Author Archives: thebardofkelvindale.com

The Next Big Thing

The Next Big Thing

Do you ever stop to consider
The next Big Thing in your life?
Be it joy all the way
Or trouble and strife

Perhaps you’re content
To let things take their course
Accept as they come
Events simply endorse

Or feel reassured
By having a plan
Just for next week
Or all of life’s span

Or are you happy-go-lucky
You can go with the flow
Even under dark shadows
You catch the rainbow

Well I have no prescription
As to what may be best
Quite free and easy
Or future obsessed

But whenever you discover
The next Big Thing you need face
Accept that’s just life
With resilience embrace

Ken Fisher

 

Hospitalisation

Hospitalisation

Unexpected hospitalisation
Two weeks of incarceration
Not readily anticipated
My mind profoundly agitated

The frailty of human flesh
Dark thoughts soon the mind depress
But initial pain was unremitting
All rational thought quickly outwitting

Ensconced within the institution
Trusting they can find solution
In the meantime to their regime submitting
My own impotence admitting

That behemoth
The NHS
Combining art and clever science
On which we patients place reliance

In due time a diagnosis
Less precise, ultimate prognosis
But in their nostrums I place trust
All settled life paths readjust

Remedies demanding my obedience
Accepting change as is expedient
Emerging from the mentoring ward
Coping strategies explored

Giving thanks for love and care
Determined not my soul despair
Together facing future days
Battling my vague malaise

Ken Fisher

Mission Statement

Mission Statement

 

 

Catchy slogan
Or something more
Let’s you know
Our inner core
Defining the why, the who, the what
Who we are and what we’re not

Mission statements
Encapsulate our brand
In lucid terms
Use nothing grand
In simple claims
Divulge our aims

Mission statements need not only be
For mega-corporations
Multi-nationals
The United Nations
Charities can also find them useful
All should ensure that they are truthful

Churches try to be ‘missional’
Concerned for justice and compassion
Reaching out to those in need
Ensuring they receive their ration
Of the world’s bounty they deserve
Willing help without reserve

And what about an MS that is personal
Declaring my purposes and my goals?
A guiding principle to follow
My words and actions to control
Emblazoned in my life’s CV
Lived manifest for all to see

Ken Fisher

Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday

On Thursday of that Holy Week
The Saviour washed disciples feet
In humility we might imitate
His divine example replicate

Love one another His command
Responding to their outstretched hand
Turn not away what e’er the need
With listening ear the stranger heed

On Maundy Thursday the sovereign’s gift
May loyal subjects’ souls uplift
That they in turn show their compassion
In kindly deeds in similar fashion

On Holy Thursday the commemoration
Of our Lord’s supper the foundation
Henceforth recall His life and sacrifice
For human sin He paid the price

Ken Fisher

The Statutory Presumption of Senility

The Statutory Presumption of Senility

I wonder what you think about old age?
Or rather the progressive on-set of age
Do you assume that it is a downward spiral
From rationality to senility

At what age do we observe such change?
Does the receipt of your pension
Herald the beginning of decrepitude
Or is the pension the springboard to freedom

None of this seems sensible
As for some, the planned-for receipt of the pension
Might happen in early middle age
For others, less fortunate, on the brink of their dotage!

In today’s world many cannot afford to retire
State Pension age stretches into the distance
Affordable mortgages need maximum tenure
Divorce, subsidising offspring and care in old age

All these make cosy retirement a modern-day chimera
Who can afford this nirvana?
An extra 25pence per week at age 80
Will hardly meet the challenge!

Senility is both triumph and defeat
Defeat because we can no longer cope
Triumph because it brings escape
Let the world take care of itself!

But let us not judge all those of mature years
As incapable or incompetent
They bring the accumulated wisdom of their age
And with luck, we might share in their inheritance

Ken Fisher

 

 

The Gift of The Present

The Gift of The Present
By Oliver Fisher

Innocent existence
Persistent reminiscence
None the wiser
To future resistance

Instant insistence
Constant decisions
But careless and unburdened
Free from the distance

Interlinked incisions
Scars, marks and lesions
Regional seasons
Answers without reasons

Intercepting perceptions
By blind luck directions
Cloaked as a curse,
But a gift, is the present

I Stride With Purpose

I Stride With Purpose
By Oliver Fisher

I stride with purpose, meaning and power-Strutting one by one.
See saw shoulders and heavy feet, that collapse with swagger on the beat.

