A Fear-Full Life

A life lived through its worries,
Trying to forget.
The risks that come with being,
With which life is beset.

The siren prompted fear
In that kitchen-table home;
Dad away in the army,
And Jerry would cross the foam.

The smog was dark and dismal,
The midday sun obscured;
Cloaked in knife-cut cloud,
How was it we endured?

A dose of National Service –
Your country needs your youth;
Learn to fight for your country,
The threat – more than the truth.

The Bay of Pigs a worry,
Suez a cause for fear;
The lads fought in Korea,
While we were shivering here.


Then Aids brought worries aplenty;
Cold War a constant threat;
Always there were worries,
For ever fears to be met.

Polio and smallpox,
Diphtheria, whooping cough,
A plethora of scourges –
All those we have seen off.


And then we met with covid,
A world of worry and threat;
Another scourge to face,
None of them over yet.

A world so full of worry,
Yet life’s still worth the trouble
The joys in family and friends
Ensure we can face the struggle.

Let Life Begin

My covid story
I rehearse …
I tell its story
In rhyming verse.


To be in England
Now April’s here;
Come lockdown’s end
I’ll give a cheer.

I’ve lived alone
In a bee-loud glade,
And sung the song
That covid made.

Now let me dance
With the daffodils,
And no more seek
For frills and thrills.

A holiday
I can’t afford;
I’ll stay at home,
Not travel abroad.

A cold winter
We’ve had of it;
Let life begin,
Lickety split.


With appreciative nods in the direction of…Robert Browning; W.B.Yeats; William Wordsworth; T.S.Eliot

Cupid Curbed

Call me Cupid
catch my arrows
kiss me quick
then let me go
now a phony
feeling lonely
stitch me up
pity my woe

Watch me sigh
wither and cry
no more milk
of human kindness
no more joy
in joining hearts
as life crumbles
as it gets dark
now all my arrows
miss their mark


My wife Psyche
has let me know
that now at last
she has seen through me
cut me off
taken my bow
told the world she’s cottoned on
that I no longer sing its song

For time and covid
in cahoots
turned the tables
stopped my games
pulled my plug
left me bereft
no more playtime
no transgressions
canoodling killed
by lockdown’s laws
show me how I can continue
through the strictures
and the flaws


I’ve had enough
of covid’s rule
I’m being taken for a fool
I’ve parked my bow
in time’s sad bunker
I’ve been disturbed
my arrows curbed
so I’m retiring
going to grass
no more point
in joining hearts
I’m off to milder sunnier parts


Hope for 2021

Photo by Lukas on Pexels.com

When the world feels dark bring a Torch
Let the Torch be brightly lit
Let it illuminate the darkest corners of Earth
May Earth play its part and forever spin
For a spinning Wheel gathers no more Covid
And Covid will be killed by the Needle
And through the eye of that very Needle
Will Nature work her magic
And bring us all a Spring to recall
Life renewed in Hope
For ‘Hope is the thing with Feathers
… Which never stops at all.

VERSE – WHB: Dec.2018 . . . [ With acknowledgement to Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) ]

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