28 (28.08.2014)

How strange to sit and eat while this is here
The faces staring at you from the milk
D'you feel the world conspiring with your fear?
They're tying up your heart with threads of silk.
They're tiny threads like tiny bits of news,
They tangle round your sweet celestial wings
They slip around the bottom of your shoes
And stop you trying new and different things.
Don't move, don't go, don't fly away from me,
Don't let somebody take you in the night
Don't trust your neighbour, though he friendly be
Don't ever let your children out of sight.
The family round the breakfast table stare,
At nightmares conjured from the heavenly air.

27 (27.08.2014)

Let's sit in silence for a while and write
A sonnet for the woman that I love
Whose sparkling eyes shine clear and are so bright
They put to shame the pallid stars above.
So let me sit and fumble with this verse
Attempting what's so difficult to say
Emotions, love and feelings all coerce
With stumbling blocks that I find in my way.
But simple words will help me sing her praise
My sweet companion through this twisting life
The guiding light that leads me through the maze
My one and only lovely, loving wife.
So perfect does my life with her now seem,
I know not whether I'm awake or dream.

26 (26.08.2014)

I sit inside and look out at the rain
Its placid hum is singing through the leaves
It's trying to find a voice and to explain
What heart can know but mind still disbelieves.
There's something in the singing of the birds
That shatters whether skies are grey or blue
So many things that can't be put to words
I feel inside and want to give to you.
My daughter sits beneath the parasol
A little brick wall's turned into a seat,
The rain has drenched a dropped forgotten doll
And ripples round her tiny staring feet.
I want to hold her hand and let her know
That after rain the sun will always show.

25 (25.08.2014)

Much have I travelled in realms of the heart
And my heart has always rested the same
Fake and faithless and foolish; a tart
Falling in love at the drop of a name.
The beating of blood by muscles within
The turn of an eye that turns the whole world
Scent of emotion, impossible sin
Sparks of arousal where darkness is curled.
I wish that my heart were free as a bird
But sometimes that thought it fills me with fear
Heart won't you lead me astray without word
Fill up this space so I just disappear
Forgive me my weakness, lead me from rest,

Heart keep on beating, most certain and best.

24 (24.08.2014)

The dolls house rests in silence just for now

The rabbits have stopped eating at the walls

The ladies of the house must take a bow

Inside the silent mind no purpose calls.

But little dolls house where is all the fun?

Your doors are shut and none can come inside,

Your back is turned to blue skies and to sun

What is it that your darkened windows hide?

The joys and laughter that you rested on

Have been replaced by silence and a weight,

The children that have played with you are gone

They left your happy walls to follow fate.

So should we break you up and watch you burn,
Or wait in hope that children's kids return?

23 (23.08.2014)

All things are better with sunglasses on,
These many pounds that perch upon my nose,
Because my real world has something that's wrong,
And there are bits of life I wish to close.
I walk along the street, the world is fair,
I've placed a filter between me and you,
So nothing that's inside I have to share
And I walk 'neath a sky that's brighter blue.
I really think I love these glasses now,
I'd even wear them on a cloudy day
I love the solitude that they allow
They hide the eyes that give so much away.
So when the time has come to say goodbye,
At least you'll never know I start to cry.

22 (22.08.2014)

Today a gentle rain has hit the world.
Bright brilliant lines of grey strike at the sky.
Around the misty sun clear clouds are curled,
The watery sea is burning in my eye.
I've stole away some moments from my life
And wheeled my way out of the multitude,
A moments peace from treasured kids and wife
A chance to bathe in gentle solitude.
Now give me strength my hand upon the page,
Build word on word from each word gone before
With furrowed brow and all enroaching age
And fourteen lines of thought here to explore.
Blest not be be alone, as beggars beg,
I take the phone that's buzzing at my leg.

21 (21.08.2014)

Hastings, today I write in praise of thee:
The calls of warning seagulls greet my ear
A fishing boat sails out across the sea
The rising sun reflects upon the pier.
As crunching pebbles grind beneath my feet
The waves they lap upon the gentle shore
The sea's a calming, mirrored, glassy treat
That moves away, but then comes back for more.
I swim inside your chilly morning waves
And duck my head three times into the grey
I'm in a world where nothing misbehaves
And nature has no choice but to obey.
With all resistance finally melted down,
I wander back home through the waking town.

20 (20.08.2014)

When we woke up at home it was so strange
As though we were in someone else's place
Who were these people from before our change
Who lived in squalled clutter and disgrace?
The house is meek and small but they don't care
They seem a little crude and out of touch,
With all that they can do, they're unaware
(Don't think I even like them very much).
But even as these words come into mind
The room I'm in is changing to itself
I guess that in an hour or two I'll find
The person that I don't like is myself.
So should we settle down and not complain
Or get back in the car and drive again?

19 (19.08.2014)

On England's pleasant shores we're landed now
And far away from buzzing Paris France
We show our passports to some grumpy cow
Who acts just like a robot in a trance.
The sun is setting as we drive away
The sky is bathed in purple, orange fire
It's laced with clouds of bright pink burning grey
And balanced on a string of yellow wire.
Our home is but a little distance more
We're tired now but we are nearly there
I'll carry sleeping children through the door
And lay them in their beds with gentle care
Our travelling for this year will soon be done
I drive the car into the setting sun.

18 (18.08.2014)

I love you much because we are a team
We work together well through thick and thin
Times might be hard but nothing's too extreme
Your positivity guides from within.
Breakfast in a hotel with four kids is
fun. Nothing like that to help a diet.
The challenge is an unanswerable quiz
Everyday's a sort of noisy riot.
But all I need in madness is your hand
And suddenly the world is bathed in peace,
You mouth "I love you..." and I understand
That we are one, and that will never cease.
The six of us walked Paris in the night,
And gratitude made everything alright.

17 (17.08.2014)

At my side you stand and drink your coffee
Then sit upon the wall facing the view
We've heavy hearts and do not wish to flee
And days of travelling still that we must do.
Far below, beneath the bridge, the river
Flows on and on as though it doesn't care
Morning breeze it sends a tiny shiver
Of sorrow through the bowels of our hair.
Birds are sweeping down across the water
And half a moon is hanging in the sky
Moving shadows on the buildings slaughter
The dream we had of not saying goodbye.
Roquebrun, Roquebrun you will of course survive
As we will too; just close our hearts and drive.

16 (16.08.2014)

When I see my children play before me,
The gentle ipad glowing in their eyes,
I understand that though they adore me,
What's more important is Kinder Surprise.
All bread and all circus wrapped up in foil
Joyful escape from the world for a while,
A moments release from boredom and toil
Plastic and chocolate that brings forth a smile.
They want a new game, I download the App
I'm well aware that this joy won't last long
But time enough I hope for a quick nap
And when I wake perhaps start a new song.
Distracted, lost and trapped, a gilded cage,
Technology for children's all the rage.

15 (15.08.2014)

Thinking of your smile it makes me smile,
But if I think too long, that smile is gone.
For nothing's here that time cannot defile,
What thing on earth will death not turn upon?
Not even solid rock can win the race
Against the wind and rain that over time,
Erode each little atom from its place
And turn it into something more sublime.
This book, these words, this pen, even the moon
The wise and foolish know they'll fade away.
But something has to leave to come back soon,
We need the night to welcome back the day.
So ice fades when it melts but this I drink,
One smile is gone but two come when I think.