Pendulum Pulse

As we go into winter, we are still having glorious rainstorms - most unseasonal.  I and my garden love them but those out in the cold and wet will be taking strain.  My thoughts are with them. 

Pendulum Pulse

Whispers

Of 

Wintry

Wisps

Wheezed

Out of autumn days

Transforming

Temperate breezes

Into

Sodden

Bitter

Aches

A shivering

Grim-faced

Sentence

In sidereal time

As

Inevitable

As

A

Pendulum

Pulse

Kitty Heaven

Over The Edge

This is a fun poem with serious overtones (much like most of my poems, I guess).  

My picture shows clouds pushing their way over and across one another. The black in the background was also a cloud. It was an incredible sight.

I'm so glad.  We have a long weekend coming up.  Four whole days to wander around the blogosphere catching up with visiting in between chores and such-like.  I can't wait.

Johannesburg, Feb 2014

OVER THE EDGE

Love stood at the edge

Looking down on

The roiling boiling mass below

Shocked yet intrigued by the chaos

Love stood aside

Just looked

And wondered 

Love stepped over the edge

Tentatively touching

The edge of reason

Drawn ever closer by something wild

Love moved forward

Touched and

Touched again

Love moved into the mass

Embracing passion in

The roiling boiling mass within

Stunned at the unexpected hunger

Love surrendered completely

Gave and then

Received in turn

Love succumbed to the mass

Senses drowning in

A spiralling vortex of sensation

Soul essence 

Pulsating uncontrolled

Love burst within itself

Creating more love-filled chaos

New Day Dawning

Rain in France
Source: Lyndsay McDee

In the first picture, my niece, Lyndsay, is trying to capture the volume of rain which was pouring down at their house in France.  The experiment didn't quite work so I've also chosen another of Lyndsay's photos to give us a double blessing after the rainfall.

Then, for your listening pleasure, at the end of the post, I've included another special - just because I love it and because I can...

New Day Dawning

The fresh new-day scent greeted us first

Followed almost immediately by the sound of rain

We looked out of the window and were amazed

After the rain, the rainbow
Source: Lyndsay McDee

A picture, painted by an amateur it seemed

The trees and houses were in perfect harmony

But alas, the rain – great big blobs of silver

Streaking down in angular disaccord

Forcing its way into so very many lives

To complete the blend, the sun still shone

In glorious rays of golden hues

With not a cloud to be seen in the sky

The art of it was so strangely beautiful!

An uncanny feeling of well-being washed over me

Not for the first time, I wondered at nature

How one tiny drop in time can alter a mood

Can change one's life for a minute, an hour, a day

Madame Tussauds

Madame Tussauds

No visit to London would be complete without a visit to Madame Tussauds and my children and I made the most of it. We had a wonderful time amongst the fame and famous which was just as well because the scenes from the dungeon made me feel quite ill.  So much torture and people nowadays think waterboarding is torture - good grief. 

Here's me with George Clooney (even if he is wax).  This is such a fitting picture for my poem because even this ostensibly 'perfect man' is not perfect at all.

MAN PERFECT MAN

The lady sits and waits

She already knows the score

Any minute now she'll see

Her perfect man walk through the door

The lady sits and waits

A trifle sad it's true

Her perfect man's not yet arrived

She's turning somewhat blue

The lady sits and waits

She sits and she waits still

For that man to lift her spirit

The one who fits the bill

The lady sits and waits

So many years have passed

There is no man who's perfect

She understands at last

Love Me For Now

Mr and Mrs Snowe

My poem for today was inspired by a comment made by a colleague of mine.  I should imagine that the sentiments are what most people feel about a relationship.

I can't believe we're on 'L' already.  That's half way through the month.  I must admit that I was a bit concerned that I wouldn't survive this month's schedule but it's been wonderful so far and meeting up with 'old' friends and making new friends, well they're the best part of the whole thing.

Love Me For Now

I don’t care at all

About the loves you've had before

I also don’t care

I really don’t

What you do

If and when you leave

All that I ask of you

My dear

Is that for the time that you’re with me

And the time that I'm with you

Let it be me

And only me

Let it be only me

Kaleidoscope

The Clivia is indigenous to South Africa and comes in a variety of shades with the orange above being the most common.  It is one of our spectacular plants and I think it is beyond beautiful; particularly in the kaleidoscope pictured above.


Kaleidoscope

Can we ever know
What our futures
May hold?

Time and times change
And we with them

Each changing pattern
Forms its own unique thread
Within and of
The Knowledge of Ages

An intrinsic
Pliant interchange
In life’s
Kaleidoscope

As time
Moves forward
As times
Spin around

As we each
Meld ourselves
Within
The filigree of consciousness
Each pattern changes

James

James and Renee (Brother and Sister)

This poem was written for my Dad, for his birthday on the 4th of August but it could just as well be any day.  He died of cancer 36 years ago and his memory is still as much alive as it was when he first left us.









