Category Archives: Poems on the theme of Living our Lives

Poems that reflect aspects of thoughts and actions that will influence the living of our life

A Pearl of Great Price (30 Years of WECWC)

A PEARL OF GREAT PRICE

[30 Years of the West End Christian Walking Club]

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For many of us the Walking Club is something beyond price

Its value to us o’er 30 years an ‘earthly paradise’

Good company and exercise and time for conversation

As on the paths and o’er the hills we took each month’s gyration

 

 

From earliest ventures on old Tinto’s rising slopes

We gradually realized what is every nascent walker’s hope

To learn to value the great outdoors with all that it can offer

The many splendoured gifts our countryside did proffer

 

So gradually o’er thirty years of meandering in the hills

Through forest lands and open fields beside a shady rill

In summer’s sun and winters chill and every kind of weather

We never let the climate affect our monthly pleasure

 

All sorts of walkers have formed our happy band

Not just the Scots or English but souls from every land

O’er decades many strange tongues have joined in dialogue

It is a mystery to me how they understood our Scottish brogue!

 

So here we are after thirty years still happily united

The fellowship, still much alive, by time has not been blighted

If this were a marriage it would now be our Pearl Celebration

So boundless thanks to Glenda is our loud acclamation!

 

 

Ken Fisher

 

 

Keeping Up Appearances

Keeping Up Appearances

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Lots of energy exerted to keep that mask in place

Fearful that the world might glimpse no smile upon our face

Determined at all costs to keep up the appearance

Hold on to that rictus grin with dogged perseverance

 

Would it not be refreshing if just once in a while

We faced the world without that radiant inane smile?

Surely in our inner souls we often want to scream

So why no honest glower instead of radiant beam?

 

Whatever happens we must look always on the bright side

The optimistic outlook must ever be our guide

Come what may our behaviour quite heroic

Perhaps just now and then why not be a po-faced stoic!

 

Keeping up appearances no doubt has its own merit

But if our stance is false it does us little credit

And if the expression that we offer is simply a façade

The world will soon realise our dazzling smile’s a fraud!

Ken Fisher

 

Keep Taking the Tablets!

Keep Taking the Tablets!

 

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The guidelines in the chemist’s pamphlet

Says you should ‘keep taking all the tablets’

The doctor in her diatribe

Said that’s what for you I have prescribed

 

So we must listen to what they say

And take the dose for each new day

And if we do, we are assured

That very soon we will be cured

 

Not only when we find we’re ill

We need to swallow a bitter pill

Life’s worldly trials sometimes enforce

A different kind of daily dose

 

But we must learn to persevere

With duties that may be quite austere

And try to shoulder all our cares

With smiles rather than with tears

 

And if with joy each day we face

Our problems we will soon replace

With blessings and not bitter pills

Thus coping with all our life’s ills

Ken Fisher

 

 

When the Internet Crashed

When the Internet Crashed

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Booted up in the usual way

Friendly icons reappear

Just like any other day

Through the menus we can steer

 

Keeping to the old routine

Nothing there seems out of place

All laid out neatly on the screen

Every task made commonplace

 

Ready now to check the mail

No doubt the inbox will be stacked

With problems that will our minds assail

And junk mail too, that must distract

 

So let’s waste no time just hit that symbol

Or whatever key will release the flow

Scan down that list, it is so simple

Then it hits us, that awful blow!

 

Don’t tell us that we can’t connect!

Surely we have paid the bill

That’s not something we neglect

Our voice rises rather shrill

 

Further checks we implement

It’s not just email that has crashed

Looks like a real predicament

All connections somehow trashed

 

Not one web site can we open

All our favourites unresponsive

Surely all this can’t be broken

Somehow they’ve been knocked unconscious

 

But let us pause for just a while

Could this be a blessing in disguise

Must this hiatus cramp our style?

To simply panic is unwise

 

This moratorium we can enjoy

In the shut-down let’s relax

Other tasks our minds employ

Ignore ‘Big Data’s’ mega facts

 

Read a book or take a walk

Why not give the car a clean?

Remember how you used to talk

Freed from those all-commanding screens

 

Just think back, not long ago

Before computers made us slaves

Perhaps the pace was rather slow

Not leading to an early grave!

