On the eve of a General Election I want to share this poem of the American philosopher and poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti that, until it was shared by a friend today, I had not read Pity the nation whose people are sheep, and whose shepherds mislead them. Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages… Continue reading Pity the nation…..
Day by day
On Ronas Hill, Shetland, in midsummer
Red stones aglow in midsummer sun on a rock set in a fishful, oil-rich sea, resting awhile, a little while, in the warmth, the calm here so rarely found. This rock, it seems, is very old and so far from its birth that it can tell of heat and cold, of collision and division,… Continue reading On Ronas Hill, Shetland, in midsummer
This place, that time….
Today is the thirteenth anniversary of my Mum’s death and it seems an good time to share again a poem written last year about the experience of visiting the place where she was born (Carlisle) and where her (and my)ancestors lived. During the past year I have discovered much more about our ancestors and the… Continue reading This place, that time….
What took me so long?
Two poems reflecting on ancestors and our connections with the past and the future
Randomness to reality Shapeless randomness Yet to be formed Unique in potential Unique in form Unique in life Yet to be realised Randomness stretching through time and space Chance meetings and movements Slowly evolving to an ‘I’ Not an ‘other’ Each ‘I’ not knowing what it is producing or how it was produced ‘I’ is… Continue reading Two poems reflecting on ancestors and our connections with the past and the future
Some poems
Yesterday we went to the Wenlock Poetry Festival with our daughter and grandson. This was the first time I had been to such an event and perhaps not something I had thought of doing. I was absorbed in and almost wallowed in the words, the stories, the carefully crafted expressions and was most impressed when… Continue reading Some poems
Life’s a long business!
This was my mother’s favourite saying as she got older and saw the succeeding generations make their way in the world. Life was quite a long business for her as she lived to be eighty nine. Having been born before the outbreak of the first World War she lived to see the turn of the… Continue reading Life’s a long business!