What We Forget - As We Remember

Where are your parents today

How old are you

Do you ask yourself these questions

As you place your offering at the altar

What have you learnt

From the teacher’s profound teachings

I saw you thoughtful

I saw you joyful

I saw you, and now I don’t

If I reach out

For someone other

Or some thing other

Am I

By necessity

Leaving the past behind

  

Let It Be Said - Hear This From No Other

I have not found the straightjacket of form

I have been unable to adorn the monks gowns

My mind and body are free-formed from strata

And yes there are regrets, would I not

Wish to wear the emperor’s new clothes

For I am nothing, and I will be nothing

And in between the water will only ripple slightly

All of these places which you engagingly talk of

They are not my places

I have no allegory or metaphor at hand

For you to hang your hat or your story on

I am a been there and done that sort of guy

What I write is what is real, and, for the sake

Of understanding I will leave it at that

Except of course for love, or companionship

For I have known these doubtful imposters

And worked out how to treat them the same

Although it is a secret, of secrets purpose

That is to say you must work it out

For no clues are to be found on this page

And the pencil marks will only serve to mislead

  

Final Tenancy - For The Pub Landlord’s Son

How light is the day

Without a trouble to care for

How far is the sight

From there to the seashore

How human the slight

When choosing the decor

How high flies the kite

When we opened the White Door

How the aircraft offered delight

To follow the marks on the cabin floor

No more panic, or freeze, or fight, or flight

Nothing stored away as then with the rip-roar

 

It Ain’t Heavy - It’s My Computer

Don’t follow the conversation

Return to your own thoughts

Don’t listen to the singer

Write out your own lyrics

Don’t look at the bald man

Typing on his laptop

Think of your own programmes

On the luggable Mac

Yes, cast back to the graphs

Which you thought told the story

Think of the colour wheel

Where you believed in contrasting colours

Do not focus on the small memory

Or your complete data wipe-out

Think that you too can stroke

Your overgrown facial hair

  

Impatient - Moving On

Even today

I have continued the habit

Of starting the next task

Before finishing the last

I hadn’t completed the poetry

When I decided to go into town

I had not typed up the darkness

When I thought to chase the light

Also, I didn’t pack the iPhone

Into my shoulder bag

So these past four thousand steps

Will not be counted

But hey ho

The caramel waffles

Settled the score

Before the match had even started