Christmastide..... Published 19 December 2013

Christmastide...

Christmas cheer approaches near,

Shops overflowing with bargains and offers

Enticing the shoppers to fill up their coffers

The countdown begins a bit sooner each year.

Its time to sally forth and try

With some attempt at sensible thrift

To find the right presents for all to buy

White elephants of gifts...

The Salvation army's trumpeting carols

The streets ablaze with garlands of lights

Jostle and hustle and seasonal bustle

Glitter and sparkle of yuletide sights

Baubles and lights and parcels to wrap

Turkeys to eat and crackers to crack

While Santa cruises through the skies

With reindeer sleigh and bulging sack

On Christmas eve the children hang

Their stockings hoping Santa will

With parcels all these stockings fill

And toys for girls and boys he'll bring

But what about children whose homes - alack

Are apartments in city high rise blocks

They haven't got a chimney stack

Why - Santa just unpicks the locks

*

When midnight comes - there's pause to remember

That star that shone on Bethlemem

The story of that ancient drama

That babe re-born each year again

Windblown Leaves - Published Cambridge News 14 December 2013

Windblown Leaves

A frost that sharpens the air and brings

A glorious avalanche of leaves

Tumbling cascade of torrent and colour

Pouring down from the trees

A dripping curtain of golden rain

Or drifting down with gentle patter

Spilling to carpet the earth beneach

Makes floating enameled jewels on water

Crisp underfoot to crunch and shuffle

There for all to kick and scuffle

Creating delicious crackling rustle

Caught by the wind they whirl and settle

Scorning the labours of puny man

Working with barrow who thinks he can

Mocking at those so busily sweeping

Up mountains of leaves and carefully heaping

Their evening fires with smoky plumes

They swirl again all efforts defeating

These leaves gathered in with rakes and brooms

Then chilly mist of evening brings

The tang of bonfire's rich perfumes

 

  

 

The Computer - Published Cambridge News 10 December 2013

The Computer

The computer sits so smugly there

This thing that’s made of chips and wires

It doesn’t get stressed or angry or swear

It can’t get bored and never tires

It isn’t panicked by wasting  time

Its imperturbable indefatigable

Murmurs with quiet electronic hum

Its mechanical patience is interminable

It squats there with unblinking screen

Blandly awaiting instructions

Its regular silicone heart beats on

While we sit frantically pressing the buttons

With incomprehensible jargon it doesn’t bargain

Every hyphen and dot or colon or dash

Each symbol or link and capslock or slash

Must be perfect or else the computer will crash

It remains unphased with impenetrable calm

There’s no end to the hours it can afford

It doesn’t know its doing us harm

When we can’t access information its stored

In our despair we may tear at our hair

With its  basilisk stare and time to spare

It doesn't care or know it’s won

The battle it wasn’t aware it begun

A Winter's Eve - published Cambridge News 17 March 2014

A Winter's Eve

As winter’s eve draws to its close

Long wavering line of seagulls fly

In chevron stretched on fading sky

And trees their deepening shadows throw

Mysterious bark of hidden deer

Sliding  through the bosky glade

Ephemeral in the thickening haze

Their phantoms in the distance fade

The creatures of the night bestir

Poised alert with listening ear

For secret rustle with care to muffle

Each tiny sound from elfin paw

Alert in case they danger hear

They furtive slink through ghostly trees

And timorous through the gloaming peer

For hunters red in tooth and claw

The eerie hoot of twilight owl
A robin trills his evening song
The silent fox slips out to prowl
A misty moon and nights are long

Glimmer of pale elusive star

Evening stills with breathless hush

Awaits the stealthy advance of dusk

Smell of frost in the air

Autumn - Published Cambridge News October 2012

 

Autumn



The autumn light slants through the trees

With dancing shafts and pools of shade

Illuminating mellow leaves

With touch of gold and hint of jade

A brilliant splash of scarlet bright

From  berries decking hedgerow long

Luminous in hazy light

And robin trills his winter song

The early morn sees drifting mist

And as we watch the summer fade

The evening air is winter kissed

The countryside to rest is laid

*

More Stowaways.... Published Cambridge News 7 December 2013

More Stowaways

The dog’s been loaded into the back

Attentive eared he awaits his walk

Packed in are boots and sticks and  mac

Beseeching eyes have mine besought

I’m ready to leave,  but my mind is abstracted

When gradually I become distracted

By an unusual sound demanding attention

While my hand is hovering on the ignition

The car is not running so it can’t be the engine

It’s a sort of sotto vocce whirring

Its lucky I haven’t started the car

And better still have not gone far

The boot of the car is contentedly purring

Its passengers are most  bizarre

Around the dog’s legs his cat is curling

  

