Old Abc Poems

Gratitude

He is not here today, the mantle he wrapped
around his bony shoulders, when there was a chill in the air
is carelessly flung on the sofa
A zephyr...

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The Wardrobe 

I opened the wardrobe door 
There they hang, suits and trousers
worn so long, looking pale
copies of my figure
This can't go on, in a...

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the accident 

When crossing the street, cars had stopped 
to let him cross in respect for his age
He was thinking of death; he hoped it would...

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Nazi time

Uniformed men with ice blue eyes, marched
Up and down the street, bomb fell, earth shock
And I was two years old
An officer with steel rimmed...

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The Cobwebs of Dreams

It was a sunny day, perhaps to clear
I thought
Mother sat in the kitchen sunlight, making her white hair into a halo
I asked...

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After the concert

Now, in the afternoon of my life
My thoughts are about love and romance
These pesky things are disturbing 
My tough exterior makes me soft...

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Winter of Discontent

Cloudiness has settled in the sky
An act of unpalatable truth of the kind
A summer sun easily hides 
Old dwellings are full of cracks...

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Noli me tangere

The elderly man with sad brown eyes
Sat on the terrace looking at the sea
Unable to face up to his many failures
He fantasizes and...

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My old horse 

I had been into town 
Horse and cart
Bought two bags of chicken fodder
Going back to the farm, there are a few steep...

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The Cake Shop
There was a small cake shop near the bath-house
If I had money, I would go in there for a coffee and a cake
the...

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Ghosts. 

I knew of a man who believed in ghosts 
but he didn’t believe in resurrection, 
he believed in dying as an end of all activity 
that was conscious. 
But...

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A Handcart and a Ring 
 
A man I knew had a handcart and became self-employed
I often saw him in the town with a load of parcels...

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The Watershed

There was a time when 45. I thought life had passed me by
I had spent too much time seeing the night train leave.
Through the...

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A sink bucket
Today I forgot to buy milk, drank black coffee 
it is easy to remember the past shines like jewels
It was the winter of 1952,...

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The end of everything

The master of the old tank ship that resembled a schooner
sat fretting in his cabin; for twenty years, he had been
the master...

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