Destiny
Short-Sightedness
Thoughts of a Nosy Bugger
Destiny She clutched her dolly in the dark Shapes in the shadows looming It was not they that caused the fright She had to live through every night Back then she didn’t know just why Her daddy made her mummy cry Sometimes her mum came to the room To pacify the trembling child With whisky splashed upon her dress She held her in a fond caress Yet still within those early years She didn’t know what caused Mum’s tears As time passed by with adolescence near And troubled still she had more curious grown Until one night she listened, heard and knew Just what it was her mum was going through For what is now quite rightly classed as crime Was swept under the carpet at that time Henceforth she tried to help when things got bad Which meant they both endured the drunken wrath But now she had her own sorrow to bear A sense of loss to personal to share For thus was formed the template of her life She knew that she could never be a wife Now, decades on, her ma has passed away At peace at last in heaven with the Lord As for the girl, though life survived Of married joy she’s been deprived A spinster now – alone she sleeps While in her dreams her mum still weeps Copyright © 2008 Barry Gardner
Short-Sightedness A misty morning cold and bright Chased off the bleakness of the night Revealing a new December day To those who slithered or wondered, Flew or crawled around the river bank Where he, lonely, rambled among briar and bramble Yet knowing it made little sense He vainly clung to the pretence That still somehow he’d find the one His life to share, alas - He knew not when or where Till sauntering on and so forlorn His jacket caught upon a thorn Then disentangling in the haze he realised That on such days a wondrous beauty there reveals Enhanced beneath God’s heavenly shroud. He’s surveyed scenery from afar before And often stood aghast It’s splendour masking nearby treasures Thus dismissed too fast Like the power of the gossamer wing, The wonder of the fin and feather And the intricate forms of flora and fauna Like the powerful kaleidoscope of colour And the multitudinous shapes and structures of all living things Like the existential coalescence of animal, vegetable and mineral ‘Cos at times we look too far and wide And sometimes even strain our eyes To see what’s on the other side Of hedge or stream When fog descends we should instead Indulge in its capacity To clarify close tapestry Not wonder, perchance to dream ‘Twas at this point thus prompted By the vagaries of weather Our lovelorn rambler in a flash Twinned sight and plight together So too it is with love he then perceived Too long some chase their fantasies Remaining blindly oblivious To the patently obvious - The magical complexity of emotion seemingly Constrained by boxes to be ticked Its enchantment imprisoned grid-like Its comfort suppressed, its grace unrecognised With soul now free and enlightened By such abject visibility His mind, as with his eyes Acknowledging this late acceptance Our loner sensed his prospects soar Scurrying home in haste - no time to waste He proposed to the woman next door (She listened intently then gave a scoff Before telling him to bugger off) Copyright © 2008 Barry Gardner
Thoughts Of A Nosy Bugger Why do they fascinate me so these people I don’t even know? I don’t mean the whole populace Who make up this vast human race These unknown friends of whom I speak Are here at Tescos every week Take that old man by the flower stall He asks advice of one and all Is he buying for his one and only? My guess is that he’s sad and lonely And that old pair I usually see She’s here today but where is he? I can’t help wondering where he’s gone Maybe the poor old chap’s passed on Those two over there by the Dream Topping Look too excited to just be shopping They look to me like eager lovers With a weekend planned beneath the covers Whether they’re married I can’t say But I reckon that they’re playing away Over there’s that woman with the big car Who gives her kids a chocolate bar “Do you want this one?” I hear her saying But has she any thoughts of paying? I can’t see that nice old girl today Perhaps she’s gone with friends to stay And where’s that young good looking tottie On some beach in Lanzarotti? There’s that poor chap with the nagging wife She certainly brings him trouble and strife If what she want’s not in the store It seems to make her nag him more Watching and wonderings’s so much fun But it’s hard to get my shopping done It’s amazing I take all this in And not forget my bloody PIN! That lady’s gone from the end till I hope she’s not in hospital The bloke who is there’s old and grumpy While the girl behind him’s fat and frumpy But I shouldn’t comment in this light ‘Cos I don’t know what’s caused their plight Outside some kids skate on the forecourt Harassing customers without a forethought I wonder as the streets they roam What sort of time they have at home All these folks so oft I’ve seen But where do they go in between? Are they happy, healthy, lonely, sad I ponder on what lives they’ve had These people week-on-week I see I don’t know them, they don’t know me Copyright © 2008 Barry Gardner