Views in Verse on a change of pace

Views in Verse on a change of pace

A Change of Pace

Take me back to that sunny reach
And that winding steepling road
Back to where you're known
By your family name
And the folk come out to greet you;
Back where horses roam free
In a gallery green and
The cattle rarely do
What you would want them to do
But you don’t let that defeat you!

Where intentions are sealed
On the nod of a head
And the neighbors are there
As your helper, your ally
Your friend;
Where the community is one
Against hardship and
Nature at large,
Always, a supporting hand to lend

Here, I came to be the person I am
With a strong work ethic,
Seven days work, week on week
Can leave you, oddly wanting for more;
While my father
Would break things up
With our ritual trips to Kelly's providors
Where bottle-tops served splendidly
as a mottled bespoke floor

And the sun rises slow
And easy in the east
Across a wide savanna...
As your willing glove crackles hard
So early in your hand;
Until the day's work is done and
The sun sets weary
In a reddened spray
With the locusts
As a one pitch band

To this, I come with my wife to be
As she seeks a new life
'in the tops'
She will relish the lifestyle shifts
And the rewarding change of pace;
Among the shadowed halls of twilight
As one of the fortunate few
Who share a relish for such splendor
In the sheer wonder of this place.

From my desktop Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Hiatus - Views in Verse on change

Change is sometimes nice, sometimes optional, sometimes necessary. The latter is often hard and can be met with fear, denial and procrastination...

Hiatus

Many a slip 
twixt cup and lip
Many ways,
To rise and fall.
Yet, it seems
I've surrendered to a lock-step
A promise of tomorrow,
Simply decided, not to call

What is it...
that shapes our intention?
A hitch-hikers guide...
Designed to amplify?
When all that's left
Unanswered
Of today's tough questions
Is a need for us to clarify...

How to evaluate a failing road...?
Does the chicken
Always make it
To the other side?
Is it ok...
When ugly's smugly smiling?
To simply shrug, shut down
And stay inside?

Next steps can be hard
Given the road you've taken
Got you safe
To where you are today.
While the wondrous maze
We wake up to each morn'
Can leave some: bereft, unmoved, perplexed
With stubborn feet of clay.

The philosophers, lots of them,
Might have some answers
If only we, the will,
Their message to translate.
Suggesting a new perspective
May be all that is needed
To see beyond the troll,
Imagined, standing by the gate.

Some people swear
by their own religion
To advance clear thinking
It can without doubt be said;
While a soldier might, simply, resolutely
Whisper in the ear:
"Get up early, face the day,
...and make the bed."

From my desktop Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in verse on 'such good sense'

Such Good Sense

Slow it down
Slow it down
And slow it down again
Find fifteen minutes
Of your gifted day
Prepare to be the best you can be

This just makes such good sense I feel

See the small things

Minute rhythms
Frost speckled on a spider’s web
Smell the new life
Feel a sunbeam
Kiss your children as they sleepily wake

Heartily drink in
The daytime rhythms
Talk to others in a measured voice
Walk easily and often
Into nearby bushland
For the reward of a bellbird's ‘tink’

Touch the rain
Savour the air
See the treetops respond to the breeze
A running brook
Watch its dutiful dance
Busy at play as it splashes about

Relax with warm friends
In a welcoming venue
Enjoy the open congenial themes
Be astute to their trials
As they witness life’s journey
Extend them the grace that they need

Sitting on a porch
In the early evening
Embrace the gentle changes shift
Hear your breath
Bath in sure moonlight
Recline with a well-trusted book

This just makes such good sense I feel

Views in Verse on 'the natural order of things'

.

DOGS OF WAR

I was so peacefully sleeping inside my little box
When I thought I heard a threatening sound
Better to bark than simply pretend that I’m not there
In the face of louder barkers all around

So I fired off a shot that others might not 'get'
In the hope they wouldn't know from whence it came
Then from a long way off a confronting answer came on back
Someone perhaps in tune with the bigger game ...?

