Encounter with a slug

How far, Slug, have you belly-walked,

While humans in the garden talked,
To find yourself a well-earned place -
Here on the bottle you now grace,
The very one which, days before,
Brought us fine wine from foreign shore.

We each have taken summer's seat
Upon our patio replete
With verdant folio and flower,
Amidst which you had found your bower.
So as we sat here at our ease,
Out of the Sun, but in the breeze,
You came a-waltzing, if you please.
And clambered quick, though leglessly,
On what was put down carelessly,
Next to your unknown sluggy prescence
Which now, we see, is of the essence
And plays its part in Nature's scheme,
Earning its portion of esteem.

Slug! Are you the lesser for not having legs?
Slug! Do you feel envy when I use my pegs?
To you, we are no more than stimulus,
Which makes us think of you as timorous.
This gap between two worlds will ever be -
Our states are what determine how we see.
Your place with us is in your proper sphere,
Remote from our concerns, and yet so near.
Our guests depart, but you with us remain
And repossess, of right, your just domain.
 

A star is born

All persons of assured reflection know
The game of Scrabble is for those who go
Alone, courageous with their random tiles,
In conflict with their rivals' verbal wiles.

Apprenticeship in coalition's nest
Encourages the nestling, but at best
Can only show the iron in the breast
With which the gifted tyro can contest
Himself the long-crowned sovereigns of the board
Whose reigns will finish when a win is scored
By one whose days of shadow will be ended
Once he no longer deigns to be appended.

A point remains concerning how to play,
Essential to the winning of the day -
Newcomers to the solo art of Scrabble
Must bear in mind, above the constant babble,
The rule which is the mojo for success:
No victor can afford to nonscore ess.

On our way

In childhood's rapt embrace our days were timed
To find the elements with which we chimed,
To come to know how others than ourselves
May view the selfsame things as if the elves
Had told them deep within the wiser wood
That what we may think harmful can be good.

These were full days of happiness and joy
With dear companions round the growing boy,
The stage was decked with vibrant sets to show
How youthful energy and hearts aglow
Would find and nurture talent into flower
And demonstrate the promise of its power.

Though much is only memory and - yes! -
A dim remembrance of how more gave less,
Yet in the noble effort of the strife
We found a meaning and a worth to life
Which in the purview of its many ways
 Revealed how some may act while others gaze.

Summer storm

We watched the summer garden by the sea,
All lush , with shades of green the gusts revealed
And hid as storm chased storm across the sky,
Where gulls low down on slender wings swept by
And vanished where the tree's fine supple form
Bent wisely to the prompting of the wind
While lightning stroke preceded thunder roll.
Such was the background to a gentle lunch
In shelter from the reach of nature's force.

Continuum of time

Nowhere is their stasis,
No place can stay untouched
By passage of fleet time
As witness and recorder ,
Observer unaffected
By its presence never missed,
Itself inert as catalyst of change.

The need we share

If all the molten magma of the Earth,
Erupting, could disperse  abroad its fearsome fire,
Destroying in its flow the precious worth
Of air and sea and land in grinding gyre;

And if tempestuous winds, world-wide unloosed,
Could propagate the fury of their power
That in its heedless violence reduced
To rubble humblest home and proudest tower -

Then  we, who now confront a total war
That threatens termination of our kind,
Must strengthen  our commitment to implore
We leave the doomed idealists behind,
And from their failing thought  no more imbue
The teachings that deny our globe its due.

To a Birthday Girl or Boy at a milestone of their life

A word of welcome to the big six-oh,
Where all newcomers count their years and go
From fifty-nine to higher realms of life
Where rising peaks show vistas that are rife
With days of family happiness and peace
Which, in their passing, lend their years increase.

The scales of life

We use our human scale to gauge the rest,
But so the others can alike attest.
The mayfly counts eternity in days,
The tortoise generations of ours stays.
The old look back upon a past of dreams,
The young look forward to what likely seems.
Whenever babes are in their mothers' arms
We wish them vigour to survive alarms.

Rhyme for a new-found scrabble word

The scene is set, the Sun has riz,
The team begin their urgent biz
To paint the ceiling in a day
And send a blemish on its way.
Now hear the brushes slurp, then slop
Their welcome covering on top
Of that disfigurement, that glower
Left over by the errant shower
That flooded on the ceiling bright
And turned to black its pristine white.
The active part is soon achieved
Far faster than at first conceived,
Once the shy Sun reveals his face
To bid the work renew its pace
Until what's left is to retire,
Await the drying and admire.

