Memories of Yesterday

We spent today under the bright blue skies on Blackheath in London celebrating my boy’s birthday. So many memories too though of happy days from my own youth

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Reflections

For fifty years less one short month
You’ve been there by my side
Protector, comforter and friend
In whom I could confide
With whom I shared my highs, my lows
My hopes, my loves, my dreams,
My fears and sadness, losses, fights
All sort of diff’rent things

You’ve stood there strong; n’er waned nor left
Been there through thick and thin
My constant, stable, quiet resolve
Hand to hold and thickest skin
And we’ve had great fun, laughed and cried
We’ve shared so much and more
And you’ve been there not just for me
But for my own fab four

You’ve been the very best of Dads
And for my children too
You’ve been a role model as well
As Grandpa and Dad, true
You’ve taught us all integrity
You’ve showed us what it means
To uphold honour, truth, respect
And all things in between

And you taught me that I have worth
You’ve shown me I can be
Strong, confident, navigating
A lifecourse responsibly
For as a source of peacefulness
With humour and harmony
You’ve given out support, warmth, love
All unconditionally

And so dear Daddy, I love you
And will eternally
For though we must be pulled apart
In mortal realms I see
This thread weaving between us won’t
Separate at your death
For it will pass cross the chasm
And won’t leave me bereft

A ribbon thread to hold onto
Forever in a day
Of treasured memories in mind
Paving an onward way
A link in the chain that won’t be broke
A strand between us both
Where what we had will never die
And that’s my lasting oath
And thus, this will not be the end
But the beginning of
A new road down which we will walk
Me here; you up above
As a star amidst the milky way
Shining a guiding light
Still always here deep in my heart
Burning so very bright

Monday’s Gloom

Monday’s here; they’re all the same
Grey and damp like gloomy rain
Falling on Sunday’s parade
As memories of the weekend fade

Industrial Ghosts

Chimneys smoking across the steel city
Where industrial ghosts of the past
Spiral heavenwards
In plumes from the remnant furnaces
Lingering in the ether
Smelting past memories
Smarting the landscape
Haunting the skyline
In whispers; in echoes of a bygone era

The Elephant In The Room

They told me that the elephant
Would just never forget
And so with failing memory
I went outside to get
Myself an elephant to come
And memorise for me
All those things I would fail to store
In later history

I bid this elephant to pave
His neural corridors
With recollections in his mind
To open up the doors
Of mnemonic strategy
Recall what would not stick
In hope that friendly elephant
Would capture them real quick

But sadly it did not work out
For tell him as I did
To hold my thoughts up in his brain
Even for a few quid
He simply didn’t understand
As I had so presumed
And that is how he became the
Elephant in the room

Our Final Farewell

In the ether I see a kissing gate
‘Tween this world and the next
Where heaven’s call bids you come
Through the mist of tears
In our final farewell
And yet our love will remain
For although in my heart is a vast chasm
Under the lilied arch of sorrows
At that gate etched in life’s memorial
Where the sun sets on our yesterday
It will be that love; our love
That will always linger in my soul
And shine throughout the morrow
For all eternity

English: Sunset over the church at Low Gate See image 38988. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

A Memory

To light a memory like a candle
Glowing brightly in the moment
Illuminating the past with an intensity
That fills the mind’s eye
Before it flickers and recedes
To lie dormant until the wick is re-lit

Memories

If there are memories I recall
It’s things that touch me so
From sights I see to things I hear
To smells and tastes that go
Around to nudge my senses
To tickle and delight
My feelings and emotions in
A way that shine out bright
And plant right there forever
To stay the length of time
As memories form part of me
My reason and the rhyme

 

Fading Memories

There is a door
Enticing; alluring
That draws me closer
Bids me to enter
Beckons me to go through
And yet the key escapes me
It evades my touch
Hanging out of reach
On a silver thread above the door
Woven like the silk of a spider’s web
Dangling in the shadows ahead
Occasionally catching the odd ray of sun
That beams in a single dart

So many times have I unlocked that door
So many times have I entered
And walked in the garden the other side
The garden of memories
Pictures of the past
Sentiments, emotions, recollections
Where the feet of yesterday
Are the footholds of today
A landscape of verdant pastures
Beautiful flowers in full bloom
The scents and perfumes alive
And the sounds, the sights, the sensations
Drawing the images of life now spent

But now the key to the past vanishes
Slowly evaporating in the folds of age
Greying into obscurity
Dissipating into the ether
So that only sometimes can I take hold of her
And walk through the door and reminisce
Yet soon I will never go through again
And then what will I have?
Memories gone forever
Lost behind the door
The key lost in the web of life
A dark corridor in which to wander
Without the glories of the garden beyond

Tradition

To follow in the footsteps
In the feet of those from old
Tradition steeped in history
Well trodden boards behold

Cementing in the future
Successes of the past
To bring about a sense of pride
Identities to last

Stability in what has gone
Pre-empting rhythm’s rhyme
Transmission of the old to new
Through passages of time