The Totton Linnet

While drunken men slept

2010-02-07T07:04:00.000-08:00

While drunken men slept

babies were born

red poppies peeped out

from fields of corn.

Springs gathered to pools

rivers surged onwards, refreshing, free

their journey inexorable

through town and country on into the sea.

The lonely were visited

broken hearts consoled,

nations, oppressed, their liberty gained

we watched the events unfold.

There is bread in my basket

milk in my cooler

I can't remember a time

when my larder was fuller.

I got a spring in my step

and in my mouth, laughter

gunna swagger through town

and count the cost after.

While drunken men slept

deserts were turned

to delightful gardens, people will dwell

where they had merely sojourned.

Listen! an old woman singing!

her song about a jar

cracked and broken, ugly

the delicate beauty marred,

Look! a tear in her eye!

a Potter, with heart filled with compassion

has gathered up the pieces

and made it over again.

For she had been that vessel

tossed out to the wind and rain

but in that gentle Artist's hand

has been made more lovely again.

Trees sigh with singing

on the side of the hills,

thankful for the streams that water

bringing life alive, as God wills.

I will daughter you

2008-10-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

*
I will daughter you
follow you
wherever you may go
though ties may now be broken
love will not have it so
I will daughter you.
*
You won't be alone
I'll come too
however hard the road
together we will walk it
we'll share the heavy load
I will daughter you
*
Never take my freedom from me
by sending me away
though they make of me a stranger
where I make my bed is where I will lay.
*
If the night is cold
dark and long
my love will make you warm
and light the empty spaces
until the morning come
I will daughter you.
*
Follow you
I will daughter you.

The Nestle

2008-09-08T12:36:00.000-07:00

A loveliness was found for him,

a tender touch with kindness.

Though he did not know her

she lay next to his heart

warming the shallow with nestling.

Warmth which only she could impart.

Unlearned gentleness of a girl

for might was not the needing,

nor a shield from arrows.

Her beauty was to him

as though through a mist percieved,

her innocence unhurt by whim.

It was the councel of others

that had brought her to his side,

and that with searching long,

her warm simplicity

the gift that only she could bring,

so that heart with heart would agree.

Soft petal in the morning chill

she lay in darkness under.

The moonlight's cold she stays

and sweetly flows the flow.

Her soft breath will not awaken him

as she makes his heart her pillow.

Guinevere's bed

2008-09-04T14:40:00.001-07:00

Shall a pale shadow

and she a ghost, a phantom

cost so valiant a king,

whose heart will hold with a promise

and break it with beguiling.

She will betray you with her kiss

Arms that will hold you,

eyes that have encaptured your own,

in another's arms entwined

making warm with passion the place

where is no promise to bind.

Dying sweetly in the embrace

Chivalry begone

with chasing from the kingdom.

Camlan's field will be the site,

the question Guinevere shall pose,

wild the cherry she will bite,

will bitter you too in the throes.

Was it Caliburn?

taken up for the kingdom

that had brought the victory

or was it honour which prevailed?

the true cause we may now see.

Then cast away the sword that failed.

Ah valiant heart

will be for a shadow pale,

pierced through with lady's arrow.

When she has made you cuckold,

then Albion's race will know,

for Guinevere's bed they were sold.

Mist that lays across

not only lake but the realm

now veils from our eyes the view

that noble, which made you great.

The find your strength in virtue,

victory shall not be late.

Teasel Teasel

2008-08-26T03:53:00.000-07:00

Tease me with teasel down weasel way

my lover will comb my hair today

if he is gentle and teasels well

I will open my heart, all my feelings tell

If he is rough, teasel will catch

I will show him the door, lift up the latch

If he is foolish, teasel will break

he will forsake me, my heart will ache.

