Moments of sublime

I went walking on a hilltop
though I wasn’t really there
And then I was beside the sea
with toes in water bare

I went climbing on a mountain
though it was I think a dream
As really I was looking back
at places I had been

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Basil

Sir Basil Fawlty lived a life
as full as life can be
For almost eighteen years
he was within our family

A little border terrier cross
he was peace personified
Hardly ever growling
until the day he died

Breathe

I saw the end of the tunnel
It shouted my name
So I ran to the light
and found freedom again

And breathing in deep
that heavenly air
I shouted out loud
and laughed without care

Christmas passed

I sit at the side of an aging Christmas tree,
its lights still glittering, the ornaments of memory
and seasonal delight put away since yesterday.

The dance, the drum

Sometimes when no one is watching
I will dance around my name
with a loud drum always banging
which never sound the same
Yes, it’s always rhythmic
but the pattern’s one of change
Its signature and syntax
quite often rearranged

Water rings spreading

Water rings spreading
wider they grow
at the fall of a pebble
after a throw

Cough

And yet again in these small hours
When head to pillow ends in fail
My pen to paper finds the words
In four short lines to tell the tale

Of poets and words III

Part 3 of 3

And then to read
I’ll surely see
the lines new formed
to poetry
Familial
they are a part
of poet and
his written art

Of poets and words II

Part 2 of 3

Known are these
now to the pen
scratching out
I know not when
Yet they will find
me and combine
as if to prose,
a concubine

Of poets and words

Part 1 of 3

Pen to paper
virgin sheen
words I’ve found
have never been
Coupled closely
with another
Family as if
to brother

Last day of the hols

And here I have just one more day
to spend and use in my own way
I’ll lie in for a little then
write some words with my new pen
over coffee with some toast
and Marmite maybe (make the most)

Our new Alexa, music plays
on this the last of holidays
A playlist of my favourite songs
to which I’ll dance and sing along
Then maybe I will play a game
Red Dead Redemption 2, the same

Surety

I was not mistaken
The light it was there
As the brightness envelops
me here in its glare

That promise of hope
which each new year brings
Echos crescendo
as unison sings

Promise IV

With one foot in yellow
the other in white
My pace takes me forward
with promise in sight

At present the mist
O’er floodplains obscures
But behind it the light
like a bright beacon lures

White

In white there’s essence of the new
January starts the year afresh
As we from hibernation
awaken from our winter rest

Asthma II

Sleepy yet sleepless
the small hours remain
with breathing a struggle
the energy drain
This winter resurgence
This cross that I bare
I’d gladly relinquish
if it wasn’t there

January

No.5 of 12 in the Jemverse ’12 months II’ series

Galanthus greets this New Year’s day
Snowdrop heads due reverence show
and as a new sun rises
sleep heads all come to know
That here is opportunity
A promise waiting in the wings
heralding the new, a first
Tugging at those old heartstrings

a plain heaven

A version of heaven –
through vertical blinds

…with a festive smile

I found a moment over Christmas
Penguin Cafe in the air
In the oven, turkey roasting
whilst I was sitting there

My pen, it found the paper
and words came, as they do
from time to time as inspiration
a poem to eschew

A walk on the beach

It’s the day before Christmas
so a walk on the beach
seems like a plan
as it’s in easy reach

And tradition would have it
that on this day every year
All Crouchers together
go walking with cheer

Christmas secret

I’m working on a secret
for the Christmas holiday
Industrious with envelopes
in a mysterious way

No-one knows the secret
It’s safe up in my head
and lips are sealed as rumour
like a Chinese whisper spreads

Solstice

Today it is the shortest day
Midwinter, that’s a fact
Followed by the longest night
Solstice to be exact

Taking a break

Mid-December is here
We’re winding down fast
Christmas it seems
it with us at last
Just a few days to go
and all of them manic
as colleagues and projects
go into a panic
But the end of the week
slows down quite a bit
so everyone here
can get used to it

Twenty Nineteen

I have confidence that
now the year end is here
That twenty eighteen
will end with good cheer
For it’s swiftly flown past
and been full to the brim
with all of the memories
contained here within

When thoughts lie in summer

In this dark of December
to this iron bone
when daylight is seldom
and sunshine has flown
And winter, vice-like
has me firm in its hold
bombarding my senses
with fingers of cold
My thoughts lie in summer
when June in the light
paints warmth over all
that it has in its sight

When the poetry is done

I’ll wrap these words around me
like a comfort blanket they
Calming me and warming
in a very special way

I’ll take these words and scatter
like confetti to the breeze
to celebrate the marriage
of a verse to rhymes like these

Of seagulls and seasons

Throughout the year the seagulls
as seasons come and go
are always out there for me
be it sunshine, rain or snow

In the winter and the autumn
In the Springtime when it’s green
In the summer when it’s nice and warm
There are seagulls I’ll have seen

Of seagulls and the drive to work

Each morning on the way to work
we drive beside the sea
Watching seagulls on the wing
my soulmate, Sal and me

It really is magnificent
to see this day by day
and we’d not swap it for a thing
as we love it just this way

Of seagulls and home

Although it is still dark outside
Above, the seagulls’ high
Tells me that the day is here
with that familiar cry

I’ve heard that sound ‘most of my days
E’er since I was a lad
It speaks to me of oceans
and by it I am glad