Poetry corner

[Sum1Ls]

Missing from mine. I powered off and restated. No matter.

[Daisy]

That's very odd. I'll try it on my iPad. I wonder if anyone else has had the same problem?

[Gemini]

I don't have an i pad, but I can see it on my Samsung tablet.

[Daisy]

Sum1 - it's ok on my iPad. Can you see it yet?

Gem - thanks for checking on a different device as well. Not all hand-held devices are compatibile across the board, so it's handy to check.

[Qwerty]

Today, 02:11 PM
This New Year

Even during the worst of times
When I feel the years go slipping by
Life seems rife with possibilities
When the New Year arrives.

Buoyed by hope at the New Year coming
I feel renewed and want to start living.
This year I'll travel and see the sights,
I'll be bold, I'll be courageous.

I'll reach out and go beyond.
I might even try being flirtatious!
I'll be a new fish in a brand new pond.
This new year I'll be brave and I'll be strong.

Even though time does fly,
I won't let this year be wasted.
I'll look forward to new adventures
And be open to opportunities I am graced with.

I'll learn and laugh and have good times.
I won't dwell on years gone by.
I'll start each new morning a brand new way.
I'll pretend it is New Year's Day
Last edited by Qwerty; Today, 02:14 PM.

[Qwerty]

This New Year

Even during the worst of times
When I feel the years go slipping by
Life seems rife with possibilities
When the New Year arrives.

Buoyed by hope at the New Year coming
I feel renewed and want to start living.
This year I'll travel and see the sights,
I'll be bold, I'll be courageous.

I'll reach out and go beyond.
I might even try being flirtatious!
I'll be a new fish in a brand new pond.
This new year I'll be brave and I'll be strong.

Even though time does fly,
I won't let this year be wasted.
I'll look forward to new adventures
And be open to opportunities I am graced with.

I'll learn and laugh and have good times.
I won't dwell on years gone by.
I'll start each new morning a brand new way.
I'll pretend it is New Year's Day

[Gemini]

Snow-flakes

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Out of the bosom of the Air,
Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
Silent, and soft, and slow
Descends the snow.
Even as our cloudy fancies take
Suddenly shape in some divine expression,
Even as the troubled heart doth make
In the white countenance confession,
The troubled sky reveals
The grief it feels.
This is the poem of the air,
Slowly in silent syllables recorded;
This is the secret of despair,
Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,
Now whispered and revealed
To wood and field.

[Grauntie Mag]

It's time for some more Wendy Cope methinks...
I do hope you won't be offended, but this makes me grin from ear to ear. I have it on my kitchen wall.


English Weather.
January's grey and slushy,
February's chill and drear,
March is wild and wet and windy,
April seldom brings much cheer.
In May, a day or two of sunshine,
Three or four in June, perhaps.
July is usually filthy,
August skies are open taps.
In September things start dying,
Then comes cold October mist.
November we make plans to spend
The best part of December pissed.

[Grauntie Mag]

Then there is Robert Service, my all time favourite. Taken from Tales of the Ukon.
Lip-Stick Liz

Oh Lip-Stick Liz was in the biz, That's the oldest known in history;
She had a lot of fancy rags, Of her form she made no myst'ry.
She had a man, a fancy man, His name was Alexander,
And he used to beat her up because he couldn't understand her.

Now Lip-Stick Liz she loved her man And she couldn't love no other
So when she saw him with a Broadway Blonde, Her rage she could not smother.
She saw him once and she saw him twice But the third time nearly crazed her,
So she walked bang into a hardware store, And she bought a brand new razor.

Now Lip-Stick Liz she trailed them two For she was tired of weeping;
She trailed them two, in a flash hotel And there she found them sleeping;
So she gashed them once and she gashed them twice Their ju'lar veins to sever,
And the bright blood flowed like a brook between. And their lives were gone forever.

Now Lip-Stick Liz went to the p'lice And sez she: "Me hands are gory,
And you'll put me away in a deep dark cell When once you've heard me story."
So they've put her away in a deep dark cell, Until her life be over
And what is the moral of the whole damn show, I wish I could discover.

Chorus:
Oh Lip-Stick Liz! What a lousy life this is.
It's a hell of a break for a girl on the make,
Oh Lip-Stick Liz!
Robert William Service

[Daisy]

GM - I love the Wendy Cope poems you've posted. I hadn't even heard of her before, but I shall certainly seek out more of her work. I also love what I think of as 'saga' poems that tell a story. It amazes me that clever poets can tell a story in so few words using a poetical form. Lip-stick Liz's story could be a whole book, but it's condenses into 16 lines and a short chorus. More, more, more, please.

[Libra Gran]

A little poem I wrote last night :
I have a springer puppy, who it must be said
Can drive me round the bend at times
And isn’t quite right in the head.
He’s a puppy still, I hear you cry,
I know- but why oh why, does he have to be like,
He’s permently on speed and act as though he’s high.
On the positive side,he’s cuddly
And gives the greatest hugs
But licks my face and hands,
And he’s probably full of bugs.
He steals all the things he’s not allowed,
And plays the “chase me” for them game.
Sometimes he farts, and lordy be
He smells like a rancid drain.
But for all his weird and funny ways,
It just has to be said, I love the funny little guy,
Even though he’s doing in my head.
Owning a spaniel- is not for the faint hearted,
You need nerves of steel, and patience - oh don’t get me started.
But life without my fur ball, would be boring there’s no doubt.
Hang on a minute he’s gone off with the remote control
Oh dear I feel the need to shout (again)
He nicks your socks, your bra, your shirt.
Chews them up and leaves the dregs.
But then he gives you the look, cute puppy dog eyes.
Your lost, you know it, your heart melts “Sigh”
You know your owned by this little guy.

[Gemini]

Thanks Libra, very clever!

[Daisy]

LG - I love this! And it's exactly how I imagine Shiloh.

[Grauntie Mag]

Brilliant LG. 😄😄

[Nana]

W. H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

(When my father died this was close to my heart.)