tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63289510173295344402024-03-14T09:17:29.378+00:00Bard at BayRichard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.comBlogger752125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-59576950843184676372023-11-05T12:42:00.001+00:002023-11-05T12:42:20.738+00:00LAST POST<p><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I've can't remember which year I launched <b>Bard at Bay</b> but, according to the stats, I've posted just short of 1,000 poems or short stories since then. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My approach to writing has changed over the years as has my published output and doubtless that evolution will continue so long as I continue to write.</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Over the past three years I've moved towards lighthearted verse and currently I publish a daily poem, often humorous, sometimes topical, on my Facebook page. You'll find the link below.</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/">https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</a></span> </i></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I've decided to 'retire' <b>Bard at Bay</b> so this is my last post. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Land of Youth is a rhyming poem that first appeared on Facebook and seems to me to be a fitting choice to accompany the Bard's final bow.</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My thanks to all those of you who sought out this blog and supported it over the years.</span></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6X7ul0SfRwKxu1tgYydx-rL7VRnSp22xTonbrqWMcFOmRTvG2blmUX6XdOXAXfgUgvhC4EbozEfP-AX5GEAxsJfiSMIqfiPnGyF19qW1Gcmv5XW_oPosFEGXhaDqpFjr1cBPec9Abc0f85wv-LioErsOZNtW6G-S9xdz0augGyVLD89kxZeEp_mRSHcKn/s538/LAND%20image.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="356" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6X7ul0SfRwKxu1tgYydx-rL7VRnSp22xTonbrqWMcFOmRTvG2blmUX6XdOXAXfgUgvhC4EbozEfP-AX5GEAxsJfiSMIqfiPnGyF19qW1Gcmv5XW_oPosFEGXhaDqpFjr1cBPec9Abc0f85wv-LioErsOZNtW6G-S9xdz0augGyVLD89kxZeEp_mRSHcKn/s320/LAND%20image.png" width="212" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">LAND OF YOUTH</span></i></b></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></i></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Rex was a jaded retiree</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">whose joie de vivre was history.</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">A faded fellow, seen by some</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">as dull and permanently glum.</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">He saw a ladder on a wall</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">that wasn</span><span style="font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">’</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">t really there at all.</span></span></i></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The wall itself was real enough,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">full twelve feet tall, its finish rough.</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The ladder, Rex could clearly see,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">was unreal, purely fantasy,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">and yet he scaled it, rung by rung,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">with zest he had not felt since young.</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Up, up he climbed, small, bony-kneed,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">and felt his adulthood recede</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">with every step. A child again,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">he climbed out of the world of men</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">into a realm where pains and aches</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">gave way to comic-books and cakes,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">to conkers, roller-skates, balloons,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">his old banjo, its tuneless tunes,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">the games of tag, that Rex called tig,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">that very first clandestine cig,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">the kites that sailed, the dens that fell,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">the battle-games, charge and repel,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">the sticklebacks caught from the stream,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">the ginger beer and Walls ice cream.</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Rex, to his joy, saw Spike, his cat,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">dead fifty years, grown sleek and fat,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">and Jack, his terrier, alive,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">who had been dead for fifty-five,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">his cockatiel, long gone, named Blue,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">live and unharmed, Rex saw her too. </span><span style="color: #0c61ac; font-kerning: none;"> </span></span></i></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Around him, like chess-pieces, ranged</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">his childhood friends, each hardly changed,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">his mother, young and free from care,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">his father with a head of hair,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">a cricket bat, a brand new ball,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">those battered stumps, Rex could recall</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">from countless summers long ago</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">with Father shouting “Bowl don’t throw!”</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Rex slowly realised the truth:</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">this was, of course, the Land of Youth,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">the Tír na hÓige, he’d learned about.</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Again, he heard his father shout</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">“Who wants to climb this apple tree?”</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Rejuvenated, Rex cried, “Me!”</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-6244891494601917162023-10-31T15:57:00.003+00:002023-10-31T15:57:40.573+00:00A NECESSARY POEM<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>As the bloody ripples from conflict in the Middle East travel outward into all our lives, the media images grow more heartbreaking by the hour, so today's poem is presented without an accompanying picture.</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b style="font-family: georgia;"><i>THE SPARK </i></b></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Insistent broadcasters supply</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>grim images that horrify.</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>We look, aghast, then shrink away</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>from moving pictures that display</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>the carnage and brutality</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>that challenge our humanity.</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>As each hour escalates our fear,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>from every tv set we hear,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>young children, futures stolen, sob,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>while angry voices of the mob</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>who, as the flames rage in the dark,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>deplore the fire, forget the spark</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>that set alight this petrol-drum.</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Preserve us and protect us from </i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>the wounded that wound in their turn</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>and celebrate as cities burn.</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span></i></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i>For verse of a different kind, why not visit: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/">https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</a></i></span></p><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-37712662414416307332023-10-15T12:45:00.001+01:002023-10-15T12:46:55.364+01:00MULTICOLOURED DREAMS<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>This is an almost-sonnet, true enough to the form until the final couplet where, having fallen in love with the image of a child sleeping amidst the brightly coloured Lego pieces, I allowed myself a touch of poetic licence and failed to make a perfect rhyme. </i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDRtrZV3cg9b03tFu7VIwXkZDrOxY-Ewawn7qy7UNzPSQQ7ot8tQIRLKQn2Y3jEiN3QR3v4__N0b_YygGq9SPOAUCORghw_7dG_87hLsipK2BclCD-dWbW-V-Z2HuLwoxFWxO4q6ztI245HJn3q--fP-h2wOKLhF1ZcBWmJL3F52VH9qSuXjwFqDuQXQ/s1426/LEGO.