Views in Verse on ‘dementia - a two-edged sword’

Dementia

A giving smile designed to assure
All is well within my world
A stifled grimace, seems all too quick to follow
Requests for forgiveness asked
For oft' strained moments masked
Forgotten names, a pain that’s all so hard to swallow

Home-care lost in a whirlwind
Of danger, risk of damage done
Frustration too can lapse into wild curse
Soon to value whatever way
Can be gleaned from each day
Now headed down a road without reverse

Fear of control, a wry factor
In the eye of the afflicted
“Wherever please have my keys and wallet gone?”
A full grieving soft begun
Glossed pride now too undone
Why, oh why, was our beloved 'the chosen one'?

Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in Verse on 'revival'

Saturday Sun

A slip of light does its work 
Stirring a euphoric feeling;
Feet slow to the floor in a soft wide arc.
Unlike other days, I tug at the drapes,
To welcome nature’s greeting.

Time stands still
Walking eggshells to the kitchen;
The kettle generously roars to life.
The din, urban birdsong,
Leads caffeine-fired ignition.

My seat near the window
Reserved for the weekend;
Morning news online to hand.
Skip the email, best advice,
To retain the dreamy trend.

Whatever the week has brought
Rests quiet in its slot;
Fixed firm, different wavelength.
What’s new to read? …sports update?
Raisin toast completes the lot.

From that point
The day builds worth;
Time and duty politely calling.
My new week, now well underway,
Imbued by a soft rebirth.

Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in Verse on 'urban meanderings'

Eggplant 
 

I should have tried Lai’s eggplant
I muse mindless
As I step out to the street
No sooner twenty yards
On down the road
Than who else should I meet
But a bloke I’ve not seen
For all too many years;
The frame unmistakable
But now less steady on his feet

I rabbited on
About how busy I’ve been
The usual...
The pain, the joy, the strife;
He feigned to smile 
On how such trials
Had got the better of his life;
Fate had intervened
While he was busy
Doing other things
Alas too
So, …was his wife

Even before I left his side
I could not help but think
Life comes and goes
Unwittingly in ‘bout the time it takes to blink
I really need to break this mold

I too am getting older;
When next at Lai’s
I’ll give his famous ‘eggplant’ dish
A thorough working over
 
Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse

Views in Verse on ‘lunar thinking’

Eye in the sky

I think I’ll travel to the moon
To try and get a better view
It’s all not much making too much sense from here
Political lies,
Presidential spies…
Democracy frozen, locked somehow,
Pitched glibly into a stalled and stationary gear

While I’m there I’ll look about
To see if I can figure our
How a nation can be transfixed
On one man’s silly whim and beckon call
Looking down though,
No need to frown no…
As I can, first hand,
Check out stalled progress on the
Much maligned sad wall

Views in Verse Grahame J Flynn

Views in Verse on 'monsters in the dark'

Sleepwalking

Moving along these passages
When do I awake
From these dreams?
Best advice is
Whispered soft
"Avoid the dark extremes"

Seasons startled, on the wing
Little change…
You wonder why?
Social comment…
Speaks loud disdain
Yet covers the drier eye

Ambition coupled
To a negotiable god
Brings rapacity of demand
Yet who can declare:
"Enough already!"
In resisting ‘the greedy hand’?

The working poor
Eke out their pleasures
(not enough said of their pain)
The single minded
Too mean of thought
To opine this sad refrain

The ‘six thirty’ pulse
Barks out loud
Much to little or no avail
Insipid witness
To wretched hurt
Can only trigger the pale

But with grass so green
Isolation breeds
Alone in garden sheds
Beyond the roses
Kept secrets dwell
Battered wives in thorny beds

The Church carries on
In lip-sync
Their veil on cruel abuse
Duplicitous dumb-down
Banal bent newsfeed
So casually obtuse

Children behind bars
Politically correct
Awaiting intervention
As murder is weighed
Against arms-trade action
A chicken and egg intention

Whilst whimsical playthings
deny us a view
Of whatever could allay…
Powerful leaders
Ready to war
We, inept, await the day

Reason is duly dulled by slumber
Monsters prowl about in the dark
Resiled from truth
It comes at a price
The demons stamp their mark

Am I duped…?
Or am I sleeping?
Can we rise together again?
Smarten up…
Shout ‘reveille’!
Lest carry-on in vain

Grahame J Flynn Views in Verse