It’s much too cold
(but not snowing,
Nothing pretty or dramatic
Just grey and windy
Occasionally wet)
I need to hibernate
Until the weather warms up.
Brrrrr……
Sunday, 28 December 2025
My dad liked roses
My dad liked roses
He saved his money
To buy books about them.
He grafted new roses on to old cuttings
On to wild rose stems.
He liked scented roses
Look here, he said.
This one is called Peace.
People came from neighbouring villages
And the nearby town
To ask my dad about roses.
He was glad to help.
And gave both his knowledge
And his plants with a smile.
In the winter we made
Rag rugs to lay on the hearth.
My mum drew patterns on the hessian
And we filled them in with rags of the right colour.
It took longer than you’d think.
And my dad made roses
out of crepe paper.
His favourites were the tea roses
Small and contained and mostly pink
Although yellow ones, too.
White ones not so often because
They were a bit boring (I thought to myself).
My dad had epilepsy and arthritis and bronchitis
And before that, TB.
At 12, he had been sent away to either live or die.
He lived, and laughed about it
Was proud when later, every day, he went to work.
On Sundays, he sang around the. house.
When he retired, he went back into the garden
Happy from dawn till dusk
To grow cabbages and potatoes
And to tend
To his flowers.
When I went to visit
He would go to the shed and pull down a cabbage
Or wrap up some beans
Or whatever there was
For me to take home.
.
In summer, when the roses bloomed
Between the rockery and the greenhouse
I would walk up there to look for my favourite
And bend down to smell the soft floppy petals
round the heart of
Peace.
Elephants
My mum liked elephants so I bought her one.
Elephants never forget.
Neither do people.
My mum was tall and thin.
She once had long, dark hair.
She played the piano.
And the organ.
And once long ago, the mandolin.
Elephants are huge but they can still be hurt.
Size doesn’t matter whatever anyone says
My mum brought me cough stuff in the night whenever I coughed.
My mum bought me the things I loved
Nothing too much trouble
Nothing too expensive, despite a careful life.
My dad, too. I’ll write about him another time.
My dad liked roses.
Monday, 27 October 2025
The time will come
He said it was a good scattering
Sam’s ashes left in Malham Cove.
But he couldn’t think about it now.
Later when he is on the plane
When he is in between
this place and that
When he is nowhere
Then he will allow himself to think about her.
For now, the present is
Hard enough,
Full enough.
Sam, where are you?
It is Sunday October 26th,
2025.
They are taking her to Malham Cove
What’s left of her
Just ashes
No dust
All dust
Where is she?
They took her ashes
But didn’t scatter them all
Some left for next time..
They want a bigger rocket
To shoot into the sky.
They want to shoot
Her into the atmosphere
Bit by bit
Handful by handful
Until she is gone.
Wanted to attach her ashes
To the rocket
But it was too difficult
too windy
And raining, too.
It was dark when they came back down
And
Drove
Home.
To the place
Where Sam
is not.
Where is she?
Sam, where are you?
Monday, 15 September 2025
Sam's Song - lyrics
For those she loved
She'd walk a thousand mile
She'd move a mountain,
Do it with a smile.
For her, the cat
Would always swish her tail,
And beloved dog
would follow without fail.
Chorus
You can hear her laugh
You can see her smile
She was full of light
She burned so bright.
Despite no cash,
She would still send flowers
A rose or daisies
Pleasure for hours,
And poems too
Or printed socks
And love songs love songs,
Songs that rocked.
Chorus
She wore bright clothes
And hated grey
Elegant and stylish
Every day.
followed her around
The dancing beat,
The Latin sound.
Chorus
She dreamed a dream
Of a faraway place
Transformed her van
Into a magical space.
A travelling temple
Of beautiful things
Where folk could sleep
And dream they had wings.
Chorus
She was a woman of laughter,
Woman of light
And now she's gone
Gone into the night.
But she's not far from kith or kin
She'll always be with us
Carried within.
She'll always be with us
Carried within.
She'll always be with us
Carried within.
Chorus x2
Monday, 25 August 2025
Every day and in the night
I think of Sam.
I have written two songs for her, but they won't settle down. instead they grow with fragments added. So many memories.
I remmeber ringing her and hearing that chuckle at the end of her voice
when she said, hello, or hang on a minute, or
I'm driving now, it's fine.
Telling me about how she was given away as a baby.
Just for a few months, a bit like me, really
born at the wrong time.
But actually it was the right time.
It all worked out in the best possible way.
She went back to her old mother,
I got a new one. which was more than ok.
I'm rambling again. Must get on with the songs for tonight.
Ich komme geflogen
Ich komme,
ich komme
fast wie ein Vogel
über Hügel und
Ocean
hierher
geflogen.
Over the sea
Over the sea
Zehn tausend Meilen
Are nothing to me.
Ich komme dich
halten,
komme dich
holen.
Fest und
sicher,
endlich gesehen,
hoch gehoben,
glänzend, golden,
locker and free.
Ich bedanke dir immer
so look at the sky.
Warte nur
Balde bin ich
Dabei.
Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Verwandschaft
Du bist
NICHT
mein Onkel
mein Sohn
mein Vater
mein Bruder
mein Liebling
Was denn?
Was
bist du mir doch?
Ist Freundschaft nur eine schwache Verbindung?
immer zebrechlich...
wer weiss.....
wer weiss?
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