Highgate Cemetery - The Famous Dead

We who pay to wander - the curious

to gaze at the graves of the famous dead 

sleep well famous dead people 

rest in your forever sleep

don't mind us - us who pay to come and nose at your final resting places

you once famous in your chosen fields

you who's names live on

amidst the grand - and the humble plots

where your bones

entombed in time worn stonework lay

where the foxes scavenge

squirrels play

door mice nest

and the weeds grow 

choking your memories 

ivy covered sentiments

caring verses carved

dates

names

you - famous dead people 

all that time has taken from us

Who were you - famous dead people

and who are you now?

For all the grandeur of your tombs

who are you now - if not dead?

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(Haiku)

Paying ten pounds to

see the grave of Karl Marx. He

wouldn't be happy

The Yesterday's of Tomorrow

tomorrow has yet to come

but

today 

you find yourself reminising on all the 'yesterdays' you once had 

those 'yesterdays' that brought you happiness and joy

only...

don't over-look the happiness and joy that 

today will bring 

they will be there 

and then...

then these become the memories

the happiness and joy

that will make 

the 'yesterdays' of tomorrow 

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Made a Home

We didn't the plot 

find

foundations dig

concrete pour

we didn't

the mortar mix

the bricks to bind

a wall to make

the wood that 

on its back

carried the tiles

stayed strong 

us 

dry inside

we didn't

the glass 

place

in a frame

a window makes

the cold and the wind stay away

us 

kept warm and dry

We grew

flowers

planted - grass

lawn mown 

plot - our plot

tended

security made - safe

we loved

we grew love - warmth of heart

foundations 

emotional - foundations 

grow - a nest built

a place

to return

to

call home

where our flock 

grew

here 

then fledged

to the world - discovered

we 

made a home 

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A Plaque Of Our Very Own

Hiding behind walls and locked gates

the expensive headland houses

cling to the very view that adds to their price

clad in Cornish slate 

keeping the consequences of that view safely at bay

so that those who are able to afford 

can stay warm and snug inside -

should they ever chose visit.

Walk down past a pole groaning with signs

"Private road!  No cars, no parking, no cycling!" 

past the many benches 

smothered with plaques

reminding us all of our own fragility 

the path taking us to the very cliff edge 

towering over a beach 

made from layers of ancient folded volcanic rock

waiting to take us if we fell!

The shiny new lifeboat station looks on knowingly from across the bay

looking for all the world 

like it's face is in shock

waiting to disgorge its lifeboat 

a crew ready when called if we do fall!

Amidst the rugged beauty - there is danger!

In the distant

the tide turns 

readying itself to charge in once more

like bull to do battle 

with the structures we build

walls and houses  - the very beach isn't safe

these places we love 

these places are vulnerable 

like we are

...maybe we could have a plaque on a bench of our own

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War Is Never

I am a pacifist 

I believe war is never the answer 

I believe one life lost in a war 

is one too many.

I was never a soldier

I never fought in a war 

I was never pushed out of the back of an aeroplane

to dangle by a thread

dropping to a probable death

high over enemy held territory - and neither was my father.

He and his father - my Grandad

lived in a pit village

my Grandad worked in a coal mine

coal mining was a reserved occupation 

and as such

miners were not called-up to fight for their country in conventional ways

he worked to dig out coal 

the coal the country needed to fight a war

for its power stations

power for its factories 

factories to make munitions 

munitions to fight a war

coal to power the trains to get it to where it was needed

so my Grandad was never a soldier either- unless you count being in the 'Home Guard' as being a soldier

ready in the evenings and weekends when he wasn't working at the pit

he never belonged to a regiment 

he never fought and died in a famous battle

he never lost endless comrades.

he never got any medals

and is not buried in a far off land

Now don't think I don't care

don't believe I can't see what those who fought and died - gave

for I know so many gave everything.

My relatives gave

but they gave in a different way.

My thinking is shaped by my history 

as much as yours is too

I don't sit and muse over my Grandparents medals - as perhaps you might

I don't have their uniforms in my loft

nor have I copies of their war records.

If you think harshly of what you've just read - read my words again.

...I believe war is never the answer.

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