Poems

The wind blew leaves on pavements, cold They swirled in doorways, dim In desolation now she walked Her thoughts were all of him Though cold and wet she still walked on To where? She did not know She fought so hard to understand Just why he had to go A love like theirs...

Gardenstown – N E Scotland North Sea lashes the grey-walled fishing harbour tied up boats never still, ropes straining, constantly fidgeting. Cacophony of clanking rides on waves of the Force 10 gale. Folk in stone washed cottages along Seatown, keep their bright...

GHOST SHIP On tide awash with swirling mist She headed for the shore Her ghostly sails and creaking spars Would surely be no more No earthly being stood aloft To warn of what would be No grizzled sea-dog on his watch To tell the crew to flee Yet still I heard the...

He knew he should go To where she was waiting But still he lay there As if hesitating The bed was so warm And his children stood by So full of his love Trying hard not to cry Then drifting in sleep He was feeling so torn His life had been full But his body was worn As...

‘That knowledge, to which, the few aspire Within our hearts we all desire…’ Though others would deny our worth We grow. and prosper, from our birth While Life is but a game of chance We clasp the future in our hands An enlightened mind can often be The pathway to...

Unrivalled in their chosen worth The finest men to grace this earth That heavy burden that they bear In fellowship they gladly share To rank as equal with the best To never on their laurels rest Whatever challenges they are set Are with a quiet- forbearance met For...

A moth’s bedazzled by the light The shadows tiptoe through the night Within the prison of your mind Your demons will your weakness find The moonlight slowly fades away An owl swoops low above its prey The wind is gathering in its strength The willows’ branches writhe...

Though Man would harness wind and sun The few can to their dreams return… The variety of textures both rugged and divine The Other -we have come to fear to worship as sublime A common sight, a glorious scene How sad, how happy, life can seem Though we have grown to...

With the ever-quickening of the day Too soon the Autumn’s flown away Long Winter nights begin to fall The mice within the hayricks crawl. The river’s silent, cold, and dark The dogs within the farmyard bark The moon implores the vagrant sky An owl uluates its mournful...

And what of Beauty, and what of Truth And who walks there through Rowbank Wood.? Enfolded and placed within a book Where few would ever chance to look. To read my words that in your praise May pass for ever down the age. ‘Your beauty charms the every hour More lovely...

Shaven headed onward you march The love of freedom in your hearts The saffron robes, your upturned bowls You have such beauty in your souls And, though, we offer you our love Your freedom will be won with blood.

Two more from Terry Maltby THE VOID IS TOO WIDE You stand at the far end I stand two thirds You have your opinions And I have my words We don’t know the answers To the questions inside For you’re at the far end And the void is too wide The morning is waiting The night...

Rainy Monday, what a day Stormy clouds of black and grey Bringing gales and gloomy light Through the day and all the night Heavy traffic caused by mums Taking kids with “suspect” tums To the school gates. parking close On grass verges, nose to nose How would people...

The rocks placed on the tarmac road Where cars no longer ever go. The two little sisters on the hill Who languor there and ever will… Like gifts the Gods bestowed on earth-. The holly, the ponies, the singing birds. The pathways dappled with the leaves New-blown from...

Tiny-rose diamonds in the sky Engage the aspect of the eye. Entrammeled there amongst the trees Our every sense would seem to please. To bring contentment to that heart A troubled life might rend apart. At whose parting -a poet might say This was a sad and solemn day…...

Wave after wave beat on the shore A fearful wind through rigging tore Then fled the scene to howl past seats Where promenade and houses meet Weaving through the streets of town And bringing pots from chimneys down Not for a moment did it stop On up the hill and o’er...

High on the fells of boggy ground There, the flower of Cumberland’s found. By the name of bog star more commonly known Off the mountain of the gods your seeds were borne. On unforgiving windswept hills You hold sway over marsh and ghylls. When you glance down on that...

Like dragons from the sea they came The Vikings earned their bloody name. Marauding, murdering as they went Their fury on these isles were spent. At Lindifarne, they wreaked their worst Far and wide their names were cursed. Silver was their God -not gold And none were...

The night has ended sleeplessly The new dawn is descending Will the day break with a cloudless sky Or rain that’s never ending Slowly daylight fills the skies Clear blue with a hint of mist A golden glow is growing now As though by Heaven Sun kissed ‘ere long the day...

