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

At the Threshold of the Year 2022

At  the Threshold of the Year 2022

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 does induce
Our quest for peace and freedom thus impaired

But time cannot be stalled; its steady progress will not falter
Its 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 was that in those dark fading days of late December
As we approached 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 just beyond the gate of this New Year?
You have 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 this year we enter on with trepidation
As 2021 brought challenges unprecedented
In 2022 our hopes again rest in effective vaccination
Thus greater certainty may make us more contented

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

 

 

Twixmas

Twixmas

What do you do during the week we call Twixmas
The seven twilight days following Christmas?
And as rowdy Scots may gear up for the revelry
Traditionally known to them all as Hogmanay

I suppose most use these hours to sleep it off
All that rich food and booze that they quaffed
Others take time to play with their toys
Not only the kids but grown-up boys

Perhaps the virtuous write thank-you notes
For gifts received which fulfilled their hopes
Others might try to remember who gave them what
From Aunt Matilda – underpants? Who would have thought?

Then there are all those gift vouchers or Amazon codes
If you’re into high tech you might have got loads
Like on a much coveted cake these are the cream
But I wish you success as you try to redeem

Perhaps in Twixmas we might visit some friends
To bring seasonal greetings, but try not to offend
For the coming year, to wish them all the best
But you must first of all take a Lateral Flow Test

Some might decide they want to get active
That new sporting kit they think makes them attractive
But there are even more who prefer indoors instead
Tucked cosily together neath the new duvet in bed!

So in Twixmas it’s for each one to decide
And whatever it is you are not surely obliged
To listen to others telling what you should do
Lazy or active it’s all down to you!

 

Ken Fisher

God Surprises Earth With Heaven – (2021)

God Surprises Earth with Heaven

God comes in a surprising way
As we awake on Christmas Day
He comes the gift we don’t expect
No more commanding our respect
We’ve grown world weary, cynical
Incredulous of any miracle
How can the gift of the Christ Child
Make God and man be reconciled?
Only in humble trust and expectation
For pride and conceit make expiation
Grasp the hand from God above
Here below, show forth his love
Thus heaven surprises here on earth
Confounded by an infant’s birth

Ken Fisher

Christmas is Coming 2021

Christmas is Coming 2021

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat
What might Santa bring me? Dominates the chat

And this year, still oppressed by the great pandemic
We need something special a gizmo or a gimmick

Lots of choices to entertain and amuse
Making it impossible for each of us to choose

It seems no time at all, since this month last year
Your previous gift – is still unwrapped I fear!

The problem for me is you are so very very generous
Thus I am overwhelmed with great mountains of stuff

I can only wear one pair of slippers at a time
Such excess warms me quicker than jugs of mulled wine

It was good of you to buy me that new casual shirt
Its gaudy colours nearly made my dim eyes hurt

I don’t know if you’ve heard, no-one now wears ties
If I donned one nowadays it’d be a great surprise

I realise that your attempts to keep up with new trends
Might have stretched your credit, made you over-spend

But please this year don’t push things to excess
Our neighbours are so rich, it will never them impress

I am wondering if this Christmas something novel might suffice
Unusual, surprising, still at reasonable price

So here’s a few ideas which might have some appeal
At least one of these, most folks should find ideal

What about a ticket to an outdoor swimming pool?
Once you’ve cracked the ice you really will look cool

Or a trip in one of those new driverless cars
With free insurance cover for any consequential scars

I rather fancy a tattoo, of course somewhere quite discreet
Tucked away neatly underneath the soles of my feet

And have you thought of having your head shaved bald
It’s bound to leave your relatives somewhat shocked, perhaps appalled

And how about a faux-fur dressing gown for cosy nights at home?
Or for the horticultural zealot perhaps a garden gnome?

Or this rather sick suggestion about a novel coffin
Called a “wooden onesie” you won’t use it very often!

If you need ideas on what’s now all-the-rage
On-line catalogues put temptation on every flickering  page

As Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat
I can take PayPal or BitCoin and not just a penny from your hat!

