Poems for special events and occasions
Spring Has Sprung
It is St David’s Day
And Spring has Sprung
According to the Metro Men
The real Spring will not be long
There’s a brightness in the air
And lightness in the sky
From long winter sleep
Dormant animals arise
All of life gradually stirs
To face the livening world
Shake off somnumbulance
Deep wrinkles are unfurled
Awake once more
Uncoiled the living spring
Rejoicing in creation
My heart truly sings
Ken Fisher
Faith & Politics
Faith & Politics
Should faith be lived out in politics
Can both exist in harmony?
What if the moral principles
That faith dictates, conflict with politic’s reality?
Faith sets out the behaviour for living by certain rules
Politics dictates the practical reality for everyday action
In the modern world we live by political systems
The historical fundamentals of these derived from ancient dictats
But what if such ancient scripture may seem no longer relevant?
However much they were appropriate to that day and generation
Society has moved on to meet the challenge of modernity
Thus the social mores of each succeeding generation steadily evolves
But are there some eternal principals that society must n’er discard?
No advance of science, nuance of mood or fashion
That supersedes those ancient fundaments
Demanding that modern politics establish new modes of living
Thus might it be said the Bible, Ancient Jewish Texts and the Koran
Each accepted by the faithful to be the word of God
Must not the believer ‘er discard this Holy Writ?
For the sophistication and compromise of politics?
Here is the current dilemma
Faith superseded by the world of modern life
Or a continuing battle for the soul
Adhering to the ancient rule or modern reality?
Ken Fisher
Shrove Tuesday 2013
What has been spoke
Might well have been woke!
This is the day when we should confess all our sins
And thus duly shriven a new chapter begins
We must be open and honest in making confession
Pay our due penance and receive absolution
I fear that only those who are faithful and devout
Are willing and eager on their vices to speak out
After all, until recently, the sins of past days
Would hardly an eyebrow nowadays raise!
But that does not mean that a little reflection
Would make it clear we have not reached perfection
And taking the time to resolve to be better
Will not result in our pleasures being totally fettered
While on self-improvement we should contemplate
A little sweetener for all, we might advocate
And as Shrove Tuesday stands at the gate of Lent
We might find some feasting for fasting is quite convenient
So let’s have a party with pancakes galore
Bring out all the goodies we have in our store
Put deadly sins behind – except perhaps gluttony
And cover those pancakes with sweet oceans of honey
But in this age be careful of what is spoke
Lest all our proclamations my be classed as woke
Think carerfully of every word and every earnest sentence
While chewing on our pancakes there be no need for repentence!
Ken Fisher
31,000
Thirty-one Thousand
I am not sure if there is anything significant about the number 31,000
But today that was the total of ‘hits’, individual visits, to my website since mid 2015.
7,438 separate and individual persons have clicked on to my collection of poems
Numbers are not the measure of all things and the accumulated totals might be the
result of friends and relations being kind to me and indulging by examining the poems.
It might also be as a result of my ‘marketing’ my product be word of mouth.
It might even be because some of you actaully liked what you found and passed on the word to others
like a recommendation for a good plumber or painter and decorator!
Anyway, whatever the genesis of your discovery of my oeuvre, thank you for tripping over these
words and for your willingness to tangle with them.
Readers of the poems, although predominantly in the UK, have spanned the globe representing every continent.
What is a poem? You may well ask
What is the poet’s intended task?
Surely to stimulate the mind
A treasured idea therein to find
Ken Fisher
The Bard of Kelvindale
Political Change
Sometimes it happens unexpected
Although others claim it had been detected
But the sudden resignation of the FM
Was certainly beyond our Ken
The world of politics is rough
And to survive you need be tough
Yet Nicola seemed to have the grit
Ensuring that she would not quit
But perhaps for all there comes the hour
When no longer the rewards of power
Can the hostile jibes o’ercome
Or painful attacks might numb
Then comes the time to say enough
Hand on the baton with all its stuff
A multiplicity of issues to resolve
All aspects will their life involve
So whatever be your politics
Dilemmas, angst that would transfix
Spare a thought for the bold successor
Of a calm mind may they be possessor
Ken Fisher
Valentine
According to history St Valentine
Considered romance to be quite sublime
He cherished all those who were seeking love
Believing divine bliss come down from above
There may have been at least two Valentines
Concerned for oppressed Christians at different times
Whether one or two saints no matter how many
The promotion of love they assured aplenty
In modern times this saintly concern
Must accommodate all those whose merit they yearn
Unlike in past days with only one sweetheart in mind
Our love now expressed for all humankind
So the world of greetings cards has been given a boost
As the scope of our love all living things has seduced
Cards are no longer just gay in a colourful sense
Against such diversity there is no defence
But I do wonder if things have become quite absurd
Cards now transmitted to our cat, dog or bird
I do hope these creatures will appreciate
Our remembrance of them on St Valentines date
Ken Fisher
National Hugging Day 2023
I bet you didn’t know, although they say its commonplace
That today’s the day to join in a warm embrace
Because today has been tagged as National Hugging Day
And close bodily encounters can come into play
What is a hug? Other than an overt expression
While all antagonism is put under suppression
Facial close encounters with arms wrapped around each other
Although the parties my not notice that sometimes they might shudder!
