General Chat

May God grant you:
A puppy or kitten to lick on your chin,
A lottery ticket - and sure it's a win!
A pantry full of your favorite foods,
A closet lined with the best of goods.
But most of all, in your arms and your heart:
The love of your life - and may you never part!

Spanish Eyes, I really love the poems you posted esp the Nursing One. I used to work as a Carer for the Elderly and of course saw many people as described in the poem, and sometimes it was heartbreaking watching them struggle with old age, but thoroughly worth while and fufilling.

Finis.

I strove with none, for none was worth my strife,
Nature I loved and, next to Nature, Art:
I warm'd both hands before the fire of life;
It sinks, and I am ready to depart.

Walter Savage Landor.

Gus continued...........

I have played so he says, every possible lead
and I used to kn ow seventy speeches by heart,
I'd extemporize back-chat, I knew how to gag,
And I knew how to let the cat out oof the bag.
I knew how to act with my back and my tail;
With an hour of rehearsal, I could never fail.
I'd a voice that would soften the hardest of hearts,
Whether I took the lead, or in character parts,
I have sat by the bedside of poor Little Nell,
When the curfew was rung then I swung on the bell,
In the pantomime season,I never fell flat
And i once understudied Dick Whittingtons cat
But my grandest creatioon, as history will tell
Was Firefrorefiddle the Fiend of the Fell

Then if someone will give him a toothful of gin,
He will tell how he once played a part in East Lynne,
At a Shakespear performance he once walked onpat,
When some actor suggested the need for a cat.
He once played a tiger.....could do it again...
Which an Indian Colonel pursued down a drain.
And he thinks that he still can, much better than most.
Produce blood curdling noises to bring on the ghost,
he once crossed the stage on a telegraph wire,
To rscue a child when the house was on fire.
And he says "Now these kittens , they do not get trained
as we did in the days when Victoria reigned.
They never get drilled in a regular troupe,
And they think they are smart, just to jump through a hoop"
And he'll say as he scratches himself with his claws,
"Well the Theatres certainly not what it was.
These modern productions are all very well,
But there's nothing to equal, from what I can tell,
That moment of mystery, when I made history
As Firefrorefiddle the fiend of the fell.

This poem comes from a selectionof cat poems, on which the characters in Lloyd Webbers wonderful musical Cats was based

What a delightful number of entries today..Thank you.

I cannot think as the moment because I have tooth ache, and am waiting until I am in UK to see the dentist...I am terriefied at even the thought if gong to the dentist,

So off now to take some more Ip..h..n as and at the highest dosage..I know I should not wait but I ama coward. Perhaps wI need to write about being a coward!!
Good night everyone

21.40hrs Spain

Special love within my heart,
To all of those who do depart,
Special love for those who stay,
Who live to see another day,

Life goes on without our friends,
With a memory that never ends,
Love goes on for eternity,
That is how it will always be.

Oh dear,Spanish Eyes, I'm not that keen on the Dentist either, so I wish you all the best on that front!!

Thought you might like this from 'A Shropshire Lad'

The street sounds to the soldiers' tread,
And out we troop to see:
A single redcoat turns his head,
He turns and looks at me.

My man, from sky to sky's so far,
We never crossed before;
Such leagues apart the world's ends are,
We're like to meet no more;

What thoughts at heart have you and I
We cannot stop to tell;
But dead or living, drunk or dry,
Soldier, I wish you well.

I need to visit the dentist when I am next in the UK so here is a poem I found today.

The Dentist
(A Sonnet)


Profound is my delight in dentistry:
Much deeper, my affection ev'ry day,
To fill each tiny crack and cavity,
While probing for the symptoms of decay.
Each check-up: a challenging adventure -
A chance to scale your tartar - and to bond:
Amalgamating cap, crown or denture:
If you're orally fixated, I'm fond.
And if you have an overbite to mend,
I'll gladly take impressions for a brace;
With orthodontic instruments, I'll bend
A wire, to set a smile upon your face.
Pristine and polished clean, you may appear;
Yet, I see rot beneath your bright veneer.



© Theresa van Straten 2005 All Rights Reserved

.

Made me feel......worse!!!

16.05hrs Spain

Love the dentists poem, will pass it on to my sister who is a dentists practice manager


7.55pm Norfolk UK

Good morning. Harry Hayes, aged 78 reporting as mentioned on my poem posted last week on the general topics thread.
Most of my favourite poems have already been quoted. I have two others but finding where I put them is a problem.

This is one of my own poems, possibly a shade heavy, but i do have a spoof version of the same if requested, which is more easily digested.

Lastly with my finishing quote, sadly i' m no longer a church goer, but it's a nice saying.

ST. BRIGID'S DISCIPLES

There are a myriad of reasons,
Why we 'poets' take up the pen;
To put the world behind us,
Or inspiration now and then.

A path not set by others,
Thoughts very much our own;
Sometimes a sense of darkness,
Or seeds of beauty sown.

The last is all around us,
To see it is by choice;
A heaven unfolds before you,
Words simply add the voice.

Some poets write of nature,
Others, people they have known;
Events which were laced in humour,
Or something special, all their own.

Nostalgia gives a special glow,
Loving times perhaps recall;
Within, a spark of child-hood,
'Catch me should I fall'.

Vanity, the family bible,
What kind of man was he?
Guidelines to my deepest thoughts,
Therein for kin to see.