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="1426" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDRtrZV3cg9b03tFu7VIwXkZDrOxY-Ewawn7qy7UNzPSQQ7ot8tQIRLKQn2Y3jEiN3QR3v4__N0b_YygGq9SPOAUCORghw_7dG_87hLsipK2BclCD-dWbW-V-Z2HuLwoxFWxO4q6ztI245HJn3q--fP-h2wOKLhF1ZcBWmJL3F52VH9qSuXjwFqDuQXQ/s320/LEGO.png" width="320" /></i></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b style="font-family: georgia;"><i>LEGO</i></b></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>An old man, grey and gargoyle-faced, stares down </i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>from a cathedral armchair to the rug</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>where a grandson, his game played out, lies snug,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>and sound asleep, his Lego spread around.</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>He marvels at how suddenly the child,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>as though anaesthetised, laid down his head,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>no bedtime tale required, the rug his bed.</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>Insomniac himself, he sits beguiled </i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>by this small child below him on the floor,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>so innocent beside his slippered feet,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>and, tearful, feels that life is incomplete</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>without this wordless moment of rapport</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>with the small sleeping boy, his soft fair hair</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>haloed by Lego pieces on the floor.</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span></i></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i>For verse of a different kind, why not visit: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/">https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</a></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-33330435686732026102023-10-06T12:36:00.011+01:002023-10-06T12:42:38.128+01:00TWO TO TANGO<p><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I daresay it's prudent to add a disclaimer to this sonnet, so I will. It's not autobiographical. And I don't dance. </span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMK_7Yxmr-guK4nEM0LoO_nDS5txtlkbOIqRc94mp-VH53IDMQAH-1R2kH2mbIEfNVJRj3rubkPyqkpQj4p1gv1Eoj9NNbqULpDHb4nLu07sv7AOiS3nn8jvqHmVXlYKrMp0s-m6mPJSgaAJEr1jYiVbjBClCEIBDxuSQtStyKLNZg-geS-qhWc29gLaH4/s892/DANCE%202.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="892" data-original-width="584" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMK_7Yxmr-guK4nEM0LoO_nDS5txtlkbOIqRc94mp-VH53IDMQAH-1R2kH2mbIEfNVJRj3rubkPyqkpQj4p1gv1Eoj9NNbqULpDHb4nLu07sv7AOiS3nn8jvqHmVXlYKrMp0s-m6mPJSgaAJEr1jYiVbjBClCEIBDxuSQtStyKLNZg-geS-qhWc29gLaH4/s320/DANCE%202.png" width="210" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></b></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b style="font-family: georgia;"><i><br /></i></b></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">THE DANCE </span></i></b></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>Some unexpected magic that first time</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>we met, a lively group of four or more,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>drew us together, partners in some crime</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>not yet committed. While they took the floor,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>your husband and my wife, we sat and spoke</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>of everything and nothing, time danced by.</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>It seemed that something, in us both, awoke </i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>and took control as we sat eye to eye.</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>It was as though we spoke in tongues unknown</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>to those around us. Suddenly we knew</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>that one day in the future we’d atone</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>for what we felt and what we’d choose to do.</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>The music rose and fell. We sat, entranced,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>while, unsuspectingly, our partners danced.</i></span></p><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p><i style="font-family: georgia;">For verse of a different kind, why not visit:<span style="color: #ff00fe;"><a href=" https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/"> https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</a></span></i> </p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-41130025180200264552023-10-01T20:34:00.006+01:002023-10-06T12:39:45.662+01:00HOME?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>Just back from a 3-week road trip in England, with brief forays into both Scotland and Wales, I find myself questioning the concept of home, a place where one feels one belongs. </i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>Born in Ireland, now thirty years resident in the Channel Islands, I don't regard either place a home: one was my birthplace, the other 'the place where I live now'. </i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>I wrote this poem, in sonnet-style although not properly a sonnet, a few months ago and think it aptly sums up my idea of home.</i></span></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx1UrW9KjV8GPa7Y8QS_enwcDJNcLihakP7OxKBQuz1paM_YsXGnsXAidP53m47RIN4k67KPHdspxlkOm1Nv32qEezeWF9_-Rl1BQBGS9oARuadvyKW1Q3U9yGXIPuKFctUFqvl4gX5VQ8x3iVCPveKjngWnhCZeIN18RbvhokUf-oRwwbKxMdzJz_VC9L/s1260/HOME.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1260" data-original-width="596" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx1UrW9KjV8GPa7Y8QS_enwcDJNcLihakP7OxKBQuz1paM_YsXGnsXAidP53m47RIN4k67KPHdspxlkOm1Nv32qEezeWF9_-Rl1BQBGS9oARuadvyKW1Q3U9yGXIPuKFctUFqvl4gX5VQ8x3iVCPveKjngWnhCZeIN18RbvhokUf-oRwwbKxMdzJz_VC9L/s320/HOME.png" width="151" /></a></div><br /><i><br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"> </span></i></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b style="font-family: georgia;"><i>HOME</i></b></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>The Eskimo or Inuit,</i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>it’s said, have many words for snow,</i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>a lexicon describing it</i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>in all it’s strange grandeur, although</i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>they have no word for home, it seems.</i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>For those who live nomadic lives,</i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>home is a place beyond their dreams</i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>and no concept of it survives </i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>amongst their harsh Arctic regimes.</i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>A static man, I find the word</i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>‘home’ one whose meaning subtly shifts:</i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>a comfort but at times absurd,</i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>a tombstone over which snow drifts.</i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>For me, home is not here or there,</i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>home is where love is. Anywhere.</i></span></span></p><div><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><br /></i></span></div><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i style="font-family: georgia;">For verse of a different kind, why not visit<span style="color: #ff00fe;">:<span><a href=" https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/"> </a><span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/">https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</a></span></span></span></i><span style="color: #ff00fe;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/ "> </a></span></span></p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-43912160029123572762023-09-11T12:31:00.002+01:002023-10-06T12:40:28.511+01:00FALL<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>Fall means Autumn in American-English, it also relates to loss of innocence, as in the Biblical Fall, when Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden. </i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>Today, of course, is the anniversary of the fall of the Twin Towers, to which this short poem refers.