How Did It Get So Late So Soon?

The man who scared the ghosts away,

The woman who healed wounds with a kiss,

I think of them more nowadays

In sad and troubled times like this.

No longer there to hug the pain

From tired bones and broken hearts,

To shield you from the winter rain

That permeates where old age starts.

Another day of fleeting tasks

From rising su...

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Today my friend buries her mother in a coffin she has painted by hand. Today my friend's father tells her that she has taken on too much responsibility in the matter. She tells me he made her feel like she did not have a choice. Today I will get my hair cut. Today by mid day my friend will have buried her mother. My friend is only twenty four. Her daughter is two. I ask my friend how she has been ...

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Son Of My Father

What did you do in the war dad?

I fought against Fascists, son.

And were you frightened there dad?

Did you want to turn around and run?

Yes, I was frightened there son

So, don’t believe the lies that are spun

About the death and the glory of war, boy.

There is death, but of glory there’s none.

Thanks for all that you did dad

A...

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More and more
my thoughts turn to you
so aware of time
I’m the age now
that you were
when the pair of you parted
you got that rented house
on the edge of town

We’d stay at weekends
watching winter’s tide sweep in
standing in the falling snow
the garden and the fields disappearing
said ‘throw another log on the fire’
said ‘dad, your house is cold’

At fifteen, I was nothing
lost i...

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I walk with my little son
He would follow me to the edges of the galaxy
Just to tell me his story of his love for reality.

He waits for my return
Then tells me he misses me
With a smile, a cuddle and kiss that reminds me he’s here in this world.

He gives me tasks to do
While playing in the evening
Then I read him a story
Way past bedtime.

We walk in the morning
While he points out...

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Magnificent worthy of Christ son of nye
magnificently wonderful days to come
as stated in days gon by

child of mine child so bright
energetic child from morning to night
9 pounds 5 in weight
48 hour Labour born one day late
Austin my boy he's Austin the great

Unplanned like his beautiful brother
unprepared as their mother

Magnificent to put it lightly this boy can talk
double use ...

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I value you 

A soul protected
guard you like a delicate rose petal
words do not describe your existence
you give me reason
every decision I make
is with your best interests
you are my life
you are deep my son
you are vulnerable
you may not know it
nor may others not
but it's in your name
Sebastian
My clear cut high carat diamond
unbreakable like a diamond
April Spring Diamond
Be...

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I was not there when he was made
I was not there when he was born
I was not there for his first birthday

I was, there to guide his first steps.

I was there when his mother voiced her disdane and pushed him away.

For the tantrums that felt eternal

The sick days that became my sick days

I was there as his father began a new family and forgot about his last.

When he had no food to...

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I remember hearing my father's voice

      from beyond the grave.

      No dream—a single, scratchy vinyl

      had captured his characteristic

      lilting, homiletic style,

      that seemed,

       in and of itself,

       to be the message—

       no surprises there,

       nor flights,

       yet a resonance

       that touched

       and stays with me

...

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I'm awake 

I'm white

Bright white

Light

Glowing
Growing
Freedom flowing
And I feel me
Conscious free
I fly
To the sky
To the stars
Another
Light
Pure good
Energy
Comes to meet
Flowing and free
Bright
The other light
Touches me
Warms me
And I feel
In my energy
“What took you so long dad”?
I feel a smile
And energy combined
In warm
Pure love
We floated free
To g...

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Preamble: for this week's Rhymers theme "first", here is my first attempt at a villanelle.

My son, it fell to you to be born first

You turned a couple into Mum and Dad

You sometimes had the best, sometimes the worst

You changed our lives when into them you burst,

And for that day I ever shall be glad,

My son, it fell to you to be born first.

Our parenting was w...

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Not always easy me and mum

But sparks ignite loving hearts

And fire up a love that runs and runs

Firing true for my mum and me

Special relations mums and sons

As I’ve seen so clearly, with my own ones

Maybe too alike, maybe too different

Sparks just happened along the way 

Both too stubborn, both never to give in

But the clashes only stood out, because really so few

P...

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What a joy
What a joy
My little nephew,
Two decades back
Born abroad,
When a  guest here
A ride on
A piggy shoulder
Who used to enjoy,
To whom I bought
A motley toy
Out of himself
Made a brilliant boy.

“As per my choice
Could you buy me a donkey
Or a could you allow  me
A  tortoise
To touch
When we go to
The squalid market square
Or  the nearby church?”



Double mind
Is...

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The Father’s Curse

I am not  the man you used to be

the acorn falling softly

in the shade of your tree

raising ungrateful sons

to their own prosperity

fighting a war

so that others could be free

the nurturing of potential

that you swore you couldn’t see

expected to take root

and share your ancient symmetry

being a loving father

when it wasn’t m...

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Why chop down this tree

of honor

The greatest gift God

provides is our children

---

If we are lucky enough

to have them

And privilaged enough

for them to want to spend 

time with us

We have been given riches

beyond any material reward

---

To take a hatchet

and cut down the 

relationship

Is beyond foolish

Better to cut off your

right arm

---

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He left 

He left behind his broken wife and his scared son

He left

He left us cold, all alone with no one 

He left

The vows, they meant nothing 

The promises, broken 

I just wish we meant something 

More than just empty words spoken 

I cried for days at a time 

My young son wiped every tear 

Leaving us was a crime 

And now, it's been 1 year 

An...

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I touch your cheek,

I'm surprised, it's cold.

I reach for your hand

for I need it to hold.

I look upon your face

that beamed and sparkled

as we loved and laughed,

wrestled and tickled.

Your face is so pallid,

the sparkle is gone,

no more to smile

at the hot summer sun.

Your hair neatly tended,

you lie there so still

as I try, with memories,

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There was a man I knew,

not too close, not too far,

as a child he was there

to tend to my scars.

A man with a past,

of that I had no doubt,

a man, when provoked,

who knew how to shout.

A happy man

with a smile for all,

he'd always be there to

pick me up when I'd fall.

And though never far away,

we were never very close,

a sign of those times

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What strange gravities compel you?
Which strong seasons
manipulate the focus of your mind?
What forces are at work
governing your silences and interactions?
What are the properties of magnetic north
that keep you so firmly held there?

Which habits formed into crippling routine
Which once-cradled ambitions did you let burn away?
What hope, was it you had, for all of what you started
whe...

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