They say a hug is a form of endearment
The parties to the hugging suffer no impairment
The close bodily contact and the warmth of the embrace
May not always be reflected in grimace on their face
In latter years hugging has gone international
The British in earlier times may have considered It irrational
But nowadays hugs are difficult to avoid
From international gatherings to domestic scenes employed
So on National Hugging Day let’s see no inhibition
Whether a new habit or part of long tradition
Friend and foe alike in each other’s limbs entwined
Those wide outstretched arms must never be declined
Ken Fisher
Blue Monday
16 Jan 2023
I certainly never knew
But apparently this Monday is dubbed Blue
Most Mondays are pretty cheerless
But this one is apparently peerless
Some say it’s caused by mood
About today there’s little good
Xmas debts have all piled up
Even leading to marriage bust up
Lawyers welcome a busy day
They never lose, come what may
While the people are mired in misery
They look for cash on delivery
Perhaps it’s caused by our dark weather
Damp and cold, bringing no pleasure
Or perhaps this month brings little joy
No prospect of some exciting ploy
If Monday’s deemed to be so blue
To protect ourselves what can we do?
Cast aside all that would depress
Our happier memories to express
Ken Fisher
The trauma’s over
Back to my own bed
Each day no longer
Self-checking that I’m not dead
Florence Nightingale no longer needed
Home service renewed once more
Gradually by gentle steps
Ensuring I don’t hit the floor
Grateful for all the kindness shown
By amateur and professional
A vast array of expertise
Their handiwork thus made credible
Now the long haul back to health
Little steps, slowly I tread
Praying for strength renewed each day
From frailty I might be led
Ken Fisher
Comfort Blanket
There are times in life when we are in need of comfort
Our usual confident façade’s begun to crumble
Events have conspired our mind to disconcert
The honest truth our earnest heart would humble
For long enough on this life’s roller coaster
Our tight grip on the reins stayed strong
Of past achievement quite a boaster
Surely such success bound to last long
Suddenly it hits you that you’ve lost invulnerability
No longer safe beneath a protective shield
The unexpected challenge to health or ability
The loss of that long expected bield
It’s then when the comfort blanket brings consolation
Unable to remove the existential threat
Yet to the troubled mind brings compensation
Our worst nightmares we might yet forget
Your blanket may be of many different fibres
Even blended colours might somehow soothe
Our ideas, thoughts, or faith diverse
Conspire their calming balm your furrowed brow to smooth
Ken Fisher
Advent Calendar Makeover 2022
Have you noticed how the Advent Calendar
Has evolved?
Less traditional ‘nativity’
Now involved
Gone are the shepherds
And the sheep
Of the Wise Men
Not a peep
Mary & Joseph gone A W A L
Baby Jesus escaped the stall
Even that twinkling star
No longer seen afar
The modern calendar you will discover
Given a radical makeover
Bethlehem now rarely features
Behind the doors quite different creatures
Each day your taste buds stimulated
Your sweet longings thus are sated
Miniature morsels in confection
Cheeses wrapped into perfection
Jewelled trinkets for the rich
Despite the cost, seem rather kitsch
Wine and spirits for the tippler
Mini biros for the scribbler
For those concerned about their looks
Opening doors in tenterhooks
May find something quite prosthetic
Amidst offerings cosmetic
And so on it goes, those daily treats
From micro gifts to tasty sweets
Until at last on Christmas day
We gasp at this endless array
And then we ask
What’s this all about?
Amidst cheap goodies
Don’t shut love out
Ken Fisher
Remembrance 2022
This poem was posted at the same time in earlier years
We hope that this year we might yet remain
optimistic about the future
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!
And presently with the continuing conflict in the Ukraine
And other theatres of war in our troubled world
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
thebardofkelvindale 