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You know how it is, you meet someone and you write poetry.

You know how it is, you meet someone and you write poetry.
And I remembered where I had put the old book of poems I wrote.
Those in between, who knows?

--------------------------------------------

end April 1978
P.E.C.

Child of my dreams.
Child of my heart.
Say unto me sweet words
That we must never part.

Child of the Sun
Child of the Wind
Says unto me no words
Will she not rescind.

Child of my yesterday
Child of my night
Say unto me some words
Why must we fight.

Child of the Moon
Child of the Earth
Says unto me no words
What, what is it worth.

Child of the stars
Child of the night
has no need of words
Looks are her might.

Child of light
Child of forever
Take here our words
and our bondage sever.

--------------------------------------------

13 April 1978
P.E.C.

Who is she who loves like ice 
    like fire.
Like the cool wind out of
    the desert.
Like the soft warm wind
    on the steppes.
Surely her name is worthy
    to be uttered.
Who is she with the wind
    in her hair
    and the stars in her eyes.
The Moon is a sister to her
and surely the sun is her friend,
Her name is worthy to be uttered.

--------------------------------------------

7 April 1978

Wild stallion flies free on flight
    of high flown fancy
Young dove nestles secure in the
    bosom of her nest.
Bee dashes hither golden
    buttercups to milk.
The silence that is nature comes
    to all who are at rest.
Listen, hear the skylarks, they
    are singing out a song.
They are crying out my love
    a sweet melodious throng.
Young dove nestles in the
    bosom of her nest.

Wild stallion flies free on flight
    of high flown fancy
The silence that is nature comes
    to all who are at rest.


[I don't know what this says, 
it is a poem of hope with no answer.
Young dove is P.E.C.]

--------------------------------------------

I loved you e'er I first knew you

Ever I loved you, e'er you came my way
My hand portrayed your image in my mind
But being clumsy could not half portray
Though all his skill and bent to this inclined
'ever I loved you e're I first knew you
your laughter fell delightful on my ear
and one day soon or distant far I knew
That laughter would my whole soul cheer
Ever I loved you.

--------------------------------------------

Dawn she's like a season breaking fast
She shines in hints of gold that night is past
She rolls in strong and clear now day has come
And welcomes all the things that may be done.

Whilst sleepy Nature raises up her head
Day strolls about with his warm footed tread.
Nature stops, smiles at Day, no word is said,
Day gently rocks the Earth and shakes her bed.

She coyly dressed in dewy threads of gold
arises, shakes her tousled curls, so bold.
Day hesitates then gently takes her hand
and leads in a dance upon the land.

--------------------------------------------

April 1976
To Baby Bird
A sparrow fell out of a nest but couldn't fly well 
enough to get back and the starlings were intent 
on killing it so I took it indoors and fed it and 
looked after it. Baby Bird came to trust me and 
curled up in my hands but the weather was so cold 
and there was no heat in the house and after a few 
days it died. I buried it in the front garden. 
And my eyes filled with tears writing this in 2009.

Say to the sparrows flying in the sky
flying so far and free.
"Do you ever stop to think of me
down here on the ground below
thinking of some days ago?"

--------------------------------------------

11 June 1976

Death is a lolling breeze
And love a raging fire,
But troubles lie around my feet
Like some satanic mire.

--------------------------------------------

March 1976

Love is like death, it is 
the gateway to another world.

--------------------------------------------

March 1976
Looking at the Kensington Hilton Hotel, London

They have shut themselves up in a box
    away from the sun and the rocks
Where the seas never pound
    and no birds fly around
For they've shut themselves up in a box.

--------------------------------------------
21 June 1973, C.R's wedding 
--------------------------------------------

11 June 1975
C.R.

I slept a long long time last night
    from thinking of you.
I slept a long long time last night
    way past the morning dew,
Until the sunbeams woke my soul
    but to a poorer view.

I slept a long long time last night
    from thinking of you.
I slept a long long time last night
    through hours all too few,
Until the sunbeams woke my soul
    my eyes saw only you.

I slept a long long time last night
    from dreaming of you.
I slept a long long time last night
    reliving days so few
Until the sunbeams woke my soul
    my heart was happy too.

