Category: hope

21 Days in 17 Syllables

They are long and short

How time stretches and creases

Distorts memory

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n.b. When life gets complicated how do we keep a grip on what is important?

How do we keep strong? I have a pebble I found over 2 years ago. I keep it with me in my pocket. My touchstone. It works for me. What works for you?

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CLP 12/12/2019

On Money

What is it you need?

A ajunge acasa

Here is your ticket

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n.b. Romanian for “To get home”

Yesterday a friend sought help from family and acquaintances to find out what ailed a young, homeless man.

He had travelled in hope of work to Switzerland, having paid an agent to get him there. He was stranded, hungry, cold and wet.

One of her friends spoke Romanian better than he spoke English. They spoke on the telephone.

When his needs were understood, my friend took him to a café for a meal, bought him a ticket home online and funded him to buy his own food for the journey (including some Swiss chocolate to take back to his wife).

Simply giving cash would have been quicker and easier, but does handing out coins and notes alone change anything?

Can we lift ourselves above personal day-to-day concerns and see, hear and help those with more urgent needs?

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CLP 22/10/2019

Train of Thought

At last I have a moment

As I wait on the platform

My chance to make a few points

About my direction of travel

On a journey that seems to still have some miles to go

I pray

But I cannot be too confident of that

Bearing in mind that there has been disruption to schedules

Delays, diversions and cancellations

Signal failures

Even trespassers on the line

Where am I?

I am on a one-way ticket

Although this has been described by some

As an open return that will inevitably bring me back

To where I begun

If this is the case

Despite travelling light

I may seem destined for the buffers

But I am never alone

The company of fellow passengers

Not all good company

Some first class

We travel together

Most have their own itineraries

Their own baggage

Places to go, people to see

And our passing is a wave and a cheer

I can save time by taking an instant dislike to others

Who one must take care to avoid

When signals are set at danger

Although for a rare few

I discover a destination shared

Who, when a conversation begins

Continue it on the line

And it seems we have always known each other

Although just recently crossed paths

This journey continues

Without undue haste, but not undue speed

Onward travel in hope

Side by side.

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n.b. NaPoWriMo 2019 Day 15 prompt: Write a dramatic monologue.

CLP  15th April, 2019

Snowdrops

As Winter’s fingers

Scratch and claw at our throats

Here flowers sweet hope

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n.b. Galanthus nivalis now found throughout the British Isles, is one of the earliest plants to flower each year. A headache cure of folklore that is now used in some dementia treatments, it is a plant that helps remind us that we are moving steadily, toward the Spring Equinox, although the worst of Winter has yet to come.

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants-and-fungi/woodland-wildflowers/snowdrop/

CLP 16/01/2019