Two People

31/01/2021 – Poem a Day Compilation



I saw two people dancing

Upon a wooden bridge

As in love today

As the day they met



No music played

But they kept in time

And danced a joyful waltz

To the sound of water running



Again, I saw them dancing

Upon the wooden bridge

Smiling and laughing

Like giddy teenagers do



But these were no teenagers

Their spritely years long gone

And though they looked their age

Their hearts beat like they were young



Every week I would see them,

They love so simple and pure

And it would remind me

Of all that was good in the world



Then one rainy afternoon

I saw him dancing on his own

Still in perfect time

And still with so much love



My heart broke as I watched

For a man I didn’t know

And never had I so wanted

To be able to extend my hand



Not to offer a handshake

Or to pull him in for a warm embrace

But to join him in his lover’s waltz

If only for one day

A Letter to Myself

30/11/2020 – Poem a Day Compilation



If I wrote a letter to myself

From me as I am now

With all the knowledge that 40 years brings

To my teenage self

Who thought they knew it all

And probably wouldn’t listen

It would go something like this:



Say yes more often when you’re young

But not so much when you’re older

Opportunities should be grabbed by the horns

But as we get older, time becomes precious

And knowing what will bring you joy

And what will bore you to death

Is a wonderful skill to have.



Don’t worry about what people think of you

Because most of those people won’t matter

Not in five years’ time, nor in fifty years’ time

So, choose wisely whose put downs you hear

Take the insults with a smile

And be gracious in victory

Because everyone battles their demons differently.



Follow your dreams wherever they may go

And don’t let anyone try to pigeonhole you

Into being someone or something you’re not

Because you’re a long time an adult

And doing something you don’t want to do

Just to pay the bills

Is hard slog until retirement.



Find your people

The ones who make you shine

From the inside out

And who share your excitement

Even if they don’t understand it

Because having someone there

Who offers that is magic.



Don’t let the excuses you make for yourself

Tie you down or hold you back

When you know what you’re capable of

When the world is your oyster

And when it’s your own voice betraying you

Because you could be great

If only you let yourself try.

The Architect

20/08/2020 –  Poem a Day Compilation



I’ve always wanted to be an architect,

Ever since I was a little child,

But circumstances conspired against me

And I chose a different path.



I wish I could go back

And offer my teenage self advice

To follow your heart

Instead of what you feel obliged to do.



I would have told myself to work harder

Because it’s something I’ve come to regret

And now it feels impossible

To reach for that dream again.

Growing Older

29/04/2020 - Iso Well-Being Compilation



George Burns once said that

You can’t help getting older,

But you don’t have to get old,

And I think that may be the philosophy

By which I have been living my life,

Except that I’ve always framed it

As the difference between getting old

And growing up.



I’ve never felt the need to grow up,

To let go of the childishness

Of play and wonder and creativity.

And speaking to my mother,

She often says to me that

She’s never felt like a proper grown up,

And I wonder if any of us really do

Or if it’s just a delusion we perpetuate.



We worry about the ravages of age,

The frailty and the infirmity of the body

And the degradation of the mind,

And if we would want to live that way,

With a mind trapped in a broken body

Or a willing body but a mind erased;

Could we not have a finite existence
And know our end date in advance?