The Wall
- Details
- Written February 2025
Mend the one who fell off the wall,
Instead frustratedly they demolish the wall
As did Berliners, saying ‘times up’,
While Israelis started theirs
With Palestinians looking on in horror
And Mexicans know it’s on the cards for them
When someone says enough is too much,
While a victorious commander-in-chief
Becomes a defeated politician
So retreats to his garden with mortar-board and trowel
To build a wall which still stands, [1]
Awaiting trumpets on their seventh time round
And down it will come - welcoming all.[2]
February, 2025
The wall at Hall Place, Bexley Heath.
Hall Place Yews
- Details
- Written October 2024
Who will one day receive us back,
Placed in the depths,
Permanently holding what's left,
Awaiting the possibility of another life.
But now fragile and weak,
Vulnerable as the frame loses strength
With one loss after another,
The repair shop working overtime
Doing their best to keep us going.
But with one foot already rooted there,
Double reason to be careful
And preserve life above board
Until it's finally all over and done.
In response to the signs warning of potential damage to the root systems of the Queen’s Beasts, topiaries planted to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth ll.
Hall Place Gardens, Bexley
October 2024
Welcome to Highgate
- Details
- Written June 2024
As they make way for more
Climbing the stairs to a better place
Out of harm’s way and ready for new arrivals
Joining them as they glance heavenward
Where everything seems upside down,
Symbols reversed for life rather than death.
But they’re strangled in the entanglements,
Smothered by overgrowth into oblivion,
Another forgotten in the silence of Highgate
While they wait for the next arrival
To turn over in the comforts of death,
Believing they’d not be forgotten,
But the headstone tilts in sad salute.
June 2024
Thank you, Julia Johnson, for your informative, entertaining and at times challenging guidance to the U3A LSG7 tourists.
Luke 9:60
The Hotel
- Details
- Written July 2024
Bumping into Zimmers and scooters
While the woods hit the jack,
As nostalgia glances round looking for a past
Recreated with a decor and design that once was,
While she smiles sweetly at the up-to-date waitress
Just to say thank you.
Familiar faces, but names forgotten,
Not knowing left from right in a maze of corridors,
Surrounded by relics of conflict still evident.
While a MacMillan drum overpowers silence
Saying it's a good investment for an unknown future
Which doesn't matter now
Because we're living for today.
I wake up in this geriatric paradise,
The insurance broker's nightmare.
Where dentures chatter and hearing aids hum,
Until suddenly I realise I'm one of them,
And I'm here,
Unconcerned about tomorrow,
Enjoying today with a new-found persona.
Sinah Warren Hotel in Hayling Island.
July 2024
The Common Snipe
- Details
- Written January 2020
They stood there gawking, staring, gazing -
Twitchers out to find something different;
Gaping through the downstairs window glass,
Magnifying me with a zooming lens
Piercing the morning mists that hang
Silent over the waters of a shivering day,
Insulated in the depths of winter.
When all I want is to wriggle and hide,
Camouflaged from the world beyond,
Nestled among bank-side twigs and grass,
Hidden as though I didn’t exist
And belong nowhere but to myself,
Until I see the grub moving,
So my curved beak pecks - and they snap me.
January 2020