Ebb And Flow - Marianna Pliakou

The beaches here
never grow old.
Just as the rocks raise
their bulky bodies from the deep,
they are covered
by the next wave.

The islanders
know from children
of the constant flux –
the sands that become seabed
that becomes sands.

They have learnt to gauge
and test themselves against time
as the sea tests
its strength
in swallowing.

Marianna Pliakou


Image : Guernseypoets

Transcend - Lyndon Queripel

Time seemed to stand still
It just came to a stop
In the golden silence
You could hear a pin drop

Time seemed to stand still
Just like the future past
Leaving dreams in shadow
That reality had cast

Time seemed to stand still
On reaching the end
Of the wilderness years
Waiting to transcend

Lyndon Queripel

Image : Pixabay - TheDigitalArtist

Sands Of Time - Ian Duquemin

Life is just a timer… 
Where the sand falls faster every day
Everything surrounding you
Will turn to dust, and drift away 
Every day that passes by
Another day, that now is past 
Nothing in this life, was made to last

And what was young
Will soon be old
And memories, only stories told 
To no one who will even wish to hear
And like the ghosts surrounding you
No matter what you try to do 
Those memories of yours, will disappear 

And every passing day will be 
Another lost, for you and me 
And soon the last will come, without a sign 
With all your dreams that never came
You never had yourself to blame 
As no one ever slowed the sands of time 

The bells will echo on and on
But even those will soon be gone
Silence will descend upon us all 
The timer can't be turned around 
And in the glass a final sound 
One last grain of sand, is yet to fall

So close your eyes, don't be afraid 
Of your mistakes, and choices made 
Life was never yours to understand 
The time you never thought about 
Unknowingly, was running out 
And every day of life was only sand 

Ian Duquemin

Image : Pinterest - Daljeet Kaur

Waiting - Diane Scantlebury

She’s waiting,
Waiting to be held,
To be touched,
To be kissed,
Her arms are aching,
To encircle,
To enfold,
To embrace,
She’s lonely,
Insecure,
Isolated,
Unsure,
Time’s passing,
Insignificantly,
Unremarkably,
Too slowly,
So she’s still waiting,
Waiting,
To be released,
Waiting,
Waiting,
For her freedom.

Diane Scantlebury

Entwined - Ian Duquemin

I never dreamed that I would see you there
With eyes as clear as glass 
I never thought that you would come my way
I thought you may have passed 
But you came in my direction 
Brushed your sweet lips over mine
And I fell in love so easily 
As you stopped the hands of time

I saw the smile upon your pretty face 
I think I even read your mind
You and I… We were destiny 
Two lonely souls entwined 
When you took me in your healing hands
All the damage slipped away
And I know this sounds ridiculous 
But you helped me light the way

Ian Duquemin

Lovers - Richard Fleming

Once they were lovers, now they meet
by chance,
a lifetime later
in a busy street.
They greet each other cautiously,
embrace, but tentatively.
One glance
is all it takes
to remind him
how the world had once seemed
limitless
with her in it.
While she, acutely conscious
that she only dressed to shop,
feels suddenly complete again
and prays that time might stop.

Richard Fleming

Grandma’s picture - Tony Gardner

She stands there just exactly where
I stood the other day
The only difference is we were
A hundred years away
I was in Twenty seventeen
For her the War raged on
Her man was out there fighting
She was home here with their son
In the photo she looks haggard
She knew some would not return
But Hope burned bright within her
And her lucky candle burned
For Grandpa came back safely
Though he left some brothers there
Sleeping through the history
And Time that should be theirs
Grandma, Grandpa Thank you
For facing what I don't know if I could do

Tony Gardner

Cornwall - Trudie Shannon

These are karmic hills,
Their spoil sides steep and perilous.
Granite shards slip invisibly
And cats cradles guard the sultry depths
Of these deep dark burrows, delved by men.
Small men, hard men, poor men, historic men,
Dead men!
It as if the hills themselves are testimony alone
To mans puerile attempts to subjugate Mother Earth.

The stone engine houses are cast down, yet
Forever reaching skyward in mute supplication to a hidden God.
Wind and rain and the incessant passage of time
Have bled most of them dry,
They are mere husks of spent energy,
Shadow casts now, that only wraiths attend.

A sliver of stone slides surreptitiously down.
Its tenuous hold finally lost as the age old wind
Lifts it with a gusty breath.
It slithers, noisily toward the shaft edge
Then drops, mute, into the dark abyss.
The rock piece falls and falls and falls
And then, baptism.
It sinks through water, rocking like a feather on a breeze
Until it touches the mother lode
And is finally still.

