Monthly Archives: November 2015

Words

Words

 [Our use of words is part of our humanity]

P1040793

Words in all their glory

Words to tell a story

Words filled with great emotion

Words to convey a notion

Words to calm the mind

Words freeing those confined

Words to congratulate

Words that warmly celebrate

Words that show contempt

Words may great things attempt

Words used to apologise

Words to show we can be wise

Words that help educate

Words that do berate

Words that make us fret

Words we much regret

Words we should have said

Words whispered while in bed

Words not used by the shy

Words that make us sigh

Words of anger said in haste

Words that reputation did debase

Words that we anticipate

Words that came too late

Words that rebuild relations

Words to unite the nation

Words sent as from above

Words expressing our true love

Let’s not be LOST FOR WORDS!

Ken Fisher

Water, Water, Everywhere!

Water, Water, Everywhere

P1150267

One thing that’s not in short supply

for lack of which we need not cry

Is that liquid we can’t do without

But right now we may need bail out

 

Our roads are swamped by mini lakes

Which force drivers to test their brakes

And heaven help those on the pave

When they are hit by tidal wave!

 

If this wet weather must persist

To seek shelter we can’t resist

Let’s like Noah, build an ark

And when it dries we’ll disembark

 

We pray for antediluvian days

Basking in the sun’s bright rays

But meantime just endure the flood

And try not to sink into the mud!

 

Ken Fisher

 

The Excesses of Christmas – Not All Bad!!

The Excesses of Christmas – Not All Bad!!

[Written just before Black Friday 2015]

DSCF3403

The lips of pious Christians at this Advent time of year
Are prone to complain that all sacredness is lost
Christmas without Christ is what they seem to fear
The Baby from that manger has readily been tossed

Mind you there still remains some attachment sentimental
Christmas carols, ‘holy’ cards, and the school nativity
And Christingle shows a glimmer of light transcendental
But it’s the secular not the sacred that centres much activity

Of course for some this loss of its religious heart
Robs Christmas of all its meaning, even all its worth
The love radiating from the stable no longer does impart
And few can accept that mysterious virgin birth

However attempts to turn the clock back are really rather futile
And after all the vast majority of the modern populace
Do not have any such inhibitions, no such petty scruples
They are pleased to welcome ‘Christmastide’ and duly it embrace

So our fellow citizens en masse will not hesitate to revel
Melt down their plastic in a mighty hedonistic spree
Dance happily with the world, the flesh and the devil
And unashamedly express their joy and untold glee

But the question is – is excess all that bad?
Is there not a time when we all should celebrate
And despite these days of darkness a need to still feel glad
And from our burdened shoulders shed that heavy weight

Let the ancient power of the Story still speak to hearts and minds
Let’s not deny the right of those who uphold sacred tradition
But the festival of winter belongs to all humankind
And a little excess in living still a welcome intermission

 

Ken Fisher

 

The Builders

The Builders

P1020227

No challenge too great for the building trade
No problem will make these workers afraid
They dig down to make sure of a firm foundation
The earth that they move could re-shape the nation

 

Then they build up many rows of bricks upon brick
With a hod and a trowel they perform this neat trick
They leave spaces for windows and holes for the doors
And layer-by-layer they construct each new floor

 

Inside this stark shell they fit out each room
And soon we discern the shape of a home
If of their achievements we still require proof
Just take a glance at the shiny new roof

 

For their unstinting efforts, we these workers salute
Their dedication and skill is not in dispute
The future homeowner will derive so much pleasure
Thanks to those builders for their willing endeavor
Ken Fisher

Honesty

Honesty

P1040789

 

Honesty’s the best policy, I am sure you will agree

Stick to the truth and from it never flee

Try to live your life without one lie

And if you fail, do not your faults deny

 

Honesty is a virtue much regarded

Not to be ignored or readily discarded

And like this plant which shows no brilliant bloom

Yet nonetheless brings great blessing and much boon

 

 

Ken Fisher

 

Science & Religion – Friends or Foes?

 

P1030968

Science and Religion – Friends or Foes?