I slept a long long time last night
    from dreaming of you.
I slept a long long time last night
    but now alas it's through,
For the sunbeams woke my soul
    And I can't lie with you.

[alternative end] 

I slept a long long time last night
    from thinking of you.
I slept a long long time last night
    and you were happy too
Until the sunbeams woke my soul
    For I could lie with you.

--------------------------------------------
10 June 1975, visited C.R.
--------------------------------------------

If chains of iron made me 
    half so free
I'd have them gold that I
    might captive be.
If only memories were of
    water made
I'd pour them all away
    the hurt evade.

--------------------------------------------

Listen to the solitudinous
    lapping of the waters
Hearken to the murmurs
    of death upon the wave
Watch no lolling lily
    float upon the waters
Think of all the silence
    of the passing of an age.

--------------------------------------------

Listen to the solitudinous
    lapping of the waters
Hearken to the murmurs
    of death beneath the wave
Echoing the past of stillness
    on the shores.
Here the silence breeds no 
    earthly thing,
Here no lolling lily floats
    upon the wave.
Hear now the passing of
    an age upon an age.

--------------------------------------------

Strawberry tinted glasses
Sugar drops of the mind
Flowers by the wayside
It's good to know your kind
It's not the joy of going
or coming once again
But splendid isolation
upon the sinking sun.
I love to hear your laughter
footsteps in the dew.
The song of birds of paradise
is one that's all to few.
I saw your image yesterday
I saw you yet again
I saw a mistlethrush come by
and then I heard the rain.

--------------------------------------------

C.R.

Trouble maker, heart breaker
knife twixt heart and soul.
Wound healer, love dealer
Shall I make you my goal.

Truth hider, easy rider
image of your race.
Self denier, easy lier
Must I seek your face.

--------------------------------------------

C.R.

It's over the moon girl
I'm round the sun
I'm crazy in love girl
Though I thought I'd done.
I've fought with lions girl
I believed the lie
It's down in the depths girl
way out of the sky.

--------------------------------------------

26 December 1973

I thought I'd run
    I tried to fly
to soar and wheel up in the sky
but silver crystals weighed me down
my feet could barely leave the ground.
I stumbled struggling vainly on
in blind career towards the sun,
but rushing found myself alone, 
dropping sinking as a stone,
through a tract of barren land, 
changing shifting sea of sand.

--------------------------------------------

November 1973

There are things I do not know
There are places I have never visited
There are times I have never been
I cry out to them
I wish they were all here now.
Might not their average be better.
I love C... R...
Who is she?
why is she?
Is she another time?
another place
or is she now?
I do not know 
I do not know 

--------------------------------------------
22 September 1973, C.R's 21st birthday party
--------------------------------------------

7 September 1973

Shining desert of despair
Shimmering waste of curved air
Wilderness without an end
Gigantic game of lets pretend.

--------------------------------------------

5 September 1973

I've grown old
    and am all alone
in a field of gold
where's heard no low moan
where is no tree or hiding place
far as can see
    not e'en a face.

--------------------------------------------
11 June 1973

I've run far and free
    past fields and the wide.
I've swum in the sea 
    and played with the tide.
I've flown through the sky
    for mile after mile
Laughing and dancing and 
    wearing a smile
aching and crying 
    came crazily down
and now I'm so dead
    I wear but a frown.

Now if I were given
    wings by anyone
I'd not try to fly high
    and touch the sun.

--------------------------------------------

29 May 1973
C.R.

I remembered someone 
    I thought I'd forgot.
I'd hoped they meant nothing
    but knew they did not
I'd hoped with a hope
    to ease the pain
For I knew that time
    would come never again.

--------------------------------------------

29 May 1973

Death is a lolling breeze, 
Like the soft dew of Spring,
Like the heady scent of Summer,
Like the cool breeze of Autumn,
Like the roaring fire of Winter,
Death is a lolling breeze.

--------------------------------------------

Sun in the morning
A light upon her face,
Sun in the morning
That dries away a tear,
Sun in the morning
and a new day breaks.
Sun in the morning.

Midday Sun
Wild blazing Heat
Midday Sun.

--------------------------------------------

August 1971
C.R.

