No Flowers for Mrs. Jones

No Flowers for Mrs. Jones

  

Amongst chrysanthemums and crimson roses,

Clutching bunches of lilies wrapped in foil,

Mrs. Jones lays her perfumed posies

Upon the cold, bleak, hardened soil.

She stoops here in this quiet place of rest,

Remembering those loved ones gone before.

Her husbands, two - they were the best,

Both parents and five siblings are no more.

Each month she comes in duty to reflect

On lives long lost; so seldom brought to mind.

Whispering a prayer, she pays her respects.

One hope remains now she alone is left behind.

But who will come and flowers lay

When Mrs. Jones has passed away?
 *
If you have enjoyed this poem please click on the link below and leave feedback:

http://www.helium.com/items/761852-no-flowers-for-mrs-jones 

The Swimmer

 
 The Swimmer

He decided he would swim.

Always a swimmer.
Though no Burt Lancaster now,
The pools of life had been rich
And deep and as blue
As the ocean he loved.
No complaints.
No anguish.
No defeat.

His medals shone from their cabinet
Bright as the day he'd won them.
He decided he would wear the gold,
On the day he swam.

He would rise early
Wheel his chair to the beach
Perhaps when gentle sunlight
Sparkled on the water to caress his
Back as he swam.
A new day dawning
Over the sands.

Or gentler at night in the sea
Swimming below a full moon
And silent stars.
Companions to guide him
No sound but the lapping of waves
Cradling him.

Jagged rocks below his villa
Beckoned each day
Beneath his window.
Invoking irksome thoughts of spilled blood.

                              He decided he would swim.

While there was still strength in his bones.

'Soon,' he promised himself.

It would be as before his beginning
The cycle complete
First to the egg
And one in a million in life
Fastest and best in the water.
Always a swimmer.
Rivers of life should run down to the sea.

 *

if you have enjoyed this poem please click on the link below and leave feedback if you wish

http://www.helium.com/items/1163917-the-swimmer 

Sanctuaries

 Sanctuaries
  
A childhood den was my sanctuary in the bushes
Or the natural shelter of a Cornish cave.
In places like these I could be Tarzan,
Or Raquel in 'One Million Years B.C'.
A taste of the wild and the primitive
When the modern world offered nothing.
I'd erect a Bedouin tent between wardrobe
And bed with mum's striped beach towels.
Shut out the real world and construct my own.

Another welcome sanctuary for a loner,
Behind the stacks of mashed potato boxes
In Tesco's stockroom I'd make my lair,
preferring solitude to the smoke
And din of the staff canteen.

What now in busy family home
Where there is nowhere to run and hide?
What else but to retreat into your own mind
Becoming introspective, to preserve sanity,
Tapping into a sanctuary within.

In a state of panic one day,

Escaping noisy house full of feuding kids
I ran in tears to the brick-built
Bus shelter, opposite, and imagined it
With windows and a door, complete with brass bell.
Surrounded by a little, white picket fence.
I'd transform it into a sanctuary to call my own.

If you have enjoyed this poem please click on the link below to leave feedback:

http://www.helium.com/items/809717-inner-sanctum

Night Walker

 Night Walker

I missed the bus and swore last night:

Then forced to walk a mile or two,

I cursed the rain - bemoaned my plight

But soon my thoughts all turned to you.

You'd envy me that walk, I know -

To gladly breathe the sharp night air;

You'd gaze up at the moon's bright glow,

Cold raindrops running though your hair.

You'd marvel at the twinkle of a star

And splash in every muddy puddle

You'd not complain, the walk's too far

Or say your life's a bloody muddle.

But where you are the night's forbidden

The moon and stars are out of bounds

Even daytime skies are tightly hidden

Where metallic clanks of keys resound.

We never knew what freedom meant

Until it was cruelly snatched away;

We'll live our lives and be content,

Some day again - I hope and pray.

*

If you have enjoyed this poem please click on the following link to leave feedback:

 http://www.helium.com/items/1659693-poetry-last-night