On the surface the bird witness soars heavenward.

Trudie Shannon

Another precious year - Tony Bradley

Those hot, hazy days seem so distant now
bright blue skies, even the winds were warm,
and the sun slept little from its scarlet set
to another bright morning, a dazzling dawn.

But the sun soon slumbered, slow to rise,
and golden leaves glistened, jewelled by night's rain,
falling, twirling, they waltzed to Autumn's wind
leaving bristling bushes to face Winter again.

Now, frosty breezes begin their toil,
crispening a crust to slumbering soil
soon, plucky bulbs will peep, and the dark, stark trees
will herald Spring, again, with little green leaves.

Tony Bradley

Winds Of Time - John Carré Buchanan

The Fulani knew my power
as hunched against my breath
they drove herds in search of pasture
that I’d not smothered yet.
You call me Harmattan,
though that is not my name,
for I was here before you
before the desert came
and when your bones are naught but dust
I will still remain.

The Clatsop knew my warmth
as I swept the mountain slopes
I melted snow before me
and bought false signs of hope.
You call me Chinook
though that is not my name
for my clouds enriched sunrise
before the dawn of man
and they’ll brighten western skies
when your last race has run.

Columbus and Magellan
thought they'd harnessed me
as they navigated oceans
in search of destiny.
You call me Trade Winds
but that is not my name
for I blew before the ocean's birth
when a mighty rupture came
and I'll be blowing still
when land joins land again.

I helped shape mountains,
I swept the plains between.
From ice cap to desert
I sculpted the terrain.
I breathed, before life,
before little pools of green,
before cells came together
to crawl out from the sea
and I was here a long, long time,
before apes climbed in the trees.

Yet even I will perish
as time alone survives,
for this planet will crumble
scattered amidst the skies
it's atmosphere burnt off
carried on cosmic winds.
Our atoms will float
through a universe sublime
waiting to be born again
in the ebb and flow of time

John Carré Buchanan

Life's Journey - Ian Duquemin

We make the road with the steps that we take
This journey is ours with the choices we make
The paths are the detours that lead us astray
Though none of them mean you have gone the wrong way
It's just an excursion, a trail or trial
A trek where you learn with each added on mile
Where some like to walk in directions unknown
Enjoying the journey alone

Ian Duquemin

Ashdown - Tony Gardner

The sleet was ghostlike, laughing
with no purposeful intent
It came and covered nothing,
said 'Hi' and then it went
The scene unchanged remained the same,
damp and green and good
Half-hearted snow, that came tiptoe
all over Ashdown wood

A hiccup hardly noticed
in the thousand years or so
Of hunting grounds and industry
and sunny hours that flow
Today I stand and and watch the flakes
ephemeral and false
That dance in stately gaiety
to Time's unending waltz

Tony Gardner

Tomorrow Never Comes - Aindre Reece-Sheerin

Today's poem is a "Golden Oldie" and was originally published here in January 2013.

Whether it is today or yesterday
or one day next week
tomorrow never comes

How often do we say on Monday
See you tomorrow
Tomorrow if indeed we survive
Monday, is Tuesday
So tomorrow never comes

It rained on Wednesday
and all thru Thursday
Today Friday the sun shone a little

but still, tomorrow never comes

A love that's fresh
and new like spring buds
could last until next week
or even a fortnight's time
but tomorrow will never come

I say that I will do such and such today
and even at night sometimes
I will kneel and pray
giving thanks for the day
without a thought for tomorrow

because tomorrow never comes

Aindre Reece-Sheerin

Time To Live Again - Tony Robert

Today's poem is a "Golden Oldie" and was originally published here in August 2012

How did all this happen? You sometimes sit and ponder.
Your life’s been turned upside down, is it any wonder?

You want to start your life again, to leave the past behind
So many loose ends to tie up, many new joys to find

You’ve so many memories, some happy, some so sad
You can’t seem to forget them, some good, some so bad

You always do what’s best for everyone and leave yourself ‘til last
Time to put yourself first, instead of living in the past

You must start to look forward now, grab the chance with both hands
There’s happiness for you right now, time for dreams and plans

You must be brave, you must be strong
Go for it, you can’t go wrong

Time for positive thinking, put aside those doubts and fears
Time for smiling and happy thoughts, forget the pain and tears

You can do it; you’ve got yourself through it
Time to live again

Tony Robert

The Hourglass - Drew H.W.

