Hogmanay 2012

Again we have surmounted one more year
Of outcomes waning fast or gaining slow
And brought ourselves to where we are more clear
Of which directions point the way to go
To reach a target long of deep desire
Despite obstruction's will to block our path -
For hope will triumph though the fates conspire,
And find recourse to stop misfortune's sway.
When times are dark our fortitude must serve
To take us forward to our longed-for goal.
So count the Old Year's passing and observe
The first day of the New Year start to roll.

Rhyme to order

Now let me write you something just for fun,
So I'll enjoy the doing, you - what's done.
It must be furnished with rich rhyme for you,
For, to your thinking, rhyme's what poets do.
Recalling larks aloft which, as they fly,
Pour melody to Earth from summer sky,
Your poets scribble on the page and bring
To voice a consonance through which words sing
When ordered where they match to make them zing
And utter truth or merely "ting-a-ling".
So here it is, then, fully fledged and done -
Has it attained its aim of giving fun?

On receiving a poet's notebook

You, little book, will serve me as an aid
And be a dear companion on the way
To help me understand how poems are made
And how word after word can sweetly play.

Though small in size, you fill the leading role,
Being a gift that shows a caring heart.
Your mission, first, is aptly to extol
The bonds that hold together those apart

Through circumstance of distance or of time,
Regardless whether willed, or wrought by chance;
While, second, you bring elements to chime
That otherwise would scarce deserve a glance.

So, with your readiness in paying heed,
You bring fruition to creative need.

Possum in the garden

A possum is a seldom one to see
In fading light, snug in a garden tree.
Her habit is to keep remote and shy.
Removed, secluded, from the prying eye.

So why this charming visit by the spa,
When, as she knows, she should be stationed far
Off on a forest branch, where no-one calls,
Or, if they do, retire when darkness falls?

But in the garden, poolside, lights ablaze
Have picked her out where all have turned their gaze.
So now she shines forth in a human scene
And condescends to linger, like a queen,
Till barking undermines her regal poise
And, with disdain, she takes her leave of noise.

She's everywhere!

She comes with wishes from the heart,
Cute Darla of the West,
And we no longer are apart,
Thanks to her joyful zest.

How far the sparkle in her eyes
Releaves the the weather's gloom,
And how the glamour of her guise
Now captivates the room

Where, with her festive merriment,
She twinkles to enchant
And exercises her intent
To woof - for others can't.

Richness shared

Gold ore is rich, and richer once made pure.
Then he who finds such wealth has cause to smile -
Its value is assured and will endure
Though other assets may decline the while.

True love is also based on hidden wealth,
But does not need to be unearthed to shine.
Its worth is not exclusive, won by stealth,
For of its essence love is yours and mine.

Etiquette in ardour

A scorpion must woo his mate with care
And make his play to neutralise the sting
That otherwise she may well bring to bear
And terminate his amatory fling.

Though lacking any weapons on display,
We humans, too, perform a special dance
And, in the rough and tumble of the fray,
We brandish words which further our advance.

The acme of success in this would be
To hear you cry surrender with your smile,
Or that by my demeanour you would see
This plea, which harbours neither feint nor guile:

That you of me should know, and mark it well -
Within me love for none but you can dwell.

Spider woe

Black spider on the wall,
The largest of them all
That we had ever seen,
Or that has ever been.

How rapid was your climb,
With footsteps so sublime
Diminishing the ground
From you to our surround!

Eight legs, it's very clear,
Were good for drawing near.
In bed we had to wait
The outcome of your gait.

Would hairy nemesis
Disturb our night of bliss
Or was there some hope yet
That you might drop the threat?

Such tremblings over chance
You prompted with your dance
But all was put to right
When then you stopped in sight.

No longer did we peep,
But turned instead to sleep,
And by the morning light
You had retired from sight.

Spider on my computer

Oh, tiny spider, junior to a fly,
Marooned within the confines of the screen
Of my computer - what, pray, was the why
That brought you where you never should have been?
Three hours at least you circled round and round
The edge that marked my monitor's extent,
And all the while you laboured in profound
Despair of making good your set intent
To find firm landing on familiar ground.

But when you ventured to the topmost rim
Your legs, a semaphore of hopelessness,
Brought home to me your situation grim
And prompted in me pangs of tenderness.
So then I took you down and set you free
With relish in the change you wrought in me.
I felt revulsion deep within abate
Though yet the total of your legs was eight.

Queen of the Scrabble board

Right at the pinacle of wordy power
You sit and weigh your judgement hour by hour.
Who can forget those tussles in the past
When at the Scrabble board all were aghast
To see the heights to which Krystyna soared
No matter how the the others wailed and pored
Long,vainly over books of words, until
Inevitably bowing to your will
As sovereign lady versed in verbal skill
Whose rule is ever absolute, entire
And forces those less gifted to retire?
Against such proud display of awesome might
No player save a genius would fight

How to proceed

I had a vision of a place of grace
In which peace prospered and all war had ceased
And time, it seemed, had paused to gather strength
To free eternity from human strife,
And, as I gazed upon the prospect dear,
I heard a rising strain of harmony
Begin to banish dissonanace from Earth
By stirring in the souls of humankind
Commitment to the cause of life as one.