The Fortunate Cat - Kathy Figueroa

Felicitous, furry felines
Are truly creatures of leisure!
They luxuriate in the house
For blissful hours without measure,
Or frolic out in the garden
In search of elusive treasure.
For the fortunate, carefree cat
Life's a merry quest for pleasure!

Kathy Figueroa

AWOL - Aindre Reece-Sheerin

4 and 6 or thereabouts
time creates a haze and also creates doubts
there never were any fights and few shouts
but lots of silence and many pouts

4 and 6 few questions asked
one scream, just one scream
'I don't want to go back there
not without you

and yet, in time and distance not far
a coward was found and well above par
to give you up and without a fight
the regrets every day but no-one has right

nor dominion, of one over other
the hurt, the leaving
not communicating or not knowing how
the feeling of utter desperation

but being so much older now
the tears, the pain come back again and again
can't go back, would if we could
wonder if we should

knowing now all that has happened
the distain and perhaps rightly so

but is all this justifiably so
is there even contempt

Prayers asked, now in contemplation knowing full well,
we are our own masters and mistresses too
can we ever move forward, the likes of me and you
would you really change the past and me as well

4 and 6 in old money
may have been a price too much to pay
as I live, love and breathe
with a broken heart each day

Aindre Reece-Sheerin

More - Beyond The Sweet Shop - Stuart Price

What a wonderful world this is, of delicious treats all around,
To find a chocolatier, I simply drive my car into town.
Every whim and desire I can easily satisfy
'Til Billy Bunter of the Beano I come to exemplify !

These delicious cocktails, will they satisfy me forever,
Or be a passing fancy in life's rich endeavour ?
A bonus, a treat, but not my completion,
Whatever the size, the taste or sensation.

So easy to become the victim or our desires,
Corrupting the good, as robbers and liars.
Making pleasure our objective, our unholy goal
To surrender our sanity, our bedevilled soul.

Surely there is better than all of these things ?
Like the awakening sunrise as a nightingale sings.
A delicate breeze and a peacock's feather,
A mother's love for her child, which can go on forever.

Some compassion and kindness for all of mankind
For those big and small, with none left behind.
As rocks become crystals and plants turn to flowers
I catch a glimpse of eternity in these sublime powers.

An order, a logic, to life's divine dance
To know truth we must speak it, for otherwise we can't.
To be stuck in the prison of our minds is a shame,
With joy in our hearts we can all win the game.

Stuart Price

Cocktails - Diane Scantlebury

I love the clink
I love the sound
Of cocktails when
They are making
The barman’s wiggle
Makes me giggle
When my cocktail
He is shaking

Cocktails, cocktails, cocktails
Cocktails make me happy
Cocktails make me glad
Cocktails are my salvation
When I am feeling bad

So many flavours
For me to savour
The choice will
Drive me mad
A swizzle stick
Will do the trick
To the best cocktail
I’ve ever had

Cocktails, cocktails, cocktails
Cocktails make me happy
Cocktails make me glad
Cocktails always pick me up
When I am feeling sad

Diane Scantlebury

As Winter Ends - Diane Scantlebury

As winter ends
And hope ascends
That something new
Will grow
A wish, a dream
A far off scheme
Only God will know

As winter ends
And spirits soar
Although cold chill
Has not yet gone
Bare trees burst into bud
Spring shoots pierce the mud
With a promise of glory to come

Diane Scantlebury