</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUdedSZw-GT9iNJXb33bGvJMTN9AArh-k8Y26OvTfBsn-UuNncoyyUV0do2cVyKALyZM3WPcCtBUEHTkbWexP2qFepEFTjyJBZeAoXAgQ4T3LCQ_8Vkpu9--0z8dgZ7QkP6DMd33hs9Dd5JZw9EgGa7W_VR0Yxmf251Hee7o8NLnb-XWfhFBRy1Se822_M/s392/TWIN%20TOWERS.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="276" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUdedSZw-GT9iNJXb33bGvJMTN9AArh-k8Y26OvTfBsn-UuNncoyyUV0do2cVyKALyZM3WPcCtBUEHTkbWexP2qFepEFTjyJBZeAoXAgQ4T3LCQ_8Vkpu9--0z8dgZ7QkP6DMd33hs9Dd5JZw9EgGa7W_VR0Yxmf251Hee7o8NLnb-XWfhFBRy1Se822_M/s320/TWIN%20TOWERS.png" width="225" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>SEPTEMBER </b> </span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i></i></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Rewind events and turn back time</span></i></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">as though to deconstruct a crime </span></i></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">and then restore the broken lives</span></i></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">of fathers, mothers, husbands, wives.</span></i></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Bring back to life the telephones,</span></i></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">computer screens, suppress the moans </span></i></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">of the bereaved, of those who died</span></i></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">when there was nowhere left to hide.</span></i></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Rebuild the towers, forgive the Cains</span></i></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">who weaponised the deadly planes.</span></i></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Let hearts be changed and please let all</span></i></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">be as it was before the fall.</span></i></span></p><div><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><br /></i></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i style="text-align: left;">For verse of a different kind, why not visit<span style="color: #ff00fe;">:<span><a href=" https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/"> </a><span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/">https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</a></span></span></span></i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/ " style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #ff00fe;"><span> </span> </span></a><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div></span></div>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-89869636317601641522023-08-28T20:33:00.002+01:002023-08-28T20:33:25.273+01:00HIGH WINDOWS<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>The loneliness of old age, a feeling of life having slipped by unnoticed, the awareness that little time remains: these things preoccupy me and surface from time to time in my verses. </i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqBlq4ck8DTxeJfPRYGiwQch5nET88l-41cdWFUrh55UgEFLSk6IFhGIcoq3ovizED8iEPEirIXTcqmKuMX5Z2IhWtsJfxY3zY9CMf9Scvg_ZyeosQ3RXQQvwS7O682YSxe5wyTpIpbOawctqIIuCRW9N9SKRPlHI4V6J1MuDObswbHwlgP7VL48Lnzdie/s512/MISS%20McCARTHY.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqBlq4ck8DTxeJfPRYGiwQch5nET88l-41cdWFUrh55UgEFLSk6IFhGIcoq3ovizED8iEPEirIXTcqmKuMX5Z2IhWtsJfxY3zY9CMf9Scvg_ZyeosQ3RXQQvwS7O682YSxe5wyTpIpbOawctqIIuCRW9N9SKRPlHI4V6J1MuDObswbHwlgP7VL48Lnzdie/s320/MISS%20McCARTHY.png" width="249" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i></span></div><p><br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i>MISS McCARTHY </i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>Miss McCarthy, at the window,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>wonders where did all the gin go </i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>as she stands, forlorn and swaying,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>watching, outside, children playing</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>games of hop-scotch with their young friends,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>under street-lamps, as the day ends.</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>Starlings swirl beyond the house-tops,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>lovers linger at the bus-stops.</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>Life is happening around her. </i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>It continues to astound her</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>that life causes such distress and</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>that the pain has never lessened.</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>Old, alone, she feels the starkness</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>of the fast descending darkness.</i></span></p><div><i><br /></i></div><p><i style="font-family: georgia;">For verse of a different kind, why not visit<span style="color: #ff00fe;">:<span><a href=" https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/"> </a><span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/">https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</a></span></span></span></i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/ "><span style="color: #ff00fe;"><span> </span> </span></a></p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-3667996771741660972023-08-22T22:15:00.001+01:002023-08-22T22:15:41.584+01:00CANCEL CULTURE<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>When you choose to live on a small island in the English Channel, travel becomes something of a challenge, not least of all when almost every journey by air involves transition through London's Gatwick Airport.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>2023 has been a particularly difficult year with delays and cancellations the norm rather than the exception. One such lengthy delay prompted this piece of rhyming verse.</i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicnHghzbm7-mDg4kQ781MtM2Pt_k8N1XoHGKmxKnRPyd91piikn9dIgUIeK_NwECnxr2YXz9Grke51l5TdP3A6TV9fba0YL89BC0_7aJ969eeuZrQiLSX39tfZaPvvWCNNK4DeOHgC2HPTgsRBI6xT7SYKxpwxk1ugNvRMfswx8UY8ICClCtf6_tCgvKTT/s680/GATWICK%20BLUES.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="680" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicnHghzbm7-mDg4kQ781MtM2Pt_k8N1XoHGKmxKnRPyd91piikn9dIgUIeK_NwECnxr2YXz9Grke51l5TdP3A6TV9fba0YL89BC0_7aJ969eeuZrQiLSX39tfZaPvvWCNNK4DeOHgC2HPTgsRBI6xT7SYKxpwxk1ugNvRMfswx8UY8ICClCtf6_tCgvKTT/s320/GATWICK%20BLUES.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><b style="font-family: georgia;"><i> </i></b></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><b>GATWICK BLUES</b></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>Imprisoned in an airport between flights,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>I read, but even reading starts to bore.</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>Distraction comes in countless forms: the lights,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>the noisy people that I can’t ignore</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>who jabber trivialities on mobile phones,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>the tantrum-throwing children and the teens, </i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>the shrieking girls, the hijab-wearing crones,</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>the idiots in pricy torn-up jeans …</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>I could rant on but realise it’s true:</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>the human race and I don’t really gel.</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>Apart from some good friends (and they’re damn few)</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>where I’m concerned the rest can go to hell. </i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>If I believed, I’d pray they’d disappear.</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>The modern world is not for me, I fear.</i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p><i style="font-family: georgia;">For verse of a different kind, why not visit<span style="color: #ff00fe;">:<span><a href=" https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/"> </a><span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/">https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</a></span></span></span></i><span style="color: #ff00fe;"><span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/ "> </a></span> </span></p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-79301101210213165962023-08-15T22:18:00.002+01:002023-08-15T22:19:18.532+01:00POEMS AND OTHER LIES<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>I try to write creatively and not overly depend on obsessive introversion as a source for verse: that said, a writer implants something of himself or herself in almost everything he/she writes, either consciously or otherwise. This little poem, however, is about as close as it gets to pure autobiography.