Hilly, Holly, Billy, Bolly, China Dolly......

 For  all  I  know  Holly's  been  on  holiday,  she  comes  and  goes  nearly  every  other  day.

City  breaks  or  a cruise  if  work  will  permit, she  holds  out  her  hand  and  her passport  is in it.

For  all  I  know it's  a  magic  carpet  flight,  too  somewhere  exotic  to  delight  and  to  excite.

Bahrain  or  Mexico  are  the  places  to go ,  Blackpool or  Skeggy  they  would  be  a  no  show.

For  all  she  knows it may only be a dream,  she  comes  and  goes like  the  ripples in a stream.

Doctors  and  midwives  all  agree and  say,  time  off  work  is  called  a Holly day..........

Susan's Ribbon

 Grandad gave her half-a-crown to buy a ribbon for her hair,  holding tight to Grandad's hand to the shop to see what's there. When they drew up to the counter reels of ribbons in a row, yellow, blue, pink and orange all the colours there on show, but for one her heart was set on, what she wished for there was none.

Grandad said there was a shop he knew a long long time ago, by the market in the old square when a young man he went there, to buy a ribbon for a sweetheart, to buy a ribbon for her hair.  In the old shop he and Susan walked up to the counter there,  Susan spent her two and sixpence on a ribbon,  a golden ribbon,  the one she wished for for her hair............

Time to Remember

                                                                    

Things faces friends places, years and moments half-forgotten.

Laughs, fears songs tears memories are made of this........

THINGS I know, FACES I love, FRIENDS to be with  PLACES to go.

YEARS I've lived through, AND MOMENTS in time.

HALF-FORGOTTEN stories told in rhyme

LAUGHS with my brother FEARS of crime,  SONG to be written,

and TEARS sometimes.

 MEMORIES of old times ARE here to stay.

And MADE OF THIS is my life to this day.........

Icarus

Everyone said it couldn't be done'

the 12 pub crawl known as "The Run".

A pint of Guinness and a shot of rum

all in two hours on "The Run".

He started off well in The Bell

Then off he trundled to The Barley Mow.

The rum was Woods, navy strength,

the Guinness black and smooth,

the pub was warm the night was cold.

The regulars cheered, and he felt bold.

The Fat Ox, The Plough, and The Rose

from one to the other he'd transpose.

With one pub left he thought he was dying,

he looked at the sign of the Old Red Lion.

Everyone said it couldn't be done,

he gritted his teeth and set to it.

He tackled "The Run" that couldn't be done.

And found he couldn't do it....................

My name is Ozymandias

 To dance the tango with such flair to dance and twirl without a care.

I carved to show the love and romance of that  Argentinian  dance.

They dance upon a silhouette the last tango on the internet...........

Another Girl with a pearl earring

 
Those were the time's time can't take away, the spark and fire of a lipstick kiss.

Her eyes stole a look, stay they'd say for the wayward pleasure and a night of bliss.

To live that night and shun the day when all's said and done friends drift away,

So close the door turn out the light the friend has gone you lost the fight.

I see her now across the way, thousand dreams I've dreamed I'd say,

Between us lay the wasted years the smile touched with sadness.

Looking away through a mist of tears, where has the time gone! I've no idea.

A shadows cast upon this day,  those were the times, time can't take away.

Leslie Hore-Belisha

 I miss Belisha beacons with their flashing orange tops,  at zebra crossing with stripy poles on the corner by the co-op.     And enamel signs for cigarettes now collectable at a cost,  just nailed to the hoarding outside tobacco shops.

The vending milk machines !  Where have they all gone?  Along with ads for Persil, Daz and  Oxydol, Omo  "Adds Brightness"  and where's  "New"  Rinso.  And the bizarre sketch of the baby on the box of Fairy Snow.

There were Spangles, Kaliy, lots of sugary treats, Fruit Gums and  Swizzels  things to rot you teeth. Captain Marvel,  matinees,  cartoons and  cowboy  fights,  run from the dark of the piturehouse to be blinded by the light.

Smoke filled Snow Hill station the annual holiday crush,  off to Rhyl with folding money I've never been so flush.   It rains all day as usual,  into a cafe for a snack,  dodging rain and puddles till it's time to journey back.

I miss Belisha beacons,  life has gone so bland.  I sit here with a  Cointreau,   and antique glass in hand. I wish there was something I could do, but think I'll just sit here. And after I've finished my Cointreau, I'll have a glass of beer......... 

Columbidae

 Statues are made for heroes and erected in town squares, and on the head of the luminary there's always a pigeon sat there.

 They make the gallant look stupid, whoever that person may be,     Seacole,    Nelson,    or   Pankhurst         and even the iconic    Bowie.

So I've carved a likeness of a pigeon and fixed it to a post by the shed. So when the flying rodent stands on it,  the Columba will look stupid instead.

Your Never Alone With A Stand

 Edward Hopper the twentieth century realist painter, he loves to show life suspended for a time.

'New York Office'  The secretory in the window lost in thought with a letter, she looks sublime.

'Hotel Lobby' We are there as a silent witness, what are the three people in the lobby waiting for?

'New York Movie'  The usher stands there lonely, is she waiting for life to come and call?

And the quiet mood of  'Early Sunday Morning'  reminiscent of Sundays we have no more.

'Nighthawks'  and the  'Automat'  sees the paradigm of loneliness that cities give from time to time.

And the shades of green in 'Compartment C, Car 293' he pauses life on a Pullman rail journey.

                                   Edward Hopper how do you paint silence?

 

Ode to Ale

 Here   again   in   the   village   inn,    my   hands   cupped   around   a   glass.   

A  place  by  the  fire,  peace  and  quite  I  require,  but  I  know  it  will  not  long  last.

And  I'd  rather  be  here  with  you  than  out  there  in  a  world  that  is  new,

As  my  strength  seeps  away  there's  nothing  to  say,  but  I'd  rather  be  here  with  you.

When  life  stops  giving,  and  starts  to  take,  and  memories  fade  and  hands  do  shake.

Alone  in  thoughts  shadow  ghosts  appear  and  remind  me  of  places  and  old  friends  so  

dear,   and  I'm  pleased  once  again  for  our  English  beer.

Now!..  isn't  she  loverly  the  'Barmaid'?  With  her  dark  brown  smouldering  eyes,

And  the  curl  her  lip  when  she  looks   my  way  that  look  of  gentle  surprise.

As  the  door  of  the  inn  swings  open  smoke  bellows  into  the  bar,

Woodsmoke from  the  fire  were  I'm  sitting  tastes  like  a  stale  cigar.

The  lads  tumble  in,  all  in  good  cheer  for  lager   and   porter  and  good  English  beer.

With   a  homerkin  of  black  stuff  problems   are  solved, 

The conjecture of Riemann Hypothesis;......so I'm told.

I  sit   in  my  corner,  I  don't  get  involved......  I'd  rather  be  here  with  you. 

Tick Tock

 Time runs away from me I never do catch up,   Eric said; God made time, there's plenty of the stuff, It runs through my fingers and there's plenty in my past,  and now it never lingers the future coming fast.

In 1947 time was all ahead of me, it passed slow on summer days when life was still care-free, there was time to waste and time to kill, time for everything, now I see it running out all against my will.

I thought time was on my side but that was not the case, I hear the sound of the march of time and wear it on my face, and feel the time within my bones and see times shadows cast, there's little in my future now and life's just flying past.

Time is precious when you're old and slow in childhood, time is long for those who grieve and swift when times are good, time will tell me when to leave, I'd stop it if I could,  traces of lost lives remain my own misunderstood.