James 

(In Your Honour, My Precious Father)

There have been so many times

In this life of mine

When all I’ve wanted to do

Was to turn to you

My father
James

To get your loving advice

We so often stumble

And we regularly fall

This is true of life and lives

But with you to turn to

My father
James

Those times were never that bad

Your grandchildren are now grown

And what treasures they are

Each in their own

Individual way

My father
James

They live your spirit through loving memories

Celebrate with us today

From your home in Heaven

As we remember your birth

Yet more to the point

My father
James
How you lived your exceptional life

Your teachings have endured

Into your next generation

As you always hoped they would

Thank you for blessing our lives

My father

James

Dearest Father of ours

It

I have a pathological hatred for the way so many governments around the world are now behaving as if it is their right to pillage people's wealth and destroy people's lives.  This is not an isolated incident unique to one country; it is endemic across the globe.  I have yet to even begin to understand how we allowed this to occur and, as we so clearly have, why don't we stop it in its tracks?  I'm asking myself the question too.




IT

It

Emerges

Quietly

Stealthily

Insidiously

Democracy

Images of destruction caused by a corrupt Government

The ploy

The platform

Reform

The vision

Until

It

Strikes

Devouring

The heart

Dissent cleaved

Goal achieved

Influence

Domination

Diktat

It

Is

An extremely

Insidious

Deception     

Habits Die Hard

It's been said that growing old is not for sissies.  How very true that is but, if we consider the alternative, I'll happily take the tough times.

I find it truly sad that so very many people don't ever get the opportunity to grow old.  Cherish each and every day and it's alright if your lifetime of habits are the only things which keep you going because sometimes that's all that we have to cling on to.




HABITS DIE HARD

Old! 

Too old! 

They told me

I was too old!

Habits 

Of a lifetime

Embedded

Within my soul

I

Die

A 

Daily death

As I

Slowly

Tread

The familiar

These

Hard concrete corridors

Of

My discounted memories

Basingstoke History Museum, UK

Gift

This poem was inspired by the attached powerful picture of an eagle and a wolf.  We are all interconnected in some way and to me, this picture embodies that connection, as well as the separation and distance between very different entities.

Our human relationships are similar, of course.  We are not one, even when we are together, we are still our own individual entities; sharing a common bond but, nevertheless, separate.

GIFT

There is a burning spot

Where my heart should be

Since

My Spirit

Your Spirit

My soul

Your Soul

The Eagle and the Wolf
(Source: unknown)

Joined

Although far apart

Our Soul Spirits

Know

They have

Found

Each other

We’ll never
Be alone again

Thank You

For giving me

This most

Precious

Gift

The knowing that

Whenever I need

Comfort

Companionship

I close my eyes

Am still

And

We will be One

Four Seasons

As we go into the change of our seasons - the Northern Hemisphere into summer and, here in the Southern Hemisphere, into winter, I was reminded that there are seasons in other aspects of our lives too. Included in this are economic and political structures.  What struck me as well, is that, as the seasons follow one after the other, so all social doctrines also do.  The truth is (and Thank God for that) there truly is nothing static on earth as we see in Ecclesiastes 1:9:  (New King James Version (NKJV))

⁹ That which has been, is what will be,
That which is done, is what will be done,
And there is nothing new under the sun.

Four Seasons

The Party

Once had a vision

New directions

Youthful enthusiasm

Better conditions

Lower crime

Amid

Intense

London, England 2009

Reconstruction

Tragic but true

Once he had sampled power

National interest palled

Yesterday’s news

Burgeoning

Leadership absorption

Arrogance of office

Intolerant narcissism

Revolting the senses

The leader

One-time Nonpareil

Now considered spent

Yokes and binds the country

Businesses and individuals

Languish from miscarriage 

Aberrant

Inept

Reconstruction

Turmoil and tumult

Occasion revealing tableaux

Naked obvious truths

Yawn their torments

Buried time out of mind

Laid bare for the world to see

Awaken now to resist

Immoral doctrinal

Ruination

Autism

I missed World Autism Day but living with someone who is autistic isn't only for one day, so this is for my nephew, Kyle and his wife, Emma who have the honour of having being chosen by God to share their life with their wonderful son, Thomas (who is autistic) and their daughter Amelia.  What this is doing for my family is teaching them how to think very differently from what is considered ‘normal’ in today’s world. 

They are, in a very real sense, getting a glimpse into how God views us.  From 1 Samuel 16:7 we get this gem on God’s choosing of David to be King over others who were viewed by the prophet Samuel as being acceptable to be king of Israel.

