by James Bickle
Secret plans and clever tricks
To unearth the must have coin
Top priority news gained
The fairs in the field for five days
Saturday morning the friends meet
Skipping and running down there
Music and multicoloured lights
Mexican hat and ghost train
Chairs are flying in the air
Upside down and heads high up
Exhilaration and excitement
Like never been felt before
A crowd in the electronic arcade
Money tumbling from pockets
Bright flashes and beeping
Look at Space Invaders graphics
In 1984, it was all we knew
Melting fudge and appleade
Cone of chips with candy floss
Us children laughed in fun
Time had ticked along well
It was the best of days
Requiem
Serious and stillness
So the mourners shuffle
Pain repressed and expressed
Tearful eyes and ashen of face
The church a spiritual place
Sunlight shining through
The cross enlightened
Pipe organ music plays
Sending up into notes
The words, too sad to say
A kindly life the mortal lived
Genuine family and friends
Respectful and solemn
The just and right servant
Now made perfect and glorious
From the ruins of the loss
Raised up victorious anew
Let your sadness and grief
Begin to fade and heal
Truth gently washing it away
The followers of God
Defeating death each time
Like a chrysalis to a butterfly
Freed from the chains of flesh
Finally home, in peace forever
World War 2 Pilot
Roughly shaken from sleep
Bleary yet leaping to alert
Jump in and buckle up
Pistons thunder into life
Roaring runway flying start
Pilot commanding the steel
Navigator over the deadly payload
Nerves both men refuse to feel
Despite their survival chances
The same as ration tobacco
40 miles from Hitler’s Berlin
Focke-Wulf bombers are in sight
Spitfire steeply drops and turns
Belting out machine gun rounds
Enemy bullet holed and bitten
Other planes fighting in fury
Blinding smoke and sky on fire
Arriving and obliterating the targets
Buildings crushed and smashed
Pilot grim-faced at wars triumph
Resident Patient
One doctor declared she’s mad
Others shook learned heads
And said, no she’s just bad
The kindly and sympathetic wept
And said, take pity, she’s so sad
Horrors terrible the patient had once seen
Her sense of right and wrong
Had been melted, tripped and gone
A confidently warped world view
Her mind had constructed to protect
Not perpetrator but perjury
Was how she spun her trial
But it was a hopeless ploy
The jury grasping she took joy
And delight, in those cut and destroyed
Years had turned since the awful crimes
She convinced the hospital board, I’m fine
Released to circulate, lowered security
A sharp she stabbed into serving cook
Look, the patient laughed, lucky me
Part Four
The Garden
I sit in the garden
Cos there's fresh air and sun
Hoping for some peace
Now and then people walk by
A lady, drunk and pale
I do want to help
But it’s not so easy
A resident's on the run
Police arrive four times a day
I look at them through shades
Are those guns? No they're Tasers
Women pull up in ageing cars
Shouting at their children
I pull my hat over my ears
And put on more sun block
A criminal walks past
I perform a polite greeting
Keeping my tone held back
So as not to suggest he's junk
The postman barges through
'Got no work to do' he says crossly
I don't let his assumptions hurt me
'It's my day off, I have a job' I say.
My phones playing classical music
An attempt to silence the lot
I think, hoping my thoughts
Will take me far away.
I sit in the garden
Trying to cheat all this
To get a little peace
Winter Walk
Step out into crystal winter
Wrapped, muffled and warm
Faces cold and glowing red
Icy paths, gently you tread
In wonder at the snow
The couple, giving names
To lots of birds and trees
Two more, leaping from leads
Golden and large bounding past
Little Russell blisteringly fast
Branches freed of leaves
Bracing airs swirling breeze
Greeting silvery haired pairs
Meeting a frail and lined lady
Who speaks of a hearts struggle
Crackle and crunch you hear
Whilst walking on frosty grass
Reminisce into the hazy past
Stories told and jokes shared
Best of times, memories that last
Sledges launch as riders laugh
Look at the glorious moors
Drips and drops, slightest of thaws
The trip out, nothing like a chore
Kind of sad, to go back in the door
Decisions
Try to enjoy life, journeying on and up
Or get stuck in gloom, advocating doom
Think smart and plan for a long future
Or pleasures for today, pain for tomorrow
Dance along to life’s great beat
Or look at the floor and stay off your feet
Tell tall stories and think you revel in glory
Or aim to stay away from blame
Be honest and do your best at work
Or take it easy and leave kind of early
Cook up the books and hope nobody looks
Or record what’s real, it’s wrong to steal
Construct weird inner, emotional walls
Or seek out the cause and save the falls
Crumple and give into the seven deadly sins
Or endeavour, and be one of those who wins
Taking the right decisions may be tough
But the rewards won’t ever grow old
Forget
earth’s foolish measure of success
Frame your life with an eternal plan instead
Inner Conflict
Sometimes the days, seem carefree
In any means they pass quickly
Settled routines and fixed up values
No drive or care to question
Yet there’s this endless doubt
You tell yourself there’s more
You know that bit buried
Inside that won’t stop trying
Every day nature screams
Out this undeniable proof
Clever ruses and ideas
Explain it away, and the fall
Brings about trouble too
Courage, effort and honesty
Will break down these doors
And eternal life, it’s yours
Earth
Hurtling and flying along in space
It lives on the outer edge of the Milky Way
A colourful and radiant jewel
Coupled with a dutiful moon
Massive seas with living creatures
Flowers and plants and forests
Every type of tasty fruit abounds
Vegetables great in the ground
Giant volcanoes, imposing mountains
Thunderous waterfalls and peaceful places
Wonderful and natural sights
Worth travelling far and wide to see
Have you seen the multitude of animals?
So many, new ones still being found
At its best earth is warm and kind
At its worst earth is cold and cruel
Earth is like a coin with two different sides
You can make a holy allegiance with the fair side
Or an unholy bargain with the foul side
I urge you, put your money on the pure side
Heaven
The promised land, the perfect home
God is there walking with his people
No night or darkness in his heaven
For the Lord is the wondrous light
A new heaven and a new earth
The skies sing out his goodness
The holy city built with eternal love
All roads leading toward the throne
Drink at the eternal fountain
Living water that heals all wounds
Merry angels and men give thanks
Women singing the song of the saved
Infinite peace, paradise endless
God with us, his name Immanuel
Pain and sickness don’t exist there
His people living in rich reward
Everlasting beings, made by a King
His people rejoicing in the delights
Music and dancing and happiness
Faithful and true is Jesus Christ
This book is dedicated to my son, Finlay.
Copyright © 2012, 2013, James Bickle. All rights reserved.