Where have you run my love,
Where have you run to hide?
Have you run to the hills my love,
To the bleak mountain side?
Have you run to the sea my love, 
To watch the foaming tide?
Have you run to the night my love, 
To hide yourself aside?
Or have you run to your head my love, 
To the thoughts that whirl inside?
Oh that you'd run to me my love
And you'd find me by your side.

--------------------------------------------

27 June 1971
C.R.

I've been chained too long at the hand of man.
I've been chained so long I don't give a damn.
Today's for living so live while you can
And don't chain me up at the hand of man.

I was only just learning to know how it feels,
To swim in the sea and play with the seals,
To run far and free, past fields and the wide
And not always looking for some place to hide.

And now what do I find's at the end of the road
But bars of steel and chains of gold,
With guards with goads if I don't do right,
And I worry and wonder all through the night.

I was chained so long it went to my head.
That slight taste of freedom is killing me dead.
The sun has gone in and the birds cease to sing
And the bells only toll is a death knell ring.

Oh girl release my golden chain
Let me swim, fly, walk in the rain,
Let me do all the things that come never again
Or I'm sure that someday I'll be insane.

I've been chained too long at the hand of man,
It's time to be free, to come when I can,
I'm sick and I'm hurt, I'm tired of the pain.
Please help me now, release my golden chain,

--------------------------------------------

26 June 1971
C.R.

I must be free
Oh girl don't you see
I've just got to be free, 
To fly.
To fly through the sky;
To feel the air rush through my wings,
Cool clean air, sweet air.
To be free to fly.
Oh girl release my golden chain, 
Let me soar, let me glide, 
release my golden chain, 
Let me free.

I've been chained too long
I must now be free.
Let me spread my wings under an apple tree.
I want to fly
High in the sky
Oh let me soar.
I've been chained too long
And my heart cries out to be free;
Please release this golden chain
And let me free.

Oh girl you don't know
How high I can fly
Up in the sky.
I can reach the clouds and touch the sun.
Will you not let me free
To be.

--------------------------------------------

November 1970

Today's the day that winter began,
Today it snowed and Autumn ran,
Yes, now Winter's really here
Among the leaves so crisped and sear.
And life gets colder every day
And death the end of every way.
Oh that Summer's glory should come, to pass
And fade away, alas.....
Is all the joy that Springtime promised
A lie transiently imagined
A lie, a brief warm lie
Twixt earth and sky?

--------------------------------------------

27 October 1970
On The Dream
[I had a very strange and surreal dream]

I lived a long long time ago
Oh yes, I do remember still
Visions come fleeting back to me
That time alone can never kill.
Ah, here now is day gone by:
It's summer and the sky is blue,
A kite is flying in the breeze
And flowers abound of every hue.
Birds wheel and chatter overhead
And natures taken time to see
To every little detail here,
To make a paradise for me.
Yes I remember days gone by
When earth and heaven sky and rain
Were gifts she showered on my head
No! Stay! Oh vision do not wane
And leave me comfortless in death.

--------------------------------------------

reworked 13 January 1980

Henceforth I have decreed thy name be thief
For thou hast robbed me of my property.
Though art the turgid river of my grief,
Progenitor of my calamity.
And yet thy form is pleasing to mine eye
So fleshy soft where hands are wont to roam.
Thy lungs and lips know how and when to sigh
Caressing my ears with their sweet low moan.
But by thy hand was wrought this dreadful blow
That took from me the substance of my life
And by thy mind thou hast to me brought woe
By adding to the burden of my strife.
  And yet sweet thief I do forgive thy art
  Thief, aye lass though hast robbed me of my heart. 

reworked Summer 1974

Henceforth I have decreed thy name be thief
For thou hast robbed me of my property.
Though art the turgid river of my grief,
Progenitor of my calamity.
See how thy form is pleasing to my eye
So fleshy soft where hands are wont to roam.
Thy lungs and lips know how and when to sigh
Caressing my ears with their sweet low moan.
Yet by thy hand was wrought this dreadful blow
To take from me this substance of my life
And by thy mind thou hast to me brought woe
By adding to the burden of my strife.
  (She knows her power and I forgive her art)
  Thief, aye lass though hast robbed me of my heart. 

