Gently, very gently
She held the child in her arms
She was a mother, a protector
And would shield her from all of life’s harms.
Or at least that’s what the lady thought
As she leaned down to coo and smile
As she breathed her nicotine breath on her
And passed germs to her baby so vile.
The child at four got cancer
At six she’s no longer here
Yet the mother still smokes in her sorrow
For those who won’t listen never hear.
©Joe Wilson – It’s not just a fag anymore…2016
Children weep over parent’s misfortune
But often say nothing of their own pain
And parents wrapped up in their own sad torture
Miss the hurt their kids feel once again.
If only we let ourselves see from their view
Perhaps we’d all better understand
If we just took that extra moment or two
Sometimes they just want a hand.
There’s no greater love than that of a child
But often, they feel over-awed
We don’t really need any book that’s compiled
To see they want love and accord.
The man in you will know this is true
The woman, of course she will know
It depends entirely on your point of view
But I like to see all children glow.
©Joe Wilson – Unconditional love…2015
Harsh cold winds race down dirty back alleys
Bin lids are lifted and all taking flight
Ragged town foxes, heads inside dustbins
Cries of sheer anguish and they take off in fright.
Cold stillborn baby found in a dustbin
Wrapped up in bin bags and filthy soaked towel
A bitter result of unlawful liaison
Another young girl has been treated so foul.
Search is now on to find the sad mother
Everyone knows that she will be ill
Soon she is found with wrists that are bright red
Only fourteen, lying perfectly still.
Another statistic of society’s indifference
As always lip service just isn’t enough
And still the harsh wind blows down dirty back alleys
Where young children find on the street, life is tough.
©Joe Wilson – Another sad statistic…2015
… and as the Winter turned to Spring
Those seeds began to show
The ones we planted side by side
So very long ago.
They blossom by the hour
Our love is satisfied
We look upon our flowers
With deep and heartfelt pride…
©Joe Wilson – Children…2015
Marching forwards in love and in life
As snowdrop and crocus cover Spring earth
Raw though the wind, as Winter still lingers
Chapping the faces exposed to its wrath.
Hope springs eternal as I sit by the hearth
Indoors the warmth of a nice open fire
Nicely chopped logs all stacked by a scuttle
Glorious flames up the chimney rise higher.
Flames soporific and soon I am sleeping
Out like a light from the heat of the fire
Running in dreams and thinking of roses
Wrapped in a beautiful paper display.
All for the lady who loves me forever
Roses the flowers from my heart every day
Dreams full of happy, and our lovely children
Slight sadness now as they make their own way.
It’s many years now and our love we have found
No more needs the blankets we laid on the ground.
Living a life with one who inspires you
Overly blessed like the Spring that now hails
Verdant the grass round the bench in the garden
Each night during Summers we tell lover’s tales.
And as we enter our twilight of living
Not for a second our passion shall wane
Drawn to each other, a one made from twain.
Isn’t it wondrous when love makes hearts bind
Never a doubt in your passion-filled mind.
Letters we’ve written of love for each other
Ink that was written, but not by a sage
Finally we slip into hot-chocolate evenings
Enjoying the warmth as we turn the next page.
©Joe Wilson – Marching forwards in love and in life…2015 (Acrostic)
Thinking back now, knowing it wasn’t then the same
Sex lives free and easy and the rest just a game
But recalling the names of my friends from back then
I find they’re so few now and I miss those young men
And I bless that I knew them as I take up my pen.
It was a time they called ‘swinging’ in the press of the day
But those of us there at the time just made hay
As we carelessly staggered through our wild teenage years
Racing round in cars with bad brakes and crunched gears
Till we arrived at adulthood and took on new fears.
Some of us got married and our lives felt complete
A few drowned in alcohol and lived on the street
While others tripped out just that one time too many
On the drugs that were freely available to so many
You literally could get them at ten for a penny.
But most of us moved on and we raised families
With mortgages or rent life was no social whizz
And our children carried hopes for things we’d failed to do
Such an ordinary tale that reflects me or you
But it all helps to bind us together like glue.
Now we find ourselves older and wiser perhaps
Managing to sidestep some of lifetime’s worst traps
And we pause for a moment and think of those days
Many of them spent in a drug-induced haze
And we’d not change a thing, we just shifted our gaze.
©Joe Wilson – Moving on…2015
I fell from the top of a tall block of apartments.
How I remember my children growing
and the never-ending beauty of my wife
my boy and my girl, so full of knowing
my darling, the centre of my humble life.
But the ground rushes up at me as I fly down so fast.
I’ve loved the same woman for all of my time
contented and happy and passionate are we
I remember the night full of vodka and lime
when I asked my love if she would marry me.
And still the ground races up at me…
What joy we have had on our long journey here
with some pains that we’ve shared and endured
sadness has crept in and occasional fear
but we beat it all back and we still feel assured.
I hit the ground — there is nowhere else to go…
Did I make it…did I not?
Was it a dream…was it not?
©The Executor acting for Joe Wilson – The Fall…2015
A hint of sunshine
across the lawn
through winter trees
with leaves all shorn
is all it ever
really takes
to think of Summer
and boats and lakes.
With children playing
having fun
such joy they give
to everyone
and Winter blues
are chased away
not to return
at least today!
©Joe Wilson – Chased away…2015
Scarred from the relentless passage of time
pitted with acid rain and covered with grime
forgotten by those who oft pass it by
gazed rarely upon by anyone’s eye.
A proud little monument in a faraway field
with now faded words and a family shield
his nation had called and he’d gone off to war
though he and his friends didn’t really know what for.
And if you should wander and wonder at it
you’ll probably feel as if you have been hit
by the words that you see that are writ thereupon
“It is with such sadness that I bury my son.”
The last words they had, came back home in a letter
“It can’t go on Father, it has to get better
the killing is awful, they’re young men much like us
Please kiss dearest Mother, and a Merry Christmas.
©Joe Wilson – His last words (25 December 1914)… 2014
He walked among them and felt their joy
it was Christmas Eve but he had no employ
his job was lost, recession has a cost
his back was bowed from all he’d lost.
This year his children would have few toys
no in-line skates or games like other boys
his beloved wife would have little too
it broke his heart but what could he do!
And so he stood upon the railway track
knowing he couldn’t get it back
he heard the train from so far away
not wanting to face another day.
And while he stood and waited there
a star so bright he had to stare
his earthly troubles all slipped aside
a presence engulfed and he warmed inside.
He realised his dreadful selfish act
would worsen many other lives in fact
and hurried back to the home he shared
full of guilt for how he’d not cared.
He reached his door to find his wife
the beautiful woman who shared his life
and in her hand an envelope
contained an offer of work and hope.
The next day dawned and as he woke
inside his head a small voice spoke
patience my son, things do work out
retain your faith, remove all doubt.
That Christmas Day was good indeed
from children’s joy that filled a need
and from a faithful inner glow
brought about by Him we know.
©Joe Wilson – A star so bright… 2014
Jovis on a Journey... 