There's a breed that won't get New Year bonhomie from me

The culpable controlling Chinese Government Commie!

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So...here we are on Christmas Eve

Another year almost done

Time to reflect on what we believe....

That affects us --everyone.

A hush will come as this day wanes

And our lives are sent to rest

Time to weigh up loss and gains

The worst against the best.

But one thing shines out above all

And enables us to cope -

When times seem set to see us fall

And that, ...

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There's something about Christmas few men will be knocking - 

That young eye-opening discovery of a well filled silk stocking!   :

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Lift up your voice, let all rejoice

And make a joyful sound

Cast off the care that we must bear

When Christmas comes around

Look to your hearts, that's where love starts,

Where life itself begins

And you shall know that faith will show

Forgiveness for your sins.

Look to His Truth, in age and youth

Salvation shall be found

As One they stand before His Hand

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Perhaps even more relevant now, with Covid meeting Christmas again.

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How fitting now in deep December

When days are short and life is low

That in our hearts we will remember

Those we knew who had to go.

Christmas hours are briefly bright

Their spark is spent i...

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The recorded song version can be heard under "audio" on my profile page.

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At home all alone

So sad on my own

I was wondering how things were so wrong

When your face filled my mind

Loving eyes to remind me

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The beating heart of Christmas is its spirit of give and take

When goodwill and generosity come together to make

The effort to see the thoughts behind another point of view

And refrain from condemnation before thinking that act through.

The greeting "Merry Christmas" resonates in so many ways

Somehow warmer and more comforting than "Happy Holidays".

So let us all remember what th...

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At home the Christmas snow is falling

I see it clear so far away

I hear the happy voices calling

See the children at their play.

Every Yuletide brings its reason

To celebrate old ways before

Family gathered for the Season

Friends and neighbours at the door.

Whatever in my life forsakes me

Wherever in the world I go

I bless this heart that always takes me

...

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Fool yourself if you must

By calling it love

When it's really lust

It may be filling while it lasts

Like a banquet

To a hungry soul who fasts

But here's a thought -

No...make that a question:.

Why do both bring acid indigestion?

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Quoting other folk's stuff may be termed "lazy work" but here's one example - a "for sale" ad. - offered with its welcome miitigation of wry humour..

"Complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica, 45 volumes.  Excellent condition, £200 or best offer.

No longer needed, got married, wife knows everything.".

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I had the invitation to a booster injection

As one of those oldies who warrant selection.

To my delight it was listed to be given close by

Albeit a shade too far to walk (or even try!)

So I decided to invest in a business which

Would see me arrive there without a hitch

To hell with the expense - I booked a cab

To take me in style to my booster jab.

And it certainly did that...

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Policing London was never a job for the remotely faint hearted

Certainly not in those swinging sixties days when yours truly started.

Posted to the docklands and the Limehouse of old Chinatown

Where staff would swarm like howling bees to bring a welshing diner down,

And known villains slid by in their favoured MarkTwo shiny Jags

Never visibly short of a bob or two but never generous...

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There's something about a November morning

A struggle twixt darkness and the dawning,

And when the Eleventh Day comes around

That feeling seems even more profound.

We lucky souls can lie warm in bed

While others before us lie cold and dead

In distant foreign plots of earth

Far from the soil that saw their birth.

Deprived of the future their hopes reserved,

Deni...

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Greta Thunberg: is that "Gretta" or "Greeter" ?

Such a shame she couldn't seem sweeter.

It would surely add to her media power

If she could look a little less sour!.

As for me I wonder about other things...

Like the cost of her travels and who pulls her strings?

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I find myself living in an infantile age,

With its petulant posturing and childish rage,

That rational reasoning seems pressed to assuage,

And common sense unable to engage.

In today's hothouse of hyperbole and hoke

It's just as well logic can take a joke.

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Pray tell me who here is the victim....

The one who is heard shouting out - .

Or the one who is said to have kicked him

Unable to abide the corrosive uttered doubt?

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O England, my England, where have you gone?

Where is that land I once looked upon

When I was a laughing lad living the dream

Born of a time and a people who seem

Sad spectres calling vainly but their voices are lost

In a England so different and gone now at such cost.

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(With feeling)

I shan't fall in love again

You won't find me like other men....

