Category Archives: Uncategorized

I remember playing snooker In Hindsford Catholic Club ‘Paddy’s Hump’ they called it On a hill Freddie Thomason was the steward My dad on the committee Can I have a game? They’ll let me? Sure they will   Fourteen years of age A full size snooker table A dream come true Just to step insideContinue reading “Snooker”

‘It would not be right for us To neglect the word of God So as to give out food’ Both are needed Vital for our good The wheat fields of Ukraine Bread baskets of the world Bring flour to my table This very day   I love my daily bread Two kinds I make MyContinue reading “Feed Body and Soul”

John 21:18   In the end we all have to let go Let go what we hold dear Just let go It happened first when my father died I burst into tears My first great loss of any kind Now so many years   The Lord tells Peter One day you will know The feelingContinue reading “Letting Go”

I used to pass a slaughterhouse On my way to school Occasionally they let us see inside A cow lay dead upon the floor I don’t remember any more But I grew up eating steak And salad side   In America I know they have death row Its very name saddens me to the coreContinue reading “The Waste of War”

Acts: 5:34-42   To the powers that be The issue was a simple one This new movement threatens the status quo Threatens the established way of things Threatens their own power don’t you know   So flog them beat them threaten them with death Let them see who rules the roost round here Powerful menContinue reading “Gamaliel”

If I was a dictator I’d be scared Rule by fear and you end up afraid Stalin purged his rivals and his people Died alone – to see him no one dared   If I was Putin and saw the West arrayed With freedom talk and missiles pointing east I too would feel alarm myContinue reading “Self Possession”

It’s time I read a book again Time to read a book Let somebody talk to me Get some other look Get to see a wider world See the feelings there Time to go outside again Time for some fresh air   I’m lucky in my family Parents siblings dog Aunts and uncles cousins OpenContinue reading “A Birth Right”

A house destroyed Books lie on a shelf The owner gone or dead I do not know Who did this thing? A long-range gun That was my father’s job Release the bombs God knows where they land   To hurt another person Is all wrong We know it is But still we carry on AndContinue reading “Damage”

My grandfather had a fiddle Though I never heard him play An old man when I knew him I guess he’d had his day But I heard the story told How a lady would not dance Unless my granddad played for her He had the rhythm for romance   I remember waistcoat whiskers Pocket watchContinue reading “Music and Stories”

He went back ever year Back to France To visit graves of lads Who never stood a chance Mown down on that foreign shore There they lie forever more Names on stones worthy of our glance   A pal of his died in his arms Father of a three-month baby girl All his years ofContinue reading “Lost in France”

Every Sunday morning in the old days The priest got in the pulpit gospel read He then read out a list of names Of all the lately dead And then the sick who were at home All the names were read And we sat there and we listened As sick and dead were named AndContinue reading “Lately Dead”

Peter comes across as big and bold A no nonsense type of guy Do as you’re told Quick to speak his mind Or take offense Quick to use his sword In his defence   Jesus saw the qualities in the man And called him Rock Steady in the van A church to be built onContinue reading “Life Lessons”

Do you want us to call down fire from heaven? The disciples asked the Lord A nuclear strike so long ago We will – just say the word But the Lord rebuked their fiery ways A Samaritan village spared They went off to another town Yet their fighting spirit dared   In County Mayo longContinue reading “The Ways of Peace”

There’s a loveliness about living on an island A cosy home wrapped around by sea The British Isles and Ireland Off shore paradise Green and pleasant land You will agree   Amazing that we became world power An empire we ruled from sea to sea But powerful days are over And that’s no sad demiseContinue reading “Southern Shores”

Shalom the word that Jesus says today The peace of God beyond our wildest dreams And in Ukraine a mother and her baby Are bombed and blasted Blown to smithereens   And Putin has new missiles on his side And talks of them like Hitler in his pride Placing trust in cruel weaponry Destroying trustContinue reading “Mother and Child”