 

So once you’ve taken some time out

And let your nerves calm down a bit

You check once more the screen blackout

And no doubt it will then be fit

 

A few more clicks and we will bet

Those vital beeps will bring us cheer

Herald the returning internet

Dispelling all our angst and fear

 

And perhaps with hindsight we will see

A temporary pause can be corrective

With some thought you might agree

Let’s keep computers in perspective

 

Ken Fisher

 

Sticking Plaster Solutions

Sticking Plaster Solutions

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When problems confront us in our daily life

Issues, concerns, can sometimes be rife

No matter how firm be our resolution

We sometimes resort to the easy solution

 

Some problems are simple and readily solved

The direction of travel quite quickly revolved

But many things in life are not easy to change

Unlike books on a shelf that we rearrange

 

Bad habits can sometimes become our stern master

Which we hide from ourselves by a ‘sticking plaster’

But such self-deception is simply a lie

Not quickly resolved the harder we try

 

It is better by far to get to the root

Of any issue before the pain gets acute

Not pretending its solved by a sticking plaster

Thus averting what might become a long-term disaster

 

Yet perhaps there are uses of Elastoplast

When by life’s little grazes we are harassed

But deeper wounds are not so easily healed

By leaving the blood till it has congealed

 

So this tale concerns more than First Aid

I hope your thoughts by it might be swayed

Being open and honest is the heart of the matter

Not hiding the truth beneath a cheap plaster

  

  Ken Fisher

 

SLEEP

SLEEP

 Some might say it is the reward to the righteous

I wonder if sinners are always wakeful?

We sometimes long to find escape in sleep

And yet we may fear in sleep we lose our vigilance

 

Sleep apparently is a naturally recurring state

It certainly would seem odd if we never slept

Sleep is the opposite of wakefulness

It brings us a blessed relief from reacting to stimuli

 

 Thinking about sleep can bring great concern

Insomnia is viewed as a serious issue

Although hypersomnia might be even more alarming

Especially shown in excessive day-time sleep

 

 But all of this is a bit clinical, too narrow a view

The word sleep has other connotations

Not least as when it is used as a euphemism

For random intimate relations – as in sleeping around

 

 And what about the modern trend of kids

Who regularly bed down at their friends’ homes?

In an endless round of sleep-overs

Probably quite harmless – I believe!

 

Then there is the advice we are given

To sleep on it often ignored by the impetuous

Perhaps we might be able to resolve issues

By a nocturnal perambulation – a sleepwalk

 

We also will recall that apart from

The slightly naughty thought raised by

the term, sleeping partner is a perfectly

legal type of business organisation

 

And to complete this little tour round

Some of the uses of the word sleep

I must now put my computer into

Sleep mode – it deserves some relief!

 

Big Yawn!

KEN FISHER

 

The Post Box

The Post Box

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This familiar cylinder in Pillar Box Red

Like a sentry standing to attention

Its open mouth awaiting to be fed

By words of our own mind’s invention

 

 

I hope we have not missed the post

Our message in that box will languish

Our words of wisdom will be lost

And our hearts be filled with anguish

 

 

But we must not doubt the Royal Mail

Whose reputation is at stake

Surely they will never fail

Their promises they will not break!

 

 

So when we see the bright red pillars

Part of the furniture of our streets

Like lamp posts to us so familiar

Those boxes, letters love to eat

 

Of course you may say that is old hat

Replaced by email’s endless ‘pings’

But letters dropping on the mat

Ensure that from our chair we spring

 

 

So let’s give a cheer for old snail mail

Paper sleeves with stamps or frank

The contents we must then unveil

For this, the postie we must thank

Ken Fisher

 

Looking Forward

LOOKING FORWARD

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A brand new year, its days stretching out before us

What might they hold, of good or ill, who knows?

Does it fill our minds with hope or trepidation

Will it bring joy or sadness, pain or pleasure?

 

In childhood life is lived forward day by day

In youth, excitement and anticipation

Each year a preparation for the next

When confidently we will take flight

 

The middle years building a career

Vying with others for pride of place

Not only in the world of work

But in relationships yet now so transient

 

Then life casts upon us its heaviest burdens

As we seek to nurture those around

While responding to the call of duty

And yet still trying to be ourself

 

 

Each day seems to pass like a blurred photo

No time to look at each image one by one

Responsibility must be our watchword

Commitment is our master of all things

 

And then suddenly we ask – another year?

Where have they gone – much less ahead

Than once there was in front

The summation of life in days and years

[Is this it? Surely not!]

