Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Pilgrim Verses 31-40

 31. Looking back

 

Let me look back on the memories

Because the memories are all mine

No one can borrow or steal them

Nothing is erased by time.

 

‘Look to the future’ you tell me

But what lies ahead is unknown

What stretches behind is a neighbor

Shrunken, unspoken but mine.

 

At some far day in the future

All will be past and gone

All that is left are the memories

Of a love that we shared you and I.



32. The longer way

 

I’ll take the longer way

I’ll take the longer stay

I’ll avoid the short cut

Which could be life cut short.

 

Slow the bus, driver,

I’ll get off here

I’ll walk the rest

I’ll remove the stress.

 

Give me the slower way

Lead me the harder stay

Hold my hand in the rain

Release my arm in sun.

 

I yearn for the olden days

I do miss your golden ways

We both were younger

The days stretched longer.

 

I miss you now so terribly

Your image lasts a hundred years

We’re soon to be joined in

Unbroken sleep eternally.

 

 


 

33. I only have hope in my pocket

 

I’m happy to hope

It’s the most delicious thing

That things will improve

At tomorrow’s dawn the birds will sing.

 

I only have hope in my pocket

I have come only to serve

There is no limit to service

For the people we love.

 

To always remember we can

Improve on what we began

We can’t be sadly submissive

Or leave hope in bed as we rise.

 

With every new child

There’s a hope

A hope that that God renews

One child can change the world

‘Cause every new child can do....

 

Anything.

 

 


 

34. Dying –

 

I died a thousand times before today,

A hundred aches and pains instructed me,

So well prepared am I to face eternity,

Whatever that may be.

 

Death, perhaps, is nothing more

Than drifting into space,

Into nothingness

Where everything and everyone we loved is lost

Without a trace.

 

Or else pure light and ecstasy

For those who hoped and loved

And created their own destiny

In music and in harmony.

 

For death will surely come to everyone

As we quite politely ignore and live a lie,

We grasp each day like a drowning man,

Desperately.

 

Good luck and wisdom make us smaller

Our shadow shortens in every way

Our meals grow lighter

Our limbs grow thinner

Our sight starts failing

And our hearing fools us

A prelude to the final act.

 

No longer money means a thing

No hoarding silver now or then.

All that matters is the love we give

And receive from others on the way.

 

‘Fear not’ I heard him say

In silent churches and on stormy beaches;

We set sail at last, our final voyage

Into the reddened western skies,

At quiet sunset.


 



35. Better

 

There is no better time than now

There is no better place than here

There is no better soul than I

As far as I can see

 

Now, now is better far

Than then, then. 

Here, here I’ll stay awhile

Than silly wandering.  

 

And as for me, I’m wonderful

And as for you, you’re fine

At least to me and that’s what matters

Sitting by the sea while nodding sleepily. 

 


 


36. Less is more

A poem with a single verse

Is all I can remember

For me there's nothing worse

Than stanzas never ending.

A line once learned in school

A constant friend, a lifelong tool.

The poetry that stays with me

Is just a line or three

Enough for me a simple thought

A prize for life once caught.

Keep the flipping poem small

Four neat lines should tell it all

In forty years from now

It's all you can recall.

Why did I mention it all?

Why didn't I stay stum?

Why did I blabber on?

I cannot quite recall!

 

Buy religion

If it helps…

Don’t bother

If it doesn’t.

 

God in the earth

God in the tree

God in the eye

In you and me.

 

With age

Comes a wisdom

And acceptance

Of what has been

And what will be.



37. We are the lucky bastards

We are the lucky bastards

And that I’ll say for starters

The fact you're hungry never

Is not because you're clever.

It's just because the stork that brought

Your little self without a thought

Could have just as easily arrived next door

Or to the lady on the upper floor.

It's all to do with Lady Luck

Who with a blindfold stuck

A pin that happened to be you

Let's just admit we've not a clue.

Forget this nonsense about hard work

Appraise the lad who cannot walk

Or see or touch or talk

Born with aids or polio.

If there is a God, he's long forgot

Mislaid the plan or lost the plot

Let's just be grateful and sincere

Thankful for the food and beer.

 




 

38. Nothing for granted

 

Things I took for granted

Are things I wanted

But never scarce

Were always there.

The water tap dripping

The uneaten meals

Food rotting in fridges

While half the world starving.

Should we bake a bigger cake

Or smaller slices make?

Are we ready, are we able

To live off crumbs from the table?

 

To live in convent silence

May seem to abandon sense

But nothing is more real

As the fight ‘tween good and evil.

 

 

 

 

 

39. Alive today! 

 

It’s great to be alive today

It’s better than being dead

I say that as a patient

Who’s been in and out of sick beds.

 

The slender thread that keeps us

Is extremely thin and tiny

Just one percent here or there

And we’ve cashed our chips finally.

 

When you’ve woken from induced sleep

You count your toes and blessings

Life is never the same

Nothing can be taken for granted again. 

You bless the doctor and kiss the nurse

Life is so exciting

Smells and colours no longer seem

Dull and uninviting! 

 


 

40. If its ok with you

 

If its ok with you

I’ll lie awhile

Drink some sunshine

Daydream and smile

 

In my time

I’ve done a lot

I’ve spoken more

Now time to shut up.

 

I’ll take a break 

From doing stuff

From scrabbling and such

I’ve had enough.

 

I’ll watch the sky

And scan the sea

Bye bye world

It’s only me

And me alone

Who joined this world quite naked

And only I can make this journey

Back to where it all began. 

 

Arrived alone

Died alone

The story of Everyman

And every woman

 

The turnstile of life and death

Takes but one at a time.

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