</i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnFfBYEs8HNz_armfJ931xtK7NRRYOls88qayikC5bQjNACqPYjIJIk-HeZ8tByvdg1_qncQmR3YTooDOD9k0i2rrP4SvBkui1I_kaGm5YhkUspLjVGbqSv7THWTgCpRGKrv4KacC__nJYnrDMV5mzmeHVvEiSXsMpLZtGdOj3Ygo41GJIypE1djYmQb8Y/s684/WRITER.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="628" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnFfBYEs8HNz_armfJ931xtK7NRRYOls88qayikC5bQjNACqPYjIJIk-HeZ8tByvdg1_qncQmR3YTooDOD9k0i2rrP4SvBkui1I_kaGm5YhkUspLjVGbqSv7THWTgCpRGKrv4KacC__nJYnrDMV5mzmeHVvEiSXsMpLZtGdOj3Ygo41GJIypE1djYmQb8Y/s320/WRITER.png" width="294" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> </span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>WRITER </b></span></i></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></i></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">An early reader, I aspired</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">to be a writer and acquired </span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">a little notebook, pocket size,</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">where I wrote poems and other lies.</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The habit stuck: I write each day</span></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">in search of truth, that old cliche.</span></i></span></p><div><i><br /></i></div><p><i style="font-family: georgia;">For verse of a different kind, why not visit<span style="color: #ff00fe;">:<span><a href=" https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/"> </a><span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/">https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</a></span></span></span></i><span style="color: #ff00fe;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/ "> </a></span> </p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-91045042413401328782023-08-09T15:55:00.003+01:002023-08-15T22:20:11.676+01:00LIFE AFTER LIFE<p><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">This is a reworking of a poem, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">Invisible</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">, that appeared in my </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><b>Stone Witness</b> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">collection (2017). Whereas the original version was written in free verse and was rather more lengthy, the poem below is basically a rhyming </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">precis </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">of its predecessor.</span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8bMzuOI6x3x4PIyJutofBHVhfpiaRTu4VGpmO5X8Ba3TIqnOZkh1zbM0uWRCnUT4StoAo-9W6I-bOtksvUwmQUj21sjs3NxV3pO4W57ROspqR2-93AqQQxCxoz2tBckBDwck5Gu943mY_yVBI_Zl41Nx4kUIM7lgEZtSxxhy-9gxO4MYphYrN-41dSaZH/s1372/MUNCK%20red%20room.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1372" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8bMzuOI6x3x4PIyJutofBHVhfpiaRTu4VGpmO5X8Ba3TIqnOZkh1zbM0uWRCnUT4StoAo-9W6I-bOtksvUwmQUj21sjs3NxV3pO4W57ROspqR2-93AqQQxCxoz2tBckBDwck5Gu943mY_yVBI_Zl41Nx4kUIM7lgEZtSxxhy-9gxO4MYphYrN-41dSaZH/s320/MUNCK%20red%20room.png" width="320" /></a></span></i></div><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></i><p></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><b>THAT'S LIFE</b> </i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>Faces lean in, make sounds, then move away:</i></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>they hover like great birds above the cot</i></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>where he lies swaddled. Nothing that they say </i></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>makes sense. He is an infant. It’s Year Dot.</i></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></i></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>So it begins. Time hurries on. That’s life.</i></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>He lies in a red room. Faces lean in,</i></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>make sounds. Nothing makes sense. Pain wields its knife.</i></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>It’s Year Ninety. Ice settles on his skin.</i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i style="font-family: georgia;">For verse of a different kind, why not visit:<span style="color: #ff00fe;"><a href=" https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/"> </a><span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/">https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</a></span></span></i><span style="color: #ff00fe;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/ "> </a></span></span></p><div><br /></div>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-44226284082978433572023-08-01T11:37:00.005+01:002023-08-01T11:38:11.491+01:00A POEM OR NOT A POEM?<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">In the gloom of post-Brexit Britain, all that sustains us is hope. I wrote this recently. I don't know whether it qualifies as a poem. You, the reader, can decide.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKZ_DSIZzn_wSjCYKajX1keFX2HuMJv4tMdc2Z07pKC2u4Dxrx_m3UmDCnzI4UyYQYGtqJiyIRU5vlXN7N2nLvuyEpX4bKlIaALUMPPft2HM76UQFRfkkbCpNVgR0bh6ueGPVy3fx-zFHaMCiYC8nHA9JEKhLAVIYroixKvvUWQ9Al1VInvbk0vIH4oTDV/s1100/HOPE%202.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="1100" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKZ_DSIZzn_wSjCYKajX1keFX2HuMJv4tMdc2Z07pKC2u4Dxrx_m3UmDCnzI4UyYQYGtqJiyIRU5vlXN7N2nLvuyEpX4bKlIaALUMPPft2HM76UQFRfkkbCpNVgR0bh6ueGPVy3fx-zFHaMCiYC8nHA9JEKhLAVIYroixKvvUWQ9Al1VInvbk0vIH4oTDV/s320/HOPE%202.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>PROMISES</b> </span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Tomorrow promises to be better.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">An old friend, you thought lost, will telephone.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You’ll receive a long-awaited letter.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Somewhere a tyrant will be overthrown.</span></span></p><div><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><br /></i></span></div><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i style="font-family: georgia;">For verse of a different kind, why not visit:<span style="color: #ff00fe;"><a href=" https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/"> </a><span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/">https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</a></span></span></i><span style="color: #ff00fe;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/ "> </a></span></span></p><div><br /></div>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-43397656303421341852023-07-28T22:42:00.005+01:002023-07-28T22:45:17.493+01:00LYING IN WAIT<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Unlike the Psalmist's 'Valley of the Shadow of Death', Murder Mile is a place where a Theosceptic walks unaccompanied.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAmdzZaCjlLxeGnfMiLL-CBUck58G0S4Qd1IjhDgjYI---bWuntNPrcWgjcCTMbPnYlS9lgEKj1wHDZGtG3zGgAbddsmrMqwTcZBjUvg0q9gXTzA8-exkq3BME1ZSPrBNfLNIDh-mrmDjznmhIssv9saKyoKzpxSkd-0s6M4oDTM8rkzAqisCEOu-SfhVA/s560/MURDER%20MILE%20poem%20image.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="308" data-original-width="560" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAmdzZaCjlLxeGnfMiLL-CBUck58G0S4Qd1IjhDgjYI---bWuntNPrcWgjcCTMbPnYlS9lgEKj1wHDZGtG3zGgAbddsmrMqwTcZBjUvg0q9gXTzA8-exkq3BME1ZSPrBNfLNIDh-mrmDjznmhIssv9saKyoKzpxSkd-0s6M4oDTM8rkzAqisCEOu-SfhVA/s320/MURDER%20MILE%20poem%20image.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: georgia;">MURDER MILE </b><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I’m fast approaching Murder Mile</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">and can’t resist a rueful smile:</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">who ever thought I’d live so long.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">These days I simply limp along</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">in puzzlement that I’m not dead</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">but I expect to be waylaid </span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">soon by some thug or else his mate,</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">those brutal swine that lie in wait,</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">with sharpened blade and filthy tongue,</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">if you’ve the cheek to not die young.