Beaumont Evening - Blank Verse

Thistle down
Fluffy heads on spiny stalks
Balls of beige cotton wool
Dry stone walls
Green then fading grey then black
Into shadows of evening
Misty montage of copses and hills
Away to the horizon
Evening insects and the birds
Meandering in flight
Suspended by the golden light
Of warm autumn sun - finished with us now
Off to set over Ireland
Gold to the west
Blue to the east
The sky like a tinted glassy bowl
Tints of bronze, cobalt and aquamarine

When ...

The thousands of the millions
Growing like the grass
Again, again the planets spin
Quick the seasons pass

Grasses soon are dried and gone
Though grass may sprout again
Once-dried blades will not return
Nor their place regain

Soon will be forgotten
Everyone I knew
While the galaxies rotate
New regions into ...

If its true - all that we are
Is an elegant mistake
Why then worry fret or care
Why then trouble take

If your bald insistence is
That after final breath
An ending to existences
Lies behind the door of death

Then there is no reason
Nor rhyme to what we do
And there is no season
When we may live anew

And it does not matter
That new grass has to grow
If but we may be fatter
And rich before we go

Petulance and primal greed
Is easily excused
Sating each imagined need
Lest we die refused ...

Solomon looked up to see
The circles in the skies
And pronounced life vanity
For man that quickly dies

Who would dare to argue
Who would dare to chide
When looking at the tombstones
Of those that recent died

Brief to be remembered
Perhaps a tear falls still
But not for stones forgotten
Fallen on the hill

And the grass between the graves
Grows each season too
Replacing what the sexton shaves
Sprouting, tender, new ...

Yet death shall end and greed shall pay
Pay for what it took
And all shall answer in that day
The keeper of the book

Each sacrifice that was made
All advantages forsook
Are treasured up to be paid
Written in the book

When at last the book is read
And all receive their due
Then the favoured wakened dead
Will bid death adieu

And laugh and live and love and give
Worship to the one above
Who decreed that man should live
In token of his endless love

Legends of Snow

Once there were posts by the road on the moor
Tell me again, what were they for?
They marked the course of the road when it snowed
And the depths of the drifts when the winter wind blowed

Once there were bears in the ice and the snow
Tell me again, where did they go?
There was no ice so they swam and they swam
'Till they sank and they drowned and never were found

Once there were gentle breezes and showers
And sunny bright pick-nicks that lasted for hours
Now there is only a storm without rainbow
Tell me again, where did it all go?

On the Care of Infant Hearts

Your baby's heart is tender
Your baby's heart is warm
Guard your baby's heart
Keep it safe from harm

Your baby's heart is loving
A fire burns within
Add the flame of your own love
You're ready to begin

Yet you must remember
A baby's heart is small
And its flame is quickly snuffed
If you love it, not at all

If you love not your baby
Your child will not love you
And when you're old and lonely
What then will you do?

And what will they do after
When you are not about
And they look within their heart
And find the fire is out?

White Pawns

A white pawn paused on the chessboard
Facing a red, red foe
'I wait for the word of the Master
When he speaks I shall go
I notice that some of my brethren
Go not when he speaks to them
And, not many moves later
They are not seen again ...'

They were reluctant to hear
They delayed to obey
They waited too long in the rear
They did not discern the day

We will escape the Red King
Though bishop and rook machinate
The Red Queen's final offensive
Will prove too little, too late
We will stand on the back rank
When the campaign is won
Because we marched for the Father
And were of use to his son

We who responded when called
Put the red forces to flight
We were not dismayed or appalled
For the Master gave us the fight

Dominoes Falling

Dominoes fall at a rate
That is determined by
Height proximity and weight
And I can testify
The last to fall seals our fate
Therefore explaining why
No sound is more appalling
Than dominoes falling

Conservation of Superlatives

Manifique, merveilleux, beau, grand, bon
In their place the Englishman has but one
For superfluous superlatives the Brit has not the vice
Disdaining flashy adjectives he calls such things nice

When he, she or it is to be complimented
When he, she or it is really rather splendid
When he, she or it really is sublime
Then perhaps the Englishman may take the time
To express himself in praise more precise
Should this occur, it is very nice

Long ago it was decided
In this world of dirt and greed
That superlatives be hoarded
Against a day of urgent need

When came the urgent needful day
Superlatives were locked away
Brit's could utter not a sound
Because the key could not be found

What to say they did not know
And turned to arcane Latin lingo
Latin answered in a trice
"If you don't know, then just say 'nice'"

Superlatives, though in their prime
Are locked away now for all time
In place of gaudy elocution
The Brit's have made a substitution
When they don't know what to say
'Nice' will always save the day