Use HOME / END on the keyboard to go to the beginning / end of the page
Uploaded May 2016 (3 poems) Click for Readings
The Sentinel
This poem uses imagery from the biblical 'Garden of Eden'* to reflect on our contemporary world.
A sentinel came from Eden
to the world of women and men and brief must be his visit before he stood guard again. He came to fulfil a commission to find what humans had made of the knowledge of good and evil and the singular price they had paid. But this was never the Eden our forefathers said was once known, but one where self-consciousness entered and a place where divergence had grown until life, in this Eden of instincts, became barred to the nature of men, but a river flowed out of the garden by whose banks they need always remain. The Eden the sentinel came from knew little of evil or good for the strong there preyed on the weak - though as seldom for other than food most often the strife of its creatures in nature a balance maintained - and the sentry was sent out to ponder what if mankind had remained? He asked of the world he came to where war had been raised to an art if the Tree of Life in the garden might then have been torn apart? He asked if tribal divisions meant reason had been overthrown for follies and hatreds were witnessed such as Eden had never known. And greed was extolled as a virtue while pollution pressed hard in its train - if this was the pattern in Eden could mankind be allowed to remain? And what of the life of the spirit define this however you will for so many remained on its surface nor knew what it meant to be still. In his short stay he failed to encounter the myriads of women and men who have eaten the fruit of goodness and the fruits of evil disdain; nor learned he of human genius in science and music and art nor the glory that once had been Greece, that might someway have softened his heart. So the sentry returned to Eden a guard who never would yield, for scenes from the world he had witnessed were emblazoned on sword and on shield. * Genesis 2: vs 8 - 10 |
Epitaph
I conceived this poem while waiting, as often,
for mourners I was chauffeuring to return from the graveside.
for mourners I was chauffeuring to return from the graveside.
Mark not my burial
with a stone, a place to pause and then pass on, but keep alive while memory serves remembrance of me. And this, if to my children some influence remains, I am content. I have however placed a small piece of engraved granite in the ground to mark my grandmother's shared common grave. Like the life she led, it is almost hidden from sight (see my poem 'Mother and Child'). |
Requiem for a Computer
The sad demise of a faithful friend.
Little did I think, my faithful friend,
When I sent you away for repair I soon was to hear you had met your end While under their surgical care. For eight full years you attended my needs While your own were simple and few I doubt your replacement ever succeeds In giving better service than you. While staying with me you showed little sign Of the troubles you must have endured For the faults you displayed seemed quite benign And I thought they could quickly be cured. I only discerned the extent of your pain When the repair shop rang to say Some long-term memory they could not retain And proposed to excise away. New memory, inserted the old to replace, You decided at first to disown Until they agreed to slow down its pace To a speed that would match your own. Happy the call I received that said You were ready for me to collect But a short time later another was made I'd been given no cause to expect. Another test they'd decided to run And from tone of voice I could tell This was something they'd only begun As all might still not be well. The news next day when I enquired Was not what I wanted to learn For the test results it now transpired Had given much cause for concern. Deep hypnosis they carried out Your operating system to renew But why did I let them mess you about For the little good it would do? Your short-term memory too had failed When they tried to bring you around And your thoughts, whatever within you prevailed, Were oblivious to all your surround. Strength enough I had hoped you'd retain When you and I came to part So that charity use might still remain To gladden your tender heart. Perhaps the selfless choice was your own To calmly await your end And spare me the sight of you suffering on My faithful helpful friend. |