</span></span></p><div><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i style="font-family: georgia;">For verse of a different kind, why not visit<span style="color: #ff00fe;">:<span><a href=" https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/"> </a><span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/">https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</a></span></span></span></i><span style="color: #ff00fe;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/ "> </a></span></span></p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-34302545699862712082023-07-22T18:23:00.006+01:002023-07-22T18:23:50.979+01:00DOT, DOT, DASH, DASH <p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">A short poem written whilst on holiday in France where, unlike Britain, the rail network is affordable and appears to work. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtGAtjRtqMiiYdHAxyPbVGpyuvoWIuElF4Ce7WsWiToInjJafaYsJ-c3YhfI4WZZz2M5gXJezxE2sI2WARE82n_12fstwqNVRrYvwY6D754lVoG31BTUJrrFLZ6xLgLLMEklKrIjKUOyIFVj0k-nAheSLMQBngxCSNz2dGFmoEUQuBkmg9jA65CuEebTj8/s1116/BY%20RAIL.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="1116" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtGAtjRtqMiiYdHAxyPbVGpyuvoWIuElF4Ce7WsWiToInjJafaYsJ-c3YhfI4WZZz2M5gXJezxE2sI2WARE82n_12fstwqNVRrYvwY6D754lVoG31BTUJrrFLZ6xLgLLMEklKrIjKUOyIFVj0k-nAheSLMQBngxCSNz2dGFmoEUQuBkmg9jA65CuEebTj8/s320/BY%20RAIL.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>BY RAIL</b></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The scenery is moving fast,</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">the present changing into past</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">so speedily it dulls the mind</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">as what was there is left behind.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The distant hills, the greenery,</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">the hulking farm machinery,</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">the cattle, sheep, sometimes a horse,</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">are dashes, dots, a kind of Morse</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">transmitting messages, the kind </span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">received by the subconscious mind.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Enthralled, I watch this moving map,</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">abandoned novel in my lap.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></i></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i style="font-family: georgia;">For verse of a different kind, why not visit:<span style="color: #ff00fe;"><a href=" https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/"> </a><span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/">https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</a></span></span></i><span style="color: #ff00fe;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/ "> </a></span></p><p><br /></p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-48313658535405415132023-07-16T21:13:00.003+01:002023-07-16T21:14:28.806+01:00ON TARGET<p>Here's a humorous antidote to the depressing headlines that confront us these days.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiugcoidBePeep3i0EBX57cntfnBsluofEDcBT_wLw_FbE7BUXOQi1o9u6d8243fHMyDdRAoXAC5glfIg4RNNNXiVh9JgA8NCLRoMyFHpxK1lmEHYCEos3hmrHUotvjP_yi91LvchCoQj8lcyaFXjpYlbjtQH21Ait6K8QEYAazGTWKr5bOG5b2ih7Hp1gv/s260/AUNTY%20GUN.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="260" data-original-width="208" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiugcoidBePeep3i0EBX57cntfnBsluofEDcBT_wLw_FbE7BUXOQi1o9u6d8243fHMyDdRAoXAC5glfIg4RNNNXiVh9JgA8NCLRoMyFHpxK1lmEHYCEos3hmrHUotvjP_yi91LvchCoQj8lcyaFXjpYlbjtQH21Ait6K8QEYAazGTWKr5bOG5b2ih7Hp1gv/s1600/AUNTY%20GUN.png" width="208" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>AUNTY GUN </b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It must be said about my aunt,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">she wasn’t very tolerant.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">If, on the beach, she saw a sight</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">that she deemed rude or impolite</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">she’d fetch a rifle from her kit</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">and promptly take a shot at it.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In consequence, chaps in tight briefs</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">adorned with slick Speedo motifs</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">or ladies, vast, bikini-clad,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">that, in aunt’s view, were twice as bad,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">were struck in his or her kazoo</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">with pellets from her 22.</span></p><div><br /></div><p><i style="font-family: georgia;">For verse of a different kind, why not visit:<span style="color: #ff00fe;"><a href=" https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/"> </a><span style="color: #ff00fe;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/">https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</a></span></span></i><span style="color: #ff00fe;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/ "> </a></span></p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-85855618579870937262023-07-09T15:08:00.003+01:002023-07-09T15:08:54.136+01:00HUNGER GAMES<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I've not posted Flash Fiction for quite a while so here's one from the archive, an early attempt at the genre, based on a bit of local hearsay about a derelict cottage in County Down, Northern Ireland.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7t1baTzbADUHoN95k-GlZEsH2hOuXS7TsmGAH1pKTOyXnwTrjn05NCW7VYA5EXbD9vwHWwMDcwBdTYVwRdEk2db59beeChy6fl8c8sIPBXqNcFB0ndjW2ZNH5gU-kjNg_Kgf30nqZJlhuZNeyPRgaZMVCNhsOz88u_PbFmHMwhNGRk8T9xD4tzmoxeOfb/s862/DOBERMANS.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="862" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7t1baTzbADUHoN95k-GlZEsH2hOuXS7TsmGAH1pKTOyXnwTrjn05NCW7VYA5EXbD9vwHWwMDcwBdTYVwRdEk2db59beeChy6fl8c8sIPBXqNcFB0ndjW2ZNH5gU-kjNg_Kgf30nqZJlhuZNeyPRgaZMVCNhsOz88u_PbFmHMwhNGRk8T9xD4tzmoxeOfb/s320/DOBERMANS.png" width="320" /></a></div><b style="font-family: georgia;">BEHIND CLOSED DOORS </b><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The police said Old Walter’s death wasn’t suspicious: heart attack it seemed. We knew they were wrong but couldn’t prove it. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">That bastard, Rutter, had bullied the old boy unmercifully, using his status as Estate Manager like a bludgeon, once even threatening to have Walter’s beloved dogs put down. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We all feared Rutter’s rages and felt sure that one such outburst had provoked Old Walter’s collapse.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The rumour that Walter’s life savings were hidden in his cottage sent Rutter there immediately, not caring that the poor man had only been dead a week. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Using his master-key, Rutter entered the cottage and, to avoid interruption, bolted the door, then, for good measure, pushed a heavy cupboard across it and began his search. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">He only remembered the dogs when the first one lunged at him. The other two Dobermans, starved for a week, circled him hungrily. </span></p><div><br /></div>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-16684156909664470882023-07-02T14:28:00.004+01:002023-07-07T22:31:20.495+01:00AT LOGGERHEADS<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">A modern yet timeless theme for today's poem.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihy8cQraphPOLaFW3UP9u3anxVdpqPgcLrXf42M7Qej1WR5-qrGqCdjEcj-c9OlnmDIorzr--uk-6AbBZu4tX4p9uKShsFjl5ZFo0QCpAtTw5OVCwUe1I2bQfygeB4ArLG4JP3lpY0IQyUZNdYRWe4PGCsUrBsFz3ZSe4Bl7pUEc4Za4_o_xFU_R1ow7AD/s1054/QUARREL.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="844" data-original-width="1054" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihy8cQraphPOLaFW3UP9u3anxVdpqPgcLrXf42M7Qej1WR5-qrGqCdjEcj-c9OlnmDIorzr--uk-6AbBZu4tX4p9uKShsFjl5ZFo0QCpAtTw5OVCwUe1I2bQfygeB4ArLG4JP3lpY0IQyUZNdYRWe4PGCsUrBsFz3ZSe4Bl7pUEc4Za4_o_xFU_R1ow7AD/s320/QUARREL.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>THE QUARREL</b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Some conflict forced the two of us to choose</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">to step apart or try to reconcile. </span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Hot-headed, both of us, we let the booze</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">decide for us, both guilty without trial.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Friends sought to intercede, provided cues</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">for us to meet: we missed them by a mile.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">When one said yes, the other would refuse,</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">the reasons or excuses, versatile.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We neither one would wear the other’s shoes.