The Last Weeks

That day the sun didn’t shine 
A voice was not heard
One star left the sky
The tap didn’t flow
A cup was left standing
Clothes on the chair
Leaves dropped to the ground
Littered the floor
Crumpled and worn.
There was no wind;
Everything was still
Fields ploughed and ready
The year come full circle,
Poised and waiting
You were slipping away- 
Unseen;
The clocks go back next week;
You wanted to know- 
I shall shout it out.
I said and I did.

Today the sun did shine 
Your voice was heard 
One star joined the sky 
The tap did flow 
There is no cup standing
All clothes are put away
The leaves have been swept
Frost glistened on the lawn
Everything was white  
The air was sharp
Beauty adorned
A world in waiting 
You slipped away
The wind is in the North East
You would want to know 
And I shall shout it out.

Polperro

Spindrift line of silver grey
Tide on the turn
Red stain of paint 
Across the harbour ground 
Hemp ropes are  straining
Against
Hulls wedged in sand
The freshening wind
Throws fresh spots of rain
Drawn lines of grey
From the cloud’s edge 

Behind the harbour wall
A narrowing beach
The water rushes in
The dark mouth of the cave 
Hides a smuggler’s tale
Sea worn
Smooth steps
No tread
White walls and narrow lanes
Cling to the edge
Juxtaposed at odd angles
Misshapen doors and windows
Signify age and subsidence
Strange names etched of
Spanish vowels and Cornish girls
Do tell of strange liaisons 
Stranger trades of contraband 
And tax laws
Evasion and subterfuge
Do tunnels lead dreckly to the shore
As Poldark would have us to believe?
Dark tales in this traditional scene
So easily conjured there.

Electricity

Beneath my hand a distorted energy 
A flickering page 
Electrical disharmony 
Overload and charged 
Flickering screen
Pulsating lines
Distorted rhythm 
A heart trace uneven
Unsynchronised
The whir of a hidden force field 
Blurred edged 
Blank screen 
Dissonance radiates like a crawling mist 
Enveloping substance
Hidden forces
Overhead cables play tunes above 
Static tension below 
Pulsating noise 
Chaotic motion 
Babbling voices
Blank screens
Without charge 
Without patience
Buttons pressed with frantic motion
Random commands
No time to wait 
All time to lose
Head spin 
Headache 
Pressure mounts 
No backup
Fear and adrenelin
Neurons fire sparks 
To random
Distorted ideas and
Forced
Unrealistic expectations
Irrational thoughts seep through the cortex 
Cancerous in motive they seek to destroy 
Caustic and marauding
A spiral of disillusionment 
Hopelessness resonates
In spirals.

Reverse the spin.

Regain control
Change gear and 
Change thought with a
Different energy
Head up
Run though the rain 
Under the pylons 
A different electricity  in the 
Soughing  of trees 
The sting of the rain and lick of  the hair 
The force of the wind full in the face 
The splash of the heel 
The rhythm of pace 
Shout into the air 
Release it aloud 
Into the void
Nobody hears 
Somebody hears 
We are heard
We are known
Wonderfully so-
Free radicles
Connected but free.





We Live with Dreams


We live with dreams
When hopes are raised
And lines are changed 
Excitement looms
Everything is bright
Colours shine
And energised and bold
Life feels good.


All it takes-
A hidden agenda
Not what it seems 
Tables are turned
Warnings given
A realisation
Disappointment
Tries to overwhelm
To bring us down 
Seeking to undermine 
Confidence dwindles
Cheated
Deflated 
We feel lost. 

A new day
New horizon
A new goal
There’s always choice
To turn it around 
Look forward
We hope 
We trust again
In one who knows
Who shares the journey 
And so we move on
To live with dreams.

Running in the Slow Lane


Running with the pace of life is fast
Journeys taken without concern or care 
Words used and carelessly abandoned
Targets and deadlines replaced there.

Among the burgeoning piles of file-paper
The overflowing nature of our lives
Where mindfulness becomes one extra chore
And our mental well-being's in demise.

Did it really take a global situation
To make us stop and take a different path
To see beyond our own limitations
To a different perception that was stark?

In every sense our freedom was clean taken 
Overnight the challenge made quite clear
To stop or simply be over-taken
By the warnings given and of course by fear.

And so quite simply we were shaken 
and everything quickly reassessed
In every home spread across the nations
Priorities that had to be addressed

Management of time became our own
To choose a little wisely than before
In the slow lane running - a different tempo
To listen and observe and gain far more.

Joy is found abundantly in wildlife
When we chance to stop awhile and look
To see how nature heals and restores
The balance of our lives so over-looked

Running, swimming out by sea or moorland
Birdsong and the colours of the skies
Consciousness of elemental beauty
Powerful healing for our lives.

I run in Shadows

I run in shadows in the sunken lane  
And look above to laden oak leaved boughs 
And see the turn from green to orange hue 
And feel the sun go down in quickened hours.

On bracken fronds the webs are spun and clear 
The wispy threads of clematis hang low 
The Spindle with its orange fruits of fire 
And leaves are kicked upon the road below. 

The hedgerow fruits are laden and so ripe 
For Crumbles and for  jams for winter store
The apples drop and bruise upon the ground 
The lane is  dark and the air is raw.

The sun sets brightly low in western sky 
The reddish glow sets the world
On fire  
The  dew already heavy on the grass 
As I head home ready to retire.




Wild Swimming



Like a knife I cut the surface 
Of the deep dark saucer of the pool
And plunge down
Breath catching
And rising 
As toes and fingers
Are gripped by changing sensation;
The coldness
Seeps
Through 
Warm skin
Like a battery charger
Creeping into every part of me,
Leaving the world I know behind
To join me to this new place
In automatic union 
Of strange and raw freedom;
Where stress has vanished 
Drawn by osmosis,
Creating equilibrium 
In unknown depths
Of different rhythms,
Slowly Synchronised to my own;
Matching my strokes 
To the draw of the current;
My toes flexed 
Against a hidden force,
Breath is even
Energised and ready
Awareness is sharpened
The view is flattened
Levelled with nature;
I’m camouflaged
At one with the river;
My sight-line crossed
By those who travel other paths 
Unfazed,
Unknowing;
The rules are changed.