Stone Memorials

Another year, another stone

Memorial to add to so many

Already standing alone

And without a penny

In their dead pockets

For bangers and mash

And sky rockets

And other trash.

A new year has flown

In through the window

For flesh and bone

To greet and grow.

You say Hello,

I say Goodbye.

The old had to go;

The old had to fly

Into what is now

A fallen bird;

Into what is now

A song unheard.

Ferdy

Ferdy is so wild — a Victorian fox,

We've had him quite some years;

Every bit as ferocious as he looks,

He's still of boundless cheer. 

Christmas Comes But Once A Year

Christmas Eve

The Eve of Christmas Eve

On the eve of Christmas Eve

Twenty-one years today;

In dense fog we did leave
And set off for the bay.

Farewell toxic town
Now turned brown;
Goodbye half my life.
I take with me a wife.

But leave all else behind.

Heavy mist still kept us blind

When we reached the place

Where beach and sea laced

Our view until the next day

When all things special we did find.

  

The Pianoforte

The Pianoforte

What can I say

About A A

Other than he

Could play

Easily

Every day!

The pianoforte

Was his way

To be 

Happy.

He'd have been

Ninety-seven

Had I seen

Him play

Today

On the pianoforte.

Exorcismus

Exorcismus

That long ago Friday of Easter 1973,

We ascended the summit in white;

Reaching out, to purify and be free

Of all malice, and of all spite.

Yet our adversary came not

At the agreed and allotted hour.

Had the boastful one forgot?

— Or had he begun to cower?

They say he feared the song

And dance the assembled throng

Might make should they see

Our demon-possessed adversary.

But he came nowhere near;

Preferring to freeze;

Whilst candles and incense

Wafted in the breeze.

In his absence our words

Of ancient exorcism filled

The moonlit air like swords,

— Until the gloom was stilled.