Foolish fancies from the start

Careless with this caring heart

I'll never smile again and say

I'm yours forever come what may

A stronger man is what I'll be

There'll be a wiser change in me

Love may lead other men on a merry dance

But I'll tell you now that there's just no chance

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When did  you last see reports about the effects of the sun?

Ot its proclivity for uncontrollable activity (so far I've seen none!);

When did you last see reports about far-off solar flares

That might impart knowledge about closer climate cares?

When did you last see reports about the existence of sun spots -

Far away formidable influences that tend to transmit lots

Of violent up...

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The tragedy of Sarah Everard's death obtained huge MSM coverage and comment, much of it critical

and aimed at the police.  But where was this post-sentence observation attributed to the presiding  

judge, Lord Justice Fulford?  .

"This has been the most impressive police investigation that I have witnessed in the 30 years I have 

been sitting as a part-time and full-time judge.  The sp...

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Briitain today seems like a well,

Its content corrupted and polluted,

Marked by a rancid criminal smell -

In greed and weakness foully rooted.

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NOTE:  Thr following was written prior to the report that Sarah Everard's murderer received a whole-life

term.  My idea of proper retribution/justice...IF it stands.

Some thoughts on a social aberration that continues to haunt society.

Every generation faces the same old conumdrum: how to control the human predators that seek to prey

upon the innocent and vulnerable.  Today, we like to...

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"Comments are disabled for this page"

Can put all poets in a rage.

I adapted this from a long-ago day

Since it matches what I want to say.

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There's this to say for getting old:

You take more care against the cold

And value each new day.

And this to say for getting old:

You want to keep and not to scold

The children at their play.

And this to say for getting old:

It's always welcome to be told

To take a seat and stay.

And this to say for getting old:

You may not be so brash and bold,

But ...

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Does morbidity drag you down? :.

Does hypochondria make you sick?

Health is mainly a DIY thing -

Starting young can do the trick.

Lay the groundwork early

Foundations of fitness set

Withstand the sresses of later years

So...on your marks...get set!!

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An election commitment has been binned,

With higher tax the Tories are twinned;

Financially we've just been chinned,- 

A Boris promise just a fart in the wind!

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The subject matter seemed beyond a poem but rather more suited to prose...hence the following.

The situation in Afghanistan engenders a certain sense of irony in yours truly, for the process and the recent outcome.

Both America and the UK were prime participants and somehow the lessons of history seems to have passed

them by in their dealings with that country and its inhabitants.

Cent...

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I sometimes wonder on Double U-O-L

If happiness is shot to hell!

So much dispiriting doom and gloom,

Finding its way into the room

That offers a welcome open door

To join a party hard to ignore.

Bring your bottle of bubbly stuff -

Of good things we can't get enough;

Vintage or new, come...spread the cheer,

Smiling, you'll find us waiting here!

When maudlin dawdling is...

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I admit I speak from a certain age

In an era when exercise is all the rage -

But having had my share in the past

I seem to have done enough to last;.

Keen to lay the foundation provided

When youth and energy coincided,

Working to keep the body healthy

Without seeing multi-gyms get wealthy.

Now the years have accumulated

I view exercise as over-rated,

Preferring instea...

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It seems today's meaning of freedom

Now equates with selfish "me...me-dom".

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The twits that are witnessed on Twitter

Are so often twisted and bitter.

Such a pity those eejits

Masquerading as half-wits

Aren't just a mite mentally fitter!

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In modern times, again and again,

Different days and different men

Are brought to life to answer crimes

That were not crimes in other times;

Egregious though they're seen today,

Back then that view did not hold sway.

Widely practiced, this evil knavery

Now justly reviled worldwide as slavery

Was commerce created in human form....

Trafficking humanity was the "norm"

Th...

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Just when I think I'm getting somwhere,

Getting somewhere with you;.

Just when I feel I'm floating on air

Up in the shiny blue -

Suddenly you let me have what-for:

Baby, you slam my door!

Just when I think I'm getting real close,

Getting real close to you;

Just when I think I'm there and you're here

In a sweet meeting place for two -

Suddenly I find I'm flat on t...

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A few words from an incisive intellect from the past to put the recent Euro Cup Final failure to bed.

