I walked along within
a veil of tears
The rain poured down,
a blessed relief
For no one could see
the extent of my grief.

I didn’t know
from where I’d set
As on I walked
time meaning little
I just felt alone,
my heart was so brittle.

The good die young
they also die old
And those left
alone and behind
Have only mementoes
of a lover so kind.

But moving on
I can’t help but look back
I remembers the life
that we both led
And a life now alone
fills me with dread.

©JoeW – Alone in the rain…2021

It still seems strange walking into the living room
And seeing that there is nobody there
It isn’t really a living room in this house anymore
Just a space through which I sometimes veer.
A log fire that I never now light for just myself
And a basket of logs sits waiting – just waiting
It’s an lifeless room just like the rest are
We often sat in there just – debating.

A kitchen we’d just had renewed last year
Yet no-one to cook for anymore
Barely a pan gets dirty these days
Unused I just wipe off dust haze.
There’s an almost empty fridge there too
The food keeps getting thrown out
I haven’t got used yet to buying less
My mind is just so full of doubt.

And a bed that now feels so empty
Where once she lay in my arms
A wardrobe of clothes I can’t yet remove
And jewellery and bracelets with charms.
Though fifty years is a long time to love
Not a second of it would I give up
And I would live every second again
For mine was an always filled cup.

©JoeW – Recollections…2021

There is no greater peril facing the world today

Than the health of the planet slipping away

Yet still the fumes will fill the skies

With noxious fumes we can’t disguise.

We put the power in the hands of them

Who help their friends stay wealthy men

Who care so little for world affairs

They just want profit from their shares.

They break the backs of working people

Then stand in church beneath the steeple

And think their sins are washed so clean

In truth they truly are obscene.

 

©JoeW…2021

He sits beneath the acacia tree
Where once he sat with her called she
She who filled his heart with love
She who now resides above
She who loved him everyway
She who helped him through the day
She who gave him children two
One who now resides with you
She to whom he gave his all
She who made him feel so tall
She whose touch he no longer feels
Who isn’t there to share the meals
O how he misses her called She
He sits and waits beneath the tree.

©JoeW – The Tree…2021

Saturday in the dull….

Saturday afternoon is a dull time when it rains
Nothing much passing my window save the odd car
And they probably pass at the rate of one an hour
Such is village life during this blasted pandemic.

The brown leaves of the beech hedge outside my front window
Can always be seen right through at this early time in Spring
But the hydrangea growing up the wall by the front door
Is already well on the way to looking fully green and splendid.
Soon its will be covered in beautiful creamy coloured lace caps
And the buddleias are already searching for attention.

There is a Victoria plum tree in my back garden that was my wife’s
Her sister gave it to her for a birthday present six years ago
The next year our daughter, Victoria, died and now so has my wife
There has never been as much blossom on the tree as this year.
Is that a message or am I clutching at straws! Who knows…
Saturday afternoon is a dull time when it’s wet and you’re lonely.

©JoeW – Saturday in the dull…2021