It’s Time - Diane Scantlebury

It’s time to move on,
Time to start anew,
Time to repackage my life
Into a smaller, tidier parcel,
Go somewhere different,
Re set my heart,
Prepare for another experience
To replace yesterday’s memories,
It’s time to go,
Time to let go,
Untie the strings of the past,
Let life sail to the next port
Without regret,
No point in clinging,
It’s time for change,
Time for a new adventure.

Diane Scantlebury

The Travelling Fence - Judith Anne Finetti

Image Source:  Judith Anne Finetti

The Travelling Fence - Judith Anne Finetti

Once the meadow and hedgerows are neatly trimmed
Up sticks literally and the large flock of sheep,
Four goats and three donkeys and two sheepdogs
Plus the shepherd and his lady wife
Are on the move again to the next valley
Stakes in the ground and the fence is again
An instant stockade.

The animals settle in immediately to munch away
At the rich grass and clover and daises for the farmer
In inaccessible places for machinery to reach.
The goats particularly leave a very trim edge to the fields
As they will eat anything and without the fence would quite
Happily nibble the nearby grape vines.

The older sheepdog with the limp valiantly trying to keep up with his extended family

Three months of drought in Italy but as soon as the heavens opened days later green grass had been shooting up
And wild flowers turned the valley into a patchwork quilt of colour.

The shepherd and his lady wife sleep with their flock,
Always on the alert for sheep rustlers
Their morning coffee enriched with fresh goat`s milk.

Judith Anne Finetti

In Llew Go-Ap - Chris Hudson

The piper played all day long
Many kinds of youth
They are all there, they are all playing
The old folk listened
To the peculiar noise without approval.

The sick and the incapacitated
All joined in
Men and women of all nationalities and beliefs
With “Ee! Ee!” and “Oh! Oh!”
The old housewives
With melodious and lyrical speech

From the hills to the valleys
The islands and the capes
The waking and the sleeping
There was a place for everyone

With rich wine and rich food
Arianrhod and Krishna
From morning to evening, everyone was together

Then the hordes dispersed and the sky grew dark
And the forces of destruction were released.

As the children set out on their sacred journey
The fields and hills spread out before them
All the animals and birds were listening
To the sound of their footfalls.

Chris Hudson

Circles - Joan Raleigh

I saw in a dream
a circle of spiralling suns
spinning from the East,
and as the gauze lifted from my mind
you stepped into that symbol
of the self that is me.

Your love seemed as the Lotus,
that He gazed upon
at His birth.
It devoured my spirit
as I slept, and I knew
the sphere of life eternal.

Was it a cruel caricature
penetrating my inner being,
like the slippery thrust
of a demonic phallus?
Or was the vision a true
intercedent to my senses?

Let me dream of you once more,
and I shall sleep forever.

Joan Raleigh

Clowns - John E. Blaise

Where is the clown with the frown?
I’m searching for the white rabbit
That lives in the bottom of the magician’s hat
Or the dog with the bone free of fat
Barbecued, well done, meaty and thick
Waiting for the fight I’m ready to pick.

Where is the clown with the sad face?
He’s planning to leave and packed his case
Ill- fitting trousers and oversized shoes
Never taken seriously has nothing to lose
A cocktail of smudged greasepaint and tears
He’s never able to expel all his fears.

Where is the clown with the happy face?
Feeling so high in outer space
Bucket of water poured down his pants
Smile disappears as he rages and rants
As the audience laugh, he’s filled with dread
He needs all this like a hole in the head.

John E. Blaise