reality represented in the name;

All hearts bleed,

broken by love lacking

Neglected,

fragile petals drop as tears falling

What she loved was beauty

Beauty, in all forms, fashions

And on bended knee

She, the gardener

Singing her songs of praise

In her own garden of delights

.O’Prunty ©6/28/15***Mother loved symbolism.

My Field

I have a field I go to
every Friday night
It’s mine to run around in
and there’s no-one else in sight
I’m also fairly certain
that no other dogs go there
I’ve certainly never seen one
and I don’t think they would dare

This Glorious Passage

Photo by Roger Levien

My past is as implausible as
the tale of a frail
butterfly that flies from Mexico to Canada.
Why? How? To what purpose?

Here and now, I’m between
million-year-old mountains
and the damp, salty shores of
one of an ocean’s quiet, protected bays—
where the fish and the plants and the chemistry,
change day by day, but where the whole is eternal,
where a thousand centuries is as a day.

An ocean and mountains
show us who we really are,
Mere children pretending to be
some heroic captain,
braced on a stormy quarter deck
defying the gale,
the rocks too close.
But the ocean knows it
has swallowed many like us before,
and will take many more.

Bliss IV

It was really quite hot
but the colour right there
showed me one thing
that the sun had a care
For it with the rain
when that comes gives us this
a garden that’s lovely
for joy and for bliss

Kites

The sea is full of surfers
they’re dancing in the air
catapulting off the waves
that pound the beach down there

A rainbow full of colours
skimming ‘cross the sea
kite-surfers in their element
applauded here by me

Here

The green, the breeze
the sky, the sea
here on the beach
and then there’s me
Grinning wide and
laughing loud
as living here
it does me proud

In the 11th Year of the War

The Oracle of Delphi didn’t predict it’s own ruin.

And the 11th spring of the war has stumbled into summer.
The rains fall as normal. The birds seem oblivious to us.
And look! There goes a pretty young woman
with sandals and legs and curly hair.
I want to call out, say hey,
my heart, I have the wine and cheese,
let’s remind ourselves how precious
is this brief life.
But I don’t.

Disease and insanity stalk the streets.
I thought my old age would be different.
I thought my people were better than they are.
The line between good and evil runs
Through the center of the human heart.

Sometimes it twists in one direction,
sometimes the other. The same person
is capable of great evil and great good,
but who would cut their own heart in half
to root out the evil?

A Science and Conscience Limerick

The world has been through times like this before and mankind has survived. That said, I am a baby boomer who could have never imagined what is happening in the world today.

Back to the beach hut

Got back to the beach hut
it’s been quite a while
so it’s good to be back
at the place with a smile
The wind was quite blowy
but the sunshine was out
and because of the wind
there was no-one about

The Broken In Me

I’ll comfort you.

when times get rough

you’ve had enough

& no longer feel tough

just feel like giving up

I’ll comfort you.

when tears of despair fall

I will catch them all

toss them to the rain

wash away the pain.

then you’ll come to realize

this, this, is where love resides.

O’Prunty 6/32/2020

Leisure days

Sometimes you need leisure days
when slowing down is good
Cathartic, they restore the soul
so you really know you should
I had one of those yesterday
as the forecast was for rain
and some things they needed doing
and they wouldn’t wait again

Drum

The up and down of beating drums are heard across the lake
As falsehood twists the message and the drummers take no break.
The solid door, self-righteousness, defends. It’s locked to win.
Convinced that truth rests safe inside is where truth can’t get in.

 

The piggies on the hill

The free range pigs
up on the hill
honk a bit
as pigs they will
Yet strangely
in a little bit
you’ll find that
you are used to it
Just as well
as past first stile
their habitat
goes on for miles

Dawning

light came dancing through the trees

on twigs, branches, vibrant leaves

as day dawned delightfully:

just me, my garden,

and loose-leaf tea…O’Prunty 6/21/2020

A “The President Didn’t Hire Well” Limerick

The information presented in the body of this post which led to the limerick was found on Wikipedia and is documented by the website.

Poem for Summer Solstice

I sought the perfect poem

for this longest day

It was a Goldilocks affair-

this poem too flowery

this poem- what does this one have to do

with Summer Solstice?

None were right

I cannot wear the words of these authors

comfortably

So I must write my own poem

of what the Summer Solstice means to me

With best foot forward

With best foot forward
I take to the hills
following each chalky trail
It’s different each time
and abundantly fine
bring joy every time without fail

Talking To Myself

After hearing this question way too many times,
I guess a formal answer is due.
Since the voices you’re hearing are not in my head,
You’re wondering, “Who are you talking to?”

The longest day

The longest day
the Solstice here
June twentieth
at the mid year
The sunshine stays
as well it might
and with us til
it is twilight
So celebrate
the Solstice day
with dance and song
as well you may
Mid-summer daylight
Green Man shout
tells one and all
the sunshine’s out

Affirmation

Spent the day with family and Wolf
out in the bright summer sun
with social distancing observed as you do
for good conversation and fun

It almost felt normal and was for one thing
as we couldn’t get close for a hug
but even for that we’ve developed a thing
which we smile as we do with a shrug

Born to the sun IV

Past sixty-one summers
I was born to the sun
a new Thursday’s child
to the world then had come
At the end of the fifties
the Rock n Roll years
a little boy blue
as the sixties they neared

Adaptation

Adaptation is a precious thing
as it proves that we are able
to make the very best of things
when cards are on the table
I speak of course of Covid
and the lockdown and the change
it’s brought worldwide to all of us
as we all re-arrange
There’s been loss and there’s been sadness
as the pandemic’s taken hold
taking toll from everyone
from young to very old