23 October 1970
C.R.

Henceforth I have decreed thy name is thief
For thou hast robbed me of my property.
Though art the turgid river of my grief,
Progenitor of my calamity.
See how thy form is pleasing to my eye
And fleshy soft where hands are wont to roam.
But spirit nags enough! Away! To die.
Finding my rest in my eternal home.
Now is revealed the seat of my unrest.
I would have thee stay, but at what cost
To rest my weary head upon thy breast.
In loving thee I have my freedom lost.
  Away such paltry arguments of pride,
  Ten thousand freedoms for thee at my side.

--------------------------------------------

1 October 1970
T.K.

Most useless folly which I now begin
To try and set a bound upon thy measure
To try by wit and words contain thee in
A verse, that I may keep thee safe my treasure.
For thou indeed art life itself to me,
my soul grows cold without thy presence near.
Thou art the dawn, night is afraid of thee
See him go, lest thy brightness him dost sear.
Let me drink in the radiance of thy morn,
Hear pretty songbirds issue from thy lips
See all the flowers and fields of wavering corn,
A vision to him who at thy fount sips.
  By thy prettiness how I am brought down
  To babble words like some immoderate clown.

--------------------------------------------

1 October 1970
to J.B. & C.R.

Oh why is it that you who are my loves
Are plagued with inconsistency and fear
You love, yet are afraid of him who loves
And shy away from him who holds you dear.
Be not afraid, why must you think to loose
That which works for you, for your better part.
Now pray, appeal to God and let him choose
And see each love is of the same import.
Know that in loving God I am forsworn
To love each man and woman, to love all.
Love only comes from him whose crown is thorn
The rest is animal and lust, mans fall.
  Be still and fall not under Satan's sway
  But see that now, through Christ, can be loves day.

--------------------------------------------

11 September 1970

Oh Theo, don't my love decline.
For Theo is my love divine.
Sweet Theo sets my heart aflame,
Yet Theo does not know my name.
Please Theo, look now, this, my way
Saying sweet Theo's here to stay.
For Theo is my life my all.
I wish that Theo would recall
The times that Theo and I spoke,
The times that Theo gave me hope,
The times when Theo walked away,
The times when tears made dark the day.
Does Theo know the ache she makes?
Or maybe Theo only takes.
Oh Theo, give me love of thine,
Thou Theo art my love divine.

--------------------------------------------

3 September 1970

Theodora is thy name
correct prim, starched, straight-laced,
formal and beyond approach,
given lie by that sweet name
which is most certain yours,
the name which whispers on the breeze, 
and sung by angel choirs on high.
Theo....

--------------------------------------------

3 September 1970

Theo....Theo..... like the sound
of a whispering summers breeze.
Theo.... and a scent of morning
freshness fills the air. Theo.....
like the heat of the noonday sun, 
Theo.... like ice like fire.
Theo....

--------------------------------------------

20 July 1970

Once there was hope
    Now there is none
Once there was joy
    Now it is done
Once there was freedom
    Now it is gone
Once there was wisdom
    Too long in the sun
Has curdled my madness
    Oh where can I run
Once once.............
    onnnnnnnnnccccccccceeeeee......

--------------------------------------------

10 November 1969 1:30-1:50am

I once loved a girl...
Young she was with bright golden hair
Her eyes they shone like the sun
But the dark paths of time are her lair

It was many an evening I waited
To be just one glimpse in her eye,
And it's many an evening I've waited
Since she went away to die.

For that girl is now no longer,
A woman now lives by her name;
My love she died in my sorrow
For my love was a love all in vain.

Oh! how I wish that Time's portals
Had been locked and bolted secure
For she would not them have grown older, 
To change her affections, mature.

Can I erase her memory?
No! 'Tis useless to try anymore
So I'll just remember my Mary
As the girl that I loved long ago.

--------------------------------------------

Summer 1969
Ode to a Lady
M.B.

Not so very long ago
as I hope you'll all agree, 
There lived a pretty maiden
in a land upon the sea.

The knowledge of her beauty
was famed over hill and dale
wherever a certain team*
its opponents did assail.

Faithfully she followed them
Wherever they did go.
The weather did not matter
come rain come hail, come snow.

The mood of this poor maiden
was dependant to the last
upon their skill and subtlety
and whether they were fast.