"The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us."

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The ongoing situation of Covid-19 and its much-discussed effect on our freedom has me referring to a record

I kept of political restrictions on our lives in the recent past.  How about these as a reminder of how they can

appear and mount up over time - for reasons that are often worryingly spurious and populist in origin.

Firearm certificate holders banned.

Fox hunting traditions outla...

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I know that it always hurts

When I think of you;

And I know for sure it always will

Every time I do.

The memory of what we had

Just won't go away,

And knowing that it turned out bad

Darkens each new day.

I see that when we said goodbye

Something in me died.

You seemed to be so very sure

When you said I lied.

It wasn't just the words you used

To...

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Whilst acknowledging and applauding the team effort that saw England reach the final of the Euro Cup,

the repeated failure of penalty takers to capitalise on success deserves comment, not least when

considering the following backstory in the beautiful game here in England..

Seventy years ago, Charlie Mitten of Manchester United was famous for his ability to score these spot kicks.

And ...

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Growing old alone 

Has benefits to own.

No need for reassuring

(The very idea is boring!);

Company is at best

An interruption of rest

No need for noisy chatter

From mouths that do not matter;

No reminders in another's face

That time is moving on apace.

And when time makes its concession

To the Reaper taking possession

Better a detached but caring voice

Would ...

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Calling someone a half-wit can seem misguided at best;

To understand the reason there is this simple test:

Consider the reality that stares you in the face -

That applying the appellation presumes WIT to be in place!.

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So many seem to go to pot

(Do I mean drugs?  No, I do not!)

Too much of a bad thing comes to mind

Just look around and you'll soon find

The evidence is all around

Ounce for ounce...pound for pound.

Leviathans loom large in life today

Sashaying their substantial way

The visible proof that a junk food diet

Is only OK if you DON'T try it.

A little of what you fancy may b...

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When the fire within me dies

And my spirit soars beyond the skies

I shall need neither ears nor eyes

To meet and greet the waiting prize.

This much I know - this much is plain

That I shall be but born again

To take my place in the timeless train

Of Creation's own eternal chain.

So save your tears - your sad goodbyes

For this severing of familiar ties

Be comf...

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Slavery equates with knavery -

Who today would argue with that?

Evil is as evil does...

And wears its evil hat.

But every buyer needs a seller...

Market forces in the murk;...

About who was buying and who was selling

Sees one-way forces at work.

Across the world and throughout time

The two have conspired as one,

Without their cruel complicity

The deed cou...

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Fancy a flight that sees your hair

Stand on end - try Ryanair!

You take a chance on getting where

You bought a ticket to get there.

Wherever that place "there" might be

You may get an extra flight for free

To some dire place you did not choose -

Fancy a stop at benighted Belarus?

Where they drag opponents from a plane

In defiance of diplomacy and don't refrain

From wa...

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Carp and criticise if you must

But I'd prefer you to be robust'

Fight your corner, stand your ground,

In for a penny, in for a pound.

Raise your sights and take your aim

At this modern myth of "We're all to blame".

Pull the trigger and fire your shots

At those who have lots and ignore the have-nots.

Let your righteous bullets kick up the dust

And remind them of the word ...

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For my brother 30.01.1937 - 13.05.2021

No one lives forever - today that's been brought home to me,

And never send to know for whom the bell tolls - it tolls for thee, you see.

No recent answer to the telephone and emails that were ignored...

The mind conjured up its reasons - perhaps he just got bored

With the expectations that went with the thought.: Reply you idle man!

You're ...

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I note the frequent mention of  "diverse"

But I'll keep my misgivings terse;

On its divergence from unity

Imparted with impunity

With no regard to the term "reimburse".

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While reading about Gilbert & Sullivan's comic opera "The Pirates of Penzance" I was intrigued to find 

information about the subject of piracy in general, not least the slave-taking activities of the infamous 

Barbary Coast pirate mob from North Africa, essentially based in the ports of Tunis, Algiers andTripoli. 

Throughout the 17th century and beyond, they marauded around the seas. Sai...

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You learn something every day, it seems, and a word previously unknown to me - coined by an American

philosopher - entered my existence the other day, chiming with much of what I note around me these days.

