Author Archives: thebardofkelvindale.com

‘Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There!”

‘Don’t just do something, sit there!’

Yes, read it again, I have got it right
Not perhaps what you thought when glanced at first sight
I am suggesting the advice that we all should heed
Is less doing, more sitting, that’s what we need

Most of our time we rush hither and thither
And our energy levels are inclined to wither
Endless demands on our time is the cause
We really should learn to take time to pause

I know the pandemic has for some slackened the pace
But for many their lives have turned into a race
Working from home and being an amateur tutor
Can burn out more than just the computer

And new worries for many have surely arisen
Competing  concerns have their crowded minds driven
Keeping everyone safe and the show on the road
Service the mortgage over their dear abode

Perhaps things will improve when they lift the restrictions
Though speedy return to normal seems like a fiction
In the meantime we simply must continue to cope
And keep alive for the future our earnest hope

So it’s NOT what’s to be DONE that should dominate
We need to find time to SIT, perhaps contemplate
Of doing we have all had far more than our share
For a change let’s just sit, it seems only fair!

Ken Fisher

Hoping, Helping, and Hingin Thegither

Hoping, Helping, and Hingin Thegither
[What the Scots do amidst the pandemic]

What can you do amidst this pandemic
To prevent your thoughts becoming quite manic?
Better perhaps give heed to sister or brother
As the Bible suggests that we love one another

First of all we must not lose hope
Else we would find that we never will cope
Believe in the fact that all this will pass
A glimmer of light through today’s darkened glass

We might then consider those who are in need
Whose many problems their joy would impede
Weary souls whose lives are acquainted with grief
Bring meaningful help, and to sadness, relief

Perhaps we must simply be ‘hingin thegither’
Even if this means just having a blether
Reach out to each other as best we may
Bring light and blessing to each wearisome day

So let’s adopt those three simple deeds
To ease our own and our neighbours’ needs
Bring hope and help to those in despair
And hing in thegither thus our burdens share

Ken Fisher

Pandemic Poetry

Pandemic Poetry

Verses obsessed by lowering threat
Invisible menace dominates
A world on the pause button
Imagination shackled by social isolation

Writer’s block ensnares the mind
Creativity contained
In the hard carapace
Imposed by Covid-19

What has happened
To humour,
To levity,
To prospects of delight ahead?

Life reduced to
The daily exercise
The weekly shop
The Zoom communion

But let’s hope
The new normal
Be reinstated to the old normal
And we will emerge

From this viral baptism
Appreciative as never before
Of the company of others
And our common humanity

Then poetry be no longer
Subjugated to the contagion
Once again
Thoughts let off the leash

Ken Fisher

Tattoo That on the Inside of My Eyelids!

Tattoo That on the Inside of My Eyelids!

Have you noticed the tone of the Government’s advice?
As we are kept locked down, as gripped by a vice
Stay Home, Stay Safe, Save Lives we are told
Now Stay Alert, which seems a little less bold

The message declared so many times
To transgress is clearly seen as a crime
No other demand can this call out-bid
Words almost tattooed inside my eyelids!

Each day on TV the officials parade
As if to perform some kind of charade
A Government minister appears on the scene
But peculiarly Boris can rarely be seen

In Scotland Nicola puts on a good show
Presented to us with her usual gusto
In her words some caution can be detected
Perhaps it is better that we Scots be protected

Testing is believed to bring us some hope
With tracking and tracing we will soon need to cope
Such procedures no doubt our lives will surround
Until that illusive vaccine is found

However at Westminster and Holyrood too
A determination to see this thing through
And no matter how we feel of this regime severe
The only choice but to persevere

So check out each day what we are being told
However you feel about this stranglehold
Don your mask, restrict your time out of doors
Stay home don’t be tempted the world to explore

Ken Fisher

Let’s Not Lose the Plot!

Let’s Not Lose the Plot!

Plotholders surely don’t want to lose their allotment
Which despite lots of hard work gives them great enjoyment
No matter the season there is always something to do
Useful tasks keep them busy all the year through

There is no fixed pattern, each will do their own thing
And to their site their bright ideas will bring
Some on the land construct an arable farm
Others think an orchard won’t do any harm!

But most plotholders respond to the challenge
To cultivate the earth maintaining a balance
Between flowers, fruit and veg in varieties galore
For immediate consumption or for winter store

Their hut is vital to the plot’s operation
For storage of tools to avoid transportation
But such cabins are useful for purposes social
To provide a gathering space at one’s disposal

Of course we cannot gather due to covid-19
And right now we hanker for what might have been
Meantime our endeavours are a solo act
As we don’t want to risk our respiratory tract

All plotholders want to preserve the environment
Taking into account all the enlightenment
We have received from those with concern for our globe
The warming an equal threat as that nasty microbe

So let’s continue to enjoy the fruits of the earth
And value our plots for all they are worth
And for natures’ gifts we would all give a thought
Whatever befalls let us not lose the plot

Ken Fisher

Curmudgeons Under Threat

Curmudgeons Under Threat

In the current emergency state
Apparently it’s the fate
Of all the women and the men
Having reached three score years and ten
To limit their mobility
Whatever their morbidity
Because the pundits have decreed
We are too risky to be freed

I don’t think that’s really fair
To be tied to our armchair
Because many are still quite spry
Unprepared to say goodbye
Why force us into jail?
Our activities to down-scale
And while we can still breathe
Don’t present us with a wreath

There is life in the old dog yet
Curmudgeons are under threat
So leave us free to roam
We can find our own way home
All we want is a little space
To wander from home base
A journey without any tension
To the Post Office for our pension!

