Each time I called for him he was perfectly ready,equipment checked and in smooth order,pared to essentials. And I, cluttered with gadgets,would clatter behind as he led the way downstairs. In the boat, as befits a sedulous angler,he was taciturn, though between essential wordshe would give that courteous, gentle smilethat was his signature, before his […]
No one
Looks forward to being old and alone,
The carer with a spoon,
Visitor gone
We were eating chip potatoes underneath the April stars
/ That glittered coldly and aloof from earth and earthly wars;
/ We were three…
On leaving
you playfully punched
my left
shoulder…
Three thousand miles and nearly half a year
/ Away from a drab November afternoon, hysterics
/ Of friends forgotten, and also the plain…
It’s been a long time
all the time we’ve spent
and we’ve had such times
wise women
welcome as sunshine
spreading delight
In the depth of winter
/ In the dark of night
/ There was only one house,
/ Only one light.
/
/ I walked down the…
Remembering Tessa Ransford, 1938–2015
/
/
/ When Gavin circulated the news
/ I shed a tear or two that early autumn day.
/ What else…
Allah Dad and Hira Singh,
/ You and I fought for the King!
/ Hajal Moka, Suba Khan,
/ You stood with us, man to man…
Two horses against a hill, / shoulder to shoulder, / one faces East, the other West, / and I think…
Though he that ever kind and true
/ Kept stoutly step by step with you
/ Your whole long gusty lifetime through,
/ Be gone awhile…
