I THE COCONUT

I have found a beach not far from me
Pure white sand and a crystal sea
A wonderful place to just unwind
And leave all stresses of work behind

I watch the waves as they ebb and flow
The pace of life, it seems so slow
A Coconut tumbles in and out
Almost lands then turns about

Is this a local nut, has it been here before
Or did it journey here from a far off shore
I think of the places it may have been
All the exotic places it could have seen

I wonder how many oceans it has crossed
But here I feel that it’s looking lost
I pick it up, I throw, with all my might
Across the waves and out of sight

It passes over the first wave spray
And it so very slowly drifts away
Places unknown for it to travel
A mystery for my mind to unravel

I lay down with my feet in the sea
Envying this nut, that I’d set free
There dreaming with my eyes tight shut
I now became this fortunate lucky Coconut

The Last Predator

The Eagle flies with crooked claw
Five hundred metres from the shore
Eyes scanning all around
Soaring high without a sound

The Tiger in its forest lair
Silently hiding, tasting the air
With all its inherited skills
It stalks and it silently kills

The Shark below in ocean blue
Searching for the isolated few
It uses its highly tuned senses
To catch quarry without defences

The Snake in its hide of grass
Waiting for Its prey to pass
With its swaying hypnotic dance
It leaves its prey with little chance

The Man with power of production
Builds bombs of great destruction
Leaving nothing in its quake
No Man no Eagle no Tiger no Shark no Snake

FOOTPRINTS

Do you remember that day so long ago
When time passed by so tranquil so slow
On that beach, where I suggested Hide and Seek
You ran off leaving me with just a peck on the cheek
Do you remember I found you right away
I noticed your annoyance but you did not say
You questioned how I found you as we laid there in the sand
I did not answer, I just smiled and kissed your tiny hand
Now I must tell you after so many splendid years
Years of joy, years of love of sad and happy tears
It wasn’t your breathing your rustling you didn’t make a sound
I just followed your tiny footprints right there on the ground
I’m telling you now as the days get shorter, the years speed past
This recollection has helped in its way to make our marriage last
For every time we fall out or argue over many different things
In my heart and in my soul this memory loudly sings
As I always recall those footprints on the ground
And the everlasting love that we so surely found
With the sorrow the pain the anguish we’ve been through
These tiny footprints again and again, have led me back to you

Of Wonderful Magical Things

Do you have things just things secreted in a box a drawer
Little things, these little things, do you need them anymore?
A rubber band a paper clip the ribbon that once bound
The letters from love you lost or of love you recently found
An Airline ticket stub, memory of your first trip abroad
Restaurant or theatre receipt, something that you adored
A button a bow you kept, from that crimson dress
The one you wore that night, intention to impress
A faded photograph relives, those salad days of youth
Your Daughters curly lock, your Sons very first tooth
Old calling cards with numbers, hand written on the back
Memory failure here, who on earth is that?
A few watch strap links, your diet it was successful
Things just things memories of times less stressful
A broken fountain pen, you remember what it wrote
A letter a poem a book or simply a love note
We need this personal treasure-trove, and the pleasure that it brings
With all those memories stored therein of wonderful magical things

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

To curse or not to curse that is the question I’m posing
Whether I do or whether I don’t, of that I’m not disclosing
But it is a matter of fact, a matter of great distress
That ugly words are used, when angry and under stress
They just slip out, appear without any thought
Words your Mother would slap you for, If you were ever caught
If you were to say to the driver, who had just cut you up
Oh you naughty fellow, then you offer the loving cup
Would it have the same effect as these words you could shout
(Please use your imagination here I’m sure you’ll work it out)
Now may I offer a possible solution, something to keep you sane
Install a Blue air conditioning unit right there inside your brain
Or take an oath in front of all, I swear I’ll seldom swear.

THE BUS

Every morning at about the same time
The Bus pulls up below my window
With its noisy engine humming
The noxious fumes, they invade my space
My eyes are full of tears
My nose will not stop running
I hate this Bus and what it brings
I watch it leave, crab down the street
In a cloud of its own pollution

Today it is a different story for in my hand
I have a ticket a pass a token for a journey
This morning I will take a seat upon this bus
I’m filled with trepidation
As in my head I have maligned this bus
Will it pay me back, will it reach its destination
We wind the roads we climb the hills
We park up in a clearing

I walk a path, I wend my way, through the dappled light
Before me a magnificent vista opens up
My eyes opened on such a beautiful sight
A pond of crystal clarity. A cascade of healing power
A Kingfisher in all its resplendent glory
Dove into this tranquil pond intent on catching prey
A million sparkling diamonds shimmered in its entry spray
The songbirds harmonising with the frogs
The sunlight through the leaves of trees
Gave the air a mesmerising glimmer
I saw the beauty of a spiders web
That had captured more mist than flies
If this could be the afterlife
I would never fear of my demise

Every morning at about the same time
The Bus pulls up below my window
The fumes a pleasant reminder
I feel now that I love this Bus
As tears invade my eyes
This Bus, this Bus it had shown me paradise

Months passed they unfolded into years
I often thought of that magical place but never did go back
The bus was my only reminder
The bus still stopped outside
But now it held no fears
I picked up my stick I combed my snow white hair
I use this bus to take me anywhere
All I heard was the shattering of glass
The aroma of burning rubber
A Kingfisher showed me the light
A million diamonds shinning bright
The Bus the Bus had returned me to paradise

