1st August 2024 • The HERALD • Page 81 v THE NEXT HERALD IS OUT ON 22ND AUGUST v Poets Corner HERALD RECRUITMENT CROSSROADS by Isobel Smith© There are moments, when in life, A crossroads we must face And will our choice mean strife Or else relax the pace? For looking back what would The other path have brought Maybe a lesser good From lessons we were taught. If, on the other hand, We took the second lane With bays of golden sand And fields of thriving grain. Would people waiting there All on the other track Each welcome us and care So we would not look back? Be happy, never fret, It’s not been all that bad For we would not have met - That would, indeed, be sad. Hythe Marina and Pier by Phil Santus© e tidal lock has kept the water level constant and has kept the boats of weekend sailors safe from winter storms. e houses tower like watchful sentinels over their watery pontoons. e pleasure cra are always waiting, readied for the playtime of their owners, mastheads high as terracotta roofs. Southampton Water yields to docks and ocean liners, huge against the townscape. Outside the bar, the clatter of the train upon the antique pier is heard by drinkers who share the banter of restless lifetimes, and all around them are the creations of their forebears and of their own. George was here before the D-Day landings, come to see the armoured preparations and to deliver kingly admonitions. He himself didn’t have to ght the battles, it was the cigarettes that killed him. Where Bulrushes Wave by David K Wilson© The bright waters sparkle As they flow through the meadow This warm summer morning On their path to the sea The beauty of nature A fisherman’s paradise A river of beauty So scenic and free Along the green riverbank Bright yellow kingcups Along with the buttercups Invite me to stay Bulrushes waving On a mid river island Destined for thatching Looking glorious today Just past the shallows In crystal clear waters Lies a derelict water mill Rotting away A memory of another life Far removed from today’s strife Charmingly adding To the scene here today Further downriver An old weir with eel traps Unused for decades Now rotting away Waters once gushed As valve wheels were opened And the same crystal waters Still flow here today The rivers aroma Takes me back to my childhood Senses are triggered Unused ‘till today My happiest memories Memories of childhood Are of days by the riverside Asleep in the hay It is so good to wander Down memories byways So good to follow This meandering way Where bright waters sparkle As they flow through the meadows On a warm summer morning On this glorious day TEARS! So many tears have already been shed Along this road of pain, fear and dread. Tears of fear for a coming invasion Trampling underfoot a Sovereign Nation. For those lives torn apart the tears now flow For those who must stay and those who must go Tears for the destruction of home and land By a despot with a greed to expand. Tears of men as their wives and children leave Tears of women and children as they grieve. Tears of helplessness for their dreadful plight Tears because there seems no end in sight. Tears shed in anger and frustration At needless destruction and devastation. Tears shed for the welcome on foreign soil For the kindness received after days of toil. Many more tears are yet to be shed At the cost of war through injured and dead. Tears flow from widows, widowers and orphans How else to express broken hearts, ruined plans? Tears shed by those who can only look on Helpless, powerless, in the face of such wrong. Tears forming streams, rivers, flow to the sea I just pray those tears will bring healing to thee! The copyright of all poems that are published in The Herald belong to the author and must NOT be reproduced without their permission Send your poems into The Herald, 2 High Street, Hythe, Southampton SO45 6AH On golden wings of gossamer She flits across the scene Excitedly she sees a mate To carry on her genes Her erratic path through meadows Appears to us quite slow But signals in her pheromones Will mean many males will show Each life a tiny miracle Every stage so intertwined From caterpillar in cabbage patch To the prettiest gown you’ll find A butterfly her life so short Has one aim on her mind To reproduce create new life For those following on behind Not for her our self indulgence Or the greed on view today Not for her the indecisions Or the games life seem to play For her it’s purely satisfaction Just one dream on her mind The continuation of a chapter And continuity of her kind NEW CHAPTER by David K Wilson© by Dorothy Lockyer©
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