That word is "emotivism".  It describes a state of mind that views things when a need or wish to see them a

certain way takes precedence of fact.  The personal moral choice of what an i...

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I've long been in love with my bed!

You might say I'm easily led,

But it's a lifelong affair

That both of us share,

And we remain happily wed.

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After World War Two in a ration-ridden rubble strewn land

The baby-boomers arppeared and quickly made their stand..

With a parental generation that had shown the world the best,

They in turn showed their intention to be up to the crucial  test

To drag this nation up by its bootstraps to prosper once again

And see a land that was on its knees stand on its feet and obtain

A future ...

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Does it help to be a woman?

Or bring awareness if you're black?

Just be wise and make the most of both

The world has got your back!  

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Here it is, at last - the novel for the age.  From the home of great life-changing social literary masterpeices

that stand the test of time, In the footsteps of the likes of "Persuasion", "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility", its publishers are proud to present the great novel for today -

GUILT AND GULLIBILITY by Morris Oxford

A nail-biter from start to finish - The Turns Lit...

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Be still, this heart, this  breath, this mind,

Be still and leave all grief behind.

Be still beyond this mortal air,

Be still in God's immortal care.

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Racist ! some would say of me,

For the English and England are all to me.

Roots of centuries in the blood

From English seed and English bud.

To both of these I stay steadfast,

My present formed by ages past.

Let others be what they must be -

Secure in their identity.

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A poet is a composer, orchestrator and arranger,

Performer and promoter who knows creative danger;

Solo artist on the page and on the platform too,

The poet sings out loud and proud

And needs no back-up crew!.

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I am a potted plant

I need a lot of pot

To help me thrive

And stay alive

Pot support is what I've got.

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The April page of my annual Foot and Mouth Painters Society calendar display the words -

"You do not find the happy life.  You make it".  For me, an appropriate consideration as Easter arrives.

Surely food for thought at this and every other time in our lives, not least when there is so much retreating

into excuse and its companion - justification for failure   Has there been any other er...

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I'm on what's called an agenda bender -

I head unasked to join the action;

I'll be your ready and able attender

At any display of dissatisfaction

The media are fans of fakery

They're ready to make up stories

They'd see meat in a bakery!

(And they love to blame the Tories).

I watch the daily mainstream news

For the expected biased depiction

Of who did what - ...

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I find myself pondering whether there's any cure

For the poet who persists in being obscure?

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I confess to a morbid curiosity about what is judged to require "moderating" by those employed at WOL for 

the job, not least because I've had that experience myself.  Perhaps there could be an X-cert. WOL archive

of moderated entries, obtainable via a password and age-verification indicating maturity of outlook and  

resistance to taking offence?  That would surely provide much material ...

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I think I'd rather be six feet in the ground

Than put up with a poem trying hard to be profound.

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I'm so grateful for the white brilliance

That emerges day upon day;

Creative in it radiance,

Illuminating our way.

I rejoice in its recurring presence

That sheds an embracing glow

To benefit existence,

As on through life we go.

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The following is the lyric of my song of the same title - posted for today and every other such day.

Blessed are those who are born of this land,

Happy are they who can hold fast its hand,

Who can pull up a chair

And bid goodbye to care;

We won't  ask what you're thinking

When we ask what you're drinking.

Lucky are those who share this old bond,

Eager are they who come...

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A well-received recent birthday gift was a collection of poems chosen by Clive James in a book of the above

title.  The author was signing off on a distinguished career that managed a perfect balance of literary

intellect and wry humour that made (and makes) his writing so appealing.  The book also contains comments

about each poem selected by him plus advice on giving public performances...

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Did you know poor Sarah Everard? You didn't?  No, nor did I.

But no worries, let's go graze on Clapham Common and have a collective cry.

There's sure to be many others willing to ignore Covid pleas

Who'll turn up just like us and be dismissive about disease..

Oh, I know that grief's a private thing and somehow I suspect

There will be a lot of unmasked others careless who they infect

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Life is the party which everyone eventually gets to leave to go home.

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Hope is the power that drives us on

When despair descends to dwell upon

Our days to bring pain into life,

Each cut as sharp as a butcher's knife

Hope is the force that sees us fight

Our way from darkness to the light.

