Author Archives: tyldesleyboy

We think we know each other well And in some ways we do But oh the world we do not know The core of me and you   Were I to tell your story The journey of your life I wouldn’t know the half of it Your trouble and your strife   The outside observationContinue reading “The Story of Your Soul”

Heaney at his writing desk Staring out the window And John McGahern joked about Staring out the window My father too in his old age Staring out the window Now I sit in my old age Staring out the window   But this is not an empty stare It is a window to the soulContinue reading “Thinking”

Mark 5:21-43   The finger of faith connected And suddenly she was well Amid that pressing thronging crowd Her story she had to tell So many quacks and doctors All her money spent Now the hem of his garment Has sealed her heart’s content   Your faith has saved you Jesus says Time and timeContinue reading “The Hem of his Garment”

People stuck on motorways Ice and driving snow Beast from the East descending Nowhere they can go   Suddenly out of darkness Snow angels appear Locals bringing mugs of tea Sandwiches and cheer   Extremes bring out the best in us So often lost to view Lonely people trapped that night Saved by a caringContinue reading “Good Nature”

Where do you come from? Pilate asked of Jesus It is a wonderful question Our origin says so much   I do not begin with me My origins go back Deep into the mists of time No heritage I lack   Most especially family My father and my mother I’ve known those people all myContinue reading “Humanae Vitae”

Mark 5:1-20   The Gadarene demoniac Went naked among the tombs Fetters could not hold him Nor control his psychic wounds He wandered alone among the dead And clear out of his mind A loony left beneath the moon The townsfolk now turned blind   The sight of Jesus draws him near He falls downContinue reading “A Troubled Soul”

My whole life has roots so deep I can’t help but be well My mother father family Where I joyed to dwell   My cousins too across the sea And in Manchester All the ties that bind me My clan my family   I am not human on my own I know not how toContinue reading “Family”

I saw a photo of Lough Conn And remembered mum and dad They honeymooned around its shores First holiday they had Wed before the war had finished Just before D-Day They met and married then said goodbye Dad had to go away   What a journey my father had To find his way back homeContinue reading “Lough Conn”

The most important thing I have Is the key to my front door It lets me in when I come home It locks the world outside It keeps me safe when I go to bed It guards the entrance to my shed I could not ask for more   The most important thing in lifeContinue reading “Key”

Her birthday falls tomorrow She would be fifty-eight But forty-seven was all she saw And then to heaven’s gate   She was a saintly person I knew it from the start A good and lovely person A kind and loving heart   She was the healing of my life The answer to my cares SheContinue reading “Birthday Girl”

City make me angry They rob you of time and space Those precious possessions That give the game its grace   Physically fit and fast They rush to close you down No time no space to play in  A game fit for a clown   A game requires two parties With time and space andContinue reading “Give Me Strength”

It is awful to think That we can be so cruel The slaughter of the innocent The death camps The deadly duel   The Lord knew from the very start How cruel we can be And warned against all violence Solves nothing don’t you see   How then to engage the world How to solveContinue reading “Holocaust Memorial Day”

  I think you’ll go to heaven When you’re seventy-seven My grandson said to me I’m seventy-six I haven’t got much time!   Lucas is five The age for asking questions Death and heaven are on his list just now But I hope to prove him wrong And keep singing my own song Every dayContinue reading “Via Crucis”

  A steam train took me north Away from home Seventeen years I was Scarcely grown Chris joined us at Carlisle And joked as was his style About haystacks As native settlements   Late afternoon We pulled into Stirling station A semi circular kiosk laid out there I thought it homely cosy Welcoming And whatContinue reading “Steaming North”

They say when you hit forty You are responsible for your face The point it makes is worthy Self pity a disgrace The early years are learning years You have to learn the tune But by the time you get to forty That’s when you should croon   The numbers aren’t exact I know ForContinue reading “Your True Self”