Gone from our lives, forever
Though we chose the time in the end
Cancer riddled, but still loving
A kindness we hope, old brown friend
Pink liquid death in the vet’s syringe
She went quickly, on Mum’s warm knee
Was it right? We could only hope
To save her from pain and misery
Goodnight good soul in the fresh dug hole
Be at peace, in the garden you loved.
Was it something we did
Was Karma involved
The answer is hid
The questions not solved.
The pleasure of knowing each new morn
Two friends await us with the dawn
They show their needs in unique ways
Though constant as the passing days
One grey, one brown, they wait their food
But differently they show their mood
The brown one ready beside the door
Crying for a meal from the kitchen floor
The grey one stretches away her aches
Before she saunters and partakes
In new chosen packet meat
Both will have as a breakfast treat
The brown one gobbles her food whole
Then eagerly eyes the other’s bowl
With steady nerve she waits close by
To see what morsels still will lie
When the grey one deigns to move
With a backward glance to disapprove
As her runt sister, still thin as a rake
Steals grey’s left overs in her wake
But grey doesn’t have need to fight
She knows that hunger pangs will never bite
More food will come again quite soon
Brownie’s cry for more won’t wait ‘til noon!
None know for sure what’s round the bend
As warily life’s paths we wend
If future’s shape you really seek
Your parents and siblings can lend a peek.
I blame the schools for letting us down
Didn’t learn us right in this crummy town
Just bin sent home early for being a lout
But me mam’ll go up to sort them out
Me dad says discipline’s well gone to pot
In his day teachers earned the respect they got
When he got the cane for acting the fool
His dad added a clout, supporting the school
They reckon my teachers could have tried a lot more
To make me sit still in wonder and awe
But they can’t compare to a console game
Their boring book-learning all seems so tame
Me dad doesn’t work and me mam’s just the same
Getting money from Social is their only real aim
But this government’s tight giving its cash away
Surely they can afford a better day’s pay
Our satellite dish is ready for the bin
Can’t upgrade my mobile on what’s coming in
Why shouldn’t we get what others have got
If we came from abroad we’d be given the lot
I’m off down the pub to meet with me mates
Then hook up with Tatum round the park gates
She’ll beg for a cuddle and I’ll sure give her one
The damage is done, she’s three months gone
We’ve talked to the council about a new flat
But the girl in the office is really a prat
She says we must wait or save for some rent
If she had her way, we’d sleep in a tent
We’ll move in with Mam, if all else fails
But she moans like hell, says I’ve gone off the rails
It’s not my fault we can’t make our own way
I blame the system, at the end of the day.
Family loyalty is something that could
Stifle your views, for some greater good
As biased opinions, you need reflect
To show some deference and respect
Our dearest siblings are often the worse
Their forthright views, they gaily rehearse
They’ll tell you straight, because they know best
With ultimate wisdom, they think they are blessed
Of our studied thoughts, they seldom care
And if we can think, they don’t seem aware
But their strong beliefs, we must endure
Just accept their prejudices and politely concur
The broader family can be quite as bad
Aunts, cousins and nephews, driving us mad
They feel that alone they have worked out some truth
And how could we possibly have any disproof
They haughtily assume that the timid relation
Is there to fulfil a particular station
A sounding board merely to nod and repeat
Whilst sitting and learning at the oracle’s feet
Maybe the meek shall inherit the earth
But must we allow fate’s trick of birth
To dictate what we think for fear of offence
Within any family with some common sense.
Below, beguiled, her eyes smile
Innocently, sounds escape her lips
Melodic laughter glides up the stairs
Taunting my melancholy
Saying, ‘Come, soar with me’.
Our children, careless, scarce believe
Both parent’s will did them conceive
Each issue’s vista from first breath
Oft egocentric until death
What can they know of parents’ stories
As bravely forsaking social mores
We too railed ‘gainst the status quo
Lending ears to ideas to help them grow
Eyes that witnessed joy and pain
Hearts moved by emotions once arcane
Lips caressed by loved one’s kisses
Memories; poignant reminisces
Young see us aged by endless days
Of striving and caring in myriad ways
now dull, shame-wearied and resigned
seeking only security and peace of mind
Feint shadows linger o’er spent youth
Pleading we weren’t always long in tooth
A footprint left on shifting sand
Few words bequeathed to understand
Late lithe bodies, locked in sepia prints
Ravaged by aches; showing other hints
That time must come when, cold as stone
We’ll leave our progeny all alone
Listening for echoes on the breeze
Distant reflections, stirring unease
Looking to new born, if fate has deemed
Now knowing we were more than once we seemed.
One each of countless seeds and a thousand eggs
blindly, in silent, deliberate serendipity
forging mind and body to a particular, though unknown patent
using eon-aged star stuff
bequeathed by the cosmos
to form a life.
Happiness and fulfilment
Two precious, coveted goals
Promising contentment
But reached by tortuous paths
That cross only fleetingly
in the hearts and minds of men.
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