 

For those who take some time to muse on issues which perplex
The interplay twixt science and faith can seem to be complex
And those who claim that science is the only truthful view
The path of daily faith and trust they often may eschew

But others take a different stance and feel no contradiction
Science may indeed reveal clear fact, faith nonetheless no fiction
The saints of old and humble hearts in every generation
Have trusted in the God of Love who cares for every nation

As time progressed the quest of science each year grew ever stronger
Ignorance about our world acceptable no longer
The mighty powers that drive the earth needed understanding
Magnetic force and gravity proved to be all commanding

Science challenged faith which claimed to offer certain hope
The distant stars were soon brought near when came the telescope
No longer true the long held view of our earth at the centre
God maker of the cosmos our great divine inventor

Church leaders closing ranks, to these ‘heresies’ objected
Such challenge to their power must clearly be rejected
But some were ready for new truth and kept an open mind
Unlike the bigots, and those whose eyes continued to be blind

Science of the earth – the study of geology
Contradicted early views in realms of theology
Biblical, five thousand years to tell the whole world’s history
Science claims 5 billion years – surely this a mystery

The story of creation from Adam and his Eve
A tale like this too hard for some to easily believe
Darwin’s view that all today – the result of evolution
Sparked in his time in men of science a thinking revolution

More recently the science of modern genetics
Caused theologians debate not any less frenetic
Theories are advanced without the least apology
In social science, in medicine, and every kind of ‘ology’

So under the weight of such onslaught and hanging by a rope
What can religion offer us that still provides us hope?
The answer I believe is not to be overwhelmed
The realm of faith if given thought we honestly defend

First of all, as those who trust we must not from truth hide
Rejecting science and casting all its gains aside
Our modern lives, our comfort and our health
Science gave us much of this, per’aps even more, our wealth

But the life we have, the freedom we inherit
From the example of our Master’s life we learn the Christian merit
Of course our faith is not without emotion
Love for each other surely shown because of faith’s devotion

The realm of faith speaks to the soul and to those deepest needs
For meaning, beauty, love and care for which our heart can bleed
And while we rejoice in all of science’s gains
Faith can for us bring hope when nothing else remains

So is it true that faith and science must then forever vie
No concord to be found no matter how they try?
We live our lives with science and faith each helping to sustain
A life to live, a love to show, that all around may gain

Of course we would not willingly the boon of science reject
Thus losing all that has been gained including its respect
But for the trusting heart then faith provides the Way,
The truth, the life, and new meaning to each day

Ken Fisher

 

 

Ken Fisher

P1040778

Beyond, Yet in the Midst

Beyond, Yet in the Midst

DSCN1664

Beyond, Yet in the Midst

 

Can we find God’s presence in our living every day?
Hear His voice to guide, to challenge, and console
Some will claim God knows each person by their name
They also claim knowledge of the One who surely saves

 

Others feel that God cannot thus be apprehended
Words cannot fully grasp His all-pervading essence
The nature of God too mystical to easily define
The creator thus beyond the limits of creation

 

Our awareness of God revealed to us in holy scripture
Provides mere knowledge of His worldly mission
Despite the testimony of Christ’s ministry here on earth
Can we ever grasp the divine nature of his Father, God?

 

We conclude the Godhead is beyond all definition
No adequate words found to justify description
All attempts at speculation eventually abandoned
God still remains beyond, yet in the midst of all that is.

 

 

Ken Fisher

 

When the Light Darkens [Paris November 2015]

 

 

 

DSCF0666

When the Light Darkens

When life seems good and full of light

How can its days turn into night?

But when it does there is no doubt

That inwardly our souls cry out

 

And when our settled way of life

Is menaced by the sounds of strife

When scenes of carnage assail our eyes

And loud the shrieks of panic rise

 

What has gone wrong, who can we blame?

Why can’t our path remain the same?

