Category Archives: Poetry

Where am I now?

Another favourite poem, which I also made into a song.  It was inspired by my long association with Hardcastle Crags, Hebden Bridge.  I went there with my parents regularly through my childhood, and with my first love Stewart,  we got engaged at the ‘engagement tree’  we even had an ‘all is well tree’.  We took our children and dogs there nearly every weekend, and my grown up children still love to go there when they are here. It is my healing place…….where I go when my spirit needs soothing.  It is also very special in mine and Richards life, though getting more difficult for me to access the more out of the way places with my painful legs.

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When

When
A clutch of glistening red berries
Glistening with dew
Hang low on a laden Rowan tree
And catch your eye

When
The first leaf of Autumn to fall
Drifts past in the breeze
Forgetting
It burst into life
A few short months ago
In the Spring

When
A bee hovers before your face
And looks you right in the eye
As if to say “I am the universe, right here –
Don’t look around for grander things”

When
A cloud scurries past the sun
Changing its shape swiftly
So you can hardly catch its form
Then fades, and thins again
To nothing

When
Home comes into view
A pile of stone and stuff
Which will engulf and comfort you
The minute you walk through the door

Stillness

It’s difficult this stillness thing
I want to move and shift
And do anything but, be still

I itch
I ache
I twitch
And groan

It has always been so
I always had to swing my legs
Waggle my feet
Stand if I sat
Sit if I stood

It’s difficult
This stillness thing
But I’m getting better
And I’m holding on
And I’m breathing……..

My days

Sometimes
My days are broad, and long
With jittery bits
Spiking through the treacly surface

Sometimes
My days are narrow and short
With smooth waves
Crashing on the rocks
Like my thoughts

Sometimes
My days are meaningless nothing
Without spikes, troughs
Or waves
Null and void
Like treading water

It’s amazing

It’s amazing
How,
A day can change
From the heaven sent sun
To drenching
Miserable
Life giving rain

It’s amazing how
The human mind
Can flit from joy
To despair
In a heartbeat
A heartbeat……
A heartbeat……

It’s amazing how
Things can turn
In the beat of a butterfly’s wing
Towards light
And hope again
Towards truth
And hope again……

It’s amazing how
At the turn of the moon
Angels can come
And pour stardust
On the most fragile dreams
Before they are dashed
To the rocks below
For eternity

It’s amazing………….