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A slave to time, Colston set old Bristol up,

Now new Bristol has torn him down;

Displacing history in righteous rage

They dragged him off to drown. 

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Throughout life I worked for my pay

To please I often went out of my way

If I disagreed I let others have their say

And was fair to females. come what may

Rarely ever saying nay

Always ensuring sleeping dogs lay

So that happy times would stay

So, now I propose (ladies, if that's OK?)

We celebrate "Long-suffering Men's Day"

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There's something about recycling

That provides a rich reward;

Washing out those bottles and tins

And slicing up cardboard.

Peeling off the plastic bag

From its council-issue provision

And filling it with content

That demands domestic precision.

Sometimes one - or two tied  together

Get carried down to the street

To wait like weekly offerings

To the detritus deity ...

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No matter what you seek to say

Your eyes always give you away.

No matter how you play your role

Your eyes are the window to your soul.

Maybe you should avoid my gaze

When you involve me in your plays

Of make-believe and innocence -

In shadow-sway of sweet pretence.

Even when you lower your lashes

I seem to see those deceitful flashes;

So now sense says that we should ...

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A modern trend that plays fast and loose

Is the ready way people find excuse

For actions and attitudes than can hurt

Mind and body and serve to divert

Attention from the need to prevent

The sort of scourge that life can present

To inflict disease and death in its path

Like some vicious vengeful form of wrath...

Payback for all the vain pretences

That pretend deeds have n...

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Nigel Farage

Endured a hate-filled barrage

From those who sought his exit

But instead got Brexit.

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Reg Dwight

Thought his name wasn't right

And decided upon

The name Elton John

...................................................

Elton John

Has been and gone

Like a moth that's pinned

Or a candle in the wind

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Comment allowed - if you agree to agree

I'll do you proud if you suck up to me;

But if you take a different or questioning view

Then it's comment deleted - and goodbye to you!

...............................................................................

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These lines were seen as a comment elsewhere - and duly acknowledged for their relevance in life.

Hard times create strong men,

Strong men create easy times.

Easy times create weak men,

Weak men create hard times,

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Tracey Emin

Was the guilty 'fem' in

That unmade bed

Where true art lay dead

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Morecambe and Wise

Appeared average size

But when appearing on TV

Were as big as could be

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David Croft and Jimmy Perry

Created their version of Tommy and Jerry

The BBC bosses thought them barmy

But the viewers knew better and loved "Dad's Army"

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Donald J.Trump

Gave Democrats the hump

Now they seek retribution

By misusing the Constitution.

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President Joe Biden

Seems on course to widen

The deep division in the community

Whilst espousing unity.

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It;s been this way right from the start - 

This distance that keeps us apart;

But it's still about giving

To make sure you keep living

And retain your place in my heart.

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I'll never fall in love again

You won't find me like other men

A hopeless sucker from the start 

When it comes to affairs of the heart

The same old story since lord knows when.

I'll never smile again and say

I'm yours forever and a day

A stronger man is what I'll be

There'll be a complete change in me

I'm headed another way.

Love may lead other men on a danc...

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Life can be full of surprises and today I was the recipient of one such example via an email from a

lady in South Devon who was using "lockdown" to clear out stuff.  In the process she says she found 

a poem I had left pinned to a post at the entrance to a coast walk near her home in Kingswear.  She had 

copied it and had just re-discovered it.  That pleased her enough to "Google" me and ...

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Equality is an invented word

An idea of life that is preferred -

But how to make the word a fact

Takes more than presumption to enact

In day to day or year to year,

Its fallacy is frighteningly clear.

Questions asked about how to obtain it

Go unanswered  - for there's no way gain it.

Am I equal to an Einstein in intellect?

Or a Soros or Bezos - to any effect 

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The title recalls words from UK P.M Harold MacMillan when asked about what could affect political aims.  

......................................

Come January the twentieth it's unlikely we'll see

A United America singing "A Biden with Me"!

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Hurrah - let's welcome January the First

If nothing else - it's not the worst

Of New Year Days that's ever been

Looking back at what this world has seen.

Twenty twenty saw lots of plenty

But not the sort the cognoscenti

Of healthy living would have chosen -

An invader that lingered as if frozen

In time that seemed interminable

To become something abominable

...

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