Category Archives: Uncategorized

My life is quietThat is no complaintI love these peaceful daysThis silent timeMy son not far awayMy grandsons nearThey visit when they canThat’s just fine My energy diminishedNo surpriseI’m heading for the number 75The bus does me for shoppingGood to get outsideComing home I feelI’ve been alive This websiteThis window on the worldHas given meContinue reading “Personal Power”

The bus stopIs a quiet placeAlong the road of BroomA grassy placeA solemn bank of treesThe road appears and disappearsOccasional cars come byOtherwise the silence and the breeze So quietly stillI think of Cary GrantStanding at the crossroadsIn that filmA plane appearsA crop sprayerSpraying up and downSuddenlyIt comes in for the kill No crops hereForContinue reading “Bus Stop Reverie”

The millions of yearsThat have passedThe millions of stars in the skyThe light years’ depth of the universeTell me then – what am I? ApparentlyImage of GodThe Good BookWould have me believeBut the way we behaveWould persuade meSomeone is out to deceive But noThe human’s a wonderIntelligence beauty and graceFlawed and inclined to blunderAnd grantedContinue reading “The Path”

Two years to the day it wasTwo years since Swanzy diedMichael Collins met his endKilled by his own side Ireland in those troubled timesIndependence civil warSo many brutalised and killed– Worth the fighting for? So many deaths have comeSince thenEach side pushed to the brinkMay wiser kinder thoughts prevailTalk and let us think Live byContinue reading “Mouth Of Flowers”

Today is the bluest blueThe greenest greenSun shining strongBrightest I have seenMidsummer todayThe best that we can beLife in all its lovelinessAll that I can see In human lifeThe truest trueIs in the NazareneThe Lord of lifeReveals the truest heartNo puritan no miseryNo mediocrityA man of all the virtuesAnd the art Enter by the narrowContinue reading “Human Blueprint”

Mammy knew the scoreShe lived till 94She’d been a nurseCared for the elderlyMatron of a homeBefriended when aloneOld ladies in their bedsAbout to die She had beenSo energeticSo fit so full of lifeWorked and walked and washedAnd cooked and cleanedUntil that fall at 92Put her in the chairNow she wouldEntrust her selfTo other people’s careContinue reading “Help Of The Helpless”

My father knewHis days of life were numberedHis lungs were shotLife had worn him downBut his gentle spiritStayed with himHe had seen the light and darkA gentle smile was hisNever a frown Coal dust met him earlyIn his teensThen army lifeSaw him fit and fineBut malaria near killed himAnd pneumoniaLife in IndiaA precious time SixContinue reading “A Morning Prayer”

Hadrian’s WallHistorical monumentFine and sturdySomething great to viewBut built rememberTo keep out warring PictsA dividing lineStronghold Roman crew Offa’s DykeMighty Mercian earthworkEdge of kingdom looking into WalesA dividing lineSeparating kingdomsImpressive rampartRuns to sea and sails In the southNo need to build a wallThe Channel waterA rampart and a moatKeeps England safeFrom foreign interferenceEnemy ships? WeContinue reading “Marks In The Sand”

Bus barber butcherBus back to baseMonday morning movementMore or lessNow back within these wallsSoda bread and teaWrite a poemPerhaps a memory Moving made me realiseThe world is not four wallsAt least not for meI get outsideBut for those insideThe systemThe penitentiaryPrison wallsA multitude they hide Pandemic makes usLook afreshAt how we live our livesClose examinationOfContinue reading “Monday Moments”

Scribes And Pharisees Out of sight is out of mindWe sayAnd there’s nothing more out of sightThan prisonsWe excommunicateRemove from our midstOur last resort has become our first Jimmy McGovernHas taken us insideLet us seeThe kind of life in thereThe cramped conditionMonastic mental hellUnbalanced peopleSociety unaware Some peopleNeed to be in prisonBut many moreNeed helpContinue reading “Scribes And Pharisees”

He lived in SeaburnSunderlandA man maybe sixtyLovely wife lovely houseThe seaDying of cancerA handsome man and fitIt seemedBut cancer nowTerminality I visited each weekHoly communionUnspoken stressToo much to comprehendSaid the prayers togetherCommunion and awayBye for nowSee you next weekend Then one FridayOpening the ScriptureI read the storyThat we read todayThe storm at seaThe cry ofContinue reading “Storm By Sunderland”

They say the good die youngAnd many doA kindly thought – for all thatNo less trueMaggie saw but 47Mammy 94Swings and roundaboutsI’m at 74 This living that we doSo many daysSo many months and yearsGone in a hazeThis basic elementBasic possessionIs filled with many tearsMuch obsession Length of days though goodIs not the purposeAccumulating pleasureFoolishContinue reading “Morning and Evening Prayer”

Age and creaking bonesLeads me to embraceThe vow of stabilityWith easeMind youI wasn’t ever oneTo gallivantWhere I wasI was happy withIt pleased Benedictines take this vowTo stabiliseTo make their stableWhere they make their vowAdhere to this communityAnd placeFight their battlesLive to grow in grace I never had the wanderlustNever had to goStaying put was IDownContinue reading “Stability”

Early morning monasterySunday London townUp and outUnderground first trainUp to Stanstead airportQuiet as a mouseDriverless tramRides to exit door Flight takes off for IrelandDestination KnockLand so earlyVery few aroundMet by sister TriciaInto CastlebarCup of coffeeImperial Hotel Here I amThe peaceful westWhere Davit formed the LeagueEscape from crowded LondonSeeking easeA troubled heartI carriedTime would bring releaseInContinue reading “Early Morning Flight”

Matthew 6:24-34 The Asda manIn the Asda vanIs at my neighbour’s doorDelivering food supplies todayFood to keep in storeThere is plenty foodWe’re never shortAbundance is our gameWhile others starveAnd famines rageWe just go on the same Pandemic caused usPanic stationsFood flew off the shelvesToilet rolls were hard to findBasic to our selvesOur lives so neatlyContinue reading “Food For Thought”