The loud barkers don’t like it when odd strangers interact
It bothers them that they might just get upstaged
I hope they haven’t tweaked that I’m the one who faltered
It’s hell when they get so full enraged

I ventured on out in case I’d overstepped
Not like me to be so concerned about my fate
But in that moment I was frozen in by fear ...!!!
The chance that someone had left open the front gate …???

From my desktop Grahame J Flynn - Views in Verse

Views in verse on the power and the passion

The Universal Soldier

Feel the story of the ages
The spirits living within
A force you sense about you
The heroes, the villains, the kin.
Thundering hooves upon cobble
With weapons drawn to kill...
Dispossessed souls are torn loose
Screaming loud above the din.
So constrained, burdened,
We carry on… afflicted
The call, the brief, the duty
At pains to so endure!

Whatsoever I should lose my way?
Redress me if I stall
But deny me not your access
Enlightenment carries the cure
So armed, we move on
Uncertain if not unsure
While comfort is only a call away
Beyond an imaginary wall.
The stroke inherent in a mother’s touch
The splendour of the dawn
The continuance that we cherish
In the might of a baby’s call.

from my desktop Grahame J Flynn Views-in-Verse

Views in Verse on legends of our time

LEGENDS

The appreciation of the spotlight
The acclaim as they'd walk away
No compromise ever shown
In the things that they’d have to say.
The swagger in the walk,
The confidence in their talk;
Such are the legends of our time

Perhaps it’s the allure of their life
That captivates us so
Or the thinking that they’ll live on
Beyond 'the normal' …yes and no
Never seen as one to 'cut and run’,
‘Fact and fiction’ blurred into one;
Such are the legends of our time

No turning up for work each day
With a lunch-box in the hand
No buses, trains, waiting
In endless traffic jams.
Yet, no re-birthing of the star,
But staying ‘exactly’ who you are;
Such are the legends of our time

Perhaps it’s our perception that

They always knew where they wanted to go
No hunger for second…
Just in 'being the best' …so
It’s the will, the myth, the glory,
To add to our ‘own’ life’s story;
Such are the legends of our time

from my desktop Grahame J Flynn - Views in Verse

Views in verse on emotional leadership

Reason

You remind yourself to seek out the truth
Although often accompanied by pain
Acceptance of what is said 'the norm'
Contradictions ringing loud again
Questions raised of what is right
Being met with contrived denial
While the rivers, they fall, to the sea

Our sense of reason is our greatest weapon
Why compromise instead of call
Stepping back instead of interceding
When what we see isn't just at all
Sleep walking when we should stand firm
There are too many lies being told
While the rivers, they run, to the sea

Emotion can be readily drawn on
But reason should determine fate
While proclamation is a given convention
Weapons of neighbour, church or state
Never raising the thought of wrong doing
Moving so meekly along...yet
The rivers, they rush, to the sea.

From my desktop Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in verse on family ties

Views in Verse on family

Family Ties

They say ‘the greatest gift of all is family’, often we forget that it’s true; for it’s not only an important thing in life; It's in everything we do.

It’s where our story begins and ends and during: we live, we love, we fight; at times in which we lose our way; a brave candle flickers bright.

An anchor during stormy seas; we grow apart; we share the same roots; when into the world new life arrives, and a new branch softly shoots.

Further, the secret to having it all; is knowing you already have more; not the shaky boat you step onto, but the rope that clings tight to the shore.

Ups and downs that’s for sure; yet the dictum ‘we love you no matter what’ permeates your entire being; it's in everything you’ve got!

For family is family

…love will always be there …just because you see

we, many, much more than one together, we make family!

From my desktop - Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in Verse on 'a sentimental view'

Passing Visage: an Australian outback town

The usher to this town, a cemetery;

A dark but warm reminder of

Valued lives lived in measured days

When time was not such a willing driver

A community hall that shines like a penny

Shows there’s caring souls hereabouts

A curio shop in mixed shades of pink

To the tourist, as good as a shout

Comes a block-shaped building

With a sunken awning encased in a mottled blue

Seeming maybe, a grain store once

Or a 'hardware', I’d wager too

A general store with a sign saying 'come on in!’

