Leaving Blighty

It’s getting quite exciting
watching big planes come and go
Sitting in Departures
and going with the flow
It’s quite warm here but warmer still
in Corfu where we’ll be
Waiting for our flight to board
My wife here (Sal) and me

Helios presides

In cool blue water
Sailing into Grecian sun
Helios presides

Dahlias

Yellow, bright and lovely
Three words, though there are more
To capture what the Dahlia
each summer has in store

Twelve months eight

This poem starts a series
that will run through the year
A new one when the first
of every month is drawing near
And August starts it off
as it seemed the thing to do
No better place than summer
to begin a series, new

Sunflower

Sun by name and sun by nature
yellow petals show
Sunflower turns its pretty head
to every sunshine glow

Sunshine and smiles

To a far flung horizon
beneath a blue sky
Far away in the distance
where warmer climes lie

From a beach on an island
where one day to another
You can never be sure
if it’s winter or summer

That lavender time again II

It’s really quite strange
but this time last year
I picked all my lavender
and posted right here
On this very same day
In the mid-July sun
when the first set of flowers
were ready and done

One of those days

It’s been one of those days
when the lingering heat
makes everyone glisten
from heads to their feet
And there’s nothing to do
when the weather’s like this
Though I know that for many
it borders on bliss

Counting the days II

I’m not past my prime
yet sometimes I feel
it takes longer these days
to recover and heal

And I know that the sun
should help me feel well
But sometimes it seems
very much the hard sell

So I think what I need
is a break well away
A bit of a rest and
a nice holiday

A ray of sun captured

I captured the sunset
at the beach hut today
Late in the evening
with a golden display

Morning and a paddle

Went boating of a morning
Early birds out with the sun
When everything was quiet
And the day had just begun

The water was idyllic
With just a gentle swell
And the temperature was lovely
As by the picture you can tell

Abundance

There’s an abundance in my border
and it’s shouting loud at me
It’s telling me of summer
and it’s wonderful to see

It has orange there and yellow
reflective of the sun
And it greets me every morning
as each new day’s begun

Yellow Three

Seven colours, seven days
Yellow’s here today
The third one in the rainbow
and my favourite, I’d say

Greenhouse

I have a little greenhouse
in a lovely sunny spot
It’s covered in green plastic
and inside it’s pretty hot

At present I am growing
several things from seed
Some courgettes and some lettuce
and some parsnips that we need

Sumptuous

They inspire in me a wholesomeness
as a new day is begun
Summer flowers in full array
awakened by the sun

Our little garden

I love our little garden
and the space we have out here
It’s lovely in the summer
and at other times of year
And yes, it’s on the small side
but that’s the way it is
So we’re not that bothered by it
as there’s nothing here remiss

The fly-past

Gulls above the Metropole
a fly-past just for me
Here in Brighton in the sun
next to the deep blue sea

Slip Slide Away

Yesterday saw the Solstice
and the summer’s longest day
Midyear passes once again
as time slip slides away

Beach Hut (aka ‘Our happy place too’)

Took a trip to the beach hut
It’s looking quite good
If you don’t look too close
at the oft patched up wood
The locks opened fine
with some lubricant there
and it doesn’t look like
it needs much repair

Tie-dye in the sunshine

Yesterday in the sunshine
On my day of birth I saw
Some flowers in the garden
Which deserve (at least) encore

Birthday (aka ‘Born to the sun’)

I’ve seen fifty-eight summers
and have loved every one
For back in the fifties
I was born to the sun

Allotment IV (aka ‘A certain pleasure’)

There is a certain pleasure
at the end of a long day
to pop to the allotment
and have a little play

I might do some watering
or strim the grass a bit
or do a little weeding
or in the sunshine, sit

Joie de vivre II

Don’t let me sit inside
when there is sunshine to enjoy
Fill me with the wonder
that is out there to deploy
Give me the enthusiasm
to be out there on a whim
just lapping up the atmosphere
with an expectant grin

Wild Rose

By a first morning light
in the sunshine out here
I took a walk in the woods
whilst the skies were still clear
and there in the hedgerow
where late hawthorn grows
I found the delicate pink
of a lovely wild rose

Into the sun

I’m heading east to Essex
It’s very wet out there
There are raindrops on the window
But I don’t at present care
For I am warm and dry
On a quiet commuter train
On my way to Southend Central
Quite protected from the rain

Allotment III

It’s June and the allotment
is looking like you wouldn’t believe
Far more than I think we hoped for
and more than we could conceive

Little Lavenders

We bought some little lavenders
they arrived once in the post
Came as little seedling plugs
in compost, playing host
At first they were quite tiny
but we put them in the sun
And even though they’re still quite small
I think the time has come

Dandelions & Daisies

Have you noticed with the dandelions
that when the sun comes out
So do their yellow flowers
as it’s what they are about
It’s just the same with daisies
(and yes, I know that both are weeds)
But both reflect the sunshine
and that’s often what I need