Easter Can Be A Funny Time

This Bloke I Know Is Jesus

I used to see him in the queue

Most mornings at the pool

Knew him just enough to say hello to

Or pass the time of day

Then, perhaps, during swimming

Or in the changing room later

A quiet, unassuming man

With nothing much to say 

I didn’t notice much at first

That his beard had started to grow

To frame his youthful face

And make him look much older

Nor did I pay much attention

As Easter-tide approached

That he seemed pre-occupied

And turned more within himself 

But then I saw him in the street

Bowed and bloodied

A crown of thorns upon his head

Carrying a heavy wooden cross

A crowd following, shouting

Acting out the Passion Play

And its Good Friday journey

To the Market Place Golgotha

Where he was quietly crucified

Among a staring group of people 

Three days later he lived again

And stood there in the queue

Waiting for the pool to open

I couldn’t believe it was really him

And that he had come among us

Just a normal day with its Good Mornings

And desultory chat among the regulars

He still looked like no-one special

He seemed to be an ordinary bloke

But now I knew one more thing about him

That he was Jesus in his spare time

Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2012

The Bob Particle

The Higgs-Barclay

After years of intensive research by particle physicists, and billions of ££ of expenditure at CERN with the The Large Hadron Collider, it has finally been announced that a major breakthrough has been achieved.  At a confidence level of 5-Sigma, which is greater than 99.999997%, the first evidence of infitessimally small particles of remorse & ethical behaviour have been detected at Barclays.  This is the long sought-after, so-called Higgs Barclay, or the Bob (Diamond) Particle.

Banking theory had predicted many years ago that at least one banker must have had a slight pang of conscience about fixing interest rates.  It needed to exist in order to explain the existence of dark matter in the Universe, and also of limited-charge overdrafts, but only yesterday could the theory finally be proved.

There is now a very large concrete bunker with billions of ££-worth of electronics standing idle in Switzerland.  However, it is understood that Barclays have expressed an interest in the site as the new location for their Global Headquarters.  They had been looking for some time for a site where they could locate their international missile silos.

Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2012

Attic Treasure

Attic Treasure

Into the headspace of the house

Unwitting keeper of our careless clutter

Silently sitting above us all these years

Among wires, pipes and tanks

Within piles of soft loft lagging

Lie cases and cardboard boxes

Which hold precious memories

Long suppressed, but not forgotten 

Through cobwebby threads

And the mustiness of dust

A time-capsule of bygones

Are the things of yesteryear

Which were so important many years ago

Hurriedly stashed and stored

With the best of intentions

Against some hoped-for bright new future

That did not came to pass 

There, right at the back

Where the light barely penetrates

Almost hidden from view

The baby’s cot in white-and-blue

Stacked in sections under the eaves

Paint pitted and peeling

Its patterns still visible, but faded

Like the memory of a young life lost early 

Toys casually collected

In the course of a shortened childhood

And kept in memoriam

A model boat, its torn sail hanging loose

A doll that still sits staring, unsmiling

Records and tapes collecting dust

Books with jackets torn

And piles of her clothing

Quickly removed from her bedroom

And the rest of the house

Tearfully pushed out of sight

And out of mind

Before you came home again

So that you should not see them anymore

Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2012

Evening Colour

I love the countryside this time of year - the colours are just so vivid.  I've tried to capture it here.