PEPPERONI PIZZA (WITH EXTRA CHEESE)

With everything we have we want a little bit more
There’s three in a packet we think we need four
Keeping up with the people living next door
We have what we need but have to have more

Life does not change, we are all the same
To have more than we need, it’s always our aim
Never content, it’s such a shame
Whatever we think we’re all the same

We order Pepperoni pizza with extra cheese
We need that pepperoni pizza, we need that cheese
We open up our mouths and we stuff it in
Extra cheese dripping down our chin
Half the world is living shit or bust
And we scrape off the cheese and we leave the crust

Just think before ordering that extra cheese
That millions are existing on their knees
Never had luxury never known peace
Never seen a pizza never had cheese

© Ray Gorringe 2009

UNDER THAT BANYAN TREE

Picture Taken By Martin Coombes







Whilst out walking I spied this man musing in quiet repose
What thoughts lay in his head, ones that he only knows
Did he care that his shoes were odd, his snowy beard unshaven
In the shade of that Banyan tree content in his private haven
For a moment I despised this man, was it jealousy
How I wished that I were he, under that Banyan tree

I would turn away, I would leave this man in his blissful state of reflection
Where would he be, where would I be if we had followed a different direction
Was he happy was he content, this of myself I have pondered
The truth, this perceived reality would have to remain unanswered
Was he merely passing the time in the knowledge that he were free
For just a moment we were we, under that Banyan tree

I glanced down upon his face to see, this man he had awoken
I noticed in his sunken eyes thoughts best left unspoken
There I saw grief, I saw loss, his body scarred from physical labour
Realisation, then pierced my heart with the force of an invisible sabre
I noticed there in his eyes that familiar despise, was it jealousy
Did he wish that he were me, under that Banyan tree

HOURGLASS FIGURE

You’re given an hourglass, sealed upon your birth
So few grains, through a predefined girth
Sealed in destiny, defining your time on this earth
Until you fall from your precarious perch

If this hourglass were a tangible thing
Would you allow the fat lady a stage sing
Would you try to count the grains therein
Knowing your fate and what it would bring

Identify and isolate that last grain of sand
Keep it secure in your sweating hand
Heat it, bruise it and make it expand
So it will not go through to the promised land

Our destiny is pre-planned to a higher design
We have no say, we can not decline
We can not condemn we can not malign
We must accept the passing of the sands of time
Ray Gorring 2009

Dẻjả vu

Mr Politician have we not heard that before
The exact words spoken we can not recall
Something to do with a change in the law
That would improve conditions for one and all

Did we not here this prior to casting our vote
Placing our cross in the box next to your name
Trust and belief, here stands a man of note
Time has past and you are Just the same

No difference from the others who came and went
For when you submitted your policy docket
We weren’t in the equation as you were hell bent
On using false promises to line your pocket

You gave us hope that things would change
We hoped, we expected so much more from you
Hoped our living conditions would rearrange
But now we only suffer from Dẻjả vu

POEM POEM

Poetry’s a medium for expressing your soul
Expressing your heart expressing your whole
Use words like brush strokes to release your mind
Put your pen to the paper and you will find
That a Thesaurus lays hidden inside your head
Don’t have the word find another instead
Everyone has a life, with a story to tell
Be it Past the Present the future as well
If you find that your words look strange
Play with them change them and rearrange
No person should judge you for what you write
But don’t be foolish and make sure that you are right
There’s a lot in our minds, should never be said
Bury them burn them make sure their dead
Choose a subject a topic a feeling a theme
An emotion an experience or something you’ve seen
Love, well there’s a good place to start
How does it go? Till death do us part
Poetry is ageless, classless, borderless, limitless
Fearless, restless, timeless but above all priceless
So if you think it and feel it, it has to be said
Your hunger for expression just has to be fed

MY MOTHER R.I.P.

The phone rang in the middle of the night
But phones don’t ring then, a feeling of fright
Is that Ray said the voice on the line
A quiet voice, a nice voice thought all was fine
This is the Hospital my heart missed a beat
Goose pimples appeared from my head to my feet
You had better come, please come right away
Worried now what more would she say
It’s a heart attack I’m afraid your Mother is dyeing
Before the phone disconnected I was crying
I should not have driven that starless night
I struggled for vision with tear filled sight
Entering the Hospital which way to the ward
Where is my Mother to a nurse I implored
I was warned at the entrance, It won’t be long
For the sake of my Mother I must appear strong
Tears had subsided, I still felt their embrace
But only concern should show on my face
She was sleeping as I approached her side
Wires, Tubes, bottles and a pulsating light
Is this my Mother have they made a mistake
Let it be true for both of our sake
But no it was my Mother I recognised her face
A fact a truth of which I could not erase
I wrapped my arms around her and I pressed her to my heart
She knew it was me and she woke up with a start
She looked into my pleading eyes a smile for me to see
I’m alright now you are here, I knew she’d wait for me
This moment was lost in the sound of alarms
As my Mother sweet Mother died in my arms
I realised then that we all must die
She was at peace and so was I
Mother Mother R.I.P.

I like Sunsets ! At the end of the day they cheer you up.