 

Ken Fisher

 

 

At The Threshold of the Year

AT THE THRESHOLD OF THE YEAR

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Time is sometimes called the Fourth Dimension
Length, breadth and height the other three
But time can fill our hearts with apprehension
No wonder that it’s often said to flee

‘Tempus fugit ‘ we plead as ready-made excuse
When everyday concerns and never-ending cares
A sense of guilt and failure doth induce
Our quest for peace and freedom thus impaired

But time cannot be stalled; its steady progress will not falter
It’s march like Roman legions moving ever onward
Along straight roads, their fixed direction does not alter
The army moves in steps that take them ever forward

And so it is that in these dark fading days of late December
As we approach the threshold of yet another year
Thoughts filled with joy and sorrow as we remember
Hopefulness for days ahead but not without our hidden fear

What lies ahead beyond the gate of this New Year?
We’ve been warned: ‘the past no guide to future performance’
Would life be simpler if the way ahead was clear?
Why do we ever have to seek for reassurance

And so as we peer into the void beyond this New Year’s Day
We simply must accept that unlike length or breadth or height
The realm of time brings with it ‘come what may’
Our prayer remains that faith and hope will bring us light

And so my friend step onward with a steady pace
Give thanks for many blessings in the past
Let love for life and all mankind your heart embrace
And to God’s providence our trust remain steadfast

Ken Fisher

 

Will You Still Say to Him – No Room?

 

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The words of the familiar Christmas song say:

“No room for the baby at Bethlehem’s Inn

Only a cattle shed,… nowhere to lay his head etc.”

……………………………………………………..

Will you still say to Him – no room? 

I wondered if in this modern sophisticated age
There is even less room now than in those ancient days?
A glance at the nativity scene no longer can our souls engage
The conjunction of God in man fails to set our hearts ablaze

We’ve grown beyond such simple tales of the incarnation
Who needs God when mankind becomes of all things the true measure?
The manger scene no longer commands awestruck prostration
Our hearts now drawn to the shrine of our own worldly treasure

We have ensured that in our life so self-sufficient
The only saviour that we need, immortalised in our possessions
Achievement and success regarded as omnipotent
No more obliged to appease a God with praises or confessions

So why I wonder do we still cast a wistful eye
Towards that stable bare where power was turned upon its head?
The star still twinkles in the dome of that celestial sky
Pointing to the Holy Infant in the manger bed

But perhaps in all our self-assured and confident living
We may just falter for a moment, our souls yearning for a home
And for all life’s blessings make our own thanksgiving
Discover, for that Baby, in our heart there still is room

Ken Fisher

A happy Christmas to all who read this, and other poems, from thebardofkelvindale

CHRISTMAS CAROL – FOR PARTY PEOPLE

Christmas Carol – for Party People

[This is a re-posting of a poem from Christmas last year]

[Sing this to the tune of ‘Thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown’]

CHRISTMAS CAROL - FOR PARTY PEOPLE

We left God alone with his throne and his crown
For we had little time to spare
We were too busy spending our hard earned cash
Buying gifts and grooming our hair
For it’s party time and we must look good
As we’re all heading off to town

But then someone reminds us of that stable bare
With the Holy Child in the manger
And the ox and ass and wise men three
Then we thought of those living in danger
The sick and the poor and the refugee
And all those deserving our care

So that Baby of old and the twinkling star
Tells of God’s great love which came
Into the world to save souls in their need
By kindling that loving flame
So come dear Lord wipe out all our greed
With the light from that stable afar

God never says no when we celebrate
He is happy to rejoice with us all
So give thanks to God who loves each of us
He too will come to the ball
So come dear Lord, we won’t make a fuss
As again you with us incarnate

Ken Fisher

Christmas Gifts

Christmas Gifts [A reposting of last year’s Poem. Issued between Black Friday and
Christmas Eve]

Selfridges London

 

The Three Wise Men – is it them we should blame?
For starting this craze which can drive us insane
Each Christmas demands that we spend so much cash
As in our giving we are ever more rash

We know that it’s time that we all took a stance
And tried to control this needless expense
But somehow it seems we cannot reduce
As the desire to give still seems to seduce

We feel that it’s good to be kind to our friends
So to one and all our largesse extends
But we know that deep down their love can’t be bought
And much reckless spending is really for nought

So why don’t we reflect as did those Wise Men
Who sought out the Infant in far Bethlehem?
That gifts are mere symbols of their adoration
As to that Baby they bent in prostration

Now, as long ago, we need only one gift
As we too our faces to Jesus uplift
Just hearts filled with love for God and for man
Reflecting that glory whenever we can

Ken Fisher