Category Archives: Nature and the Seasons

Poems on Nature or the Seasons

Dawn Chorus

Dawn Chorus

Today there was a celebration
Of music heard throughout the nation
When birds awoke from restful sleep
As in field and tree their watches keep

Around the globe as light returns
Each line of longitude in turn
From darkest night to radiant day
The gloom of night is chased away

Earth’s eyelid is slowly teased awake
As rays of light announce daybreak
Consciousness returns to the globe
From the shroud of night disrobed

And gradually with illumination
Awakes the avian congregation
And as the dawn chorus our ears caress
It’s melodius sounds our hearts will bless

This harmony surrounds our world
Like in each land a flag unfurled
And we awake to this new day
All dark foreboding cast away

Ken Fisher

Spring in The Trossachs

Spring in The Trossachs

Nature’s beauty revealed in all its glory, sensation uninhibited
Delights for the eye and ear and nose, even touching the heart
A whole spectrum of colour, bird-song of every pitch and rhythm
Sweeping panoramas to trigger our emotional response

This tract of Scottish land might be mistaken for Swiss grandeur
Its steep rising hillsides scale the heights above the lochs
Lomond, Katrine, Archray, Ard, and Venachar
And even our home grown lake, Menteith

Here forest tracks and lochside paths meander
Revealing at each turn of the way some secret of the wild
At springtime new life emerges from the gloom of winter
And everywhere the stirrings of rebirth

Ben A’an and Venue rub shoulders with Ben Lomond
To dominate the skyline o’er the glens
Romantic tales surround Rob Roy the outlaw
John Ruskin and Millais captivated by this terrain

The geography and geology yet another source of fascination
And history has added its own insights to the tale
Mary Queen of Scots, Queen Victoria and Sir Walter Scot
All play their part in the allure which is the Trossachs

Ken Fisher

Threats from On High

Threats From On High

Apparently space has become a junk-yard
There is so much up aloft it has become a hazard
Detritus is now measured by some thousands of tons
Far greater than picked up by Steptoe and Son

Apart from threats from comets and asteroids
Space is no longer just an empty void
Old satellites, spent rockets, and defunct devices
Are floating out there in a variety of sizes

The planets of our ancient solar system
Over eons of time have been a victim
Of impacts small and others much greater
Resulting in some quite enormous craters

It is claimed that the dinosaur population
An asteroid impact led to annihilation
So you can see that objects falling from space
Might well do the same for our human race

And the reality is that the risk is increasing
With all the debris that we are releasing
And although these devices are put to good use
We must find a way to stop all this abuse

So technologists are conducting endless research
A method of disposal is part of their search
That after useful life junk might self-destruct
Or enter safe orbits thus humans won’t hurt!

However perhaps we should now all take heart
It’s been reported that a used rocket’s come back to earth
And in future we hope to recycle this kind of device
Which to the environmentalists must bring delight

Ken Fisher

Squaring the Books

Squaring the Books

 

It’s that time of year when the books have to be ‘squared’
The results of the business are thereby laid bare
The initial  task is to prepare the Trial Balance
An exercise which by itself is no mean challenge

All bookkeepers already  know that for every Debit
There has to be another corresponding Credit
If by chance any are found to be missing
We have an unacceptable condition

Throughout the year we have monitored Cash Flow
If we haven’t done that our success we’ll torpedo
And regard for our Budget is quite fundamental
To ensure no problems have become incremental

Of course the Trial Balance is just the first stage
Not providing all the facts for success to be gauged
We need to proceed to the P & L or I & E account
To reach that, there are problems we must first surmount

Yet many adjustments have to be considered
Prepayments and Charges still to be rendered
The obscure complexities of annual Depreciation
Capital and Revenue expenditure and Asset Valuation

The Statement of Financial Activities will show how we’ve done
And hopefully nothing serious has gone wrong
Enough money to pay our Creditors as due
No Bad Debts to get us in a stew!

All the facts need to be drawn from the daily Ledgers
And aggregated together for us then to consider
And next we can channel the results of this trawl
Into the Balance Sheet which will then reveal all

Of course every Transaction needs to be classified
If we get that wrong others we assuredly misguide
The decision to retain Profit can Stakeholders upset
Keep the Shareholders happy, a much safer bet

Fortunately in this modern age we’ve got rid of the pen
Fancy software now employed by all our businesses
And computer systems process all the raw facts
Leaving us to do little except VAT returns and Tax

So when you receive the Audited Report and Accounts
Please consider them well and don’t simply denounce
Think of all that hard work that is contained in those pages
And you must then appreciate the Accountants’ enormous charges!

