We can't all be merry at Christmas

For some folk a smile just won't last

They bravely play on, into injury time

Dodging ghosts of Christmases past

Merry Christmas to all Write Out Louders, have the best of times you can.

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In winter, trees undress slowly, discretely

Allowing their leaves, to subtly reveal new colour

Growing darker, shrivelling, shrinking

Until, when they can hold on no longer

They fall, carving a slow path through the air

Drifting, making patterns. Which joining,

become one design of early winter shades

Settling on the earth, a natural carpet

Branches are left star...

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At midday, a man,

Tall in stature, noble of bearing

Made his way into the village Inn

He wore a coat decorated

With feathers and patches

Took a seat by the fire

and asked for bread and water

He had no money

But said that he would tell a story

At first the company laughed

At his suggestion

Until, he raised his head

Turned his dark and

Bewitching eyes u...

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Late Knight Shopping

When the gallant, valiantly

Do battle with the crowds

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The moon at Halloween

In adolescent phase

Filled out a little

Tilting back on its heels

Draped with pale grey

Cobwebs of clouds

On a sky of light pumpkin

Shining down, with a secret grin

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The immaculate hearse

Noses its way forward

To meet the crowds

Within its protection

A coffin fashioned of English oak

Draped with the Royal Standard,

The noonday sun and sadness

This would be the final journey

One of committal; for our Queen

Deeply loved, honoured and respected

The route lined with loyal subjects

Their faces lined with tears

He...

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At the beginning you were all that I wanted

Charming, innocent, self-effacing

Each phrase chosen with such thought and care

Each word immaculately turned out

Precisely placed upon the page

Every stanza neatly stacked, in logical order

I was seduced by your beauty

You drew me in to your world of words

Controlled me with language

Dazzled me with rhetoric and hyperbole

...

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# Upside

The river is up

Fresh in the morning air

Skies are vast, open

Clear, cloud-free, azure, stunning

Boats rest gently, nudging against the water

Masts, pert in the sunshine

Cast long reflections

Reaching out into forever

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Summer Rain

When the much prayed for summer rain falls

It is scant and meanly given

A few fine drops, sprinkled from the skies

Last longer on the window pane

Than they do on the ground

The earth can only crack

And turn to fine powder

In reply

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There came a day

When the world grew weary

When the sands of time

Were finally running out

The sun had lost its sparkle

Could no longer rise in the morning and shine

But hid behind the clouds

Which had themselves

Become dull, grey and sad

Groups of people had protested

For many years about many things

Each one of them, hoping to change the world

Until they too, ...

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The morning light is bright, expectant

Footsteps echo, voices are soft

Riverside homes wait quietly

Behind pots of vibrant summer flowers

Banks of grey mud, gleam

Reflecting silvered sunshine

A woodland underworld opens

Inviting the traveller into its kingdom

To shelter beneath a leafy tree-made bower

Sharp noonday sun filters through

A moving cover of green

D...

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Sky

Vast oceanic presence

You reign above us

Magnificent

An ever-changing canopy of colour

Humbling

Choreographer of clouds

Inspiring

Transmitter of rain

Awesome

Carrier of weather

And wearer of rainbows

You are the queen

Who governs our days

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Hope

Hope is the thing which tethers

Anchors us in a disintegrating world

When we are lost in the darkness

And all has turned to ashes
It rises like dust and smoke

From smouldering remains

It grows from the kindness

And friendship of strangers

The hand held out across

An insurmountable distance

The force that drives us forwards

Into a future that maybe u...

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The night time air grows still, chilled

The sun now well below the horizon

Children lie snugly in tidy beds and cots

Quiet, slumbering from a day of work and play

Grown-ups nod in the firelight’s glow

A ginger cat toasts his whiskers

Draped across the hearth

Like a discarded feather boa

Outside the black tom cat

Spits at a lone rust-coated fox

Who prowls its...

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On the day of the April full moon

Named for the moss pink flower

As the night lengthens

The moon’s glow will grow stronger

The sky will fill with brightness

Drenching the earth with light

Heralding the coming of spring

Moving the seasons onwards

Harmonising the earth

With the phases of the moon

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Bitter April Winds

That winter

While the West

Waged a War against Covid

The East prepared

For a War against its neighbours

The wind was bitter that spring

Chilling, cutting like a scythe

Across cold, hard land

Carrying a message, a warning

Which arrived too late

The wind became a force

Which brought anger

Violence, greed and hatred

It was cruel, inhumane

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Will you be the ferryman?

Will you take the helm?

Will you steer the cautious?

To an unknown land

When the sea grows wild

When a harsh wind roars

When the boat is rocking

Will you take the oars?

When a fragile cargo

Fearful of their journey

Grows both tired and weary

Will you give them cheer?

On that final journey

When alone I stand

Will you...

