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Thursday 28 September 2023

He found you (We all know a Buddhist)

You know a Buddhist

I know a Buddhist

Our friends know a Buddhist too


And then the meter reader called

And the meter reader’s time unfolds


Your friend is going to retreat

My friend he retreated too

He took some time to find himself

And there he found you too

And there, and then

He found you too


You know Buddhists

I know Buddhists

Our friends know Buddhists too


And then the text machine of mine I scrolled

And the text machine of time unfolds


Your friend is going to die

It’s all we ever know

He’s arranged the words

For you to say

Upon his dying day

The never-ending words

For you to say

Upon his dying day


You knew a Buddhist

I knew a Buddhist

We all knew Buddhists too


In time the life long rich picture theatre rolled

In time life’s long rich picture’s past unfolds


Your friend is coming by

The day is a slowly opening cocoon

When the butterfly, with dual wings

Emerged beneath the blue sky

Beside the orchid meadow

Our lives of love

They never ever die

They never ever do


You know a Buddhist

I know a Buddhist

We all know Buddhists too

We all know Buddhists too


You know a Buddhist

I know a Buddhist

We all know Buddhists too



Wednesday 27 September 2023

In the way of what to do

In these days of wondering

Days of wondering what to do

In these times of wondering

On the way to think of you

On the way to think

To think of what to do


So today the way to blue skies and mountains

The way to spirits and souls and stairways unladen

Today the way to play the way that children do

Without the wander or the wonder

Of the wandering wondering

Wandering and wondering, wondering what to do


What to do with the next few moments

The minutes and the hours

The days of country flowers

The seven steps so sleek

That make up most my week


Seeking out the moths

Monoliths and months

Years of generations

Penetrations and separations

Of life lines into lifetimes


To take the pen

The paper and the pencil

To write some thoughts

Some inappropriate gestations


Stations

Which may be met upon the way

Past incarcerations

That may be met beyond the day

Or not, or maybe not



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Tuesday 26 September 2023

Paddle and splash

I am in my brother’s garden

Alone

It is early, it is a mid-June afternoon

My brother lives, I suppose you could call it country


But not a country estate, nor a county seat

Not in the grandest sense

Not a Chatsworth or a Balmoral

Or somewhere in the old East Indies


Anyhow

Here I am

Here and now and writing

Then


Could I ask you please

Just for a moment

To choose

To choose your own favourite location


And 

Then

For this moment

You may listen to the waves splash


If it is by the sea

That you wander

Or paddle or splash


Back here now

I sit on this wooden bench

A close fit two seater


Listen, I can hear the birdsong

I can hear the flap of wing

I can hear, can you

I can hear the buzzing fly


This is a time

Unplanned

Here I am

Alone


With nothing needing to be done

Nothing at all, now

At this time

Is expected of me


Can you imagine such a time

When all that is to be done

Is that which comes

From within your own imagination


Imagine

Time for thoughtful recreation

Spontaneous 

Blameless contemplation or action


I guess the grass was cut a few days ago

Anyway the shed is locked

No access for me to the mower

Unless of course I act wilfully


Break and enter

But why would I

When instead I can sit here

In the sun, in the shadow


Sit here

And write for you

While I listen

To those bloody wailing dogs


Next door’s dogs

Also listen

To the washing machine

Or spin dryer, or vacuum cleaner


Or even

From number 43

The dishwasher

And refrigerator


Hanging baskets and security lights

Give a place a comfort, don’t you think

Especially

With all these mid-day deliveries


And hooded youths

Whose school hours

Seem so different

To those of my own time


It’s the world cup this teatime

Last Saturday 31 million people

And you know that is an awful lot

31 million people, of my own country


Watched England’s opening game

In their homes

And in the more than public places

Where rowdiness endures


A win tonight

Almost seals our progress

We play Trinidad and Tobago

Which is in the Caribbean


And now I wonder

The noise having died down

Did we not once own our own country garden

Just as my brother owns this


Did we not

So so much more uniquely

Once own that island locale

So so much more completely


And for that moment

Did I listen to the waves splash

As by the sea I wandered

And paddled and crashed