More often we write for pleasure,
No loss or gain is sought;
Escaping from the hum-drum,
To float on clouds of thought.

Kissed by the goddess of poetry,
She takes us by the hand;
Together, fleeting moments,
In a serene, more peaceful land

--------------------------(St' Brigit if you will)
Harry Hayes 10/07

Every morning, lean thine eyes
Upon the window sill of heaven,
And gaze upon the Lord;
Then with that vision within thy heart,
Turn strong to meet the day.

Harry, A very warm welcome to my thread and thank you for your poems. i to lapse from time to time especially going to Mass, and there are times when I most certainly do not have a religious thought for years. However having a framework for what is right and wrong, is i believe what all children require rather than simply doing whatever they want. I guess that my religious belief is really turning into my daily positive thoughts. however I also admit to send a prayer whenever my Army son is away!

Please stay with us, we enjoy new peoples opinions and suggestions

Meanwhile enjoy the bank holiday, and take care of yourself.

I shall be thinking of you.

Bridget

13.04hours Spain

Oops Spanish Eyes. Didn't realise you were a Bridget. No relation to the poetry patron saint then?

Happy days

Harry I felt that the mesage was meant for me!!!!!

Looking forward to you finding the other peoms and hopefully sharing them with us. Please stop bye whenever you can even if it is to say Hello, or make comments on the items put on here.

Bye for now

17.48 hrs Spain

I agree with Spanish Eyes, its good to get a mans point of view, and you are obviously good at writing poetry, there are some of mine a few pages back. I write as I am sure you do when the mood takes. But it would be nice to see what poets you admire. Perhaps you will let us know where you are and what time you are posting. its interesting to know where we all are.Forgot to say to Dermot loved the poem, hope to see some more, Have a lovely Easter, at least the weather is good.this is how I sign off

7.25 pm Norfolk UK

22.38hrs Spain

I have been thinking about Army sons' blessing of his marriage, I found this prayer but would welcome others, so I could choose which to print.

Celtic Wedding Blessing:
May you both be blessed with the strength of heaven,
The light of the sun and the radiance of the moon.
The splendor of fire, the speed of lightning,
The swiftness of wind, the depth of the sea,
The stability of earth and the firmness of rock

I particularly like the Celtic connection as the my son is of Irish decent and his wife was born in N Ireland.

Happy Saturday everyone. The sun is shining now so I keeping my fingers crossed that the rain has finally stopped so that my son can take his girlfriend and her son to our famous and wonderful Castle.

Enjoy you day

09.52 hrs Spain

So its stopped raining then Spanish Eyes..weather still great here..Now reminds me of this poem by Robert Browning

O to be in England
Now that Aprils there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning , unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm tree hole in tiny leaf
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England.............now !

And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and alll the swallows --
Hark! where my blossomed pear tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops -- at the bent sprays edge--
That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture !
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little shildhood's dower
---Far brighter than this gaudy melon flower


Isn't that lovely

Found this quotation defining 'Hope' by G.K.Chesterton today:

'The power to be cheerful in circumstances which we know to be desperate'

Nigglynellie, I can relate to this very easily, thank you for posting it.

I am now posting one that My father gave me just as we were in the Wedding Car on the way to Church. I think he suspected that it would not last forever for he also told me" if you have even the smallest doubt let us go home and have a Party"

A great father not always appreciated until he was not with me anymore.

An Irish Wedding Blessing

You are the star of each night,
You are the brightness of every morning,
You are the story of each guest,
You are the report of every land.
No evil shall befall you, on hill nor bank, In field or valley, on mountain or in glen.
Neither above, nor below, neither in sea,
Nor on shore, in skies above,
Nor in the depths.
You are the kernel of my heart,
You are the face of my sun,
You are the harp of my music,
You are the crown of my company

Your Father will always be there for you.

It still brings tears to my eyes and I thought that I had lost it many years ago. Looking through photos with son before he goes back to Barcelona I found it!!

17.26 hrs Spain

Good morning everyone, I hope that you are all well.
There are a few people who have not posted recently so I hope that they are all well. I will be back this evening, out this afternoon to a group of us who started a meeting each month to have a chat, have a speaker, and raise money for local charities. I started as a Masonic meeting but when some people went back to the UK it was decided that there where a lot of people who could not /would not join whilst it remained this type of meeting.
So the same purpose but none of the chants etc......
We all take any small change we have and a gift for the raffle and there is usually a speaker as well........it is a good opportunity to meet up with people who do not live in the same areas.

This morning the sea is once again blue rather than gray, the sun is shining and the birds are twittering. Jet & Joe are on one of the balconies, Jet is in the shade and Joe is fully stretched in the sun.
However just looked at the weather forecast and it is rain again by the end of the week.
I wonder if the sun will shine on the day of the royal wedding.

Has anyone realised the following

Royal Wedding 29.04.2011

Adolf and Eva 29.04.1945
this was sent to me by a friend


Have to go as a friend has just arrived to borrow some of my books. I will be back soon

10.23 hrs Spain

FORGET-ME-NOT


When to the flowers so beautiful
The Father gave a name,
Back came a little blue-eyed one
( All timidly it came ),
And standing at its Father's feet,
And Gazing in His face,
It said in low and trembling tones
And with a modest grace:
"Dear God, the name Thou gavest me
Alas! I have forgot."
Kindly the Father looked Him down,
And said: "FORGET ME NOT"