BEYOND THE SNOW-CAPPED MOUNTAINS

 

Beyond the snow-capped mountains

A brand new dawn breaks

Night moved onward into light

Across the land and the lakes

SWEET MEMORIES OF OUR CHILDHOOD # 2

 

Sweet memories of our childhood

Sunny days bright and pleasant

Cold crisp Novembers on the heath

Beating the bracken for the Pheasant

MICHAELMAS DAISY

 

Lovely Miss Aster,

My flower girl Maisie

My natural beauty

I love her like crazy

My own precious

Michaelmas Daisy

THE SUN BURSTS THROUGH THE CURTAINS

 

The sun bursts through the curtains

As dawn brings forth another day

And bids us waken from our rest

With every golden warming ray

THE STORM FRONT

 

The gulls screech and scream

Swooping above the cliff top

While white horses ride the waves below

As the tidal surge is broken to a stop

Fishing boats appear to dance

Driven by weather to the south

And make slow progress in the swell

Bobbing towards the yawning harbour mouth

As the weather quickly closes in

The gulls desert the cliff top

Making their way inland to safety

Waiting patiently for the storm to stop 

SWEET MEMORIES OF OUR CHILDHOOD # 1

 

Sweet memories of our childhood

Those days of youth were the best

Golden Septembers in the fields

Gathering the bounty of the harvest

UP ON THE MOOR

 

Up on the Moor

The birds take flight

On the glorious 12^th

They leave the hill

With a bevy of Grouse

The trappings of wealth

IN THE AUTUMN

 

In the Autumn

The shoot is very pleasant

And we end the day

With a bevy of pheasant

I MISS THE PLACE

 

I miss the place

Where I journeyed into this world

Where a loving mother

Kissed me and gently brushed my curls

 

I miss the place

Where mother taught me the joys of life

And my father

Taught me to seek harmony from strife

 

I miss the place

Where my school days first began

And those friends

That made up our inseparable band

 

I miss the place

Where my heart had an optimistic view

And I miss the face

Of my one and only love so true

 

I miss the place

Where summer days seemed without end

Where natures bounty

Spilled from the fields we had to tend

 

I miss the place

Where the bones of my parents lay

And the times

When our days were full with play

 

I miss the place

I knew before I grew into a man

And took up arms

To fight for the king in a foreign land

 

I miss the place

That is the home I shall never see again

Never smell the grasses green

Or taste those gentle summer rains

 

I miss that place

My distant home far across the sea

The place I left behind

So I could die fighting for the free

THE FISHING BOATS BOB AND DANCE

 

The fishing boats bob and dance

Driven by weather to the south

Making slow progress in the swell

As they approach the harbour mouth

BLUEBELL GIRL

 

I am transported back

To a distant place and time

When I was only twelve

The world was changing

And I saw it with new eyes

And I recall her sweet face

When I first saw her in the wood

Gathering wild bluebells

Sun shinning on the golden strands

Of her silken hair

As it danced on her shoulders

The beautiful bluebell girl

Moved about the wood

Then she stopped and noticed me

Deep blue eyes smiling at me

In the innocence of childhood

And she captured my heart

Though twenty years have passed

She keeps it still

I ALWAYS LOVED THE TIME OF YEAR

 

I always loved the time of year

Long before that perfect day

It was a perfect morning

The best of autumn

The sky the clearest blue

The air crisp and clean

The last remnants of mist

Burnt away by the rising watery sun

And there she stood

As if to improve on nature itself

A vision of perfection

Standing at the edge of the woods

From beneath her woolen hat

Flaming red hair fell

Then danced upon her shoulders

And caught on her scarf

Breath plumed from her smiling mouth

As she spoke to her dog

Then she began to walk

The hem of her long coat swung

With the rhythm of her hips

As she strode into the woods

The spaniel chasing a stick she had thrown

Her boots crunching leaves underfoot

Still crisp with frost

Where the sun hadn’t reached

“Come on Jimbo” I said

Letting the dog out of the car

And we followed her into the wood

I walked amidst the skeletal trees

Where Squirrels ran here and there

Still busily preparing for winter

I kicked through the carpet of leaves

Feeling like a schoolboy again

And birds settled in my wake

Feeding on insects in the disturbance

In a clearing I saw her again

Her red hair like fire

Illuminated in the sunlight

The dogs soon introduced each other

And we did also

Two dog lovers talking in a wood

Two people who would become lovers

Who both loved the time of year

OH MOTHER NATURE

 

Oh mother nature

You both care and nurture

Bursting out in spring,

When the songbirds sing

Bringing daffodils so bright

To fill me with delight,

They shine with ease

Bobbing in the breeze

Dancing as if one

As golden as the sun

Blossom fills the trees

Bright enough to tease

Before the blossom has to go

Like cherry pink snow

And after spring hors d’oeuvres

And starters have been served

You bring us summer fare

With fragrance in the air

Flowers of every shade and hue

From crimson red to violet blue

Then as September wends

And the main course ends

You take no time to rest

Giving the bounty of the harvest

AUTUMN TREASURE

All was calm, in the morning

After the autumn storm

Had stripped bare the trees

And swept the fallen harvest

To havens sheltered from the gale

In the calm clear night

The frost crisped the land

Holding all in suspended animation

Everything where it fell

As the sun strengthened

To melt away the frost

Leaves spill from the bottom of hedgerows

Like golden coins from treasure chests

In a vast well filled vault

Soon enough this fallen bounty

Would again be scattered

Across the landscape

On the next autumnal weather front 

ROMANCE BY THE SHORE

 

Walking together, hand in hand,

As we strolled across wet sand

The sun sets, as the day grows old

Turning silver seas to shining gold.

