Author Archives: thebardofkelvindale.com

Anticipate

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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

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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

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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

 

 

Remembrance

Remembrance

This poem was posted at the same time last year.
We hope that this year we might still remain
optimistic about the future
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Today’s a time for remembering
Thinking back to those dark days of war
When life was uncertain for all
And for some, death was an imminent prospect

But few living today have much memory
Of the years of conflict when hostilities raged
And although warfare still encircles the world
Our experience of it is mediated by TV images

And yet we have an uncomfortable feeling
That despite efforts to unite the nations
There is a persistent climate of arm-wrestling
Between the great powers who eyeball each other

The Cold War brought with it the four-minute-warning
Not long to compose our minds for oblivion!
But presently, although we hope our future might stretch for decades,
We cannot quite eliminate the nagging uncertainty for our destiny

However, for today, we give thanks
For all those who bought our freedom
And pledge to strive to maintain
Such fragile peace as we possess

Ken Fisher

Candle Power

Candle Power

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That flickering flame so vulnerable
Shines through the gloom impenetrable
Radiating heat and light
Defiant in the darkest night

 

What is light, intangible?
Scientists claim – both wave and particle
But surely more than either measure
Its gifts bring to us boundless treasure

 

The energy that is the light
Supreme in the sun that burns so bright
Provides our earth with power untold
This little candle does uphold

 

Ken Fisher

Bonfire Night [5th November]

Bonfire Night

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Perhaps it’s simply my imagination
Guy Fawkes seems less important to our nation
In years gone by Bonfire Night was eagerly anticipated
But recently that enthusiasm seems somewhat dissipated

 

Perhaps modern politicians have rendered so much change
There’s nothing else they need to re-arrange
No vast explosions primed to us disturb
Or revolutions our calm minds perturb

 

But nonetheless it would be quite a shame
If no passions could yet set our hearts aflame
So let’s hope the fifth night of November
Will yet prove a party to remember

 

Ken Fisher

Tangles

Tangles

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Twisted together in a confused mass

Somehow that’s how our lives have become

There is a beginning to life, and

without any doubt, there will be an end

But the course of our journey

although linear in time

rarely traces a straight path

from birth to grave

 

How come all those loops in the rope?

What caused these coils and snags

Knots have formed without our intervention

It seems that the threading occurred all by itself

We seem quite helpless to unravel the mass

But perhaps we are not meant for

the straight and narrow, and life would be dull indeed

without the warp and weft of constant change

 

Ken Fisher

Sunshine on the East Neuk (Fife)

Sunshine on the East Neuk

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Nestling on the eastern edge of Scotland’s lesser Kingdom

With fertile field and bustling ports within its wide dominion

This gentle strand along the coast – Fife’s very own East Neuk

Deserves a visit from us all – why don’t you take a look?

 

For there we will discover stretched along the shores

Gems that shine so brightly, treasures in its store

From bustling ancient harbours still active in their trade

And bumpy cobbled streets on which shoppers promenade

 

The whole thing held together by meandering Coastal Path

In summer months a gentle stroll, in winter, waves show their wrath!

As we gaze across the firth’s wide seas we scan the Isle of May

From Anstruther the ‘Princess’ will take us for a day

 

The villages along the coast fill our minds with romance

Elie, St Monans, and Pittenweem, enough to make us dance

And Anstruther and Cellardyke the jewels of fife’s crown

Each and all together speak of this land’s renown

Ken Fisher

Ex Nihilo

Ex Nihilo [Out of Nothing]

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It is a miracle beyond our reach or understanding

That all there is in this great wondrous world

The glories of earth and sea and all that live therein

The plants and every creature dominated by mankind

Began from nothing, only a vast and silent empty void

Can this be so when we reflect on the wonder of creation?

Its infinite variety from tiny insect to mighty behemoth

From oceans’ plankton through to basking whales

From tiny seed to lofty trees and golden harvests

And humankind with all its power and ingenuity

Of course Darwin traced the evolution ever onward

Of this great cavalcade of progress down the years

And now the notion of the Big Bang as prime mover

Provides for some the answer of how indeed all things began

But what was there before the Big Bang? I hear you ask

NOTHING, of course.  It all came from NOTHING

EX NIHILO

[Or could it be that GOD existed before time, and HE created  time?]

Desperate Dan

Desperate Dan

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On a recent visit to bonny Dundee

Our hearts were filled again with glee

As we caught sight of Desperate Dan

The Dandy’s favourite comical man

 

On the high street he holds a place of honour

Like a war hero or an ancient martyr

But his deeds were not in the arena of war

But in the comic cartoons no-one could ignore

 

His diet would not be commended today

Cow pies are certainly now quite passe

And that stubbly chin these days might offend

Not what the barbers would now recommend

 

But Dan didn’t worry what others would think

Just like pals Dennis and Minnie the Minx

His main role in life was to bring us a smile

And let us forget all our woes for a while

 

So thanks to the town of Dundee and its press

Whose comic characters such humour express

Jam, Jute and Journalism were this city’s great trades

And thus Dan’s place of honour we all serenade

 

Ken Fisher

 

 

A World That’s Black and White

A World That’s Black & White

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Sometimes I yearn for a world that’s black and white

No shades of grey, of course no colours bright

There would be a right answer to anything you ask

One correct way to deal with every issue, every task

 

When asked a question we would not need to hesitate

A clear cut answer, no time required to prevaricate

Because all solutions would be either wrong or right

In that monochrome world of only black or white

 

But sadly life is rarely quite so simply organized

Its diversity and choices are not always harmonized

So only black or white will quickly disappear

And faced with such variety, sometimes we may fear

 

But we should cast aside our doubts and happily rejoice

Our world offers to each one of us a multiplicity of choice

With all the colours of the spectrum to delight our eyes

And infinite alternatives bringing sparkle to our lives

 

Ken Fisher

 

Any Difference?

Any Difference?

When the ‘good and the great’ depart from the scene
Will people remember who these leaders have been?
Do we fear for the future, how will we survive?
With these notable persons no longer alive

 

Their deeds hit the headlines, their words we recall
Their actions important no matter how small
The press paid them homage and their face was well-known
All that they did seemed to bring them renown

 

Apparently this is the way of the world
‘Celebrities’ matter, so they must be heard
Their pictures all over the newspaper pages
Note extravagant spending from excessive wages

 

But I ask this question, did it really matter?
All their crazy antics and quite inane chatter
What difference to us did their lives really make
What benefit came to us all in their wake?

 

So here is a thought for each and for all
Let us make a difference, be we oh so small
By our love for each other eschewing all fame
However humble our deeds, or obscure be our name

Ken Fisher