The year will pass from Season to Season Each with it’s own particular trait Sometimes weather unwelcomed And another type we appreciate As we pass through the country lanes Strolling along carefree Looking for signs of Nature’s wonders Accepted readily Not long ago...

Sit with me for a while today All friends gathered here Try if you can to wear a smile Maybe the occasional tear For parting is such sweet sorrow But I’m not going away As my friendship is Eternal Each and every day Ever in your thoughts and minds This amity you’ll...

While with a quiet, uncommon grace The Eden flows through time and place.. The park sits silent hushed and still St Michael’s stands upon the hill. How with a curse, a kicking goad Off into history they once rode. Where a garrison honed the art of slaughter A bishop...

Once you played host to a Queen Who licked her lips and looked serene. And, now, you’re home to George and Laura And Brodie, the dog, whose coats so shiny She must be buffed-up twice times nightly, The regimental mascot she could be Like sunlight glinting through a...

England my England is going England of my father’s has gone England of tomorrow is blowing In like a darkening storm The tide of the century is turning As it turned in centuries before But this time sadly I’m learning It is turning as never before England my England...

‘Since I joined the Army I’ve saved enclosed £2 All my belongings, at Nairn, are gifted too…’ The High Road Home the dead must take Where kith by hearth by lychgate wait. And should I, too, forfeit my life- My blood I gave for you, and Christ…

In the land of the loyal where brave men sleep Where the willows in silent homage weep What stories of courage they could tell Of the friends who lived, of the friends who fell Of the battles they lost, of the battles they won Of the demons they fought in the cruel...

The Isle of Skye awaits your coming The tides of Portree Bay are turning. When you alight upon the shore A welcome’s there at every door. The coronach of seagulls in the bay The pipes that for those lost souls play. The corries where the wild flowers grow The River...

The aspect of the sky was grey And cast its gloom upon the day. However light of heart the mood The mountains silent, brooding stood. Derwent Island in quiet seclusion sits The mists deceive the eye with tricks. A spectral presence on Cat Bells The lonely traveller...

It's remarkable when we come to realise How much we can see when we really use our eyes The beauty of the setting sun in a sparsely clouded sky. The first rays of the sun in the morning shining on snowflakes drifting by. Children happily playing with their toboggans...

When winter tightens in its hold The trees cast off their leaves of gold Where few in idle reverie go The Dandy Line’s adrift with snow. Beneath the star-illumined sky Who’ll hear the rabbit’s stricken cry? In the distance, a train is heard The frost entraps a...

The photo showed a football team Of young men in their teens Who could know what lay in store For these few might-have-beens They played together through that year That led up to the war When brave men such as these young lads Were slaughtered by the score What hope...

The time has come to cast away The doubts and fears of yesterday Those memories of days gone by When you were scared to even try To face the nights or lonely days As you walked in a numbing haze Too long the hurt has held you back Reminding you of what you lack Your...

Unfathomed depths of primordial plate A kettle hole, a small Norse lake. Two adults, with a child, in an old sailing boat Out of the frame of Time they float. Those branches once would creak and bow, The hanging tree’s grown silent now. Fragmenta of a time long gone,...

Across the moonlit land The night is shifting fast We must be there before the breaking dawn There is no time at hand To seek respite in rest We must be there before the day is born Upon a lonely shore My lover waits for me We must be there before the night is gone...

Yet again I have been humbled, yet again I am moved By the courage of our forces and the joy a choir has proved Through uncertainty and effort you made a lovely sound While some healing of your pain you surely also found

September Brown Was her name Came in my life Like autumn flame So full of colour So full of song But all too soon September’s gone September Brown So full of love Together we touched The stars above Reached for the moon Laughed in the sun But all too soon September’s...

Ploughed fields with furrows straight muddy tracks leading out of gate changing colours of leaves on trees wafting gently on the breeze longer evenings drawing in. get out your Flour and rolling pin Meat and potato or Apple pies that make you drool and roll your eyes...

Come in, come in dark shadow And show yourself to me Let me see who’s lurking there Beneath the garden tree Come in, come in I beg of you Don’t linger in the shade Reveal yourself and let me see Of what foul fiends are made Come in, come in to where the light Will...

Fear Disdained I will not act out Of fear… and I will not Once fear to act. Fear Explained Fear is not all Bad… because courage only Counts when you are scared. Fear Ingrained If you are a slave To fear… you are not a Master of your fate. Fear Maintained Having fear…...