A Face in the Crowd

20/11/2020 – Poem a Day Compilation



I only saw you for a moment

A fleeting observation

Capturing my heart briefly

Then releasing it once more



Your hair was dark brown

Like rich chocolate cake

And if I’d known you

I’d have wanted to run my fingers through it



Your eyes sparkled like diamonds

Piercing, pale and blue

Cutting through me

Like a hot knife through butter



Your skin glowed in the afternoon light

Radiating a warmth of soul

That I would not see again

For a great many years to come



I only saw you for a moment

A fleeting observation

But you stayed with me

I have not let you go ever since.

Sitting Alone in the Crowd

19/11/2020 – Poem a Day Compilation



Sitting alone in the crowd

Watching the happy faces,

The warm embraces,

The eyes shining so proud.



I pick up my bags

And head through security

Soon I will be free

But for now, time lags.



There’s no one to greet me

At the end of my trip

I must get a grip

And acknowledge I’m solitary.



I head to the station

To wait for the train

The day has been a drain,

I need a vacation.



I sit quietly by myself

and hide behind my book

Knowing I have to cook,

Wondering what’s on the shelf.



I’m not sure I’ll have the motivation –

I may just fall in a heap,

Dinner will surely keep –

And it’s not worth the aggravation.

The Station Master at Caringbah

18/11/2020 – Poem a Day Compilation



When I was a child

My mother didn’t own a car.

She hadn’t driven very far

Since before the day I was born.



We took trains a lot,

And buses, but mostly trains

To school and home again,

And to sport training sessions.



It wouldn’t matter the weather,

Nor the season, nor the occasion,

We would traipse up and down steps

To and from platforms and concourses.



Most staff would give us a smile

Or say hello as we passed them by

Our faces familiar to them

But nothing beyond that.



But one station master was different

He would go out of his way to help,

Stop for a chat with us both

And felt very grandfatherly to me.



Maybe it was because I was young

And all older people seemed that way

Because I’d not had a lot of experience, 

With both grandfathers long since gone.



All I know is that he was nice

And a genuine kind of man

I wish I could remember his name

But it was so long ago.



When it late and dark,

He would keep an eye on us

Making sure nothing happened

And that we made our train safely.



And if the wind had a bit of bite to it

Or it was raining cats and dogs

He’d let us sit in the ticket office

By the heater so we’d stay warm.



He taught me how the indicator board worked

And how to change the destination signs

Without any notion of reward

For the kindness he bestowed on us.



Now I am grown with my own child

Who loves the railways, too.

He hopes to work for the network

And become a train driver one day.



I wish I could have introduced them

Because I’m sure with all my heart

They would have gotten on famously

But I know it’s far too late.

Waiting for Inspiration

17/11/2020 – Poem a Day Compilation



Do not wait for life to happen

When life is what we make it.



Be the person you dreamt of being

By reaching out and grabbing your dreams.



Sitting back and watching the world turn

Will not move you forward in this life.



Break through the fear of the unknown

Like an animal escaping from a cage.



Create the experiences you desire

And do that which brings you joy.



And if you find yourself adrift

Be inspired by what life throws at you.

This Poem is Not For You

16/11/2020 – Poem a Day Compilation



This poem is not for you.

It is for me,

And only me,

Because if you saw it

My heart would break

And I would never want

For you to knowingly

Be the cause of my pain.



I know what I need:

To release you

So I may be released

But I fear not feeling,

I fear the emptiness

That would pervade my soul

When I no longer yearn

For something I can’t have.



This poem is not for you.

It is for my heart

And it’s unrequited love

Because I cannot tell you

My heart’s desire

And the longing I feel

For you to be mine and

Be part of my world.



I am bound, inextricably,

To a feeling I cannot share

So to set myself free

But I do not wish to be free

I cannot exist beyond this cage

That I have built around myself

When it’s all I have left

For my heart to hold onto.



This poem is not for you.

It is a cry into the void

And you are not there

Because you don’t belong;

My world is not your world

And I cannot ask

For you to step out of yours and

Be uncomfortable in mine.



I wish things could be different,

To have this feeling transform

So you could feel it too

But that is not possible:

I am alone in this void

That I have created

When I knew there was no chance

For us to be as I hoped.

On this same spot

15/11/2020 –  Poem a Day Compilation



I stand here

Looking into your eyes

The same eyes

I have looked into

Every day since

We stood here

Twenty years ago

On this same spot

Declaring our love

Would last forever

But we're not there yet

Forever is still a way away

Many years hence forth

Determined

14/11/2020 -  Poem a Day Compilation

Determination, energy, and courage appear spontaneously when we care deeply about something. We take risks that are unimaginable in any other context. – Margaret J. Wheatley



        I



I cannot imagine the determination

Of the women who have gone before me

Who fought for the rights I enjoy

When the odds were stacked against them.



Where would I be without those pioneers

Whose courage in the face of hardship

Granted me the voice I take for granted

Having never had to fight a day in my life?



The tenacity is must have taken

To stand up for equality

To demand what should be given

Without a second thought.



        II



To confront the injustices before us

We must draw on our determination

And use the privilege we have acquired

Until we are all on equal footing.



To protect those still fighting

For that which should be free

We must harness our determination

And be a force with which to be reckoned.



To not know if you would succeed

But giving it everything you have

In the hopes of creating a better world

For those who would come after.



        III



Do not think your freedoms

A burden which you must bear

For that is a grave disservice

To those who paved the road under foot.



Take their strength as your strength

And stand on the shoulders of giants

For they have given you your voice

To use now that they cannot.



Give you voice to your children

So they may continue to create

A future for all people

Not just a select few



        IV



Women suffered for your suffrage

So long denied to them

By those who claimed governance

Based on the genetics of their birth.



Yet, still, so many women

Throw their vote into the trash

For no better reason than

It’s all a bit too hard.



Hard is having no voice

And no recourse to change your fate

While men exercise their power

With no care or concern for you.



        V



Women marched for free movement

Beyond the supervision of the men

Who granted fathers, husbands, brothers

The power to keep you against your will.



If we abandon our will to others

We are little more than slaves

Seeking permission to exist

While those same men seem to thrive.



The success of men who hold women down

Is always predicated on the choices of women

To allow that type of behaviour

To remain unchecked and unpunished.



        VI



Women birthed reproductive reform

Giving us the sexual revolution

And the right to our own body

To do with as we please.



They continue to fight for consent

And to ensure women are believed,

To make the world a safe place for all

And that all women are seen as equal.



And now we must join with them

To be united in our heroism

That binds us together as women

And makes us stronger as people.



        VII



So hold on to your determination

Let it guide you through the night

As a shining light lit by women

Who burn brighter than the sun.



Drink in their determination

Let it overflow from your cup

And may it refresh you in your journey

To maintain the battlefront.



One day we will see the fruits

Of the labour of so many generations

And of so many women

So were fierce in their determination.