Tunnel of Gold - Published Cambridge News 13 November 2013

Tunnel of Gold

A beckoning path that wends its way

Through arching tunnel of golden blaze

Lined with pillars of ebony bark

And lit by luminous autumn rays 

Every tree is veiled in gold

Reflected by brilliant carpet beneath

Turned to riches by autumn's cold 

Each branch adorned with shining wreath

These glistening coins bedeck the trees

And line the path with golden flames

Drift silent down as autumn breathes

To settle and shimmer as summer wanes

Amber and ochre and saffron and red

Leaves tremble on every branch and stem

Hung with medallions like sequins on thread

They are lit from within like Cabochon gem

This inviting trail entices our gaze

Its mellowing glows with lambent light

And the golden haze of autumn days

Lingers into the misty night

Waterproof - Published Cambridge News 30 Oct0ber 2012

Waterproof

I dropped my mobile into my coffee

And it never worked as well again

It made it come out somewhat frothy

And it spoilt the latte – such a shame

A friend has dropped his into his beer

It made a good splash and wasted some cash

So that glass of lager became rather dear

And my mother has  dropped hers into her tea

A bad idea this as turned out to be

And alas one fell out of the boat in the sea

It slipped over the brink and into the drink

We all watched it sink as it made us think

That why all this happens isn’t quite clear

Some have been cleaned in the washing machine

Or gone one load higher in the hot tumble dryer

And I’ve heard of one that went down the toilet

Not only wet but would certainly spoil it

If it falls in the saucepan you could even boil it

My last one drowned in the Dog’s water bowl

If it wasn’t annoying it would have been droll

*

So clearly the manufacturers ought’a

Make all their cell phones resistant to water

Grandmother's Darlings... Published Cambridge News 1 November 2013

Grandmother's Darlings...

These grandchildren are my delight
But at the end of each exhausting day
When off to bed they're on their way
With great relief they're kissed goodnight

But its difficult to write poetry
When caring for these darling children
And this applies especially
When they won't do what they are bidden 

If they squabble and brawl

Or have tantrums and bawl

I can’t hear my muse or rhyming words choose

When perchance they are chidden

If they wail and yell creating mayhem and hell

They really aren’t very nice

But when they are good and do what they should

These angels would melt a heart of ice

When they do what they are told

And don’t whine, or fuss  or moan

They  both behave as good as gold

Then they would melt a heart of stone

The clouds of tears will soon blow over

Miraculous smiles come out like the sun

And then when all is said and done

They’re dreadful – but they’re dreadful fun

At night when they are fast asleep

Forgotten tears now dry

With curling lash on rosy cheek

They like sleeping cherubs lie

At the end of the day or the close of the stay

We give them back and go on our way

With magic moments without measure

And  memories we will ever treasure

  

Queen of the Boiler

Queen of the Boiler

She's the queen of the boiler

She can sit there and preen

Stretch out her paws and flex her claws

Meticulously lick her fur clean

But now there are two new invaders

A wet muddy brace

Of boots put to dry where she likes to lie

In her own special place

With a meow  of protestation  

She has curled herself smaller

And with some indignation and sad resignation

Has relinquished some space

  

Wild Harvest - Published Cambridge News 15 November 2013

                                                            

                                                      

                                  Wild Harvest                                

Autumn when Nature her riches shares

A profusion of wild fruits so lavish

That there for all the  wayside bears

Free fruits that trees and hedgerows garnish

Magnificent chestnut’s generous harvest

Where children delight in shiny conkers

With zest released from spiny vest

Gleaming rich with chestnut varnish

Rosettes and trails of scarlet glows

From hips and haws and rowan berries

And bryony’s glistening beaded garlands

Like jewels flung with careless abandon

There’s  indigo bloom of bitter sloes

And dusky  damsons hanging like cherries

Black glossy elder fruit, crab apples gold

For gin and wine or jams and jellies

Wild harvest too for squirrels and birds

All kinds of creatures both feathered and furred

Gathered and stored with one accord

Collected and hidden with scrupulous care

Nuts and seeds for winter hoard

Secreted away in burrow and lair

From oak boughs bowed with weight of the acorns

Away from prying eyes are buried

Armoured by thorns but tempting and luscious

Blackberries abound in succulent clusters

With their crooks and their hooks people picking and eating

(One has a stepladder – but surely that’s cheating)

There’s a huge hornet like motorbike parked by the edge

While its tattooed black leathered owner dallies

His helmet abandoned beside the hedge

Facial studs glinting – he is picking the blackberries

 

Litterbugs - Published Cambridge News 3 October 2013

Litterbugs

I wonder who these people are

Who so lightheartedly  fling

From the window of the car

The rubbish that they bring

There are bottles and drink cans

Which litter the verge

And these hideous things

From the wildflowers emerge

Cigarette boxes and all kinds of trash

They just chuck out the lot

They sling it and dash

But bio-degrade – it does NOT

Thus all this detritus they sling

And unnatural things our roadsides sully

And a depressing air of squalor brings

To every edge and every gully

When you’re driving your car

Please don’t  throw as you roam

Just take all  your litter

And bin it back home

(Collected from 20m of verge)

Storm - published Cambridge News 26 7 13

Storm

Zig-zagging flash and deafening crash rending the sky asunder

With the shattering roar of celestial lion

The heavens at war with the great God Thor

As he hammers on anvils of iron

The cymbals of heaven are crashing together

As jagged streaks of lightning tear

The blackening sky is ripped apart

By flickering shock of  blinding glare

The beating rain on window pane

Water cascading in torrential downpour

Like elemental spirit flailing the glass

Drumming with wild relentless roar

The drama and thrill of the fury out spill

Above the crescendo of thunder is born

Where the towering thunderheads are clashing

Caught in the eye of the storm

The roiling heavens above in torment

With jagged streaks that havoc wreak

While insignificant mortals below

Are dwarfed by the rage of the firmament

Prescriptions

Prescriptions

I have to hand in my prescription

Because I’m now taking pills

For most of my ills

Of every shape size and description

There are blue ones and green ones

                                  And red ones and yellow                               

                                 And pink ones and white ones                               

And large ones to swallow

Some pills are long

And some pills are round

So you don’t get them wrong

Their colours abound

The results are beyond my prediction……….