“But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.  The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

I used Thomas’s ‘Dancing Satsuma Peel’ in my poem for ‘D’ (Dear Addict) for the April A-Z Challenge to describe a punch to the midriff, not knowing it was, in fact Thomas's work.  However, this is a much better story. 

Emma, Thomas’s mother and my darling niece-in-law (if there is such a thing.  I think of her simply as my niece) wrote the following message on my Facebook page:

“Thomas's dancing Satsuma peel.  I would be honoured to just share the thoughts of an autistic child for just one day. They look at the world as the world is.  It's raining cats and dogs, while we "get" that it means it's raining really hard.  Why don't we just say that?  That freaks an autistic person out, but if it DID really rain cats and dogs it would totally freak us all out! I think that they are more in tune with life and it's us that have a skewed outlook that sadly makes us "normal".  Think outside the box, as autism parents we have to do this every day.  It's a pleasure to do so.”

So, here it is; a special poem for Emma, Kyle, Amelia and most particularly for my precious nephew, Thomas...

Satsuma Man

When you look at me

Thomas's Dancing Satsuma Peel

What do you see?

Do you know what I am?

No, I’m not eggs and ham

I can see it for real

It’s the torn off peel

You say as you widely grin

From an orange or mandarin

No, No, No

Look low

Say I

And then again look high

Look left

Past the crevice and cleft

Look right

For a wonderful sight

Keep moving your eyes

Watch it fall and then rise

Soon you’ll say, ‘Why, Yes I can’

It’s the Dancing Satsuma Man

It’s the Dancing Satsuma Man

Dancing as only he can

Arms and legs open wide

His head thrown back in pride

What a moment, what fun

See him dance; see him run

It’s the little peel man
The Dancing Satsuma Man

Eclipsed

Day 5, woohoo!  What fun this is...

Barret's Exquisite Photo of an Eclipse

Eclipsed

I watched the moon tonight

A beautiful full

Complete orb

Then I watched

As the sun’s shadow

Passed across, through her

Obliterating her light

A momentary twinge

Overcame me

Was I sad?

Then in the darkness

We shared a shooting star

Me where I am

You where You are

I watched the moon tonight

Just sat

And watched

Absorbed in the moment

Not thinking deeply

Relaxing

Peacefully

Sending thoughts to You

For when You see her too

I watched the moon tonight!

Dear Addict

Dear Addict

I think of you
Punch to the midriff
I think of you
My arms go weak
I think of you
My heart starts laughing
My blood gurgles too
As it recognises
My essence
Recognise
The essence of you

My fingers tingle
As do my toes
My face starts to spasm

Source:  Kyle and Emma

And wrinkles my nose
My cheeks join in
Reaching up to my eyes
Which twinkle and sparkle
Like stars in night skies

I say to myself
There’s a problem here
How can it be
That I hold him so dear?

Then once again
I think of you
Punch to the midriff
My knees touch the floor
Legs which can walk for miles
Don’t make the door

So I say to myself
There’s a problem here
How can it be
That I need him near?

My Heart starts laughing
Shoots straight to the core
I’m surprised at you Darling
So I’ll tell you once more
There’s nothing that you

Will be able to do
So I hope that at last
You’ll listen and hear

The only thing wrong
With you My Dear
Is the song in your heart
Of your love for him
Your very own Love Song
Which sings to your soul
The very same Love Song
Which sings to your Heart

You’re an addict My Dear
You’re an addict it’s true
You’re an addict I fear
That much holds true

The cure is a punch to the midriff
Each time you think of him
A punch to the midriff
When your arms go weak

I laugh at my heart
As I think of you
I'll take that punch to my midriff
My arms can going weak
I even don’t mind

If I don’t reach the door
As long as I’m with you
I can ask for no more

Crystal Nights

That first moment when one realises that someone has become more important than life itself is quite a daunting experience for many. All life's insecurities and hesitations seem to converge with a cherishing, adoring, romantic emotion. The juxtaposition forms a cauldron from which any and every emotion can emerge at any time and not in any particular order. 'Crystal Nights' tries to explain this phenomenon...

Crystal Nights

Shouted whispers and silent cries

Tell of my love for you

Yet still

I hide away

Within my sincerity

Within the strands of my intuition

As my Mind touches your Mind

As my Soul senses your Soul

Muted hues and vibrant shadows

Portray my love for you

Yet still

I hide away

Within my timidity

Within the filament of my unconsciousness

As my Hands hold your Hands

As my Body embraces your Body

Crystal nights and Opal lights

Bring my love to you

Yet still

I hide away

Within my honesty

Within the filigree of my conscious

As my heart throbs to your heart

As my life breathes your life

Crystal waters at The Palace of the Lost City, Sun City, South Africa