And perhaps this year you might want a lie detector
Something, from dear Boris’ mind must be a defector
With such a tool you will easily recognise
My profuse “thank youz” are just a bunch of lies

Ken Fisher

Cancel

Cancel

Have you noticed a subtle change
Like when a word takes on another meaning?
‘Cancel’ no longer implies you’ve changed your mind
It now means something more demeaning

The woke world has forced us all
To be much more aware
Of what we state as our opinions
Of the words our lips declare

Before we hoist our colours to the mast
We must watch lest we offend
A world waxed hypersensitive
Our cherished views we need defend

The unguarded candid comment
The throw-away remark
Might quickly rebound to us
A blazing flame lit by our spark

Thus our words on social media
Views however gently stated
May lead to consequences
Far beyond our being berated

You may well ask what is the harm
Why must so much be seen at stake?
Risk to job, health or reputation
Dire consequences in its wake

But some may ask whither democracy?
And the principle of free speech
Where gone the right to state one’s mind
If every utterance will impeach?

So let’s set aside the ‘cancellation culture’
Let the Speakers’ Corner be restored
Open debate remain unchained
Vicious critics be exposed
Ken Fisher

 

Unknown Unknowns

Unknown Unknowns

 

With the latest threat from Covid – Omicron variant
I am not sure if we are in the territory
Of the Unknown Knowns
Or the Unknown Unknowns

We have all grown a little weary
Of the dark menace of the plague
And we were beginning to get to know it
But now are we once again, in the land of the unknown?

We know this latest beastie seems to come with
Unknown features, which may also be unkind
It’s unknown if it is susceptible to a vaccine
And it’s unknown if it is more transmissible

On top of these unknowns which are presently known
I wonder if there are any other unknowns still unknown
Wouldn’t it be great if just a little more can be known?
Changing the unknowns into knowns

One other thing perhaps is still unknown
And that is what will be the reaction of the public at large
Who know what lock-down is like, but what we don’t know
Is will they resist such strictures this time?

It is not of course known how much comfort
All of us can take from all that is now known
From our knowledge of how to respond to a pandemic
But we do already know the effect on the economy
As reflected in plunging stock market prices

The sooner the unknown unknowns
Can be turned into known knowns
The better for us all
But we don’t know how long this might take
Does anyone know?

Ken Fisher

See other Poetry for the Pandemic

Larks and Owls

Larks and Owls

Some claim that humans come in two separate versions
And larks and owls are quite different persons
Up like a lark are those bright early risers
Dark shadows of night spur the owl colonisers

The larks above all are keen to get started
Whatever the task they won’t be diverted
Out of the traps at the very get-go
No plea ever made that they should go slow

But perhaps these larks might be somewhat too keen
On some occasions such speed is obscene
Their speech far too fast, their actions too hasty
They need to slow down for everyone’s safety

Then what of those owls perhaps stirring at dusk?
If wakened too early inclined to be brusque
It’s when shadows lengthen they come into their own
Alert to a world of adventures unknown

Owls work best near the end of the day
In the wee small hours they can still be at play
Unlike larks who by this time long tucked up in bed
Cosy slumber is what they long for instead

Perhaps some jobs suit owls rather than larks
The wrong choice of person would fall short of the mark
An early shift won’t make our larks scowl
The night club disco for our feisty young owl

But please spare a thought for those bright at midday
Neither larks nor owls, perhaps rather halfway
In what we now call core time is when they perform best
And for them early and late hours are rightly for rest

Ken Fisher

 

Black Friday 2021

Black Friday 2021

Black Friday has already dawned
Indeed it seems never to have gone
This mad scramble for bargains
Provokes wrestling matches in shopping malls
And melt-down on computer networks
As search engines and eager bargain-hunters
Hit the town centres and the web browsers

I wonder if this whole exercise has some cathartic purpose?
Pent-up emotions being released in some orgasmic frenzy
But who stirred up the desire in the first place?
Did we harbour some deep repressed longing to buy, buy, buy
Or was it the wiles and blandishments of the advertisers
On behalf of the retailers in their constant quest for profit
Who ensured that we would not remain lethargic?

Well whoever is to blame, ourselves or the market place
The hope is that Friday will produce record-breaking turnover
Shops may be crammed with customers
And the on-line trade will ensure the white-van army
Of delivery agents will shift the goods from anonymous
Warehouses up and down the land, to your door and mine
And we will react in Pavlovian style at the ring on our door bell!

