EquineAnn Poetry Stop

[Horsa]

It's 1st of April today.
I hope you had a trick to play.
I hope you didn't get called an April fool.
If you play it after dinner-time you're the April fool is the rule.
It's been nice, hot & sunny today. There was no sign of April showers.
Though I saw a lot of daffodils which are my favourite flowers.

 

[Horsa]

When you think everything's going wrong.
When you can no longer stay strong.
No matter what you think & feel carry on.
Things can only go 1 way for so long.

You've got to have good times as well as bad.
You've got to have happy times as well as sad.
There'll be times when you feel glad.
There'll be times you're glad you had.

 

[Horsa]

When you think all hope is gone.
That's when you need to carry on.
You can get through almost anything if you try.
It's often when you feel like giving in that hard times pass by.
You are often stronger & smarter than you think you are.
If you carry on doing what you have to do you can get far.
You'll have good times as well as bad.
You'll have happy times as well as sad.

 

[Horsa]

Today, as I was gazing at the sky.
I saw a bright, silky butterfly.
It was gliding, soaring, fluttering by.
Then it flew off, it was flying oh! so high.

 

[Horsa]

If I had to make my choice
I'd say the blackbird has the nicest voice.
I love hearing him sing 1st thing in the morning.
I love hearing him sing just as day is dawning.
I love hearing the sparrows, pigeons, doves & wrens too.
I hope you like hearing them as much as I do.
It's nice to lay on a fleece picnic blanket on a hot, summer's day
& close your eyes & listen to birds singing as they play.

 

[Horsa]

Try to remember the good times & forget the bad.
Recall all the best times you've ever had.
Life is too short to argue & fight.
You're not always wrong. Sometimes you're right.
Sometimes not arguing with others stops us from feeling sad.
It stops our dealings with others turning bad.
No one is perfect. We all just do our best.
Always trying to be perfect never lets us rest.
Being a perfectionist demotivates you.
It makes you procrastinate too.
This happens because you think you're hopeless, useless & stupid if you fail.
If you can't live up to your own high standards you go pale.
It's even worse if you've got a fear of success as well.
You think you can't do right for doing wrong & make your own life hell.
Sometimes you just have to set yourself free.
Sometimes you have to be who you want to be.

 

[Horsa]

I dream of a land without any war.
I dream of a world with no spillage of gore.
I dream of a world with eternal peace.
I dream of a world where joys never cease.
I dream of a world where everyone shares.
I dream of a world where everyone cares.
I dream of a world which doesn't revolve around money.
I dream of a world where skies are always sunny.
I dream of a world where nobody's ever ill.
I dream of a world where no one ever has a bill.

I dream of a world where you don't need a means of exchange.
I dream of a world where all these things never change.​

 

[Horsa]

Why do some people insist on doing, saying & having everything now?
Why is it that with some people everything is a perpetual row?
Why can some people never have peace?
Why is it that with some people squabbles never cease?
Why can some people never agree?
Why are some people never free?
Why does it seem as though some people are always wrong & never right in other people's eyes?
Why is it that when some people open their mouths all they tell is big white lies?

 

[Horsa]

This coronavirus is a pain to most folk.
The rules you must follow are a joke.
Some people are sick, poorly, dying.
To carry on living we're all trying
While closures leave some people broke.

 

[Horsa]

Some things in life seem really hard.
They make you feel emotionally scarred.
Sometimes you feel like you can't go on.
Though it's not until you give in that all hope is gone.
You've just got to be strong.
It doesn't matter how many things go wrong.
Things will turn brighter one day.
Some things will go your way.

 

[Horsa]

I want to go back to days when I was free.
I could have been what I wanted to be.
I could have done what I wanted to do.
It wasn't only me that was free, so were you.
We could go where we wanted to go.
The only thing we are free to choose now is what we know.

 

[Horsa]

It's not nice having to stay inside.
It's not nice having to keep to yourself all the tears you've cried.
It's not nice to have to hide the truth.
It's not nice when you can't get things done about how you were treated because you don't have the proof.

