Lighty-up-Llama

Last year I got a llama
for my birthday just for fun
it lights up of an evening
powered daily by the sun
And then glows different colours
as the evening takes a hold
from red to green to purple
and blue to yellow gold
At the bottom of our garden
it makes for cheery sight
as along with many others
it glows throughout the night

Cloud to sea

Ethereal with whimsy
it hung up in the sky
as we arrived at sunset
and really caught our eye
Across the English Channel
the white caps smaller now
as with the calm of evening
the wind had dropped somehow
Almost a mirror image
from sky to blustered sea
it caught imagination
as we wandered there, us three

41

The suit I’d purchased for twenty-five quid
all I could afford at the time
just after my twentieth birthday
my life waiting there on the line

The tie was one of my fathers’
as were the shoes on my feet
His passing was five years too early
to see his son’s wedding complete

Now forty-one years have surrendered
themselves to the life we have led
since that day way back in seventy-nine
when Sally and Jeremy wed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

First Lavender III

We’ve not been to our allotment
Covid-19’s seen to that
But Emily our daughter
has been keeping it intact
We’re seeing lots of pictures
which she takes from time to time
and I’m pleased to say as ever
that it’s looking mighty fine

Tanaga week VII (Saturday)

7 of 7

Culmination here today
Not much more for me to say
Done Tanaga every way
Absolutely come what may

©Jemverse

Tanaga week VI (Friday)

6 of 7

So the end is in my sight
Waiting here as well you might
Questions that are not contrite
All within the readers’ right

©Jemverse

Tanaga week V (Thursday)

5 of 7

Finding rhyme sometimes is hard
Even though a seasoned bard
Often crossed and often starred
Words they come and none are marred

©Jemverse

Tanaga week IV (Wednesday)

4 of 7

Midweek reaches us today
Bringing us here to Wednesday
With tanaga for a play
Which we’d have here anyway

©Jemverse

Tanaga week III (Tuesday)

3 of 7

Simple every day for me
Always voluntarily
Portrayed very happily
In this form so fancy free

©Jemverse

Tanaga week II (Monday)

2 of 7

Each line ends here with a rhyme
Same at end of every line
Four with rhythm each in time
Bringing verse that is sublime

©Jemverse

Tanaga week I (Sunday)

1 of 7

Japanese departure to
Filipino verse for you
Seven syllables as a clue
Starting now this series new

©Jemverse

Meadowglow

In the meadow there are flowers
but in the grasses growing tall
the vibrant red of poppies crown
and out-manoeuvre all

The daylight fades as sunset comes
and glowing through the trees
the wonder of this moment
brings me falling to my knees

Happy Place

I’ve found again my happy place
I’ve been away too long
but pleased that I was back again
my heart was filled with song
and beaming as I found my gait
with rhythm in my stride
I laughed and grinned with pleasure there
in Sussex countryside

Nestled

Nestled underneath the Downs
beside the deep blue sea
Shoreham town lies quietly there
serene and peacefully

Approaching from the Sussex hills
this view it caught my eye
and thankful that I live down there
I ambled slowly by

Houndie House

Found a field at Horsebridge
out near Ashurst way
for an hour of pure freedom
on an evening of a day
Three acres all protected
by a rabbit fence all round
with trees and luscious grass of green
upon the chalky ground

Everything to me

Looking through to Shoreham
‘cross the river from the beach
reminds me of the fortune
I have here in easy reach
Equidistant from the downs
to the beauty of the sea
this little town where here I live
is everything to me

Big II

The driftwood on the beach tonight
was big and long and tall
and though I would’ve if I could’ve
I can only take stuff small
But I still took several pictures
at marvelled at the fact
that it was wedged there in the rocks
placed by the sea intact

Best Ever

I found a hagstone on the beach
it was the best I’ve found
amongst the other pebbles there
just waiting on the ground

It’s flat and Barbara Hepworth-like
a tactile thing to touch
and it will now take pride of place
amongst those I love so much

Supermoon rising

On the beach just last evening
with Obi and Sal
we walked on the shingle and saw
with a glow in the east
a visual feast
as a supermoon rose for encore