Love Sonnet

Over one pendant heart our sighs enmesh,
Gripped by a similar aspirant fuse,
To engage and perpetrate our love,
Resolve our natures, past abuse.

Set apart from stolen trysts;
Enjoyed in our own pristine ways;
Captioned by us alone with worth;
Our love supplies itself with praise.

Enthused with thoughts of sacrifice
Made pleasure, when another’s wish
Suggests that all is not suffice,
My hope ferments, divinely sung.

More fully seasoned with each kiss
A good ripe wine tells on the tongue.

Poem: WHB … 1953 – Copyright

Travels in my Atlas

‘ATLAS’ . . . Pen & Pencil: WHB – 2021

I travel the world from my Atlas,
As the breadth of my shoulders attests;
I live in its enthralling pages,
My adventures are found in its quests.

As I try to envisage each country –
Its shape, its contiguous states,
I take in its valleys and mountains,
Whatever its landform dictates.

I travel its rail and its highways,
I swim in its rivers and lakes.
I take in its size and its people,
Its history of floods and earthquakes.

I note Its capital city,
Attempt to remember its name,
Its flag, its size and its neighbours,
And whence its languages came.

And when I have finished my travels
I put down my Atlas and sleep.
And consider the pleasures of travel,
A delight and incredibly cheap.

A Rainbow Visited Me Today

Photo:WHB  – 2020  …   ©

 

As upon my chair I lay

To my dismay,

A rainbow crept up my leg today.

‘I like it here’, I heard it say.

‘So warm and cosy, I think I’ll stay.’

She whispered to me ‘Is that O-Kay?

Feeling blessed I could not say ‘Nay.’

Of course, I said, ‘Well, Yes, you may.

A joy, a gift, a bold array.

Do not decay,

No need to pay.

So, please, oh please, don’t ever go away.’

Photo by Adrien Olichon on Pexels.com

The PIER

Eastbourne Pier, Sussex, England: Photo – WHB, October, 2017  ©

 

As bravely my finger points to the sea
my peninsular pretences extend
for a while
my efforts at ocean reclamation
enabling land and sea to merge
countryside and shore
to meet and mingle
in mutual admiration

Taking my insatiable
search for pleasure
beyond its brief

Public pleasuring
made manifest
another pleasure garden
to add to nature’s own
another wonderworld
to vie with nature’s gifts

My destiny
Buffeted by wind and wave
invaded by rust and rot
attacked by frost
at risk from fire

I exist
On time borrowed
from the eye of the storm
grateful
whilst it continues
for the ocean’s grace

and so
I continue to proffer my splendours
To the denizens of my retreats
sea anglers and photo booths
Shops and tearooms
wurlitzers and waltzers
penny arcades
mirror halls
ghost trains and dodgems
all beneficiaries
of my daring
my bravery in simply existing

Hastings Pier, Sussex

Clevedon Pier, Somerset

Southend Pier, Essex – ‘the longest pleasure pier in the world’