After that flurry of activity this week, let’s calm things down with the anniversary poem that I promised:
A Dozen Anniversaries
A dozen anniversaries
A dozen raucous cheers;
A near half-dozen nurseries
We’ve needed through the years.
How rich has now our life become,
With two souls side by side?
We are now far more than our sum
Now our old selves have died. Continue reading
So, I wrote something nice for my wife’s birthday, then looked at it again and decided it’s much more of an anniversary celebration than a birthday poem, so I’ll save it for then (next week).
This is what I cobbled together for her birthday:
Loving Mother
Loving mother, faithful friend,
Wife beloved without end;
Another year we have been blessed
To know you and we’ll do our best
To make you smile and let you know
That all your efforts here below
Are valued up on high and here;
Please stay with us another year,
So we can give you love and cheer
And show you, our sweet Mummy dear,
How much you mean to all of us,
And to the One that we all trust. Continue reading
It’s going to be my wife’s birthday soon, and I haven’t thought up a poem for that yet, so here’s a song I wrote and sung for her one year. She couldn’t stop smiling all the way through, for some reason…
Would it help… ?
Would it help if I told you that I loved you?
Would you take me at my word If I said you’re my precious one?
Could I claim to be your friend, to be faithful to the end?
Maybe, but actions speak louder than words,
You know, actions speak louder than words. Continue reading
Alright, I’m back from my trip, and since the publication of Nobility Among Us is drawing near, I thought it was about time to share this poem with you all; the first two stanzas are quoted at the start of the book. I will be posting further updates and a sample chapter or two over the next few weeks.
What Makes a Man a Noble?
“What makes a man a noble?
What sets a soul apart?
Is it breeding or upbringing
Or the depth of his own heart?
“What forms a mind of greatness
That triumphs through its toil?
Whose memory will not be lost
When buried in the soil?” Continue reading
Another oldie:
Eight Years On
Who can doubt the wisdom
Of the yes I said that day;
With all the gifts and blessings
That have since come my way?
Your love is so astounding,
So deep, so strong, so free;
Most baffling of all is that
It’s fully aimed at me. Continue reading
This year I managed to do the following to both my brother and my sister, so I wrote this by way of apology:
What Forgetful Brothers Do
They mean to call you on your birthday,
They find they can’t get through,
Then what happens next
Is what forgetful brothers do:
‘I’ll email them tomorrow’,
They decide, and so they ought
But when tomorrow comes around,
Life’s crowded out the thought. Continue reading
As is tradition, each year on the anniversary of the first time I emailed the girl who is now my wife, I write her a poem and send it to her on the 1st of May with instructions to read it on the 2nd. Here is this year’s effort:
Thirteen Email Years Ago
Scattered thoughts, deflated hopes,
My lonely soul was on the ropes.
Resigned to life without a love
And then He sent one from above.
He used an unexpected route,
No lightning bolt or vision cute.
Instead a boy who liked to tease
And made us both feel ill at ease. Continue reading
One from last summer, about my fourth son:
Walking
Taking my baby for a walk.
Enjoying the shadows that play across his sweet little face
As we move in and out of the trees.
A gentle breeze rustling the leaves, distant birdsong,
The calm clatter of pram wheels along the cobbled path.
Watching the curious look in his innocent eyes
As he takes in the scenery passing by.
Is there any moment more peaceful, more wonderful,
A greater advert for life?
The only way to make this memory any better
Is to share it with you.
Another older one:
Ten and One
Ten and one strange years ago,
I took a crazy chance
To venture down an unused road
And learn a foreign dance.
Not knowing what to do or say
I stumbled best I could
Nervous tension slowly changed
To foolish hope of good. Continue reading
Once strong hands now tremble as they grip the spoon,
Once sure feet are now afraid to fall.
A once sharp mind now struggles to place a face,
Once sharp eyes are now blurred by misty flaws.
A once proud man now lets himself be helped from bed,
A once proud band is now reduced to one.
The once life of the party now sits and ponders what went wrong,
Where have all the years and all the heroes gone? Continue reading
The Zwyckyverse 