And even in the summer months
she'd tell you of their game, 
the positions of each player
and each one by each name.

Rarely did her patter alter
from their attack and plan
except perchance to talk about
her secret(!) favourite man.#

*Wigan Rugby Club.
#a David who lived in Wigan.

--------------------------------------------

13 February 1969
M.B. - a Valentine message

When Cupid's up there
Shooting arrows
I wish he wouldn't 
Waste them on the sparrows

--------------------------------------------

13 February 1969
M.B. - a Valentine message

No names are written
For what's in a name?
Can it tell of the love
That burns like a flame.
Like a volcano
So solemn it roars
Until it is triggered 
And then it outpours.
No names are written
For what's in a name.
Can it tell of a life
That's just not the same.
Can it tell of the hurt
That comes from the chains
The scars that they cause
The terrible pain.
No names are written
For What's in a name
It can't tell of the love
That burns like a flame.

--------------------------------------------

13 February 1969
M.P. - a Valentine message

There is no rhyme at all to send,
For every rhyme must have an end,
and after end comes nothingness, 
And what is left but an address.
Hello, goodbye
And still a sigh
from a feeling that was mellow
And flew on the wings of a dove.
This is from and on behalf of
A most peculiar fellow
      Yorick

--------------------------------------------

10 February 1969
M.P. - a Valentine message

Not a song to charm you
Not a spell to harm you
Nor a threat to hurt you
Nor a joke to cheer you
Nor a dance to tire you
Nor an attempt to reach you
Nor a comment to  upset you
Nor a riddle to   perplex you
Nor a promise to  entice you
Nor a memorial to remember you
Nor an attempt to teach you
    A rune? Perhaps, Valentine
    Yorick

[The 1st letter of the 5th word of the last 6 lines 
spells Rupert and M.P. had bought me a Rupert calendar and scarf.]
--------------------------------------------

10 February 1969
L.W. - a Valentine message

A song to charm my lady fair
A rose to set up in her hair
All these are lost on you fair one
Who with the stars for company does run
And them outshines like Sun o'er Moon.
So what of song and mystic rune
Flowers and charm and praise of mine
All nought besides you, Valentine
 Yorick

[Yorick was a name associated with a friend and 
I arranged the Valentine to be sent from Gretna Green.]

--------------------------------------------

2 November 1968
M.B.

Once I loved but you alone
Set you up upon a throne
A royal throne with purple set
A royal queen yet never met.
Never met and yet how near
Like a precious jewel dear
Like a fragrant flowers cheer
You did warm this heart so sere.
In you was all my love embodied
And you were all I ever studied
You had and you alone held sway
The course of captive life that day.

But Time's a changeling moving on
And never standing still for one
And love that came with Springtime's scent
Burned on through Summer, then it went,
Burned on through Summer as is meant,
Burned through till Autumn, now is spent, 
And the Winter of my life is here,
for love that lasted just one year
Has gone and left this scene so drear.
So drear, I cry that you were near.
Sweet Dianne laughs at wetless tear
And mocks this limpid heart so sere
And tells that yesterday is gone
Because the battle was not won.

So do not mock me that I lost
For you will never know the cost, 
It's great beyond a measures scan
So just be thankful while you can.
For you have pride and I am free
Though bound by chains you cannot see.

--------------------------------------------

9 October 1968
M.B.

What reason prompts you then to say I lie
When all my proof is cont'ry to that end
Bidding me quick your charges to deny
And wounded honour of my heart defend.
Consider carefully this proof I show,
And cast not reason off, for spite of pride,
But look with careful eye and you will know
That during all these last twelve months I tried.
I tried indeed with all my soul I tried.
But though with constancy I loved you dear
'Twas not enough to keep you by my side
'Twas not enough for you to see it clear.
  And now though I am not "in" love with you
  I love you more than any else, 'tis true.

--------------------------------------------

29 August 1968
M.P. - birthday message

Cards this special a very card indeed
For specially intended one for you
Something you that on your might birthday read
For best inscribed with all my wishes you.

--------------------------------------------

11 August 1968
M.B.

All my love I have put in store
My love she requires it no more
So now lest you think me a bore
I will mention her name no more

--------------------------------------------

23 May 1968
W.D. - birthday message

Though my actions are often late
None the less intent is meant
It's just that I forgot the date
And so too late this card is sent.

