To Do List

What I must do is digitise
Or should that be 'prioritise'?
I need to check the kids for lice
I must get 'cats' to deal with 'mice'
"Please buy some prawns for my fried rice"
I'd like some coke served with my ice!
My life just flashed before my eyes
Stripped of all clever disguise
The day out there looks jolly nice:
The pastures green under blue skies

The Dream

I drew my sword - its blade shone in the light
of a full moon in a cloudless night
when every star was there to witness
my certain death: oh, I was short of fitness! -
and of skill.  Only my heart was greater,
but of that fact I would learn later.



Now I've slained my foe, an empty feeling
comes over me as daybreak finds me kneeling - 
Neither in thanks nor to proclaim God's glory,
just to recall the fight and craft a story:
for when I see my foe I realise
the corpse is me - Victory my demise.

12 May 2014

Catch mice

Do not go chasing butterflies
Instead catch mice
And bring them to your lair

They’re good to eat
And entertaining fayre

But do not look
Into their little eyes

Lord Turton (1851 – 1913)

Bifocales

Porque un día sorprenderé a mis enemigos
y aún más a mis amigos.

Pintaré de blanco las paredes
y de rojo los tejados.
Barreré los rincones de mi mundo,
incluso los más remotos y olvidados.

¿Cuándo sera? No lo sé -
Cuando el corazón alce vuelo
Como una linterna china
y mi sangre sepa dulce como infantil golosina
y mis ojos miren claro
con sus lentes bifocales.
Cuando lea los periódicos
- pero sólo los locales.

Irimenage

The centre of the world is in the mind
and in the mind the boundaries of wisdom
The rest is flailing limbs, extended arms
Looking to absorb and blend and do no harm
The centre of the mind  is in the world
I think as I am thoughtfully hurled

Wings

Angelica, spread your wings
and to blue heights fly and soar
while I, with a mighty roar
my offerings to you I bring
for you to take and transport
to your priestly feathered nest
where, with mouths opened like rings
await your hopeful offspring
for you to regurgitate
the food stored in your chest

Cat toy

My cat would love with this to play

Because it shines and rolls around

And makes a crunchy, intriguing sound

As should all self-respecting prey

Witness

The bird that’s wounded in flight

Flaps its wings but falls to earth

It is an arresting sight

We know it falls to its death

Divertimento dietetico

I have been told my diet is too greasy

But to eat healthily is not so very easy:

Gorging on fruit this morning made me queasy

My lower abdomen is sounding rather fizzy

Divertimento dietetico

Peru IV 038, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

I tell myself I will be strong:
To have a snack,this late at night
I full well know it would be wrong
But I cave in: it tastes so right!

Divertimento

Jun08 073, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

Angélica, a tu contienda
voy con la espada en la mano:
Voy para hacer mucho daño
Sin propósito de enmienda

The Delegation

micas calling card 2, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

A delegation of besuited men
Walks through the shopfloor with clipboards in their hands
Their hair is grey; their skin is lightly tanned

They leave the stage the very way they came
Chatting amiably and drawing up grand plans -
Comparing notes, cufflinks and fountain pens

Canapes await them in the Boardroom
Sparkling water will have been poured in their glasses
Out of green bottles like an army of enslaved genies

We expect so very little

Arte Poetica

Photo0028, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

I wrote a poem: its 'boom'
as hollow as an old drum's
but I couldn't give a damn
as it filled up the whole room

Spring Love

IMG-20120513-00170, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

Love in Spring: whatever was I thinking?
I must remember no more to go out drinking
and read my book instead
until my face goes red
and blithely ignore the mobile phone that's ringing

Dos gatos

2012Feb12 029a, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

Ya dos gatos se pasean por mi casa
Los estantes de libros se convierten
En gimnasio en el que se divierten
y mis muchos adornos amenazan

Ya dos gatos se persiguen por mi alfombra
Las cortinas escalan cual piratas
A la caza de imaginarias ratas
Que se asoman en las numerosas sombras

De mi sofá de cuero toman posesión
Con mis zapatos ensayan sus batallas
De una mochila escolar hacen guarida

Impredecibles y adorables canallas
Sólo me buscan si falta comida
Soy su sirviente - que no haya confusión

Campo minado

Ojalá se prenda el foco
y que en el momento clave
mi mente encuentre la llave
para deslumbrar un poco

Ojalá en mi hora de prueba
cuando esté frente a mis jueces
el ardúo esfuerzo de meses
me otorgue victoria nueva

Que no me tiemblen las manos
Que no se trabe mi lengua
Que no deserten mis ojos

Que busquen grietas en vano
Los que hoy buscan mi mengüa
Y sólo saben de abrojos

Midwinter visit to Blenheim Palace Butterfly House

How well you flutter your wings
     Magnificent butterfly!
  I see you and I want to cry
    Because I long for Spring

============================

   ¡Bate tus alas cual fiera,
      Magnífica mariposa!
   Al verte mi alma solloza
 porque aún no es primavera

Sebo de Culebra

Ya no me vendas sebo de culebra
No me cuentes historias de piratas
No pongas más veneno para ratas
Erradica mejor la mala hierba

Ya no me embrolles en pobres esquemas
No me llenes la tutuma con canciones
Déjame manejar mis emociones
No trates de venderme tu sistema

Tu sebo de culebra ya se quema
En la hoguera de las desilusiones -
Su luz me guía, triste, a mi destino

Tus historias también en la fogata
Alimentan las llamas que me guían
Por este valle gris en que camino

Preparing for Spring

Xmas 2011 096, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

A tree solemnly left behind another year
Amidst the lines the plough has drawn on the hill side
A tree that seems to sail up the time tide
Never too far from me, never too near

I look upon the lonely tree and fill with fear
That I should find one day I must preside
Over a barren field on a hill side
Bereft and left by those I now hold dear

Shaking my head, I take a firm step
and let the ground beneath me set me free
and take me back to now, and to my loved ones

Seasons will come, farmers will sow and harvest
I will again walk by this solemn tree
But never more will I find it so poignant.

Your first Kindle

Reading your holiday spend
Without having to be sorry
That your books will fill a lorry
Just for a single weekend