Today's poem is a "Golden Oldie" and was originally published here in April 2012

Within a fragile vessel, the grains of time
With agile grace,
Pace silently, no beat no chime.
A deep and golden tress is,
Sweeping not about a face.

For here inside this timepiece, life’s beat does seep
From widened crown,
Down far below, to empty deep,
A hungry dark abyss,
Where all history does drown.

Oh give to me a heartbeat, but one more pulse
To see the light!
Might time stand still, and not convulse,
The memories incomplete,
Far beyond my failing sight?

But my pleas for life anew, cry out in vain
No peace I’ll earn,
Burn endlessly, in tortured pain,
Holding not my one love true,
I'll watch the hourglass turn.

Drew H.W.

Time Stood Still - Lyndon Queripel

Time stood still
It came to a stop
In the realm of silence
You'd hear a pin drop

Time stood still
Like the future past
Lost in a dream
A spell was cast

Time stood still
We'd  reached the end
Of the wilderness
Waiting to transcend.

Lyndon Queripel

Red Sun Falling - Fred Williamson

A twilight dawning, brings a red sunrise,
Before my eyes,
Becomes so bright,
A white golden light.

An evening sunset west,
Shining across the river Mekong,
A red sunbeam, looking its best,

Red sun falling,
Behind the cloud sinking fast,
Like a deflating red balloon,
Darkness comes so soon,
Showing in the sky, an orange moon.

Fred Williamson

Times Whispers - Trudie Shannon, Fred Williamson & Lester Queripel,

Time has hollow hands
Cups its palms irreverently
Forever hopeful
I’m frozen in thought
Storm cloud passes over the sea
No rain to touch the waves
The sun shines on swaying flower baskets
The winds light caress
A ripple across delicate petals
Nature too is held in thrall
To master time and majesty
Impossible to measure
Priceless in value
The intake of cool air and oxygen
In silence
I hear no birdsong
Only whispers
Of intelligence

Trudie Shannon, Fred Williamson & Lester Queripel

I Was - Ros Willard

I was a baby boy during the reign of King Herod
I was a Polish Jew in 1943
I was an eleven year old girl in Hiroshima
I was on the 84th floor of the World Trade Centre
I was a prostitute working the murky streets of Whitechapel
I was on the maiden voyage of an unsinkable ship
I was just eighteen when I fought at Passchendaele
I was Queen of England but I ruled for only nine days
I was born at the end of the fifties, with no arms or legs
I was in Sri Lanka on Boxing Day 2004
I was at Kings Cross the day fire broke out
I was an aristocrat during the French Revolution
I was one of Stalin’s “enemies of the people”
I was in Herculaneum in AD 79
I was kidnapped, shackled and sold to a plantation owner
I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Ros Willard

Overtime - Lyndon Queripel

Time goes past all too fast these days
The tick tock of the clock on the wall
Now I face another race once more
From A to B then on to C and back
I won’t get far as my car won’t start
I’m in such a state, I’ll be late again

Alone in my bed in the dead of night
My insomnia’s worse, it’s a curse you know
I can’t sleep, counting sheep is no help
Come the morning I’m yawning like mad
My job is dreary, I’m so weary and tired
It’s a surprise that my eyes stay open

I look at a book I haven’t yet read
But I must at least dust the cover
I tell myself that the shelf is loose
When I get a minute I will fix it then
And the lock that’s stuck on my cupboard
Inside is a bin of tin to recycle

There’s also a letter that I’d better write
I just hope I’ve an envelope and stamp
Where the heck is that cheque to enclose
I tried to sign it when the ink in my pen ran out
Tell me please where my keys have gone
I don’t understand they were in my hand just now

I fear that this year hasn’t begun well
I broke another spoke on my old bike
Now I feel the front wheel has a wobble
Who controls all the potholes in the road?
You can guess I’m under stress my friend
With the strain and all the pain in my back

I must stop at the shop for some more milk
The traffic lights ahead are on red not green
You can bet when I get there it’s closed
Don’t say that today is the 9th already
What a twist, I’ve missed the dentist now
In the end he will send me a bill anyway

Yes, I have got such a lot on my plate
It’s a sin I didn’t win the last lottery
And forget all the debt that I owe
With no thanks to the bank’s interest
They barred my credit card yesterday
And what’s worse I lost my purse in town

It seems all of my dreams were in vain
And I find that my mind is now losing
I can’t cope for my rope has reached the end
None the less all this madness has to stop
Before I fall flat – don’t say that is the time
Oh dear, I shouldn’t be here, I must be going.

Lyndon Queripel