Ken Fisher

P&L = Profit and Loss   I&E =  Income and Expenditure

Clocks Go Forward

Clocks Go Forward [Sunday 26 March 2017]

 

The days are getting longer, more light to bring us cheer
Threats of dark stormy winter nights, begin to disappear
Spring has come, our clocks must be advanced
At 2AM we lose an hour that our daylight be enhanced

The loss of that hour surely will be compensated
Afternoon pleasures not so readily truncated
Hobbies and pastimes in the great outdoors
Twilight no longer threatens, more leisure time is ours

As we follow the command that we all now Spring Forward
Just as in October we duly did Fall Backward
Let’s welcome the prospect of summer days ahead
And not regret the loss of one sweet hour in bed

The cycle of the year to our life brings order
Each season occupying its own allotted quarter
The changing of the clock part of that settled plan
Pity that no-one has told our friend the Weatherman!

Ken Fisher

Tick Tock

Tick Tock

 

Clock hands like scalpels dissecting the hours of the day
Separating one moment from another – no two quite the same
The inexorable motion ever forwards, ever onwards
Creating the past in neat segments as they begin to age

The ratio of speed between these hands remaining constant
The one more like a heartbeat’s steady throb
The other trudges with measured plodding steps
Together the record kept of each passing minute, hour and day

Tick tock, alliterative sound to punctuate the silence
Calmly marking off the day’s progression
Placid, undisturbed amidst the peace
Or maelstrom of our lived experience

Life not dependent on the movement of the clock
But both bound up in some mystical synchronization
And as the spring within our clock slowly unwinds
The body’s cogs and levers echo that inevitable slow decline

Ken Fisher

Vernal Equinox

Vernal Equinox

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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

Today is the 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

Mind you, this year the prospect has been somewhat dimmed
By the coronavirus which has cast a shadow over us all
Let’s hope that the brightening light might be matched by
A lifting of our spirits
And hopes for happier days to tome

Ken Fisher

 

 

This is the Way – Walk in it

This is the Way – Walk in It

(Some advice to all walkers)

[Isaiah 30:21]

Le Chameau Aubrac Walking Boot

Perhaps when meandering in the rural hinterland
Beyond our city’s sprawling network of residential streets
We find some purpose and direction by knowing our intended way
Our leader’s instructions might echo the words of the prophet
“This is the way. Walk in it!”

Of course it can be pleasurable simply to roam without restraint
And indeed there may be occasions when this is by far the better choice
But mostly we feel the need to have some purpose, some aim in mind
Thus a route will have been planned, to provide order and direction
‘This is the Way. Walk in it!”

I wonder if our life can always be so structured?
At the outset, in infancy control is not yet delegated to us
And o’er the early years of childhood our family points out the way
It is not for us to dictate to our elders or our betters
“This is the Way. Walk in it!”

But as the years pass and we gain a measure of maturity
We seek to acquire more autonomy over the choice of the way ahead
And indeed it is expected of us that we will find our own direction
Having in the meantime striven to acquire the skills for self-advancement
“This is the way. Walk in it!”

Thus throughout our life we will seek to follow a meaningful course
But it will not always be possible to see a clear way ahead
We will be assailed by all manner of challenges and problems
And as we are buffeted to and fro we will search for a voice to say
“This is the way. Walk in it!”

And it is then that we will yearn most earnestly for the prophetic call,
The voice in our ear, the steadying hand to seize our own
But in this modern sophisticated age, to whom will we turn
To receive that word to guide, to direct, to reassure?
“This is the way. Walk in it!”

Ken Fisher

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Maps

Maps

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Maps, our bird’s eye view of the world
Miraculously we soar on high drone-like
O’er the expansive land and sea
Towns and countryside in microcosm

Maps compiled for different purposes
Physical maps to show the hills and valleys
Rivers and lakes, forests and fields
Contour lines trace shape and elevation

Maps political claiming who owns what
The boundaries of the nations
The states therein and cities all identified
Motorways, roads, canals and railways

Maps economic show the sites
Of natural resources, farmland and mines
Factories, mills and fisheries
So much of manufacturing now museum pieces

Maps that let us dive below the surface
Sensing the contours of the ocean floor
Vast trenches and ridges there detected
The conflict of tectonic plates

Maps that are more like diagrams
Zoomed in we confront the details
The London Tube, the airlines’
Skyways to sunshine on exotic shores

Maps of larger scale to take us under streets
Channels and tunnels for our utilities
Power and gas, water and sewerage
And fibre optics for the internet and phones

Maps are not just tied to location
They are also a snapshot in time. There and then
Thus maps can unite geography with history
Depicting the past in time and place