Ken Fisher

Celebration and Commemoration

Celebration and Commemoration

75 years on
A day of celebration
And commemoration

We celebrate the
End of the War in Europe
And rejoice in peace restored

We commemorate the
Lives all who died
Military and civilian alike
The price of freedom

For many of us
These are distant childhood memories
For the majority, simply history past
But we can pause
And be thankful

And today the living
Face a new and powerful threat
An unseen enemy
Menacing our health
Our wealth, our future

The expeditionary forces
Of science and technology
Mustering to hold the line
And engineer the victory

But for now
We must exercise patience
And perseverance
Until in due time
The adversary is overcome

And victory declared with celebration
As it was 75 years ago

Meantime we commemorate
All the victims of
The battle with Covid-19

Ken Fisher

 

 

Trapped

Trapped

The plight of so many

Locked up in the lockdown
No means of escape

Earnings dropping
Debts are rising

Claustrophobic
Internecine strife

Self-educating kids!
Super-glued to screens

Going nowhere
Isolating, except

Shopping outing
Highlight of the week

The nearest thing
To a masqued ball

Buses empty
Traffic muted

Walkers dance
Around each other

Daily doomsday
From politicians

Old crowded TV sit-coms
Blithely ignoring social distance

Pray for relief from boredom
Overlaid by angst

Let’s hope
We don’t go crazy

Trapped
Midst locked up in lockdown

Ken Fisher

Permitted Perambulation

Permitted Perambulation

Paroled from house arrest
I take my daily walk
Ambling along the paths
Allowing time for thought

Now accustomed to lockdown
New habits have evolved
Each hour is gently filled
And thus the days transformed

No point in being nostalgic
The clock we can’t reverse
Accepting ‘the new normal’
No matter how perverse

As with all life’s transience
This ‘too will pass‘  assured
With patience and acceptance
Our peace may be secured

Ken Fisher

Masquerading

Masquerading

Today we are advised our face masks to don
Preventing our germs that to you might just spawn
Thus adorned, some people are inclined to swank
In past times so attired we might rob a bank!

But I must say it comes as quite a surprise
That this gear does not cause others’ eyebrows to rise
Beneath the covering our expressions concealed
Perhaps gritted teeth from the public we shield

As we go to the shops and come close to others
We don’t wish to impregnate our sisters or brothers
But their safety at all times we want to ensure
And the mask stops us expelling something impure

So as we gaze at each other from behind the mask
We serenely get on with whatever task
In these days of lockdown we have to perform
Hoping the virus can no further swarm

Ken Fisher

So

Have you noticed how often
People use the word ‘so’?
All sorts of functions
On ‘so’ they bestow

In answers to questions
‘so’ starts the reply
Then follows the answer
That lets you know why

So is used as an adverb
Meaning to such an extent
So we describe a thing’s size
Thus its scale represents

So is a conjunction
And can be employed as a link
So, instead of ‘and then’
Can be useful I think

So also appears
In so many phrases
As in so on and so forth
We thus sing its praises

But perhaps so is now used
To emphasise what we say
So start off with so
Your profound words to convey!

So what? I hear you say.

Ken Fisher

New Every Morning (in Unsettling Times)

New Every Morning (in Unsettling Times)

When I stir from fretful sleep, thoughts churning at the opening day
How quickly does my mind recall the worries, fears along the way
Which pained my heart the night before and readily did steal my peace
And from this turmoil of the mind no easy flight or cheap release

And yet as I wake and come again to consciousness
I realize that this new day is given by God who richly promises
That every thought and deed may His good gifts reflect
He grants us life and health and all our ways affects

And as the hymn enjoins us to recall, the trivial round, the common task
Hallowed by His love is all we ask
The opportunity to show forth by our deeds
Our love for others, gracious care for each one’s needs

So each new day let’s make it our resolve that every care
Each task, each duty prompt our earnest prayer
That thus our lifetime’s daily story
May reflect on our Lord and bring Him glory

For life is lived in steps of one brief day
Thus we progress along our chosen way
So as each day provides a chance anew
Lets walk with God who can make all things new

Now in these days of tight confinement
While virus threat persists malignant
Let not our thoughts become obsessed
Ensure that hope is still expressed

Ken Fisher