My Children

On 10 Aug 201410 Aug 2014 By jovisgoesIn Family, Illness, Life, Love, Personal, Poetry, Time2 Comments

Daphne & I, and our children. Our son was on holiday from New Zealand and our daughter was up from London.

The dark night now surrounds me
I am all alone in my world
There is no one here distracting
I am thinking now of my girl.

I was always such a lucky man
I have children, one and two
Last year I almost lost my son
This year my daughter too.

My son had a head-on collision
Almost twelve thousand miles away
But now almost eighteen months later
He is now fully back into play.

But my daughter, my beautiful daughter
Chemo treatment made her go bald
But she’s back on the upside now smiling
I weep when her bravery’s recalled.

Of course she will still need some treatment
But she’s better, and we’re now almost cool
And I know by the end of her kid’s holidays
She’ll not need a headscarf for school.

I think of my son, I think of my girl
I’m grateful my luck has been fine
For if I was to lose either one of them
I just couldn’t finish this last line……….

©Joe Wilson – My Children 2014

I’ve written this because it is bursting out of my chest.

The January Sales (his only visit)

On 9 Aug 2014 By jovisgoesIn Fun, Poetry, SalesLeave a comment

While those around him were going mad
he stood completely still
then he saw what he was looking for
picked it up and went to the till.

The madness took him by surprise
it was truly beyond belief
so when he’d found what he wanted
he’d left with a sigh of relief.

Things were thrown and tempers flared
it was well beyond the pail
and that was the only visit he made
to a January sale.

©Joe Wilson – The January Sales (his only visit) 2014
[just a bit of fun]

Accuser accused

On 6 Aug 2014 By jovisgoesIn Betrayal, Loss, Love, PoetryLeave a comment

I never said you’d done it
though we both know that you had
the way you choose to think of me
so often leaves me sad’

I don’t know how I’ve hurt you
I never meant to charm
perhaps my easy-going ways
just cause you too much harm.

But we were drifting slowly
and then you suddenly perked up
the way a person might do
when they’ve found a more full cup.

But I never said you’d done it
I’d know that I had lost
and now you don’t believe me
and that’s too great a cost.

©Joe Wilson – Accuser accused 2014

…the worst of his fears…

On 5 Aug 2014 By jovisgoesIn Anger, Betrayal, Poetry, Point of View, TerrorLeave a comment

It was a grey dawn that held an ominous weight about it
all the curtains were drawn shut and yet somehow he knew
the wind-driven rains that had howled in the dark night
and the long-buried secret that would surely now be on view.

The man who’d abused him all of those long years ago
had disappeared like a ghost in the middle of the night
and now there would be those who would find out at last
why he’d suddenly vanished from everyone’s sight.

He’d flayed him so often he now hunched his back
where his skin had knotted and mended like string
but the worst of his fears – the drunken attacks
humiliating tears and the terror it would bring.

He stood it for so long, it should never have been
this pain from a guardian, so vile and obscene
till one day a knife found its way into his hand
at the time of the stabbing he was only fourteen.

Being out on a farm and there being just them two
he was terrified he’d be taken far away
so he buried the guardian as deep as he could
and hoped underground was where he would stay.

He tended the farm and made it quite a success
and carried on as best as he could
he finished education and returned to the farm
where he waited almost hoping for last night’s flood.

The terrible secret that he’d kept all these years
made him avoid making friends so he’d no kind of life
he watched television and he read many books
and discounted all thoughts of a girl or a wife.

How he’d survived the twenty years since he just didn’t know
he was lonely and so terribly sad
and though he knew what he’d done was all that he could
he was painfully aware that it was wicked and bad.

And so in a way the storm held mixed blessings
he could finally admit to all what he’d done
he knew that his life would never be the same
but in his thirty-fours there was not a thing he had won.

With reluctance and a heavy heart he drew curtains back
rain water and mud flooded his land six feet deep
and though sheds had fallen and hedgerows lay bent
the ground yielded nothing and his secret it would keep.

Slowly he now realised that he’d wanted this release
but he’d not be believed if he called anyone
he couldn’t bear the thought of more years of disgrace
so finally, desperately, he loaded his gun………..

©Joe Wilson – …the worst of his fears…2014

huddled together like lovers…

On 3 Aug 20148 Jan 2015 By jovisgoesIn Life, old age, Poetry, PovertyLeave a comment

They sat in blankets as they tried to keep warm
penniless with no heating and no coal to burn
while outside they heard the violent storm
the blizzard of snow and ice all churn.

Slowly they both began to freeze to death
there was no-one to help or ease their plight
they were just poor and lonely old sisters
who would probably die in the dark of this night.

They were just another statistic of winter
a cold one much worse than some others
they had eked out their money on eating
so they now huddled together like lovers.