So give thanks for Maps and the work of all cartographers
From the pioneers of the Ordnance Survey
To those who deploy todays drones and satellites
From canvas sheets to GPS the world laid bare

Ken Fisher

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Atlas

Moon

Moon

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Moon
mysterious sphere
whose face remains inscrutable
your phases measuring each month
whose light a pale reflection of the sun
shines on us like a slowly turning beacon
on frosty nights your face is bright and clear
but cloud and rain obscure your steady glow
your gnarled face mottled like an ageing man
craters and dry seas form your rugged features
no wonder, your age near that of ancient parent
child formed by debris of your mother earth
but distance has not dimmed your power
to influence our life here on the earth
the tides from time immemorial
by gravity’s mighty force
mover of oceans
Moon

 

The Earth of Which we Tread

The Earth on Which we Tread

(Written in 2010)

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Having spent quite some years on the study of space
    under the guidance of all-knowing D A C E,*
I decided this year to reduce my ambition
    the close study of Earth is my new mission

Planet three, out of nine*, strung out from the Sun
    geologists make sure that it’s their number One,
Tucked neatly away between Venus and Mars,           
    for them Earth’s as great as all the bright stars

Geologists aver in their theories heretical,
    that “built in seven days” is really quite fanciful
Four point six billion years – perhaps even longer,     
    they claim that was needed to bring chaos to order.

The history of time is a remarkable thing,
    stretching right back like in a limitless string
Earth formed its core, its mantle, then crust,
    that’s the top layer in which we must trust

The picture we have of our planet today           
    resulted as forces had their sway
Volcanoes, earthquakes, even plate tectonics
    produced effects which became rather chronic

Rocks seem to move in a kind of a cycle,
    pushed up to the top like the cream on a trifle
Then they crumble and fall, get all twisted and bent,
    and sink down below to form deep sediment


  Igneous rocks are derived from the lava
  Metamorphics, from some squeezing palaver
Sedimentary rocks, on the other hand,
    at least give us chalk, mudstone, and sand

Geological time has titles heroic,
    Precambrian, Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, and Cainozoic
Mastery of these can not be avoided,
    and furthermore, each is then sub-divided

Palaeozoic divides at least into six,
    Each time-scale gets learners into a fix
Permian and Silurian present no clear goal,    
    at least Carboniferous gave us King Coal

Mesozoic and Cainozoic span many millions of years,
    for inquiring students they present little fears
Dinosaurs popped up (and down) within the Jurassic,
perhaps had their debut in ancient Triassic

Geologists claim that the continents drift,
    one of their statements leaves us quite miffed
Our weather will never be better later,
    now that Ayr no longer strides the equator

Fossil records help throw light on our dark,
    some of these beauties are in Victoria Park!
Many solid rocks were once quite organic,     
    they’ve been long dead – so no need to panic!

The earth below has many treasures,
    discovering these holds untold pleasures
Coal, oil, and gas yield mighty power,
    from ages past a generous dower

Minerals are found in every hue,
    Emerald green to Sapphire blue
Diamonds command a heavy spend,    
    but are they still “a girl’s best friend”?

Gemstones’ names are shrouded in mystery,  
    much of it in long past history,
Chemistry too, sheds some light,
    thus yielding quarts, gypsum and calcite

After rocks were formed, then vegetation,
    creatures had some habitation
Through these primeval early traumas,
    evolved the lower palaeozoic faunas

Then given time – in endless ages,
    primitive creatures joined history’s pages
Mammals very late in all this plan,
    not two million years – the story of man

Our late appearance is a fact,
    but humans make a huge impact
In search for food and habitation
    Mother Earth has felt our exploitation

We need to live, we need to strive,
    any less and we would not be alive
Geologists’ concern for conservation
    shows it’s vital to our preservation

So when on heath and earth we bound
    Spare just a thought about the ground
On which we tread and take our leisure
    Beneath our feet, world without measure

Ken Fisher

 

* DACE = Dept of Adult & Continuing Education, Glasgow University

  • Now only 8 Planets since Pluto was demoted!                                    

Welcome, but Feared

Welcome but Feared

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Welcome to the snow – it is not unexpected
Without this blanket white some might feel neglected
Thus a winter wonderland appears for our delight
Although it does seem for others to give them quite a fright

Because, while children in the snow are happy to cavort
Older folks may find their living turns quite fraught
And commuters on our roads and rails suffer travel woes
While youngsters of every age skid on the land that’s froze

So whatever is your point of view you’ll have to stick it out
Fortunately it’s usually only days before a turnabout
If we are lucky we will avoid any trials and tribulations
And warm and cosy by the window pane we may find consolation

Ken Fisher

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Grosvenor Terrace, Glasgow in the snow January 2017