Category Archives: Uncategorized

Out In The Mid-Day Sun

Some were there after WW2

Austerity was nothing new

Great Britain proud, but so weak

Hadn’t turned the other cheek

For more than one tough decade

Independence; much overplayed

Struggling both, at home and abroad

Separatism, seriously flawed

Political and economic grip

Lay in a hard-won partnership

‘Sick man of Europe’ would be no more

The UK climbed back off the floor

But was the final cost too great

For some in these islands state?

Ill-considered; this last ‘one man stand’

Sad cherished, misguided; my homeland

Where statesmen in our hour of need?

With sager counsel the mass to lead

A decrepit Mini; no shiny Rolls Royce

This ‘deal’ cannot be anyone’s choice

A Tight Ship

The bell is polished every day

Messes cleaned up straight away

Bridge to nowhere spick and span

Uniforms spotless to a man

 

Deck crew mustered on parade

Anchor hosed as it is weighed

Sails unfurled to catch the tide

Captain surveys the boat with pride

 

All is ship shape; Bristol-fashion

Grog divided; each man’s ration

Fair wind blows for foreign shores

Heading set for the Azores.

Ship Wreck

Wretched wooden worm-ridden wreck

Near buried in the sand

Haggard haunted holey deck

Storm driven onto land

 

Tempest torn timber hull

Shattered and salt sodden

Rusty railings rattling full

Crew lost and long forgotten

 

Anchors away for an alien shore

The call went out to the brave

Now silenced sea shanties roar

Drowned by every crashing wave

 

None returned to give the reasons

Why that shipwreck happened then

Lives lost and not lamented

For dragooned and press-ganged men

What Have The English Done For US?

In DC for the July holiday

It was abundantly clear

England hadn’t been fair to them

1776 was the decisive year

 

Helped by French Navy ships

A bloody war was won.

Subjects turned into citizens

And told the British ‘be gone!’

 

Nowadays their young are taught early

America is the best.

With a democratic process

Held as a cut above the rest

 

But it isn’t yet Utopia

With the gun crime, prejudice and drugs.

Equality, poverty and healthcare

Are issues that still have bugs

 

The Declaration of Independence

Set its sights appropriately high

In England the Magna Carta

Gave rights five centuries before the 4th of July

 

Of Gods And Us

I can will a stone to move;

A blade of grass to dance

Without a wind behind my back

Or elementary chance

 

The clouds will part at my command

Or lightning strike the ground

All this and more with divine ease

And ne’er a mortal sound

 

I laugh as eons fly in a blink

And mountains crumble fast

But sure as stars blink out in turn

My joy can never last

 

For happier is the one who can

Gainsay a soul’s desire

Or better, fleeting spirits lift;

And set a heart on fire

 

Together

Two opt to share a common route

Along a path in time

What’s been has gone, but what’s to be

They’ll both face on that line.

 

Ups and downs, smiles and frowns

Challenges along the way

Whatever lies  around the bend

Combined, they’ll seize the day.