Stand amongst mountains where the wind is in song

Close to the heavens where we all belong.

Stand amongst mountains where the air’s always fine

Close to the streams that taste like wine.

Stand amongst mountains mighty and pure

Solid and firm reaching high into azure.

Stand amongst mountains where day is first to break

Close to the bastions which day is last to f...

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Be sure to catch and savour

The dusk after a long fine day,

When the last glow of twilight

Seems to linger forever.

After the sun has set leaving the dim embers

Of a dying day,

When the magic of twilight

Seems to last forever.

Only a few times a year

From late May to early July,

Does the magic of twilight

Seem to go on forever.

The first bats swoo...

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There is a forest I do not like

You may not like it either

A forest far larger than any other.

No trick of words or meaning is employed here

It’s a real forest made of real trees

It has more trees than any other single forest.

A forest that stretches beyond every horizon

Vast is its cloak, prolific in the extreme

A forest unplanned, uncultivated, growing unchecked...

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The Snowflake Poem

A form of infinite beauty

A creation unlike any other,

Every crystal a masterpiece

Of design never to be repeated,

Crafted in the greatest architecture

But so transiently and fleetingly seen.

One flake of individual beauty

Made to melt and be lost forever,

Every frosted fern just gone

With no trace left behind,

One of nature’s greatest ...

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The heat of a British Summer

That never is

We wait through lengthening days

Wondering what happened to Spring

As the rain and wind still blows.

The height of a British Summer

Comes and goes

The longest day passes

And St Swithin’s Reign begins

As the rain and wind still blows.

The hope of a British Summer

That never comes

Nights draw in and Autumn looms

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I passed by a lych gate today

An entrance to a calm oasis in which to stay,

Beyond in shade of ancient yews

Are stones with names no longer making news.

I passed within the lych gate’s sway

A two way portal, threshold twixt heaven and life,

Shaded by the holly bough in day

And guarded by the hawthorn bush at night.

Through the lych gate lies a garden

Carpeted w...

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There is a love that goes unimagined

Running deep within the spirit,

One that doesn’t show every thought

Nor the fleeting gestures that it might merit.

Yet it is so true and strong unimagined

Weaving strands of diamond thread,

One that isn’t always on display

But yet is saluted in the very stars instead.

It will be there in worlds unimagined

Outshining all thin...

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Time, from beginning to end is long

But the time in between is short.

A day, from dawn to dusk is long

But the moments in between are precious.

A walk, from beginning to end is long

But the joy in between is forever.

The distance, to the horizon is long

But the space in between is wide.

A life, full of learning is long

But the fulfilme...

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Love is many things,

But not an extract or a selection.

Love is complete.

Love is belief and trust,

Not demanding and expecting.

Love is total.

Love is making people happy,

Not seeking happiness.

Love is consuming.

Love is compassion and forgiveness,

Not deference, submission and duty.

Love is unconditional.

Love is benevol...

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Holly berry and mistletoe on the vine

Prompt me to render this rhyme,

Of merry greetings that come to mind

Written out line by line.

The short cold days are the sign

That once more its Christmas time,

So get ready with a toast of ale or wine

To celebrate Old Lang Syne.

Let all that’s best and good combine

As glittering stars and fairy lights shine...

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Pennines, bleak and cold,

Scarps of grit stone, grim and bold,

Harbouring bog moors, remote and forlorn,

Cauldron, where grey winds are born.

See the falling rain curtain close behind the crag,

See the steaming cloud veil cover the hills in clag,

See the drifting hail column sweep across the lake,

See the swirling snow storm of the vale forsake.

With ...

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If we look down at the ground,

We can see for a distance of a metre or so.

If we look out to the horizon,

We can see for a few score miles.

But if we look upwards to the sky

We can see into infinity!!

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He leads where all men should fear to tread

Where only cattle and sheep have gone before,

He takes us through the deepest nettlebed

Where midges, flies and wasps do soar.

The Ribble muds and mires he knows as home

He hops and sails over every tussock,

No catching him stuck in any soft deep loam

Or sinking down right over his fetlock.

He steers us by s...

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What is it in the potent experience?

Of that strange habit country walking,

That can inspire such great a passion

And play upon the senses with so much feeling?

Whether it be bright and clear

Or dull and cold,

Rain or shine; far or near

It seems there are myriad beauties to unfold.

For those whose heart beats in time

With Mother Earth’s heaving bo...

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Here I am again

In an empty room

Full of people,

I have met so many nice people

But they have all been wrong,

I should give up

But I won’t.

Here I go again

Feeling lonely in a crowd

So many friends,

But no lover. There have been lovers

But not the right one,

Some say I try too hard

But I don’t.

Dare I hope again?

That some ...

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