The energy of youth lights me up,
Sealed in a bubble
Of naive optimism and gross confidence
Yet scared by the passage of time.

No step wasted, each one placed
With graceful arms that swing and sway.
A permanent path, structured linearly
And unknown destinations seemingly.

Winding roads wait ahead, to wander blind.
Find my way through daily grind as future Prospects become behind-
And zero rest for my poor mind.

Infant innocence put to rest,
Pumping heart and pushed out chest.
Beating head and coursing veins that
Digest and pulsate endless names.

In the end i can only believe-
I am what i think, i live as i perceive.
And the energy i emit from within
Always comes back for me to receive.

Yorkshire

Yorkshire

A visit to Yorkshire will do you much good
Like a slice of roast beef with Yorkshire pud
Long walks in the dales might give you blisters
As you pursue the tales of those Bronte sisters

The largest county in the whole of England
From Leeds cityscape to Scarborough sand
Ancient abbeys, fortresses and castles to see
The home of Emmerdale on your TV

Building societies for the financially wise
Percy Shaw who gave roads Cats Eyes
Cricketing legends and Sheffield steel
Harrogate health spas to improve how you feel

In earlier years even the Yorkie bar
Sent from the county to lands afar
Wensleydale cheese, another favourite
And Parkin a cake for your great delight

I think you can see Yorkshire gets my vote
If a little time you care to devote
It’s not too far if you care to travel
And strong Yorkshire Tea is not their only marvel!

 

Ken Fisher

Reflecting Back/Exploring Forward

Reflecting Back/Exploring Forward

The life of the mind is two-dimensional
On the past, reflecting back
On the future, exploring forward
Memories and speculation

The past, cavalcade of images
From childhood to old age
The future, a shorter focus
From to-day until when? Who knows?

Past reflections, echoes of joy
Interwoven with times of trial
The future? The past no guarantee
Of what may yet lie ahead!

The past cannot be undone
For good or ill, the record stands
The future waits to be explored
Fearfully unpredictable, not without hope

The past is gone, the future not yet
The only reality – the present
Savour every instant
Turn them to good account

Thus each moment adds to history
Together with past and future
Penning the script of
Auto-biography

Ken Fisher

Spring Equinox 2022

Spring Equinox 2022

 

Equinoxes occur twice a year
When the plane of the Earth’s equator
Passes through the centre of the Sun
On this day the Sun shines directly on the equator
And day and night are approximately equal

Now is this year’s Spring Equinox
And our minds look forward to warmer days
And backwards, with gratitude for the receding of winter
We are filled with hope for the months ahead

An Equinox is perhaps an appropriate time to reflect
On all that has been good in life
To give thanks for its many blessings
For health and shelter and for companionship

As the buds form on the trees and plants sprout
Carpeting the land which has lain barren for long
We look forward in anticipation to burgeoning life
In field and tree, in gardens and on hillside

And these days of longer daylight hours
Afford us the chance to escape from our winter burrows
And breathe the more expansive air of the world outside
As our horizons are lifted to a wider vision

Last year we were in the throes of the Virus
And even one further year on
Its threat has by no means disappeared
In many ways fears of Covid have been superseded
By threats to world peace
But let us not despair
May the brightening of the light
Be matched by a lifting of our spirits
And hopes, that despite present gloom,
Happier days are yet to come

Ken Fisher

 

Silence!

Silence!

Silence!
What can be said
When so many are dead
Cityscape laid bare
To our horrified stare

Silence!
All our words fail
Amidst such travail
Souls under siege
Unuttered rage

Silence!
Save the rumbling of shells
Midst Ukraine’s living hell
Whence might come release?
From dictator’s caprice

Silence!
Mute blessings craved
When no longer depraved
Peace be restored
Ne’er justice ignored

Ken Fisher

 

Another angle on Silence:The Sound of Silence