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Resentment grew and, with resentment, bile</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">that poisoned everything: each would accuse</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">the other of disloyalty and guile.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">A thought occurs, which we dare not speak of:</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">that hatred is the dark sibling of love.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i></i></b></span><br /></p><p><i style="font-family: georgia;">For verse of a different kind, why not visit:<span style="color: #ff00fe;"><a href=" https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/"> </a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/"><span style="color: #ff00fe;">https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</span></a></span></i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/ "><span style="color: #ff00fe;"> </span></a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-1218150868188338412023-06-23T21:11:00.006+01:002023-06-23T21:13:29.422+01:00NOT FADE AWAY?<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">As I approach my eighth decade, the number of friends and relatives now deceased is high. Each individual is remembered, of course: that's their immortality. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">When my generation and the next are gone, however, those memories will die with us.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh0NjqCRx9lJ-Ynapx7SYMy-nJiS0oPjxDRgGrc2Ih2Ez6PHxRUqd9XXj8V89zVnSCi9fMeVkn3zfZTuK9BZWeTMUzThIeFdG-pkt51zL6tua6Zi1CdD9YeXWwLvxayL6lxdR465YnAdwiNHKTCB1RcBJy0jvq2p8o4Nutl2rVBG5Kfkmx2enAR-JEHe1s/s418/REMEMBER%20ME.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="418" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh0NjqCRx9lJ-Ynapx7SYMy-nJiS0oPjxDRgGrc2Ih2Ez6PHxRUqd9XXj8V89zVnSCi9fMeVkn3zfZTuK9BZWeTMUzThIeFdG-pkt51zL6tua6Zi1CdD9YeXWwLvxayL6lxdR465YnAdwiNHKTCB1RcBJy0jvq2p8o4Nutl2rVBG5Kfkmx2enAR-JEHe1s/s320/REMEMBER%20ME.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;">REMEMBER ME</span></b></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">A much-loved childhood friend, who died too young,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">smiles from a faded photograph today:</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">along with other snaps, his sits among</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">dead parents, aunts and uncles, an array</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">of family pets in amber, monochrome,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">all trapped forever, or till I’m deceased,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">like insects, in this stout, unwieldy tome.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Should I feel shame that somehow I have ceased</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">to think of him, to mourn his tragedy,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">his early exit, unrehearsed and swift,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">he who, back then, meant everything to me?</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Has fickle memory cast him adrift</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">as one does a glass bottle in the sea,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">its message, scrawled in hope, remember me?</span></p><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p><i style="font-family: georgia;">For verse of a different kind, why not visit:<span style="color: #ff00fe;"><a href=" https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/"> <span style="color: #ff00fe;">https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</span></a></span></i><span style="color: #ff00fe;"> </span></p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-74386124691873909032023-06-10T23:38:00.003+01:002023-06-10T23:40:09.172+01:00ALL CHANGE<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">This one's autobiographical but it all happened so long ago that I suspect that the other participants may well be pushing up the daisies by now. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAnwl_YaMrYR7A24sEGo-ujLdW8OtEuk0D5pXA-b1Bh91DB8ZlQikvOGTFJJE88FHRr8MAMDvY4hnTwOLg4fO3c8qMOIks5hpc4pwk9qKbe0cYVEkzB6AlGsp08VU4dw1XBFxNQ28dmLjnyYLdIKeWmHwsVLdCvD274Mo9bFZbfemFn0zjlexd21mmQg/s1800/TEENAGERS.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="1800" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAnwl_YaMrYR7A24sEGo-ujLdW8OtEuk0D5pXA-b1Bh91DB8ZlQikvOGTFJJE88FHRr8MAMDvY4hnTwOLg4fO3c8qMOIks5hpc4pwk9qKbe0cYVEkzB6AlGsp08VU4dw1XBFxNQ28dmLjnyYLdIKeWmHwsVLdCvD274Mo9bFZbfemFn0zjlexd21mmQg/s320/TEENAGERS.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: georgia;">TEENAGERS</b></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">
<br />
That rotten night, the party in full swing,</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">a teenage girl, with whom I was in love</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">or thought I was, who</span><span style="font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">’</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">d kept me on a string,</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">discarded me as though I were a glove </span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">and danced with my best friend. I felt a fool,</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">humiliated to be cast aside</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">so publicly, for she was cold and cruel</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">as only teenagers can be. My pride</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">took such a hammering, I almost wept,</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">but love</span><span style="font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">’</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">s skin-deep so, when the music played</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">a new girl asked me for a dance, I leapt,</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">and, having danced for half an hour, she stayed</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">then, three weeks later, I moved on from her:</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">it</span><span style="font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">’</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">s no holds barred when you</span><span style="font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">’</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">re a teenager.</span></span></p><div><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><br /></i></span></div><p><i style="font-family: georgia;">For verse of a different kind, why not visit:<span style="color: #ff00fe;"><a href=" https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/"> https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</a></span></i> </p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-21926637050339490872023-06-03T18:58:00.001+01:002023-06-03T18:59:03.178+01:00NO FLY ZONE<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">A story poem this week. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAjjEYOqnKvWqyfeLMr87nLYUcAhVSk5wIQrZYaLwd6hnqxQzGUkmAEy8617sTqQGgXseTDB52mpYIvzU-7gaaB-EL6-J9iWsG-dQr82Szx8ALROU3-f6_2-5E_CaDWIQTM8zG5CrtrNapWblryXWye15akH5TxFGmMKR8WpAwIZ13Af6B1zqSU9pEhQ/s1076/MOZART.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1076" data-original-width="732" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAjjEYOqnKvWqyfeLMr87nLYUcAhVSk5wIQrZYaLwd6hnqxQzGUkmAEy8617sTqQGgXseTDB52mpYIvzU-7gaaB-EL6-J9iWsG-dQr82Szx8ALROU3-f6_2-5E_CaDWIQTM8zG5CrtrNapWblryXWye15akH5TxFGmMKR8WpAwIZ13Af6B1zqSU9pEhQ/s320/MOZART.png" width="218" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>MOZART </b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The photograph is monochrome</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">and taken years ago at home:</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">where home was then, although not now.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It doesn’t matter anyhow.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">What matters is the image there:</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">a teenage girl with long dark hair,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">unsmiling with, upon her arm,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">a parakeet, her lucky charm,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">named Mozart. How she loved that bird.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We joked, at times, that she preferred</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">her Mozart to the rest of us.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">No matter: it was ever thus.