AS THE YEAR ENDS

 

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Pexels.com

Dark the swollen river runs
Under the bridge’s shades of grey.
Slate sky condemns the passive scene
Draining colour from the day.

Tree silhouettes outline my view
Their winter ribs bared to the frost
December bids the old year gone
With no regrets for what is lost. 

The year expires; bid it goodbye, 
It brought distress, re-kindled fears,
It promised much it failed to give,
Left little hope and many tears.

So now, in hope of better times,
Tomorrow holds the future’s key.
New perspectives flood my view
Blue skies as far as I can see.

ANOTHER YEAR

‘Icarus’ … Pen & Wash – WHB – 2020   ©

Another year older
and
against time’s odds
deeper in love –
with life
with living
with a fervid
lust for existence

I want to feel
feel fast
feel free
to fly above my waning world
to feel what Adam felt
when first
he faltered
and fell
feel that Icarus moment
that experienced joy
that knowledge gain
that original lesson
singed
tinged
with both
joy and regret

I fear
I am led
to disregard
inhibitions shackles
and give hedonism
its brazen head

Desire
becomes the imperative
Desire
given to us
to ensure our continued existence
Desire
without which
no history would exist
and all would be
the futility
of Dreamland

New Year – A Two Word Tale – #8

Photo by DreamSky on Pexels.com

 

New year
Cold night
Snow falls
All white

Hot fire
Scots pine
Church choir
Mulled wine

Bright hearth
Warm heart
First foot
New start

 

My ‘Two Word’ Verses

Number eight  in my series of short verses 

 

 

 

As The Year Ends

WHB … Pen & Ink – 1988

Dark the swollen river runs
Under the bridge’s shades of grey.
Slate sky condemns the passive scene
Draining colour from the day.

Tree silhouettes outline my view
Their winter ribs bared to the frost
December bids the old year gone
With no regrets for what is lost. 

The year expires; bid it goodbye, 
It brought distress, re-kindled fears,
It promised much it failed to give,
Left little hope and many tears.

So now, in hope of better times,
Tomorrow holds the future’s key.
New perspectives flood my view
Blue skies as far as I can see.

 

JANUS 2018 – Two Sedoka

2 Katauta = 1 Sedoka

The Katauta is an unrhymed Japanese form consisting of 17 or 19 syllables. The poem is a three-lined poem with syllable counts of: 5/7/5 or 5/7/7.   . . .   A single katauta is considered incomplete, or a half-poem . . . a pair of katautas using the syllable count of 5,7,7 is called a sedoka.

The Sedoka, therefore, can be defined as – an unrhymed poem made up of two three-line katauta with the syllable count of: 5/7/7, 5/7/7.   A Sedoka, pair of katauta as a single poem, may address the same subject from differing perspectives. 

Source – adapted from:  Shadow Poetry

Continuing my occasional efforts at attempting different poetic forms I offer two Sedokas of my own composition, both based on the advent of a new year, with prospects for new beginnings . . . 

 In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past.  (Wikipedia)

Yesterday has gone
Turn your face to the future
Let hope reign over regret

The future holds sway
Promises there are to keep
Let Love conquer dark despair

Look to the future
The past is history now
But remember its lessons

For they tell the truth
That what tomorrow will bring
Is what yesterday forgot

Blue-Sky Thinking

‘Nature’s Question Mark’ … WHB – 2016

COMMENTS & REFLECTIONS of a BLOGGER on Entering 2017
(Or … ‘Blue-Sky Thinking for the year to come’)

---

Look on it as a plus
The age of the sage is upon us
2016 is now superfluous
Will 2017 be better?  Discuss!

#     #     #

I am
Therefore I think

I think
Therefore I blog

I blog …
Therefore I am

Give me a bon mot to cry on;
How about ‘weepy’  or ‘tearful’ ?  

Tell me a story to dream on; 
‘Midsummer Night’s’ a good starter.

God does not believe in atheists,
Therefore atheists do not exist.

If you don’t know what a double-entendre is,
Come here and I’ll give you one!

When lovely woman stoops to folly –
She apparently did it with both Goldsmith and T.S.Eliot.

Conceptual art is a con …
Ask me another one. 

Sing in a high tenor falsetto. 
But I can’t recall the libretto. 

Are  there two’ ll’s in ‘parallel’ ?
No,  in fact there are three.

Are you pulling my leg? 
I would if I could, but I can’t.

Daemons are good … but
Demons are bad – Even malignant. 

He filled the plaice within my sole
Yes, no cod could have done better

What’s the bravest British bird?
The Grace Darling (Chuckles!).

If music be the food of love – Play on
… I’m tone deaf anyway.

If ignorance is bliss?
How would I know?

“They muck you up –
You’re dumb and mad”
(Apologies to P.Larkin!)

Who would you describe as  a Multifaceted Autodidact?
How about Stephen Fry?

You are a shining wit …
Credibly, the Rev. Spooner’s opinion of Uriah Heep

An eye for an eye …
Makes the whole world blind

Life is like a half-sucked sweet –
Not what it used to be.

Sometimes I question my sanity …
But I never get a reply.

That’s a tired cliché –
Or perhaps a weary truism, or even an exhausted  banality.

The optimist and the pessimist
Are balanced by the realist … says the pragmatist.

GBS quote … ‘Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society.
The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute.’

I think
Therefore I am pessimistic

I blog
Therefore I try to be optimistic

… And one good blog …
Deserves a better one.

#     #     #

. . . sic erat scriptum !!!