The Water Meadows [Winchester]

2008-07-10T01:59:00.000-07:00

Flowering down the meadow view

grass lush and head swayed poppies

dong a song the distant church bell

the butterfly's aimless intention pursue

along corridors of wind change breeze

Hummed stillness across the water pond

frenzied the wingéd dancers

buttercups made golden by sunshine

peek'a'boo playing among the trees beyond

which also hide squirrel from casual glancers

Heavenly scented laying so light in the air

as yet unmoved by the sparrow wing

bathed in the summer evening glow

beauty of nature the water meadows share

with nobody and with all and with everything

Closing the day down clouds now veiling

the last pipes of the rude blackbird rising

it has been a day of shouts and of laughter

but now the velvet of quietude prevailing

the approaching shadows of nightfall advising

PIE JESU

2008-06-22T04:03:00.000-07:00

HAYLEY WESTENRA SINGS

http://gentledove.wordpress.com/pie-jesu

CLICK THIS LINK TO LISTEN AND WATCH

Rollerskate lovers

2008-06-22T03:35:00.000-07:00

ROLLERSKATE LOVERS

I wrote this little poem after a lovely afternoon whizzing around Hyde park and Kensington Gardens with my boyfriend.

Glide me down swiftly so fleet

choosing this path takes me into your arms

gentle the arc I draw

twice two for figure eight

round and round I'm a carousel

hold me tight, no alarms

Look at me! slicing the breeze

my coming darling is only for you

the wind brushes my face

sunshine plays in my hair

races, the beating of my heart

I'm alive! everything's new!

Avenues of trees slide by

for the moment you are lost to my view

so wheel the wheel backwards

you are still out of my sight

turn the full circle, where are you?

with eyes for me so true

Look there! our tryst, we shall meet

our paths, love, will cross once more, you and I

nothing can stop us now

our joyful collision sure

hand holding hand, happily we

my head on your shoulder I sigh.

Love's petals bruiséd

2008-06-22T02:57:00.000-07:00

Love's petals bruiséd

Betrodden love petals, passion bruiséd

beautiful yet and lovely still

desire pinioned but free in my fragrance

my love no longer may choose it's will

I responded to your sunshine warmth

so soon my girlhood unfolded for you

simplicity welcomed, it was no mere show

perhaps now only in fragrance true

Swayed by a breeze, it was my foolish pride

which wafted my sweet scent away from you

you, who had divided for me my petals

to effect only a tease to another's view

It ought to have been you, my darling love

who had crushed my naiveté, passion's pain

and threw down my softness upon the ground

lovely though folded now, 'gainst the driving rain

Breeze carry again my fragrance to you

but be not too tender, nor gentle me so

you caused my surrender to that so brutal

whose bruising desire would not let go

Flower encaptured but only to you

belongs my blush, which was my earliest trove

holds yet perfume which doesn't lie nor pretend

crushed now by another who holds not my love.

Pillar of peace

2008-06-22T02:33:00.001-07:00

THE PEACE PILLAR

I am the pillar of peace, your hopes

the veil that would hide is not solid

nor the sky brass that there's no way through

or are all men's hearts bound,as with ropes?

The Pillar of peace is just the promise

the gift itself, all transcendent

don't you see that? what makes men so blind?

the clouds of your minds cause a miss

Come all you children into the light

but you'll have to crowd together

my rejoicing is roundness, no-one first

this will not be acheived by might

I pour me down, my peace is for you

why stand you afar off gazing

if only the token carries such hope

what will the reality endue?

Those who have seen my Pillar of peace

have I not broken through the storm?