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Stay With Me

Stay with me in the dark hours

When the world grows still

Be at my side

When there is only silence

Take my hand

When I feel lonely and lost

Steer me towards the light

Lead me home

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The western world watches

With a heavy heart

While Ukraine grows weary

With an unwanted war

We wait and wish for peace

For freedom for all

Send what we can

We stand with Ukraine

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The Bitter Night of the Soul

A large full moon

Bathes the earth

Giving shape to fields and hedges

Defining roads and buildings

All is closing for the night

Growing still, quiet in the darkness

There are no fierce flashes of light

There are no sudden explosions

People do not run, in fear

Children are not crying

Calling for their mothers

In the churchyard

Of a...

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The Wild Winds of Spring

That spring

A wild wind blew

Which stirred the land

Shaking the trees until

Twigs and branches

Rained upon the ground

Crisp dry leaves were lifted

High into the air

Where they danced or fell

To skitter crabwise

Across pavements

Then hid in doorways

For shelter

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The Night of the Flaming Beacons

We could see the flames

From our carriage on the road

Huge beacons blazed

Drenching the driveway with light

A crumbling, neglected mansion

Slowly flickering back to life

Clutching large capes

Peering out

From our masks

We walked forward

Uncertainly, cautiously

Ascending crumbling steps

Passing through a massive da...

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In a quiet corner of London

Behind St. Bartholomew Square

Just beyond the reaches of theatreland

Where the curious still come to peruse

You will find Curlington Mews

It’s now only rarely frequented

Is small and known to but few

Out of view, shrouded in shadows

Where the lamplight tends to diffuse

Is number 3 Curlington Mews

Its owner, she was quite a beauty

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February..

February leads the spring

Pulling sharp spears of green 

Clear of the vestiges of winter

Leaving behind decaying remnants

Wreaths of pale dried grasses

Which drape and skirt hedgerows

Edge the trunks of mature trees

Gather damply in shady field corners

The dark months give way

To growth and renewal

February takes the season forwa...

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Once upon a time

There was an ordinary woman

Who lived an ordinary life

She married, had a family

Was a quiet, compliant wife

Then, quite suddenly, her husband

Of many years, grew ill and died

It was a time of shock and sadness

But she was brave and strong

Struggling on, in life’s injury time

A friend, a mum a grandma

All was well, until she changed, bec...

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Winter sunrise, at dawn emerging

Paints the sky azure and rose

Behind the mist with mellow softness

Morning daylight spreads and grows

Through a day that’s full and busy

In hedge and field, tree and sky

Nature toils and works its magic

Doing more than man might try

Close to dusk a new moon rises

While the sun drops out of sight

Birdsong quietens, roosting beckons

A...

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You grow so cleverly

In the damp winter air

Elegantly dressing logs, branches and twigs

In sleeves of deep verdant green

Fashioned of velvet, so soft and comely

Only to be casually abandoned

Scattered across the woodland floor

Left alone, to glow then fade

 As might discarded accessories,

of the most sartorial

Who would wear only garments

Created and fitted b...

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The Turbulent Sea

It began when the moon

Poured its light onto a still ocean

Stirring the waves

Commanding they rush to the shore

Pushing and tumbling over stones

Drenching the shingle, the beach

Coating and soaking every coarse grain of sand

Then suddenly, pulling sharply backwards,

Dragging all beneath the bubbling, frothing waters

Turning, twisting, tumbling

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Winter

Winter mornings

wake silvered white

Lawns are slivers

of spiked grass

Frosted opaque windows

Ice coated pavements

Feet stamp,

sliver and slide

Frozen ponds are

panes of glass

Icicles hang dagger-like,

then drip in the thaw

Cars stall, trains halt 

Buses are snowed in

Winter, when sometimes

Everything stops

And time sta...

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Silence

When the day has grown still

And the sun slowly dipped

below the horizon

Darkness can then descend

To lay a blanket across the night

Silence settles softly upon the day

Falling with the lightness of snow

Filling the gaps in conversation

Bringing its own peace to the world

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Nostalgia

Nostalgia is:

Lingering in a warm bath of memories

Feeling the past slowly trickle back into the soul

Arriving at a place inhabited by those,

Whom fate has decreed, to have become strangers

Revisiting what is normally out of time, out of reach

Luxuriating in the nearness and warmth of remembered love  

Nostalgia is family, wrapped in soft shades of familiari...

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The Wolf Moon was up, the skies clear and chilled

Deep in the woods that January night

There was snow on the ground and spirits abroad

Low down in the vegetation, pairs of eyes looked out, glowing

A gaunt figure moved forward, his dark cape billowing out

Tall trees parted their bare branches to allow his passage

Underfoot, twigs snapped and leaves crackled as he walked

Nearing...

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Skies wear warm pastels

Pinks, blues, shot through with honey

Pale grey clouds drift by

The colours carry promise

Hope for the New Year

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The spirit of Christmas descends with a whisper

Unnoticed by shoppers and revellers

To sprinkle a little of its magic dust

Which settles into the spaces left between

Food piled in kitchens; parcels tucked under trees

Deflated decorations; precious hopes and dreams

On Christmas Eve children in pyjamas, wait longingly

Peering through bedroom windows

Hoping to glimpse Sa...

