The Night Watchman

04/04/2021 - Poem a Day Compilation



Standing at the crease

Way before I should

Holding the fort for those

Who should have come before



Facing the oncoming attack

Tired from the day in the field

My fresh legs ready to run

But not getting ahead of myself



Defence is the name of the game

Making sure I don’t fall cheaply

Just making it through to the close of play

Playing the team game



I can only dream of innings

Like Gillespie in Bangladesh

Knocking out a double century

Before a lack of partners ended it all



For now I stand my ground

Staring down my foes

Protecting my wicket

With all that I have

Cantankerous (Sometimes I think)

03/04/2021 – Poem a Day Compilation



Sometimes I think you’re crotchety

An old man sitting in your chair

Annoyed at the world around you

And taking it out on all of us



Sometimes I think you’re just stubborn

Set in your ways since forever

Unable to change how you live or love

And unwilling to make any compromise



Sometimes I think you’re bloody-minded

Deliberately setting yourself at odds

With the rest of the family

Who only want you to be happy



Sometimes I think you’re ill-natured

From a life too hard to comprehend

And I wouldn’t surprise me in the least

If it played on your mind all too often



Sometimes I think you’re being testy

And it takes little to set you off

Your temper quick to irritate

And you’re becoming increasingly impatient



Sometimes I think you’re simply cranky

Grumbling about all of life’s woes

How nothing ever seems to be easy

And life is one struggle after another



Sometimes I think you’re grumpy

And grouchy and gruff and aggrieved

The whole world seems to be against you

Even if that’s in your own mind



Sometimes I think that you’re crabby

A surly curl to your top lip

Snapping and overly combative

Over even the most minor of things



Sometimes I think you’re temperamental

Prone to bouts of unreasonableness

With your quarrelsome nature overriding

All the good that hides deep inside



Sometimes I think you’re petulant

Like a child who can’t get their way

Arrogantly insisting everyone fall in line

Like a boorish sergeant-major



Sometimes I think you’re obnoxious

Acting out in spite against all who care

Making for many a prickly encounter

When it could have been so very different



Sometimes I think you’re cantankerous

But I know that’s not all that you are

And I must summon all my strength

To make it out from the cloud around you

Discarded

02/04/2021 - Poem a Day Compilation



You threw me away

As if I meant nothing

The days, weeks, months

We had spent

Discarded as rubbish on the tip



I cannot see it

Any other way

That feeling of uselessness

Overwhelming me

And weighing down my soul



You did not want my love,

My heart overflowing,

Anything else I could offer

Rejected all at once

With no thought for me at all



But you should not keep me

Out of obligation

Or to save me

From the world inside my mind

At your expense

Fools

01/04/2021 - Poem a Day Compilation



What fools before me

That cannot see

Beyond the end

Of their own bank account

To a world of wonder

That passes them by

In pursuit of more

Of what they already have

When what is out there

Is far more enriching

Than the accumulation of things

That are no more permanent

Than the memories formed

In the experiencing of moments

The joy of the discovery

The power of the unknown

But they would deprive

Themselves and their own

Of something money can’t buy

All for the desire

Of fool’s gold

When it rains

31/03/2021 – Poem a Day Compilation



I stand outside

The rain falls

Crashing down

On barren soil

Parched too long

Thirsty for more

Cracked and open

Drinking its fill

Dark waters flowing

Over dusty red plains

To oceans full

Along ancient courses

Where people build

Unsuitable houses

For landscapes old

And disasters new

Where lives are shattered

By that rain

As it falls at once

And crashes still

Then flows and seeps

Until barren soil

Is left once more

Ever Since

30/03/2021 – Poem a Day Compilation



Before the light

Before the dark

Before the everlasting love



After the world

After the stars

After the universe flickers and dies



While I breath

While I mourn

While I bear this unspeakable sorrow



Ever since you

Ever since then

Ever since all meaning was lost

The Market

29/03/2021 – Poem a Day Compilation



The closed sign hangs on the door

The market has shut up for good

It’s wares no longer wanted

And custom long since gone



The heart itself lies empty

The windows boarded up

No future here can be seen

A vacant, empty lot