--------------------------------------------

25 April 1968
M.B.

Once I loved a lovely lady,
As young and fair as she could be,
When with her 'twas like a Mayday
or roaring calmness of the sea.

Full four months long I courted her
Full four months long she knew my will
But alas there was another
And he her aching void did fill.

Now my heart is full of sorrow
Because our love it cannot be,
And my life is empty, hollow
Decaying as some long dead tree.

--------------------------------------------

How oft now in these these days of late
My mind has chosen course to wander.
To sit and dream by some swift stream
and hour on hour proceed to squander.

--------------------------------------------

Don't let it ever be said
I didn't love you dearly
but after having read
I did love God more clearly,

--------------------------------------------

31 March 1968
M.B.

'Tis well that hearts are not of paper made
and subject in a flash to passing whim.
To be the object of some vulgar raid 
that's schemed in anger to be rid of him.
For then an action done so rash in haste,
would in times slower still by all be viewed.
A broken edifice, a man laid waste,
self victim of his own acts misconstrued.
So now again I write these verse to you
and pray you on reflection to take care
with these my hopes and aspirations true
and in your wildest moments them to spare.
  But now know this, do to them what you will
  It does not matter for I love you still.

--------------------------------------------

24 March 1968
M.B.

How pointedly you make it plain
that all this mad play twixt the two
is but the ramblings of one vain
who hoped that some might come from you.

What reason for this change of course
did fall so suddenly on you,
that put an end to our discourse
and in such parting makes me blue.

My poor enfeebled mind cannot
the answer to this riddle solve,
and so I hope you'll tell me what
the reason is and then my salve.

--------------------------------------------

13 March 1968
M.B.

Oh sweet of dreams, my love, my life, my care,
though, by my mind I voyaged far this night,
in all the world was found not one so fair
at best, as thee in all thy mood of spite.
This being so what can I do but wait,
and hope to gain an interest in thy mood?
While others, victuals for their sustance take,
I, gaze on thee and  have no need for food.
So then through endless hours I'll wait on thee,
not counting time past, precious, for thy sake,
but only wishing that I'd constant be
for then, perhaps, thou might'st my hunger sate.
  I would thou would'st, my love, my love devour
  lest by some twist of fate it should turn sour.

--------------------------------------------

13 March 1968
M.B.

If I was a bold handsome hero knight,
with untold wealth and armies to command,
a quest I would engage upon and fight
them dead, all my opponents for thy hand.
And then with mystic rite and ancient spell
thy heart I would ensnare and make it mine,
that constant by my side thou mightest dwell;
my hearts sweet joy and precious comfort fine.
But since this is a figment of my mind, 
poor captive slave of my beguiled heart,
my only wish is thou would'st change thy mind,
turn round make my the object of thy dote.
  Though thou hast all ill for me in thy will,
  I count it nought my love and love thee still.

--------------------------------------------
[I have discovered Shakespeare's Sonnets]
--------------------------------------------

4 April 1967
P.G. - Birthday greeting

Some words did fall upon my ear
which said your birthday it was near.
And so to you this card I mail
Wishing (you) peace that will never fail,
But if the truth my ear did bend
Then close your eyes and just pretend.

--------------------------------------------

14 February 1967
J.A.G. - A Valentine verse

Read on and guess the sender of this card, 
Author rare, these disjointed lines were hard.
In Poe the answer to this riddle lies,
A poet few have ever cared to read.
Now creature fair who once did play with eyes
Defeat is yours unless this rhyme is keyed.

(Rupert)

--------------------------------------------

20 March 1961

Thought of Spring

The rhododendron bushes sing
To the coming of the Spring
Welcoming the good sunshine
Which their leaves will fill.

--------------------------------------------

1958? - 1961?
A thought

'twas found upon the streets of Rome
Where no man dares to walk alone
For fear that he might be beheaded
By some murderous thieves all dreaded.

============================================
corrections
20Dec09  11 June 1976   fir -> fire
         Aug1971 'that' whirl; missed out 'that'
         01OCt70  go. lest -> go, lest
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