Category: Poetry

The Caring Society

On By jovisgoesIn Poetry, Point of View1 Comment

Looking back I see a time when people just did what they did
They didn’t need or get a special award for doing it
They just set to and got on with the task  –  that was how things were
The media focuses on the bad and the rest has become a blur.

Today I heard of yet another such award, this time in mental health
The award will be given to those who work very hard…doing their job
I refer you back to my first two lines, for that is how it was
People never needed recognition to care for someone else.

But truth is it’s not the people who day by day work so hard
It’s the heads of these services and government who cover it up so well
The failings in their decisions that create a kind of hell
For the unfortunate ones in difficulty   –   and the carers who just daren’t tell.

©JRW2014

Snowmen

On By jovisgoesIn Children's, Family, Fun, PoetryLeave a comment

Cold outside — well what do you expect!
It’s Winter and the mercury’s dropped
There’s snow on the way, kids wrap up and play
And there’ll be Snowmen soon on display.

There’ll be big ones and small ones and some wearing hats
Some wearing scarfs and some holding bats
To children they’re real and a friend for a while
Watching them play with them just makes us smile.

And then they are gone just as fast as they came
The cold days drag on but it won’t be the same
The kids play through Springtime, the Summer and Fall
But really they’re waiting for the Snowman to call.

He’s a magical presence that kids all adore
They play with him all through the day
He’s handsome and large and has only one flaw
He has to be gone by the end of the thaw.

©JRW2014

Will I Always Feel This Lost?

On By jovisgoesIn Personal, Poetry1 Comment

I hear a sound, perhaps it’s the wind
I’ve even imagined that maybe it’s Him
It’s only a whisper as quiet, so quiet
Calling a name, a name, I’m not sure
I think if He called He’d want someone pure.

But does He exist? I lost all my faith
In my denial I’ve always felt safe
I could claim His existence was purely a myth
Though now as years start to dwindle away
I find I’m not sure, I’m minded to say.

Life is so precious, I hold it so dear
I want to gather all those I care for near
But I’m hearing that whisper again, but so quiet
Is it calling or am I willing it on?
Show yourself voice — or dammit be gone!

It’s quiet now, did I offend
My distorted emotion tried to pretend
I want Him to be real, most surely I do
But the loss is still raw after all of these years
Could He ever explain why I still shed my tears?

©JRW2014

Mercy Street 2

On By jovisgoesIn Poetry, Point of ViewLeave a comment

How do you live on almost nothing
Can you ever make nothing go round
The seeds of despair
– hopeless – unfair
They drive you into the ground.

There are those who work hard
– they do what they can
They stand and are counted and stay true
They help, give advice and they never ever judge
They’re there every day, and there spirit doesn’t budge.

They don’t get paid, oh God, Good God no!
They’re there because that’s what they do
’cause when no-one else cares about what’s going on
They find that they don’t have a choice
Being the conduit for the proud and the poor
In a way it allows them a voice.

Is it you? Is it me? Who is doing enough?
Can we answer this question in truth?
There’s folks dying in pain
– on the streets where we live
We can no longer remain so aloof.

He never mastered the art of begging
In a previous life he’d have mocked
At his feeble attempts to get tourists to part
With a penny or two for some bread or a tart.

But after the shame and the breakdown
Near an archway with others like him
He found that he had no more ego
Nor well fitted suits to make him look slim

He lived from a moment to the next one
He ate when he could or just slept
And at night he tried not to remember
In his solitude he silently wept.

We’re not really a caring society
We spend more on fighting than care
It will never ever get any better
Not enough of us behave at all fair.

For there are those who will feast at the table
Throwing only bare scraps to those less able
Misery will increase – the poor get disease
While the rich and empowered stand at ease.

©JRW2014

Sam – Jedi Knight

On By jovisgoesIn Fun, PoetryLeave a comment

A swift parry here
A deft backswing there
…I’m beaten again by the boy
As he swings his lightsaber
There’s skill in his labour
…I’m grateful it’s only a toy.

Again he cries and I’m under attack
He darts to the side, now he comes from the back
…the young Master comes in for the kill
Jedi am I not
‘saber skills I’ve not got
…and it seemed as if I just stood still.

©JRW2014

If You Go Down To The Woods

On By jovisgoesIn Poetry, Point of ViewLeave a comment

If you go down to the woods today
– the rhyme is known to us all
– but one thing that some aren’t aware of
– is the problems for trees that befall.

The Elm we’re aware of
– Ash dieback too
– but the Juniper suffers as well
– Hornbeam’s at risk
– the Dawn Redwood too
– while Black Poplars ride the buffers to Hell.

As mankind rapes the land of our forebears
– we forget that our children have a need
– and stripping the world of the forests
– affects how our offspring will feed
– We are only caretakers of this place
– we look after for those who will follow
– the sounds of the chain-saws as they cut out the heart
– makes promises seem all too hollow.

©JRW2014

Staying Put

On By jovisgoesIn Family, PoetryLeave a comment

It’s a short walk to the end of my road
One I make often to look at the scene
I see all of the change in the village
On the land that we now call the green.

All life in the village passes through here
You can set your watch as they pass
The old man who’s walking his spaniel
The young girl who’s now a young lass.

There are many who ride by on the cycles
And quite a few pass as they jog
It’s just that you see things in passing
It’s not that one’s keeping a log.

It’s a fact that life here is peaceful
I can’t think that I’ll move anywhere
I’d miss all my friends in the village
And I’m too old to make them elsewhere.

©JRW2014

War and Death and Greed

On By jovisgoesIn Poetry, Point of ViewLeave a comment

War is a cash-cow, there will always be war
– and people will die in the bloodlust and gore
But those who decide on such things never go
– to the battlefront, armed, and frightened of foe
For they’re in their offices making decisions
– as the blades cut the air and men die from incisions.

War is foolish and madness, obscene and absurd
– differences need solving not by bullets, but with words
Sitting round the table for as long as it takes
– and negotiating wisely, no foolish mistakes
But as long as some profit from other people’s death
– they’ll make more blooded money till their own dying breath.

Can we afford to continue to fight in this battle
– racing to slaughter each other like cattle
We cannot keep falling out with our neighbours
– death can’t be the only reward for our labours
Man seems to have battled for two thousand years
– and innocent lives get drowned in the tears.

Stop now…stop now, before it’s too late
– destroying each other leaves the planet to fate
The hatred that spreads through the ill chosen word
– we need to address this, surely peace is preferred
The world needs to stop fighting, we have to do better
– to put an end for the need for the widow’s sad letter.

©JRW2014

New Year Thoughts

On By jovisgoesIn Poetry, Point of ViewLeave a comment

There’s a horror that Gaia feels deep in the ground
That her riches and goodness are ill spread around
The wars that are fought over her bounty are many
The haves having plenty, the have-nots not any
There’s enough to go round if we tried more to share
We’d all gain much more as it feels good to care.

Perhaps resolve this year to say hi to your neighbour
And accept a nice smile as reward for your labour
…and that which we have, but don’t need, we could offer
………..to those much less lucky with no bountiful coffer.
©JRW2014