With plastic streamers against the keen flies

A wide veranda with a long wooden seat

Invites you to settle and just rest your eyes

The picture-show is no longer living

Just a well-loved thing of the past

Like the jaffas, smarties and columbines

You'd eat stingily in a bid to make them last

Now looking very much more like a fortress

With its' well boarded up front door and

With 'faded' promo’s of your western heroes

Was it John Wayne, Cooper or Ford?

A railway station awaits your need

Save the track, that is no longer there

A station master's house that serves for photos alone

No staff to be seen anywhere

A water tower is there as a rusting reminder

Of steamers that long used to run

With a bowser nearby surrendering slowly it seems

To too many hours in the sun

A corner-faced weathered building

Shows ‘bank’ above the one door

With a house at the rear that could serve as a home

Per chance a banker might one day come to call

A stoic brick house way back from the road

All but lost to its captor, the grass

A battered 'Tooths' sign on a fence all its own

Relating to other felled buildings past ..?

The last fleeting glance I get as I drive on through

Is of the pub on the south end of town

With a first floor showing an array of rooms

Where tired miners would once have bedded down.

Up a hill and you’re away and gone

A town you’ll not likely see again

Reflecting a past that was once so fine

Rich with laughter and loose-coupled friends

From my notebook Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in Verse - a hazy tribute to 'the time of our lives'!

Carnaby Street

There was a place in the dawn of time - Where fashion grew from raw design- where new music made its mark - life for a time reflected art - the Beatles a brand new pop - while naughty Stones gave Chuck a rock - a wild 'mod' celebrity scene - that was known for a while as ...Carnaby Street.

Paisley prints, bell bottom jeans - in which Mick could only be seen - the Kinks and Beatles would duly strut their stuff - on a whole new fashion scene - For the women folk, long long coats and short short skirts were the hip - swinging London was the place to trip - it was ....Carnaby Street.

Cat Stevens strode along like the rest - Twiggy showed us her pointy breasts - McLaren and Bennett were always there - showing off their coiffured hair - Dusty showed us her white man blues - Burden built his blues style too - dadaism strikes - free thinking fools - Clapton electrifies Johnson blues!

Sister morphine creates a divide - Bryan Jones simply can't survive - pool swimming wasn't his thing - underwhelmed by talent and drive - arise Sir Keith your time's come to shine - Britt in time brings style to Rod - While music sets the tone to the scene that was ...Carnaby Street.

'England Swings' was right for sure - skin tight shirts and fur coat collars - welcoming the tourist dollars - Beach Boys and Byrds look on in awe - English music tops it all - trad pop still survives - Tom Jones/Englebert set to thrive - Abbey Rd fuelled by vinyl dollars.

Yoko and Paul not aligned - creative heads do spurn - 60's pop now duly stalls - Apple soon free falls - Revolution number 9 - Beatles gone off in their prime - Cream new masters of their time - Winwood blindly offers more... - Moody Blues a lovers dream - an eclectic notion from the Leary scene - bringing fashion to the album face - much more to be had from art and music!

The Bee Gees flew in, the Easies too...Carnaby St scene oh so new - Bees Gees soared, the Easies fell - life is tough, heaven and hell - no defeating Harry & George, a taste was all it took - Marc Bolan next to town - glam rock rockers set to shake it down - Rollers, Sweet, Garry G, all join the the scene...

Bowie takes fashion out of space - Wharhol offers the Duke a place - so off they go to play NY town - Stones create 'live' rock vinyl - ya-ya's concert somehow primal - prancing and pouting Mick - a video dream, which cannot truly as yet be seen. Who have all gone to the moog!

Rod crosses Atlantic as he should - somehow losing Ronnie Wood - Keith and Mick cheering as he goes - Hendrix the new paradigm - just unbelievable in his prime - Woodstock gives us electric divine ..but he takes the 'out door' out of town - a rock angel spreads his steely wings.