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">His wings were clipped: a bird earthbound,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">he always seemed to be around</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">He lives now with our brother, Tim,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">who tolerates but dislikes him</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">for he associates Mozart</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">with that thing which sets us apart.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Her early death brought misery</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">to Tim and me, her parents … she</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">stepped off a ledge, ten stories high,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">but, like poor Mozart, could not fly.</span></p><div><br /></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>For verse of a different kind, why not visit:<span style="color: #ff00fe;"><a href=" https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/"> https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</a></span></i></span></p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-20886906329808213582023-05-27T12:37:00.003+01:002023-05-27T12:37:54.936+01:00RAINED OFF<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Ah, those teenage years: what glorious Hell they were!</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW8zo7BAiLpuyolVuTqvE5pJ8Og_em_yQMwa4Fv3QZuEwyAj1jZUVIFYTbq18FTWTXhNi9RckhHM8JW64_rgutXnTbC9pTHuUV_TOHb8V_OWLMRaRT055TOR-rJ9ruzLwjgbLPnEUPKNLg8lKEKT4EmPX1lNeO-sYeLhcXoHeOqS_V48t3Ad6RxcwDbA/s1202/RAIN%202.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1202" data-original-width="1114" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW8zo7BAiLpuyolVuTqvE5pJ8Og_em_yQMwa4Fv3QZuEwyAj1jZUVIFYTbq18FTWTXhNi9RckhHM8JW64_rgutXnTbC9pTHuUV_TOHb8V_OWLMRaRT055TOR-rJ9ruzLwjgbLPnEUPKNLg8lKEKT4EmPX1lNeO-sYeLhcXoHeOqS_V48t3Ad6RxcwDbA/s320/RAIN%202.png" width="297" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>RAIN</b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I sometimes think of that day in the rain</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">we walked out unprepared for the downpour</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">yet when it came you viewed it with disdain:</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">you thought inclement weather was a bore.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We sheltered under trees and huddled close,</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">two teenagers, both still at school, so young.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You, full of life, in love, and I morose</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">and gloomy, powerless to hold my tongue.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My mood infected your mood that last day</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">and it grew cold as you heard me complain</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">about some lad you</span><span style="font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">’</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">d met and my dismay</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">that you had planned on seeing him again.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">That moment, looking back, defined us then </span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">and afterwards we never met again.</span></span></p><div><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><br /></i></span></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>For verse of a different kind, why not visit:<a href=" https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/"><span style="color: #ff00fe;"> https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</span></a></i></span></p><div><br /></div>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-38288182724353304272023-05-19T17:09:00.001+01:002023-05-27T12:39:05.167+01:00SCOPE FOR HOPE?<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Sonnet-style, recently-written and self-explanatory ... all those hyphens!</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUCHF3yrLQJNVWroQQ77fUFt8sZuVziSnLzRmT-sFzMhbeXZFoSZIU9hKFI3yOkc9lj9OEk5X0lSIbgPdU1_Pp3I6g_1Xr8x2XXMd-_TNi5T-_zCLdz6Rm9nCzRZw23cs6R_hcBm6fgHjxFCXT4whIBUZRsgsZWxiip6SJ0AETLqjL7flCRTVWE9CVTg/s796/HOPE.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="572" data-original-width="796" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUCHF3yrLQJNVWroQQ77fUFt8sZuVziSnLzRmT-sFzMhbeXZFoSZIU9hKFI3yOkc9lj9OEk5X0lSIbgPdU1_Pp3I6g_1Xr8x2XXMd-_TNi5T-_zCLdz6Rm9nCzRZw23cs6R_hcBm6fgHjxFCXT4whIBUZRsgsZWxiip6SJ0AETLqjL7flCRTVWE9CVTg/s320/HOPE.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><br /></i></span></div><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>HOPE</b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">When all the bulwarks of our life have gone,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">our property, our sanity, our health,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">it seems the vestiges of hope cling on</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">with hope-against-the-odds our only wealth.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Though candlelight seems such a paltry thing,</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">the darker grows the room, the more its light</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">expands. It is that light to which we cling</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">while we endure a black, unending night.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Remove hope and the rest comes crashing down</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">in smithereens king’s horses could not mend.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It means so much, that short, four-letter noun:</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">without it, into limbo we descend.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Cling on, like moss, to hope when all else fails.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Who knows, a stroke of luck might tip the scales.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>For verse of a different kind, why not visit: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/"><span style="color: #ff00fe;">https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</span></a></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: georgia;"></span></i></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-family: georgia;"><i> </i></span></p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-36315587997672213482023-05-11T16:46:00.000+01:002023-05-11T16:46:02.706+01:00PERCHANCE TO DREAM<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>“Happiness is waking up, looking at the clock and finding that you still have two hours left to sleep.”</i> — Charles M. Schulz, American Cartoonist.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOldfRQvnshs-Ps4Sdd3_7tFlcYeLYCkU2TzTt8AeEXUKYLYAGfeRpJps1tkipOwI6JseQRZuriV5bnBs2vw8xuqggv-BHOY6ugzVJ1VAKlY_yx6BYzsi7vIv91TKPpEtpH-6SlnIIqsVmldIsu7rwjHicgeThnQjoFQWenF72z10HUQp0-lkuNwU5bg/s826/AWAKENING.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="826" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOldfRQvnshs-Ps4Sdd3_7tFlcYeLYCkU2TzTt8AeEXUKYLYAGfeRpJps1tkipOwI6JseQRZuriV5bnBs2vw8xuqggv-BHOY6ugzVJ1VAKlY_yx6BYzsi7vIv91TKPpEtpH-6SlnIIqsVmldIsu7rwjHicgeThnQjoFQWenF72z10HUQp0-lkuNwU5bg/s320/AWAKENING.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: georgia;">AWAKENING</b></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Reluctantly I rise from sleep’s dark lake,</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">a land-drawn fish, I struggle into day:</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">with otherworldly eyes, I come awake.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">On feeble, unaccustomed limbs that ache,</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I climb from crushed bed-sheets in disarray.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Reluctantly I rise from sleep’s dark lake.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">How strange it is each morning at daybreak:</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">the early light, the birdsong cabaret.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">With otherworldly eyes, slowly I wake.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Sweet is the element I must forsake:</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">on waking, that safe haven slips away.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Reluctantly I rise from sleep’s dark lake</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">into the chill of morning to remake</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">myself again but better in some way.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">With otherworldly eyes, slowly I wake.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We speak of death as sleep for kindness sake</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">though dreams are bright while death is surely grey.