I'm calling to you the people come

bathe in my fountain, anger cease

The chestnut tree (tomorrow I am free)

2008-05-26T13:04:00.000-07:00

On February 23.1944 Anne Frank wrote in her diary "...from my favourite spot on the floor I look up at the blue sky and the bare chestnut tree on whose branches little raindrops shine, appearing like silver, and at the seagulls and other birds as they glide on the wind....as long as this exists, I thought, and I may live to see it, this sunshine, the cloudless skies, while this lasts I cannot be unhappy...."
I read Anne's diary as a 12 year old schoolgirl, it completely changed the way I think about other people, I learned from Anne that all over the world people are the same, no matter about race or colour or culture, they have the same hopes and dreams, the same aspirations, the same failings and weaknesses to be sure. People hurt the same and they can be crushed in the same way.
Anne's voice rises up as the voice of the blackbird does each morning and evening, she has the precious gift of communication, her thoughts and perhaps more inportantly her feelings and in communicating she has the power to change the way people think and treat their fellow human beings.
*
When I dwelled upon her diary entry above I was inspired to write a little poem THE CHESTNUT TREE (tomorrow I am free) as a tribute and a salute to Anne by way of saying thank you.
*

This my chosen spot

I may lay me down

gaze can only upwards be

filled afresh with hope

which grew upon my chestnut tree

tomorrow I am free

No clouds in my sky

nor shadow troub'ling me

gracefully glides the seagulls

silvering droplets

sparkling on my chestnut tree

tomorrow I am free

As long as this is so

and if my eyes may see

my heart cannot the be sad

for me the sun shines

through my glistening chestnut tree

tomorrow I am free.

All about frogs

2008-05-07T11:10:00.000-07:00

CHECK OUT THESE AMAZING LINKS

If you love frogs [and you know you do] here are some links that will furnish YOU with all you need to know about our soggy little friends. [above is the wax frog]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frog

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/483.shtml

http://www.nzfrogs.org/resourced/Kids+Information/KeepingFrogs.html

Old nell's last croak

2008-04-24T18:06:00.000-07:00

She were a good old soul her

they simply don't come better

I was squatting right by her side

when an owl came and ate her

She'd be the first to leap to your aid

shared her gnats with the needy

kind of ironic that she fell prey

to an owl who was just plain greedy

There was no time to say goodbye, no

nor even a chance to kiss her

e're fate swooped down from the sky

boy I am going to miss her

She was the best croak in this town

for gossip there was no-one better

to think I was there by her side

when an owl came and ate her.

Freddy the flying frog, not

2008-04-24T17:53:00.000-07:00

A frog is not a butterfly

but oh if I had wings

I'd squabble with the sparra's

and do amazing things

O'er the housetops I would soar

the kids would all point at me

"a bird with a shiny green jacket"

you'd hear them shout with glee.

Wind beneath keeping me aloft

over dales and fields and streams

the earth below me, what a view!

hovering, me, fulfilling my dreams.

But leaping from my lilypad

is the closest I will get

to that feeling of heady euphoria

so my dreams I had better forget.

Froggy etiquette

2008-04-24T17:42:00.000-07:00

A lady frog what's got no manners

will never find a mate

she has to learn politeness

if she's to get a date (ribbit ribbit)

She really must get etiquette

for men frogs can be picky

if she don't hop all dainty

courting will be tricky (ribbit ribbit)

So sister frogs it's down to you

if you would find romance

you have to act and talk all posh

or you won't stand a chance (ribbit ribbit)

WOO WOO

2008-04-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

A lady frog can get lonesome

on her lilypad, woo woo

sitting on her ownsome

and feeling rather sad, woo woo

Waiting for her froggy prince

it really will not do, woo woo

if he hopped by this moment since

he would only make her blue, woo woo

For men frogs are not faithful peeps

they shoot a gal the line, woo woo

their promises they never keeps

they leave her there to pine, woo woo

Mr. President

2008-04-24T17:18:00.000-07:00

A frog is not a pretty thing

his talents are not many

he doesn't dance, he cannot sing

and gags he knows not any

but a frog may make president

and if you think that it's a joke

next time we're in a crisis

turn on telly and watch him croak

I am a frog

2008-04-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

My tiny webbed feet are frozen

this isn't the life I'd have chosen

but I am a frog

an' I live in a bog

so what is the use in supposin'?

HAUTE CUISINE

Tadpoles in the frying pan

oh what a lovely treat

lightly fried in butter

they're a delicacy to eat