There are so many who suffer in winter
and we really should spare them a thought
we should all keep an eye out for our neighbour
as help, due to their pride is not sought.

It is dawn now and the sisters are frozen
one died and the other breathes slow
but there is no-one to even take notice
and in a short while like her sister she’ll go.

©Joe Wilson – huddled together like lovers…2014

Keeping faith

On 3 Aug 2014 By jovisgoesIn Belief, Life, Love, Poetry, wisdomLeave a comment

Woven throughout the passage of time
a life image of every soul
each setting out on its journey
and striving to reach the goal.

Often falling along the way
each choice a test of fate
and wrong decisions that will be made
results we don’t anticipate.

A bitter word here, a kind word there
differences that we settle
choices for peace or violence
oft put us on our mettle.

Encounters on the way we make
can cause us so much ill
but choices that we make for good
will linger with us still.

And so we make our journey
each move is new and fresh
the aim to be true to one’s self
from that day we leave the crèche.

Perhaps we choose a mate ere long
to help and guide us through
the best ones are the ones we love
they help to keep us true.

We have our faith, a private thing
it helps us as we travel
and when we stumble and we fall
we sometimes will unravel.

It’s then we test in our belief
and sometimes we’re found wanting
but guidance from within the faith
can make our tasks less daunting.

And so we pick our way again
our faith perhaps restored
and certainty that lives well spent
are blessed and never bored.

If we work hard and we believe
and keeping faith try not to stray
a time will come at journey’s end
when we will see the better day.

©Joe Wilson – Keeping faith 2014

Yet another death…

On 29 Jul 2014 By jovisgoesIn Poetry1 Comment

A Gazan man woke up this morning and made his way
to the rocket launcher that was his station and from which
he had orders to fire across the border into Israel.

An Israeli man put on his uniform, that of a airman
and he joined his men for breakfast before going to
the bomber that was his home most of the time these days.

Both of these men were married and each had two sons
and four daughters who were all of school age.

Four hours after he began his duties the Israeli airman
flew his bomber over Rafah and released his bombs
where below they wreaked havoc on many houses burying
many people beneath them, some of them children.

The Gazan man lost his wife and two sons
and one of his daughters in that raid
but he carried on firing from his station as a dutiful man.
One of his rockets by some odd coincidence landed on
that airman’s house killing his entire family.

Nine children…and for what. A piece of war-torn land
that has been made uninhabitable by any normal standard?
No!
They were killed, slaughtered, because selfish men
will not come to a compromise and seek a lasting peace.

One side could give, one side could give way a little.
Neither side will give an inch. Meanwhile…
children, innocent children, children whose lives
are hard enough in peace-time are being slaughtered
almost wholesale. For God’s sake…Stop,
for the Children’s sake…Stop

A new beginning…

On 29 Jul 2014 By jovisgoesIn Children's, Family, Life, Love, Nature, PoetryLeave a comment

He could hear the steady beat in his ears
it was the only sound there was sometimes
and was the most comforting sound ever made
but he knew this was not the only sound
as he sometimes felt rather than heard
something making other gentle sounds
and when the something moved
he had no choice, he moved too.

Something in the distance would make noises back
though that thing didn’t seem quite so gentle somehow
and where he was he felt very safe and comfortable
but although he couldn’t see anything he felt
he was on a journey that would soon be over
and then – he would see everything.

Then one day he was there
he was surrounded by brightness
and moving things making strange noises at him
that he didn’t understand and which made him cry.

But soon and very gently he was placed next to a thing
that he instinctively knew was his Mother.
It was the most beautiful thing
that he could have ever imagined.

The now empty garden

On 28 Jul 20147 Mar 2015 By jovisgoesIn Life, Loss, Love, muse, Nature, Poetry, RegretLeave a comment

The garden looks lovely at this time of day
but an essential is no longer here
for without your feel for its Gaia
It’s not really a garden now I fear.

I touch a rose and see your beautiful face
in hibiscus and camellia I see it there too
but it misses your gentle encouragement
and their beauty just doesn’t shine through.

I sit on a small garden bench in the shade
and I think of the things that we said
tears start to fall and they just cannot stop
how I wish for those good times instead.

I’ll carry on tending our garden
I know that you’d like it that way
but the magic that lived in the garden
is no longer to be found there each day.

The Unmoving Heron!

On 28 Jul 201428 Jul 2014 By jovisgoesIn Nature, Poetry, Wildlife3 Comments

For an age I stared at that heron
my camera poised ready to prove
that if you stare long enough at a heron
the awkward buggers just will not move.

But the moment you put down your camera
and move your eye line a little to one side
the sod takes off while you’re not looking
and there’s loads of loud groans in the hide.