Author Archives: tyldesleyboy

The sun was shining But it’s a cold October day That fence needs painting I’ll look the other way But the sun insisted Poke your nose outside My word it’s warm this afternoon I can hear my dad’s surprise   So out I went Sun was on my back 30 degrees in the shade WhenContinue reading “30 Degrees In The Shade”

Father whom I cannot see Beyond my sight Beyond my wildest dream If you are father Then I must be child And something of your DNA Must adhere in me   Love and kindness I can see Tenderness and touch Beauty in our very form Yes for that I vouch Patience and compassion Virtues byContinue reading “The Good, The Bad And The Lovely”

A Care Home is not home But it is care And care is what we need To be looked after Other days had other ways Extended family The modern world A stranger to our laughter   Giving up our home The final wrench Adrift upon the sea Humanity But we can make a home AllContinue reading “Night Prayer”

Boris is a populist prime minister Sunny side up Jack the lad A breeze In an age when life is serious Solemn deleterious He lifts the mood Everything’s a wheeze   Sitting like a schoolboy At his desk He listened to our Laura’s Inquisition Teacher put it plainly His answers all ungainly But he getsContinue reading “Deoch-an-Doris”

  I saw a tear appear At the corner of her eye Wiped away she apologised We are not meant to cry Not in public anyway Meant to be composed But we are full of feeling Sometimes it just shows   I remember on Mulranny strand Nine months after Maggie died My brother held myContinue reading “Tears”

My mother’s home a cottage In Erris long ago Roof cover of thatch Beaten earthen floor Fire for warmth and cooking Turf stacked outside Cattle in the end space Simple wall divide   My father’s home in Tyldesley Tiny terraced row James Street Lower Elliot Street Squires Lane you know Polly Smith’s the local AleContinue reading “Roots”

We worry and we fret About so many things It’s true we do We are anxious all the time What am I going to do today? Is everyone all right? What will happen if I get ill? What if I lose my sight?   My father didn’t worry When he came home from war HeContinue reading “Listen”

Gordon was the heavyweight The serious one the scholar Tony was a welterweight Who advanced to make top dollar   Gordon’s father the clergyman Taught Gordon how to preach Gordon in turn taught Tony How to make a speech   Gordon knew his politics Tony knew the people Crunch time came for leadership It wasContinue reading “The Great And The Good”

Shakerley was farmland Till 1948 Then Wimpeys came and built on it The Shakerley estate   And we were first in Rutland Road House beside the crescent And out the back just fields and farm An open view so pleasant   And up the fields The railway ran Four tracks for fast and slow WeContinue reading “Home Ground”

We passed the ass and cart Along the road Holidaymakers In our hired car The new world clashing with the old The old one and the donkey Not getting very far   But somehow His seemed the better life He felt the world In ways we never do The wind upon his face Yes theContinue reading “Bare Feet In Erris”

When things are good to say It’s good to say them It spreads the light Scatters dark away On this October morning In the sunshine I look upon your face And have to say   In words now borrowed From a song I used to sing I say again The truest, truest thing Words soContinue reading “For You, Margaret”

The smell of roasted coffee In the morning Percolating corridors of prayer Made mass and meditation Fairly bearable At the end of prayer The coffee would be there   The coffee custom Came to us from Europe From Italy From Naples in the south The dark inviting brew Kick started mornings Its potent flavour WelcomeContinue reading “Early Mornings”

There was a lot of God about When I was young Catholic school and daily mass Altar boy I was Fish on Friday Benediction Hadn’t kissed a lass   Then hijacked Off to seminary Locked in closed in world Latin and Greek excelling Still not kissed a girl   Then to Perth and Hawkstone RobedContinue reading “Thoughts At Evening”

There’s nothing like being proper Said my dad He and I together supping ale Honesty and kindness and respect He taught me that from earliest days Till frail   A man who’d seen the darkness Of the world From coalface down the pit To world at war The human inequality The dirt poor and theContinue reading “Sup Up”

When Jesus met a divorcee He did not tell her off He sat beside her Listened to her tale She believed in marriage Had tried it many times The Lord he listened patiently The failures and the crimes   And when she’d finished speaking She felt such great relief Her twisted tale unravelled Her sorrowContinue reading “Broken Hearts”