But again this year we are all still under the shadow
Of the dreaded Covid – not just at home but from lands afar
Thus our traditional retailers seem under further threat
Yet this annual rugby scrum of hungry consumers
May still bring comfort to those who our high streets would save
Remind the great shopping public that the internet offers no
Tactile experience as they wrest coveted goods from fellow buyers
Let’s hope it might maintain interest in the whole shopping experience
Heralding a rebirth as we celebrate traditional Nativity

Ken Fisher

Seriousness Can Be Overrated

Seriousness Can Be Overrated

Don’t take me too seriously
But I wonder if it’s worth
Pausing for a moment
To think seriously about
Seriousness?

Sometimes people are accused
Of not taking things seriously
Of never engaging with enough
Gravity or solemnity
On subjects that merit sober thought

We should guard against flippancy
And frivolity when the context or occasion
Demands due respect
Thus no telling of trivial jokes
In the midst of a funeral ovation

That said, is it not sometimes true
That pomposity masquerades as seriousness?
This tendency is sometimes illustrated
By lofty preachers menacing us with impending hell
Even politicians with empty promises of utopia

Of course life is serious
No use pretending otherwise
We need to earn a living
Find a home, fund a pension
Even extract some meaning out of it all!

But can seriousness be overrated?
Is there never any room for levity?
Can we somehow progress through life’s journey
Straddling earnestness and joviality
Sharing pain and gain in equal measure

As once John McEnroe so emphatically declared
“You can’t be serious!”
Perhaps, sometimes, neither should we

Ken Fisher

Subject to Availability

Subject to Availability

Some things are no longer readily available
And no matter how coveted or desirable
The pandemic introduced restriction
And we must curb unrestrained addiction

‘Subject to availability’ flashes on the screen
As we browse the on-line market scene
No longer be granted instant satisfaction
Disappointment and frustration our reaction

We are obsessed by anticipation
Like Pavlovian dogs yielding salivation
Lured by market sirens so seductive
Any inhibition appears obstructive

For far too long we have come to expect
Our requests no purveyor would reject
So unavailability seems a tame excuse
Our loyal patronage to refuse

But we must learn we have no divine right
To demand that what e’er looms into sight
Might immediately become our manifest possession
No excuse for futile reactive depression

Thus if the object of desire is pro tem unavailable
Or perhaps our aims be totally unachievable
Help us to accept the fact with equanimity
Restore our agitated mind to calm tranquillity

Ken Fisher

 

See also this Poem

T & C’s apply

 

Hope Remains

Hope Remains

[Following COP26 Glasgow 2021]

The pow wow’s over, they’ll stack the chairs away
The delegates in no time fly away
A triumph some optimists proclaim
Detractors say, just hang your face in shame

No doubt the future’s not secure
No final resolution for either rich or poor
But hope remains that progress will be made
Saving earth from flood and burning rays

Surely good will emanate from this convocation
No doubt limits to resolve of many nations
Yet our awareness raised as ne’er before
Greater determination than heretofore

No cries of triumph yet neither of despair
Let not pessimism good intent impair
Nor over optimism cause all to forget
The battle for the planet won not yet

Ken Fisher

See also my Poem:

COP26

 

Sorry!

Sorry!

Sorry is not always an easy thing to say
Suggesting we might have gone astray
Done something wrong, or missed the mark
Kicked the proverbial ball outside the park

Saying sorry means we apologise
We wonder if this is always wise
Politicians rarely make such confessions
No hint of guilt in their expressions

Perhaps ‘sorry’ is somewhat overused
Leaving others quite bemused
Need we apologise for stepping first
With  others queueing  for the bus?

Some timid people’s whole appearance
Implies a lack of self-assurance
Sorry for their very existence
Pleading they should have kept their distance

On the other hand some will never apologise
Their arrogance more than life-size
They’re always right in their opinion
All life’s affairs are their dominion

Perhaps the middle way is best
Say sorry for things that you have messed
But don’t make life one long apology
Rationing ‘sorrys’ the better policy

Ken Fisher