I loved you - Version four

What though I loved you as I used to do,
With love still not quite faded from my soul -
Don't let it further cause distress to you:
To grieve you in no way could be my goal.

I loved you silently, with hope at bay,
As modesty then jealousy would move
My hurt, as truly and as tenderly
As God may grant one know another's love.

Existence

We strive to capture the sublime,
When compromise would better be.
Our efforts are constrained by time,
Perfection begs eternity.

For day will follow day that fades
And night will claim its primacy,
While cycles will define our days,
Assured of their supremacy.

Dedication, written on a child's present of a book

Dear ...

For stories to delight you and amaze
And, sometimes, put your noggin in a daze,
We recommend this writer, Roald Dahl
Who'll take you on a journey, as your pal,
And nightly send you happily to sleep
With tales of how to make the grown-ups weep!

The lady and her dog

Two lovely ladies
Of the Texan South -
The caring mistress
And her pampered pet -
At home in Houston,
Haunt of Southern charm,
Are always in our hearts,
Though they be far away.

The painted present

It came with Mummy on the plane,
For Dana and for Gordon twain -

A gift from Ellie, all in blue
And white - and wonderful to view!

So vibrant in its movement on
The page, it celebrates the dawn

Of talent to a high degree,
Which soon the World, as well, will see,

And wonder where the deep well lies
That so inspires such youthful eyes.

Aspects of love

Tell me that you love me - I will obey
The promptings and the dictates of your heart.

Tell me you are saddened - I will replay
The melodies that raise your spirits high.

Tell me you are happy - Then will I say
How glad I am to be your source of joy.

Tell me not, though, that I may not love you -
For that alone is what I cannot do.

Spider teases the mind

Long-legged spider on the floor -
Haven't I seen you before,
Hanging, unmoved, on the wall;
Though now you go crawling , and all
But fall into the shower  tray
Newly installed yesterday -
Thus to confound your certainty,
Making your path an eternity
Until the generation
Of next year's spider nation?

One from two

It is because to me you are the dearest,
Because, of all, to me you are the nearest,
That I to you am wedded in our one.
Through you I see my longings at their clearest,
And strive to nullify the merest
Chance of straying from the orbit of my Sun,
For in your absence I would be undone.

The point of it

A life of longing is our human lot -
For love, for laughter and an easeful end,
For lusty health  and lasting loyalty
Facilitating action in the world.

A world of dissonance and strife,
A world in need of harmony and peace
To foster reconciliation's cause
And launch society on freedom's course
Through action striving for the common weal
Of co-existence in plurality,
The stable basis of a new-born  state
That shelters all in justice with good will,
And so enables them to reach their aim
Of meeting hopes and overcoming fears
With dear companions on a way too short
Whose navigation differs for each soul.  

Olympic London

A night-time journey with its ending brings
A view superb that like no other seems.
Our stacking aircraft wheels and banks its wings -
Olympic London close beneath us beams.

Like myriad stars in the firmament,
The brilliant lights, far-scattered, clustered, burn.
A tapestry unfolds, an ornament
Towards whose landmarks eyes in wonder turn.

Thus seen from such a vantage in the sky,
The city shows itself in festive guise,
A place where nation will with nation vie
To win the laurel and deserve the prize.

More often should occasion life enhance
With chance encounters  when the spirits dance.

I loved you - three versions

Translated from the Russian of A S Pushkin

I loved you with a love that may perhaps
Not wholy quite have quit my soul as yet;
But let the anguish that it dealt you lapse -
I have no wish to give you cause to fret.

I loved you, word unsaid, in hopelessness,
With diffidence and  jealousy in turn;
I loved you with such truth and tenderness
As God may cause love's flame for you to burn.


Version two

I loved you with a love which may perhaps
Not wholy quite have quit my soul as yet;
But let the anguish that it dealt you lapse -
I have no wish to give you cause to fret.

I loved you, word unsaid, in hopelessness
With diffidence and jealousy anew;
I loved you with such faith and tenderness
As God may grant another love you true.



Version three

I loved you with a love that may perhaps
Not wholy quite have quit my soul as yet;
But let the anguish that it dealt you lapse -
I have no wish to give you cause to fret.

I loved you, word unsaid, in hopelessness,
As diffidence and jealousy would move;
I loved you with such truth and tenderness
As God may grant another give you love.