 

[Horsa]

We live & learn every day.
Things don't always go our way.
Life is like an open book.
We write it while we take a look.
We look back at what we've done in the past.
Sometimes days appear to go by very fast.
We learn from our mistakes & start anew.
We don't always get a chance to do what we want to do.

 

[Horsa]

There's only so much 1 person can take.
Sometimes I just feel as if I'm going to break.
It doesn't matter what you've been through.
Your best is the best thing that you can do.
There are times when we all need a good cry.
Sometimes we don't even know why.
No matter what goes wrong.
We've got to carry on singing life's song.
We've just got to soldier on.
We can't mourn over all that's gone.

 

[Horsa]

The sun is out & it's a beautiful day.
I can hear children in the garden at play.
Things are starting to go my way.

I'm now able to get most things done.
After that I'll be able to have some fun.
I hope when I do, there will still be sun.

 

[Horsa]

Don't you just hate it that this virus just won't go away?
Don't you just hate the fact it looks like it's here to stay?
Aren't you just sick of having to treat everyone as if they had B.O.?
Aren't you just sick of wearing face-masks everywhere you go?
I guess it's better to do that than have to stay at home.
With them on there are more places you can roam.
I started wearing face-shields instead so I can breathe.
Before when I had trouble breathing in a masks shops & shopping centres I had to leave.
If I was in a shopping centre though I'd find the nearest café & order a drink.
That way I could take my mask off after writing my contact details down in pen & ink.
Some day we'll get back to normal, I hope.
Until then it's learning how to cope.

 

[Horsa]

I'm triskaidecophobic so I think I'm going to have a bad day today.
I don't think anything is going to go my way.
I think I'll have to relax, do things that I can easily rectify & play.

I know we all need to work.
I know we can't always shirk.

Sometimes though we need to pause & take a break.
We can't always work until all our body does ache.
Our feelings we can't always fake.

Sometimes in order to look after others we must look after ourself.
As well as doing things & caring for others we need to think about our health.

 

[Horsa]

We go down life's highway singing & dancing to its song.
As we go we find out where we belong.
We have to bear our heavy load.
Every now & then there's a turn in the road.
Then we can opt to sing or dance to a different tune.
We can turn from the path & walk on the relaxing sand dune.
We can enjoy ourselves along the way.
We can do things to help us enjoy our day.
We can enjoy life to the full.
If we don't want to things can get dull.
Life is short & at some point we have to sing our swan-song.
That's when death comes & bangs its gong.

 

[Horsa]

I wrote this as I realised that most of my previous work was fixated on my thoughts & emotional feelings rather than what I saw, heard, smelt, tasted & felt physically. In writing this I challenged myself to stop living in my head so much & just allow things to be & experience them as they are.

I walk in my garden & what do I see
smiling right back at me?
Yellow roses, red roses, orange roses too.
Purple roses, pink roses & roses of every hue.
I walk in my garden & what do I hear?
The sound of birdsong which fills me with cheer.
I walk in my garden & what do I smell?
A scent nicer than any perfume they sell.
I walk in my garden & what do I feel?
The feeling of grass that my pains do heal.
I walk in my garden & pick some mint?
What does it taste like? You don't need a hint.

 

[Horsa]

I nearly stopped writing a few weeks ago because I was on a creative writing course & the response to the question prompts didn't have a rhyme on every line at 1st. (He said it was supposed to be a poem but I didn't think that.)

This was my 1st response:

Glasgow is the fog, the smog & rain pouring down.
It is like a river, mucky & brown.
Glasgow is Scotland's city number two.
It is the smell of industrial chimney smoke through & through.
Glasgow is Clydesdale horses
It is Paisley print & colourful tartan.
Glasgow is chocolate teacakes.
It is the sound of bagpipes.
Glasgow is a ship.
It is the industrial beating heart of Scotland.
Glasgow is a hammer.
It is a welcome handshake.
Glasgow is industrious & touch.
It is welcoming.
Glasgow is a square.
It sings the song of the Clyde.
Glasgow is Irn Bru.
It is the works of Sir Walter Scott.
Glasgow is all the pride we've got.
It is a horse-drawn carriage taking ship yard managers to work.
Glasgow is a B & B.
It is highland dancers.
Glasgow is foundation.
It is a roundabout.