We continue our walk in twilight

Before the moon illuminated the night

And the stars adorned the heavens

But the sea breeze soon freshens

And surf moved higher up the shore

So we headed back home once more

ON THE EDGE OF A STORM

 

Swooping Gulls screech alarms

High above the cliff top

As white horses ride the waves below

And the tide is broken to a stop

 

AS THE STORM FRONT CLOSES IN

 

As the storm front closes in

The Gulls desert the cliff top

To find safe haven deep inland

And wait for the storm to stop

THE MAJESTIC DISTANT MOUNTAINS

 

The majestic distant mountains,

Timeless sentinels, pale in the mist

Reach up to the sky like children

Expectantly waiting to be kissed

CACOPHONIC CHORUS

 

As if to chase the night away

And herald the dawn’s arrival

Birds awaken bright as the day

With the cacophonic chorus

Before the sun comes into view

To turn the sky from black to blue

DON’T LOOK UP

 

They appear morning

Noon and night

They swell and grow

Rise and fall

And dissolve and shrink

They are sometimes thick

Sometimes thin

They are sometimes dense

Sometimes transparent

They move fast and slow

They cross treetops and fields

Lakes and seas

Homes and factories

Deserts and swamps

Tropical rainforests

And arctic tundra’s

They are beautiful and familiar

Strange and dramatic

They are myriad in form and shape

A face, a mountain, a fish

They are brown and gray

Steel blue and black

Yellow and gold

Lilac and pink

But mostly clouds are white

MY FAVOURITE TIME OF DAY

 

It’s my favourite time of day

Is a special time, a magical time

A time for romancing lovers

For shared enjoyment

Or solitary reflection

A time to drink in the vistas

Along with the cocktails

 

My favourite time of day

Boasts awe inspiring displays

Whether over the open sea,

Beyond distant mountains,

Over prairie or savannah,

Or painting barren desert

Or colouring the icy tundra

Illuminating a city landscape

Whether it’s across the river

Or behind the gas works

It’s a special time, a magical time

It’s my favourite time of day

When the sun sets

THE WILDERNESS

 

The fierce sun burned the land

Cracking stone, bleaching bone

Drying the rich earth to dust

To be blown on the four winds

Or washed away by unforgiving rains

So infrequent in their coming

 

Unable to penetrate the iron earth

Rain-washed off the barren land

Like it were a repellent oily hide

Leaving it sterile and infertile

To all but natures hardiest

Most determined to cling to life

 

In the fast-expanding wilderness

Beneath rocks and stones life goes on

Insects toil industriously, while

Un-germinated seeds bide their time

Until nature smiles once more

On this harsh and arid land

THROUGH THE MISTY DAWNING

 

Through the misty dawning

Of a crisp autumn morning

Like emerging from a dream

Amidst the haunting scene

I spy Pheasants in the frost

And in the moment, I am lost

THE SUNRISE WAS A GLOWING RED

 

The sunrise was a glowing red

As the day began frostily

Beneath the clear skies

But those skies turned grey

As the days early promise faded

Along with the light

What was clear however

Was that rain was on the way

Maybe even hill snow

But it was equally possible

That the sky will become blue again

And for some the sun may return

SUMMER SQUALL

The sky is grey and dark

Defying the sun to appear

Then the wind picks up

And thunder is getting near

Rain follows with lightning

Flashes that strike fear

And preludes the thunder

So loud it deafens the ear

But then its passes on

And the skies are clear

IDYLLIC VISION

 

Walking the rugged paths and lanes

Over hill and vale, through field and wood

Past timbered cottages with thatched roofs

And white picket fences and wishing wells

Ending at a country pub with low oak beams

And brasses decorating the walls

Such is my idyllic vision of a country walk

FLITTING AND FLUTTERING

The sunshine dances

On butterfly wings

As they flit and flutter

Never still, never pausing

As they in turn dance

To natures gentle tune  

THE MIGHTY OAK LAY BROKEN

 

The mighty oak lay broken

In the wake of the storm

And I am deeply saddened

For as a boy I climbed

Its mighty steadfast trunk

And sat amongst its limbs

Sheltering beneath its canopy

As generations of small boys

Had done many times before me

But then I saw an acorn

On the ground beside my feet

So, I picked it up and smiled

And took it home with me

So, I could grow his son

ANY DAY AT THE SEASIDE

On the beach beneath the sun,

You hear the sounds of joy

And excited laughter of play

From every girl and boy

MILL STREAM

 

The stream runs down the rugged hill

To where stands a quiet water mill

And when water shoots along the spill

The wheel is turned to break the still

So, the miller toils with sweat and skill

And when there are no more sacks to fill

The sluices close and again all’s still