First impressions

A baby girl explores the world
And marvels as it is unfurled.

Now Liv is finding as she goes
How little of this life she knows!
It certainly is for the best
To stay in place by Mummy's breast.
Yet sometimes, though, it's far from easy
To find a way of not being queazy
When Nature fills her face with frowns
And sends a batch of ups and downs.
But wait - it's well worth while, on balance,
To greet the fun of each day's challenge!

Easter time

All hearts rejoice at Easter time
When nature wakes and poets rhyme.
Dull Winter turns to vibrant Spring
And birds their vibrant chorus sing.
The Sun  heats up the lengthening day
While in his rays the children play
And by their side, in fur and fluff,
The Easter bunnies flop and puff.

Mr Turner

See him threading through the viewing artists
In the hanging room - Mr Turner, scalpel
In his hand! Before his own marine
He stops, and boldly lays a crimson charge
Upon the waterscape of ship and sea -
Then turns in satisfaction and retires.
The company he leaves is in amaze
To see the desecration he has wrought -
But, as they wonder at his aim, he's back,
And with his thumb produces from his daub
A heaving buoy afloat upon the main,
Which underscores the drama at a stroke
And shows how genius may work its way.

A patriot new

You read the information whole
Then took the test to reach your goal,
With confidence that in no wise
You might have failed to gain the prize.

Congratulations! You have won
The status of American.
Enjoy the welcome consequence
On each and every incidence
When from the lofty sky you sink
And smile contentedly to think:

"Much simpler now to come and go,
Avoiding where the lines are slow
For all those folks who must confess
To being merely non-US".

This much the better do you stand
When you alight in your new land.

Looming for pleasure

Loom - a pass time kit for kids and adults to fashion ornaments from flexible plastic rings

To loom or not to loom - is there a question?
What child would not have time to build a fat
And cuddly hippo or a hanging bat,
Or any other thing, upon suggestion?

First give the loomers all that they will need -
Materials and hook and tablet, too -
Then watch how they enthuse and buckle to,
Producing on their frames a plastic tweed.

The crafty kit is good for having fun
By making what's desired from colored rings
Which finish up transformed to other things,
And signify the looming has been done.

Lines prompted by a Greenpeace postcard, picturing a mother polar bear with her two cubs

Three bears appear at once,
Challenge and censure the dunce
And show what we shall lose
Unless we stop and choose
To counter those whose goal
Neglects the dreadful toll
That greed, when uncontrolled,
Exacts, with grief untold.
Give, then, the Earth our care,
And hasten its repair,
So life unique remains
To justify our pains,
And recognize anew
The cosmos has its due.

As a dedication

These lines are made to bring delight,
To please the day and charm the night.
Whatever mood you may be in,
You need but look to find its kin.

Continuance

The other day I came across a book
Which had been one you thrilled to as you read,
And once again I saw that happy look
Steal soft across your face as you were led
Into a different world of others' deeds,
Imaginings, events now fast now slow.

How many ways the soul confronts its needs -
How hard it is, so hard, to let you go.

Ruby red for forty wed

Time does not halt, though heart be stopped by heart,
But measures out its pace eternally.
The years advance and leave behind their trace,
Experiences multiply, now sweet,
Now sad, now kept in mind, now quite forgot.
And of these years a pregnant one is caught
Within the clasp of memory's embrace -
That year from which succeeding ones are told
Of which the fortieth has now arrived
To mark the anniversary of when
Two young enamoured pledged to pass their days
Together in the state that love decreed.

Looming for pleasure

That special cream tea

This very special day you would have wished
To be with us, now Ellie's in our midst -
And so, indeed, you are, as we recall
How you it was who wanted most of all
To celebrate dear Ellie's company,
The perfect zest to complement cream tea.

The butterfly

I met a butterfly on Skype
With paper wings a child's hand wide.
All crayoned in bright colours ripe,
She longed to take the air to ride

And flutter out into the wild
To meet the world of wonders fine
And wink a thank-you to the child
Who crafted her to suck the vine.

Birthday party

Somewhere there's a girl who's called Ellie
That's partial to stuffing her belly
With all sorts of food
Which does her such good
She's practically grown-up already!
But wait - that's not so,
She's six, don't you know,
And off to her party to prove it.
Give Ellie her hat and her mittens,
Get someone to care for her kittens -
Then, after the dash,
Fun starts at the bash
And Ellie shows how she can move it.

The seasons

Now when the lesser power of the Sun
In autumn marks the end of summer's reign,
Rebellious colours flood into the leaves
Where stately green once ruled  with sovereign sway.
But this is not revolt for its own sake,
Instead the kind imperative of life,
Whose wisdom seeks to counter winter's storms
And bitter clime by transformation bold
Sufficient to survive with fortitude
Enough to bud again when spring arrives.

The arc of life

The frame that lends life strength must fall apart,
There is no lasting refuge for the heart,
Which, as a player on the stage, gives all
Then bows to let the final curtain fall,
And leaves behind affection's tender trace
In those who were its fellows in life's race.

Name day anniversary

A second time your name day has arrived
Since when your presence vanished from my side
To show love needs an unknown time to pass
Before it can accept the fact of loss.

Each living breath you took went unremarked,
The last, as it expired, went through my heart
But gave me solace, showing that your soul
Had taken flight to find its final goal.

Platelets in the stream

The body's health requires them to be there,
But in their count blood platelets can be rare,
In ceaseless flow these flakes should circulate
To keep the vital spark inviolate.

Such is the furtherance of nature's way,
And shall be so forever and a day.
The course of life is fated to its end -
Then celebrate each moment that we spend.

Dedication of a book of verse

The words here spun, the verses done
Will foster fun beneath the Sun
As long as they are felt to weigh
Sufficiently to charm the day.
Whatever merit be their due,
They are addressed with love to you.

Happy reading!

Forever

Forever is the longest time we know,
Forever further than where we can go.
Forever passes any bound that's set,
Forever focussed on the way ahead.
Forever is the time we cannot live -
Forever be the time in which we give.

Tree-wind and shore-wave

In absence of you
Reminders ensue:
The wind in the trees,
The rustle of leaves
Beguiling the ear
Insist you are near.

The waves on the shore
Well trodden before
Awaken a past
Imprinted to last.

Though leaves may fall still
When wind loses will.
Still water will flow,
As centuries know,
To solace the mind
With memories kind.