All posts by mE

Father, partner, author, chocoholic, recovering caffeine addict, IT manager, poet and lover.

bright Sky

Each morning I wake, to
The sunniest day, my life filled with
All the love and warmth I could ever
Wish or hope for, the beaming smile
Of a gorgeous girl, my soul on legs,
So strong, smart, sweet, kind, gentle,
Making me proud to have been there
As she grows, the best thing I have ever
Done in my life, making all the long
Nights and dark days before seem
Like merely a prelude, trial of fire,
To earn the right to feel this proud, of
Sky, the most beautiful young lady
I have ever had the pleasure of meeting,
Grandma Nancy smiling through your
Eyes, each and every day.

wish

London Calling blaring
At 5am, I don’t live by
River, or crow like a
Rooster, yet a part of me
Still cries out to dance and
Sing, spin like a top, until so
Dizzy, the floor coming up to
Meet me is the only way to stop,
Childlike wonderous eyes open wide
To everything I see, everything around
Me, and still I spin back to the warmth of
Your body against mine, morning alarm
Bells not yet having cracked the
Comfort of dream-state, still happy and
Warm, deep-asleep, dreaming nothing
More than what has already happened,
What is happening now, for you have
Completed my life, shared with the love
Of our big family, keeping the home
Fires burning, just the happily ever
After I had given up on, all those years
Ago, so long, farewell to bad dreams,
Stress about everyday stuff the only
Demon left, aside from the little niggle-
Ing doubts, that somehow I dreamt
All this up, until the next time I hear
Your voice, feel your kiss, see your
Beautiful smile, so I can close my eyes
And sink back into the lovely dream
My life has become, a dream, that as
It’s real, is all the more wonderful,
Wonderful with you.

true love

runs deep, beneath the under-
currents writhing souls in our own
true internal River Styx of the dead
and gone, past, but not forgotten,
those we love carried forever in our-
selves, our hearts and minds forever
changed, altered for the better, our
every moment touched by those who
made our hearts sing, and we stand
here, in reverent silence, remembering
how it was to hold the ones we love,
smiling through the quiet tears trailing
down inside as we feel the warmth of
their humour, spinning what can be
such a cruel world into the love for life
that they represent, for now and forever,
for that is what they are to us, whether
close to hand, or watching over every
thing we do, we know they are happy,
sharing in our joys, revelling and cheering
at our triumphs, eyes dancing as they always
did, filling our souls with that love which never ends,
true love.

to all those who have lost love,
said goodbye to the centre of their world,
watched reality crumble as they stood
powerless to stop the march of time,
let us remember our truly loved as they
want us to remember, not as sad, or
ill, tired or old, but as vibrant reminders of how
life is lived, not survived. Let us live for
them, and them through us, through our
joys and sorrows, through our memory,
through our true love.

Mustn’t grumble

As old ocean
Grumbles, deep down joints
Are scanning for movement
Not the way it used to be,
When all was young and new,
And lateral movement a daily joy,
Untainted by fear of damage, break-
Age, or flipped wrong-side-up ligaments,
Tendons squeak tensional protest, as
Old edges to a young body complain,
The gym a place of self mutilation and
Torture, eagerly and easily signed up for,
We pay for the privilege of suffering
In company, misery does not want to be
Alone, and so it is, I push my aching muscles and
Protesting joints to their limit, knowing
That body beautiful is not important
Yet being healthy is. Bow down to the
Shrine of self-flagellation that is called
Fitness, bow down and be counted
Head-low, for this is the new age of
Old timers getting into the swing of
Things, oldtimers no longer rule the
World, but we sure as hell can crowd
The gym!

Love conquers all

You spend a lifetime, waiting
For the right one, the one for
You, so wrapped up in your daily
Life that when they do come, you
Are two years into true love, a half-
Step from marriage, and you stop
And pinch yourself, because you are
Well and truly happy, for once, and
It didn’t cost your soul, or require a
Massive sacrifice, or some Hollywood
Fairytale ending, but rather just hard
Graft, and hope, sprinkled with a dose
Of serendipity, to make all of your
Dreams come true, as if everything
Were just waiting to fall into place,
Busy hanging in the balance until such
Time as the pieces could simply fall
Into place, so easily, so smoothly, that
Even in retrospect, sitting in the cat-
Bird seat, you watch the world slot
Together, just as so many years ago,
So many times, you watched it crumble
So many times, so far, that you thought
It could never be whole again, never
Be balanced, even with all your hard work
Keeping your shit together, pulling
Yourself up by your own socks, telling
Yourself that it will get better, that it
Has to, until the sound of your own
Internal voice drones on like a monot-
Onous bedtime story nursery rhyme,
Putting all of your get up and go to bed,
Making some days hard enough to
Even get out of bed, those long slow
Cold days where the world spins on,
Leaving you standing stunned, silent,
And then you wake up one bright crisp
Morn, like today, and you realise that
Not only has your life moved on, and
You with it, your life is better, not just
Good but great, the fairytale has landed
Somewhere within your life estate,
And all you can do is pinch yourself,
Pinch and squirm and smile, because
Everything you have ever really wanted
Has come true all the while, so bear
With, and hang in, don’t fuss, and
Carry on, don’t quit, make good, and
Have the strength to stand alone, cause
Fairytale endings happen everyday,
No matter how bad it might seem to
Get, or how cold and lonely your way,
For life works in cycles, some are up,
And some down, but if you stick it out
Try your hardest, push when all energy
Fails, you’ll find yourself where I now am,
Happy, comfortable, no longer off the
Rails, for love conquers
All fear.