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The Midwinter Solstice

Meets with the year

At its darkest

When ready to turn 

Towards the light

Dawn rises, bringing

Colours with the promise of summer

Luscious scarlet strawberries

Plump purple blackberries

Coated with snow white cream

Drizzled with burnished honey

In the dark days of winter

Beside the warm hearth

The air fills with memories

Sta...

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Midwinter Mistletoe

Pollinated by the generous Mistle Thrush

A seed germinating in the bark, waits a year long

For pale green, tender young shoots to appear

Forceful evergreen twigs, with fleshy stems

Weave a dense, tangled, peridot sphere

Vigorous leaves decorated with berries

As fine as waxy white pearls

Branches onc...

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The Woods in Midwinter

December, the darkest of winter months

Cold air bites, as the Midwinter Solstice approaches

From the North, a wild Arctic wind, howls through the trees

Their skeletal limbs now made bare, of any late, lingering leaves

Shaking to the ground; twigs, acorns and fragile nests

The night sky is clear, lighting a path through the woods

Stars shine down, th...

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The winter day dawns cold, dark and wet

A low mist blankets the fields

There is little to tempt the sleepy

From their snug beds

Into this unwelcoming, inclement world

Around the house stalks an angry wind

Which roars and howls as it journeys

Ripping, raging and pounding

Mournfully sighing; while an insistent

Rain lashes wildly, at window panes

Beating against ca...

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The Wise Oak

A tender acorn

Embedded into the ground

To grow through the years

The young sturdy oak

Giver of shelter, life, air

A refuge and home

Crowning the forest

Most knowing of the ancients

I celebrate you

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Each shower of autumn leaves

cast softly down

Is a memory of the warmth

left behind

By a forgotten summer day

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Within the attics of an old tower

Built of ancient bricks

Coated in strands of fibrous ivy

Set deep within the forest

Away from the eyes of mankind

Is a room of the palest marble

Where a young woman

Dressed in a green velvet gown

Sits close to a window and sighs

The room is lined with fragile books,

Silken fabrics and precious memories

Many years have passed b...

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Shift

There is a time

When the air comes alive

Filled with a charge, an energy

A startling newness

It is this that electrifies

And drives us forwards

To make progress, to grow again

Then we know that the time has come

For change and to move on

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Haunted by Passchendaele

In France, at the height of the horror

He had taken two days to climb out of a shell-hole

Leaving his former self, lying in the mud

To return home a mere shadow

Wearing his clothes as a costume

As he masqueraded through what remained of his life

On the 11th November I always remember my Great Uncle Frederick, who died on the battlefield in 1916, my Gre...

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Deep in the forest

Silent of traffic, hidden from life

Where the light is soft and misty

The ground thick with layers of the past

Cobwebs, jewelled with dew, glisten

Caught in the early morning sunlight

Creatures move slowly through the undergrowth

All part of an ever-changing world

Groups of ancient trees, stand tall, stately

Their bark, thickly coated with m...

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All Hallows’ Eve

On All Hallows’ Eve

When the bewitching hour falls

And darkness descends

From out of the shadows

Something slowly stirs

The slightest movement, flicker, twitch

Seen from the corner of your eye

Shapes emerging, cloaked in mystery

Gliding along ancient pathways

Gaunt, swaying spectres

Shrouded in mist

Carrying their stories and sadness

The...

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Ascending

Following a time of quiet

Sweet music was heard

Filling the air

So that once heavy hearts

Were lifted again

Ready to rise up, leaving

The old world behind

Turning away from the past

Sailing through the air

Meeting the moon and the stars

To then become part of a new world

For completion

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September carries with it

The last hopes of summer

Sharing out its meagre heat

Allowing colourful blooms

A final late flowering

Then, when it can continue no more

A chill descends, lamps are lit early

Fires glow in the hearth

And we retreat indoors once more

Peering out, missing summer days, when

Soft fragrant blossoms cheered us

Fruit grew plump on the stem or vin...

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As evening draws its curtain across the sky

Darkness settles softly upon the streets

When all has grown quiet

A lone figure travels abroad

Fear; the most unwelcome of companions

Follows closely behind women

As they journey alone

While hastening towards home

To safety, security and comfort

They must remain ever mindful and alert

Listening, attentive, watchful

For s...

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After the Rain

The autumn air is filled with dampness

In the woods, the ground is wet underfoot

Leaves hang low with the weight of raindrops, from

Bedraggled branches, shaken by the overnight storm

Dew drops, drip slowly from each leaf

Hedgerows wear a lattice of tangled vines

Twigs lie broken, scattered upon the ground

Ditches burst forth with cloudy brackish wa...

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The Box of Letters

Pale blue airmail letters

Fragile, folded

Ink now faded

Written in a child's hand

Messages of love

Sent across the seas

To a father

Many miles away

Missed every day

Longed for at Home

Sadly, now on that final voyage

Still loved, still missed

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