Cocker brings hippy scene to dread - not far behind the acid heads - it's all gone Purple, Black and Led - Fashion no longer seems so clean - awake the 'heavy rock' machine - White lightening is the hippest thing in town - Morrison goes to Europe to settle down - George marks his passing - E.J. & Bowie mark new London scenes - An evolving Carnaby Street...

George gets a Python crush - John Cleese becomes Lord Such - Eric Clapton drugged alone, lusted much from his home - Lennon left on the 909 - Ringo promotes the rehab line - McCartney sprouted wings of his own (with ten years of nursery rhymes to follow) - Harrison retired to count his stash - before kindly giving much back ...to the London movie scene - so long sweet taste of honey adieu. This was ...Carnaby Street

Carnaby street - our Camelot - where dreams ...our dreams spiralled - a new generation bent on change - swinging sixties fashion & fame - a stellar psychedelic space - for one brief shining moment that was known as ...Carnaby Street

From my i-pad Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in Verse on - healing powers

Views in Verse on - healing powers

Nature's Tryst

Nature's Tryst

I left home at first light
Into the valley below
A weekly ritual that I just won't dismiss;
The morning is foggy
The rocks quicksilver
The bushland still dank from the mist.
A distant pond,
Now a brief hour behind,
Relish, the allure of nature’s tryst.

A water dragon unmoved
As I pass on by
No fear to cut and run;
As I leave the stream
And turn to the rocks
The fatigue can now outweigh the fun.
Yet, you somehow learn
To savor this too,
As the canopy peels back to welcome the sun.

As I shuffle along the escarpment
The ground still moist
The hillside still a little tricky;
Something now alerts
I glance on back
And what do I fleetingly see?
But a young fox,
Playfully tracking,
Me, from tree to tree.

I look up t'ward my cottage
A line of smoke trailing
A wisp against the grey sky;
Refreshingly tired
My pace quickens
As my hunger renders a smile.
The door now open,
Beckoning inwards,
Time, to kick back and rest for a-while.

From my desktop Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in Verse on - finding one’s self again

Views in Verse on - finding one’s self again
The Discovery

Got on a train, without destination, didn’t know where I wanted to go. In a bid to change my life into something new, perhaps something others wouldn’t know...

Why are we so afraid to be the best that we can be? Is discovery some kind of sin? What we’ve already done, doesn’t need redoing; transformation begins within.

More questions than answers at first it seems; as I plumb the depths of my very being. Getting to know one’s self is an unknown path in what ‘you’ really find most appealing.

Questions rolled into more questions; bewilderment at first can leave one aloof; But joy in life is there for those who command it: it begins with an inner truth…

'Please yourself' in order to best please others, don’t present what they best want to see. Happiness is found in being yourself; not as a harlequin copy of me.

Embrace the contradictions; don’t hide behind the given; Seek out the undiscovered borders, don’t create an invisible prison.

Confidence comes from knowing yourself, shaping your own destiny. The worst that can happen, the very worst, is finding you might be content 'just as me'.

Surrender complete to what gives you delight; find that elusive star. But you won’t need to jump on a run-away train, the answer is right there where you are.

Only by letting go… fearlessly… and then falling to your feet. Will you find that: within yourself is all that you need to be complete.

A paradox though, it must be stated, as a lot of people say: the greatest joy is in the many little things, they already do ...each and every day.

From my desktop – Grahame J Flynn, Views in Verse

Views in Verse on friendhip

Old Friends

Friendships,
Too often fleeting
Only a few of them
Stay with us for life
No one can deny
The odd test along the way
Disappointments,
The joy, the strife.

The secret,
To true friendship
Equates to ‘the giving’ rather than
What we might ask for in return.
Much of it, mutual exchanges
Usually from these, we learn
That none of us is perfect
We're human after all.

At the heart,
Is an understanding...
That when needed,
You will always be there;
Keeping yourself
True to who you are;
Yet, respecting
The bond, that you share.

From my desktop Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in Verse on Innocence lost

Innocence lost

A joyous notion we could live forever, a secret inkling that we could fly;

A simple surety that love conquers all, yet never needing to question 'why'? 

 A child-like innocence lost to us ...the day that John Lennon died.

From the desktop of Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse