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
The East was at war with the West
Along with many of the rest
The North was in conflict with the South
Who had so little water or food for their mouth’.
Very soon guns were pointing to the West
Yet others were turned facing East
For those who were selling weapons
It was a killing-hardware feast.
And when all of the fighting was over and done
There was no more war, and no fear
The world had been turned to a graveyard
With no one to shed but a tear
As the final missile landed and blew
Not a soul was left living to hear.
©Joe Wilson – Then came the silence…2015
He found his full measure in blood-soaked war-torn land
Where the challenges were there for all to see
There were times when he saw what he couldn’t understand
He saw men and women in fear, forced to flee.
Yet still he would carry out his work, at a pace
In a constantly vigilant state, of course
For a life in the dangerous places he’d faced
Never left time for social intercourse.
So many would call, and the visits he’d make
And he always did the best that he could
As soldiers of all sorts left blood in their wake
He picked up the mess like a good surgeon would.
His house had been damaged like others had
He certainly suffered like many others did
And though losing his wife and son made him sad
He carried on regardless as his decency bid.
When it will end, no one can ever predict
He hated the violence and the death
He prayed for a day of no conflict
So people could at last draw clean breath.
It’s sad, but a bullet found him one day
Not really one that was aimed straight at him
The man fired in the direction of an enemy
He fell in a make-shift surgery in a gym.
©Joe Wilson – It goes on and on…2015
Ezra cried out,
‘Lord, where art thou in my hour of need?’
Silence prevailed.
‘Lord, canst thou give unto me no succour?’
Silence prevailed.
Ezra in desperate straits
His future in the hand of Fates
Tries and fails to escape their claws
For evil is there chosen course.
Ezra cried out,
‘Lord, why dost thou make my life so hard?’
Silence prevailed.
‘Lord, why am I so tested?’
Silence.
Ezra fights against his foe
The pride that he has come to know
He fights against with all his might
And wins, and moves his sin from sight.
Ezra cried out,
‘Lord, thou truly art a sly old thing.’
Silence prevailed.
‘Lord, I hear thy angels sing.’
‘Lord, thou hast helped me yet again.’
Silence.
Ezra smiled.
Ezra slept.
©Joe Wilson – Ezra’s final conversation…2015
Naked, he now stands before his maker
There’s no more pretence, no more lies
He carries no longer, his banal repartee
He waits, supplicant to hard probing eyes.
As a young man his heart had been so dark
He’d cursed and fought in the streets
And any young lady who’d caught his eye
He’d seduced her between the sheets.
Could he have lived a far better life
Surely, in decency everyone would
Now he never passed by on the other side
Doing the very best that he could.
And with age grew the man who now stands here
He hopes he’s made up for those days
A lifetime since then helping others
Might make up for his earlier ways.
Still the eyes probed him ever so deeply
Though the result we shall never know
Till the day that we have to stand there
When at last, it’s our time to go.
©Joe Wilson – ecce quomodo moritur justus…2015
‘Behold how the just man dies…’
Down came the rain
The world started weeping
I only felt pain
It was more than just sleeping.
Beat, beat, beat, beat
It stopped
My whole life ceased
You had gone away.
I cannot live alone
My frail heart cries
I find I’m on my own
A part of me just…dies.
©Joe Wilson – Emptiness…2015
And so they gave her chamomile
To restore her sense of calm
But each and every person there
Saw pointlessness in balm.
She would now always live in fear
He’d died, she was on her own
And she who’d lived a fragile life
Would spend her days alone.
And live she did, surprising most
A new life she took to
Her past fragility she shook off
In fact she even flew.
Around the world she travelled
To countries far and wide
And everywhere she journeyed
His heart felt by her side.
Until at almost ninety-nine
She then called it a day
Whilst jumping from an aeroplane
She kept her chute in stay.
But those who jumped out with her
Saw her face was so sublime
She shouted she was going now
To join him, it’s now time.
And so she fell down to the ground
Though gently she did fall
Carried down to earth in peace
As if held by her lover’s thrall.
©Joe Wilson – A new life…2015
I wish that I could see the dawn
That follows the one of my demise
For I could then tell all of you
If ‘there’ beyond is truth or lies.
And if I did see dawn it’s true
That to a better place we go
But if I don’t see that new dawn
Then I could never let you know.
And so your journey you will make
Some with husband, some with wife
And you will find out for yourself
If there exists that better life.
©Joe Wilson – By dawn’s early light…2015
Heavy the heart
Painful the burden
The messenger’s part
In passing the word on.
Deep are the creases
That now line his brow
The pain never ceases
It’s personal somehow.
His was the book
Which counted the dead
But each killing took
His heart’s peace instead.
They were his men
He loved them like sons
They’ll not sing again
Silenced by guns.
The letters he wrote
To tell of each death
Families he smote
By words of last breath.
The killing decided
There’s no final amount
Messenger lies dead
One more for the count.
©Joe Wilson – The letters…2015
Jovis on a Journey... 