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Reluctantly I rise from sleep’s dark lake.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">With otherworldly eyes, slowly I wake.</span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i></i></span><br /></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> </p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-87401010316156211992023-04-29T17:50:00.001+01:002023-04-29T17:50:12.551+01:00SAVAGES<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">As with men, so with nations.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFmfXhG_1BrWDhIffNjr5pHVQ1kOt1eBG4Xn1GPv57CjMAoR5Ay4Eq8BmvfOuvWkSDlgV9cfR0R4ECqcVf_qo1RyGqmoMpiVVdbbj_4KODFtvQECT--Puhogr3vZr2qxD6zUyqj2sdLN9LvWroQS2oUwVrEu0gGbxyr0psIBjwgTeu_QWU2tmXZnThFw/s518/CONFRONTATION.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="518" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFmfXhG_1BrWDhIffNjr5pHVQ1kOt1eBG4Xn1GPv57CjMAoR5Ay4Eq8BmvfOuvWkSDlgV9cfR0R4ECqcVf_qo1RyGqmoMpiVVdbbj_4KODFtvQECT--Puhogr3vZr2qxD6zUyqj2sdLN9LvWroQS2oUwVrEu0gGbxyr0psIBjwgTeu_QWU2tmXZnThFw/s320/CONFRONTATION.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><b style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: georgia;"> </b><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>CONFRONTATION</b></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The playground tactics I learned long ago</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">emerge again: that fight or flight response,</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">the pantomime of swagger, a dumb show</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">of surliness, the studied nonchalance.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">How suddenly we find ourselves again</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">reverting to the primitive, the brute.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Beneath the suits are savages not men</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">prepared to fight to settle a dispute.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Now I face you as you face me, enraged</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">at what we see as stupid stubborness:</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">two grown men, antlers locked, and both upstaged</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">by female laughter. Swiftly we suppress</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">our burning anger, back away a pace,</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">unhurriedly, so neither loses face.</span></span></p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-16518516538223795432023-04-22T10:37:00.001+01:002023-04-22T10:37:26.264+01:00WASTE NOT ...<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We're big on recycling here in Guernsey. </span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I gathered up a handful of words that I found lying about and, with them, built this sonnet.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg0NbSMv12Kvx5SiR6_-yZywtuWJF2bu9RZ_M3xWZLiDPpykg3NBlLD0rfklBA61Gt4P8yJa2jaOPLJbhuOjd2v54aWgv7vLGMz_RfGx_VAocIhmnGRobSo9gKkP9RSoaa2VZ2Vyufx2diafk6yLcWzLEPnrsY8SLLc-uJQyBLHSBI3jMW5D5aV2fLsQ/s1254/RECYCLE.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1254" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg0NbSMv12Kvx5SiR6_-yZywtuWJF2bu9RZ_M3xWZLiDPpykg3NBlLD0rfklBA61Gt4P8yJa2jaOPLJbhuOjd2v54aWgv7vLGMz_RfGx_VAocIhmnGRobSo9gKkP9RSoaa2VZ2Vyufx2diafk6yLcWzLEPnrsY8SLLc-uJQyBLHSBI3jMW5D5aV2fLsQ/s320/RECYCLE.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The high point of the week for one retired</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">must surely be, oh joy, recycling day:</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I wake and, from that moment, feel inspired</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">to gather sundry plastics and convey</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">them in a plastic bag out to the gate</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">along with empty bottles, ah, the shame</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">for, truth to tell, their quantity is great:</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">just jam-jars, to my neighbours, I explain.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">When all is gathered in and taken out</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I feel somewhat deflated and adrift</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">then, frantically, I start to look about</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">for fresh recyclables that I might shift.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Recycling is addictive as cocaine.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">
</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">This time next week I</span><span style="font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">’</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">ll do it all again.</span></span></p><div><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></div><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: italic;">For verse of a different kind, why not visit: </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/" style="font-style: italic;">https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</a></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6328951017329534440.post-73399537868924332342023-04-16T10:41:00.003+01:002023-04-16T10:44:00.234+01:00BACK TO THE FUTURE<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">Here's a piece of shameless nostalgia wrapped up in a Sci Fi poem.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRkpZ5KO3SxkJFsSuxFr7DUAttSi-15lRpHlcCZB94ds33Uy4WOI1yTYZczQHn1ZCNAdDNtHNIfmXN6QBcz3TyQxCgEzsoiy68BfXVWaLG9dxBYlGFLfW6hzyTWXKccMvyfRKTHz3CmrW8yrNiYp2dRBbz221sa86zz3IbRgSOasX9bbg7e6CToqECGA/s1302/SPACESHIP.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1302" data-original-width="1294" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRkpZ5KO3SxkJFsSuxFr7DUAttSi-15lRpHlcCZB94ds33Uy4WOI1yTYZczQHn1ZCNAdDNtHNIfmXN6QBcz3TyQxCgEzsoiy68BfXVWaLG9dxBYlGFLfW6hzyTWXKccMvyfRKTHz3CmrW8yrNiYp2dRBbz221sa86zz3IbRgSOasX9bbg7e6CToqECGA/s320/SPACESHIP.png" width="318" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Palatino; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE SPACECRAFT </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">The spacecraft, when it landed in the street,</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">the first of what appeared to be a fleet,</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">seemed friendly so we all came out to see</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">what would emerge and what that thing might be.</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">When the hatch opened we were much amazed,</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">so much so that we stood stock-still and gazed</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">in speechless awe at the enfolding scene:</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">out stepped the children that we once had been.</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">Down a broad ramp, a group of children came.</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">I saw Tim, Neil and Brenda Whatshername,</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">then Ken, the lad who owned the Scottie dog,</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">and Marjorie, who gave me my first snog.</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">Out came Jack Burns and Harry, from the farm, </span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">with Dorothy, that girl who broke her arm</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">by falling from a tree on holiday</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">and Dominic, with whom we’d never play.</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">They formed a group, each facing us and then</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">I saw myself, a lad of nine or ten,</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">and felt them slip away, those sixty years, </span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">then wondered at my unexpected tears.</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">The spacecraft stood like an immense school bus</span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;">as they emerged, those children that were us.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-kerning: none; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: italic;">For verse of a different kind, why not visit: </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/" style="font-style: italic;">https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/</a></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p>Richard Fleminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15908446122683563263noreply@blogger.com0