Evening Colour

Where the road sweeps left

Winding through tall budding hedgerows

Cutting, for a moment, the view ahead

The rainfall gathers

In flat glistening pools and puddles

Catching the slanting rays of the late Spring sun

Glittering, reflecting golden light

Too blinding to observe 

Then swinging right again

Emerging from the tree-lined tunnel

In to a greater open space

That shows the glory of the sky

Wide, deep, darkly blue, strongly bruised

Piling up above the fresh-ploughed field

Thick, large furrowed

Deep black-shadowed lines

The gouged earth itself nutty brown 

And on the other side

The wet, rich emerald green

Of freshened pasture-land

In the rolling landscape

Intense, brilliant, sharp

And here at the field’s edge

The young calves stand near the gate

Leaning, lolling heads in to the lane

Curious, wide-eyed, lowing 

And far beyond all this

On the distant, rising fields

Wide sweeps of brightest yellow

Gashed across the picture

Acres of alien rape-seed stalks

Throwing up a background stripe

Which brightens up the glowing vista

Between the twisting road

And the massive sky

Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2012

Don't Let The Bastards Grind You Down

Rebounding

I cannot just lie here

And take the weight bearing down on me

Or allow myself to be flattened

Crushing out hope and breath

Pushing me further down

Into a cold, black despair 

I will not let myself be defeated

Lose my self-belief

Nor have my spirit broken

By those who would shatter my ideas 

I will fight back every time

Against defeat and disappointment

Despair and deep depression

And I will rise again and lift my eyes

To stare back into the face

Of those who would put me down 

I will bounce back

Re-new, re-start, re-boot

Re-fresh and re-assess

Taking in my stride

Whatever puts me down

Re-framing things in right proportion

And their correct perspective 

I am better than that

So I will get back up again

And dust off the dirt of disappointment

I will reassert my determination

Replace my rose-tinted glasses

Upon my face

And show that I am resilient

Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2012

What Will Our Children Say?

Here's today's less-than-entirely-cheerful poem on the coming planetary Armageddon.

What Will Our Children Say?

What will our children say

When they look back at us,

From the vantage-point of their tomorrows,

Towards their empty yesterdays?

Will they understand our lack of action,

The time we wasted with indecision,

And let things drift from year to year,

Missing all those warning signs? 

What will our children say

When they see that we could not agree,

And how we fought amongst ourselves,

Bickering, procrastinating,

Caught in many minds,

Snared in short-term self-interest,

And how we dithered and deliberated,

As things got worse and worse,

Just calmly carrying on,

Always hoping for the best? 

What will our children say

When they look at what we did,

How we didn’t even try to change things,

But carried on regardless,

With pure blind faith in new technology,

Looking blithely to the future,

To provide the answers

That we could not find today? 

What will our children say

About our undirected course,

With no hand upon the tiller,

Drifting towards oblivion,

Worrying only about the cost?

How will they ever comprehend

How we let things get this bad,

Used up all Earth’s bounty,

Exhausting our lonely planet,

Leaving a dirty, dried-up cinder

To circle round the Sun?

Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2012

News From Bromham - Dateline Sunday 1st July 2012

Bulletin From Bromham: Dateline – 1^st July 2012

Here is our weekly round-up of events from Bromham:

·         Outrage was expressed this week when it was discovered that members of the Field Land Owners Party (FLOP) have been conspiring over a number of years to fix the exchange rates for broccoli and green curly kale on the Devizes Spot Market.  Ted Willybanned, leader of the Carrot Rooters’ Action Party (CRAP) commented that this was a Wiltshire-wide scandal and represented a low point in the endemic culture within the whole vegetable trading business.

·         The Bromham Open Tennis Championship got under way beneath cloudy skies at the All-Bromham Social Club.  All Bromham players were knocked out in the first round, except for Randy Flurry, who is actually from Devizes, but for the purposes of local reporting, hails from Bromham borders.  His third-round match broke all previous records for the latest-finishing game in Bromham’s history.  Local residents surrounded the court holding torches and candles until way after their normal bedtime of 9pm so that the match could be completed.

·         Proposals have been put forward for reforming the upper chamber of the Bromham Parish Council.  It has been suggested that the long table on the left-hand side should be moved to a new position against the back wall, and that several surplus chairs should be stacked in the corridor outside.  A debate, and a vote, will be held in the Parish Council when they all get back from their holidays.

·         For details of these and all other Bromham stories, don’t forget to listen to local radio station Carrot FM.

Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2012