Tick Tock
Waiting
Tick Tock
The seconds fly by
Tick Tock
An hour passes
Then a day
Tick Tock
A year speeds by
Then ten
Tick Tock
I look over my shoulder
A lifetime has slipped quietly away
Tick
Tick Tock
Waiting
Tick Tock
The seconds fly by
Tick Tock
An hour passes
Then a day
Tick Tock
A year speeds by
Then ten
Tick Tock
I look over my shoulder
A lifetime has slipped quietly away
Tick
Just a beach
On an autumnal evening
The sun was low on the horizon
Its reflection lit in the still water
It was warm, I remember that
Yet the beach was empty
Maybe people had better things to do
There was a tree trunk
It had been there for years
Polished by the elements
Every beach has a tree trunk
But there is only ever one!
They always lie parallel to the shoreline
I think God puts them there
Maybe for passing strangers
Maybe for people to reflect
A sort of church on the beach
Maybe they give answers
I have noticed that you never see two people sitting on them
Only lonesome souls sit on God’s seats
And they gaze at the sea
Or maybe they gaze but look beyond the sea
Or below
Lost in thought
Reflecting
Looking for answers
I never sat on them
I had always sat in the sand and leant against them
Maybe I never got the right answer
Because of that
But that evening I was a lonesome soul
So I sat on God’s seat
I took off my socks and shoes
Wriggled my toes into the sand
Watched the tide
Time and tide
I had them both
The tide would run for ever
But my time was swiftly passing by
It’s right what they say
(Who are ‘they’ anyway?)
(And why do ‘we’ listen to them?)
The older you get
The quicker time passes
I dug my toes in deeper, trying to slow things down
It might have worked
But I had forgotten to check my watch
9/11All those years ago?
Surely not
Lady Diane1997?
Can’t be
I remember I was……..?
MaybeIf time is passing so quickly
I should dig my toes in even deeper
Time
Such a limited commodity
I sat on God’s seat and thought
Do I still have dreams?
Or are they all dreamt?
Do I still have hopes?
Or am I hopeless?
And what of you?
Do you still hold onto dreams?
Does your heart still have desires?
Do you hope against hope?
Have you the time you need?
Do you need to make things happen while they still can?
Do you need to dig your toes in the sand?
Tell me your hopes and dreams
I will help you carry them
Mine seem so simple
And yet
I don’t seem able to make them happen
Maybe it’s because I lean on God’s seat
Instead of sitting on it
The sun is going down now
It’s refection, a pale image
Watery
Do you see what I mean?
Another day has gone
What happened to today’s dream?
And what happened to this morning’s hopes?
Maybe tomorrow.
The rivers of thread that run through my heart
Are now loose and entangled, falling apart
The bonds and the bindings, that kept me secure
Are torn free from safety, to leave me unsure
The warm and security, I felt in your smile
Has dropped into shadow and left me the while
And the rivers that run, adrift without thread
Have broke free from my heart, to run through my head
And the rivers are flooding, drowning my mind
And when the waters subside, I’ll dread what I find.
From who knows who
And from who knows where
These words will tumble
These thoughts will dare
In golden thread
And silver twine
To wrap your heart
To be with mine
One more day
Another chance
A gentle song
And one more dance
From who knows who
From who knows where
Hold out your hand
If you would dare.
As I stood, in the mists, of the workhouse
And watched little Mary Ann Bell
Her crime, that she was an orphan
Her punishment, to live in this hell
At seven years old, she was tiny
Malnourished and always so ill
But she sought and was given no pity
And her grace shone out from her still
She had beautiful eyes, did Mary Ann Bell
And a smile that could light up a room
But she shed many tears in the workhouse
She had learned how to cry in the womb
Her meals were served on the bare floor
And the work was savage and cruel
She was dirty, unkempt and bewildered
As she sucked at a bowl of cold gruel
In the nights, were the horrors of warders
Their hands and the rancid black breath
And forlorn and alone was Mary Ann Bell
Who’s only escape would be death
And death did come young, for Mary Ann Bell
She never lived to be eight
Seven long years in the workhouse
Were her epitaph and was her fate
She lies in the soil, somewhere out there
Snowdrops, are her only headstone
She died as she lived, did Mary Ann Bell
Frightened, abused and alone.
It’s pointless trying to give the kiss of life, to a horse that has been flogged to death.
I was sat on a wall just musing
When an army of ants came along
With a lot of military hoo-hah
And a pagan victory song
They were led by Colonel Mustard
Who walked arm in arm with the queen
While the ant behind had a dead fly
To be eaten for supper it seemed
By two, by two, by twenty
With bugles, trumpets and drums
They marched and walked and stumbled
And occasionally wiggled their bums
Some carried leaves so enormous
They couldn’t keep up with the throng
Till a sergeant major in ant terms
Came back to push them along
Onwards and forwards they ventured
Over paths, up walls, around trees
While the old ants fell to the wayside
Tired feet, aching backs and old knees
The ants of the world they were marching
But not one of them knew as to where
And not one of them dared ask that question
Or maybe not one of them cared
Young ants were born on the route march
As the dead they were carried along
Ants went to school and then married
To the strains of an ant marriage song
Nothing it seemed could stop them
Their journey an energy stream
From here to the distant horizon
As one in search of a dream
A column of ants on a highway
A road only they could perceive
Their goal lay unseen in the distance
But it lay in their souls to believe
As the day slipped by so I watched them
A nation of ants on the move
Maybe ants being ants with no logic
Or a species with something to prove.
‘And what did you learn in lockdown?’
Asked the child with a tear in her eye
I paused and reflected and then answered
‘I found I had lost sight of the sky’
I walked a thousand miles in lockdown
Went nowhere, just walked around and around
My mind was my only companion
And my footsteps, provided the sound
I learned how to think, in Lockdown
A process, I know now, I had lost
But learning to think is doing hard time
And it comes at a personal cost
I lost a few souls, in Lockdown
And I’ll miss them when this is all done
I lost a few battles in Lockdown
And it’s a struggle now, to see what I won
I learned to ‘see’ better, in Lockdown
It opened the eyes in my heart
Am I a better person for Lockdown?
Well, I’ve forgotten who I was at the start
And will I survive through Lockdown
I only know that I’ll try
Because failing to live through Lockdown
Is to sit and to quietly die
So what did I learn in Lockdown
Tell the child with the tear in her eye
The lesson I learned in Lockdown
Is that it’s better to live, than to die.