A life of praise for all its joy

No longer does our heart employ

 

We agonise o’er words and deeds

O’er failure to confront the needs

That might this tragedy divert

And so our sorrow thus avert

 

But in this time of sad reflection

No nostrum found for disaffection

And only sadness is in sight

No early hope redeems the night

 

Thus we must journey on our way

No cure for pain our fears allay

Our only hope that time might ease

And thus restore our world to peace

 

 

Ken Fisher

NIHIL SINE LABORE [Nothing Without Work]

Nihil Sine Labore

P1010596
For those of us of a certain age
Persuaded by a long accepted work ethic
This ancient motto strikes a chord
Which still reverberates within

 

Years of conditioning inured our thoughts
Our bodies bent, our minds attuned
to work, the main purpose of our life
No other way worthy or acceptable

 

So we have perhaps become an automaton
The pattern of the days, the weeks the years
Established by the demands of our labour
Rooted in the need for unremitting toil

 

Thus we had thought nothing e’er achieved
Unless it was the fruit of effort
To be valued, our brow
must glow with sweat

 

But all of that may now be overtaken
For most, the need for ‘heavy lifting’
Now long gone, the finger’s click
upon the mouse our muscles’ greatest feat!

 

And routine tasks overtaken by ‘the system’
Endless drudgery snatched from human hands
Our minds freed to think creatively
To do what humans claim they’re best to do

 

So does this mean that we have abandoned
That former all-consuming ideology?
Is it no longer true that there can be
Nothing Without Work

 

No, in this modern world, perhaps
we have realised that work is not everything
And conversely, that everything is not work
And at last we can be truly human

 

Where the balance of life and work
does really matter

 

Ken Fisher

 

 

Anticipate

P1040033
What lies in Front? We do not know

No crystal ball that will us show
The way ahead remains obscure
What charms before us to allure
Or is the future filled with woe?
Places where we dare not go

 

So far the fates have been quite kind
On pleasant pastures we’ve reclined
Our journey’s not been fraught with trials
Not forcing frowns, but rather smiles
And the passing of the years
Brought comfort rather than much fear

 

Somehow our luck might soon run out
New Challenges could bring about
A change of fortune or of fate
Some burden felt in all its weight
Bring lowering of our cheerful mood
Our joy quite suddenly subdued

 

But why to such change and chance
Must we always look askance?
From what cause our hearts doth quickly leap
As if the wolf has scattered sheep
Emotions no longer in control
Startled by some evil troll

 

Why can’t our mind remain quite calm?
Finding help from inner balm
A kindly thought to reassure
Stem our response so immature
Thus weathering the gathered storm
Our thinking we might thus transform

 

If we could learn this gentle art
No matter what besiege our heart
We thus might cope with every threat
Without anxiety or fret
By taking time to simply wait
Thus composed, anticipate

Ken Fisher

Modern Art

Modern Art

P1040362

Perhaps it’s just me but I find it hard to make sense

My judgment perhaps should be put into suspense

And it’s easy to dismiss something just because it is new

An idea which so far is only grasped by the few

 

I suppose I am conditioned by what I already know

And my adoption of new concepts remains rather slow

But Modern Art’s history stretches back a long time

And by now we might say it is well in ‘its prime’

 

Apparently its genesis rose from illustrious names

Such as van Gough, Cezanne, Gauguin, all of great fame

Pioneers were Romantics, Realists, Impressionists too

Cubists came next – Leger, Braque, and Picasso to name just a few

 

In following years Modern Art went world-wide

Its influence rather like an incoming tide

Traditional painters may have felt they had drowned

By this indefinable force that brought changes profound

 

But there is no doubt that Modern Art’s here to stay

Its iconic galleries will not fade away

But other art forms remain in our affection

Both old schools and new form treasured collections

Ken Fisher

Elegant West End

Elegant West End

P1150333

Tributes to Victorian design

This noble terrace is a sign

Its grand façade in pride displays

The skill and craft of earlier days

 

Local denizens have ensured

These mature buildings still endure

A credit to all who have taken care

Of a legacy beyond compare

 

As generations sought to reserve

This grand inheritance to preserve

And whether there we do reside

Or simply pass along beside

 

To designers, builders and architects

Your contribution we respect

And gladly we would thus acclaim

Your gifts which bring the West End fame

 

 

Ken Fisher