When Sunday came, with strong footwear,
warmed by the words of Bolton’s mayor,
from Halliwell to Smithills Moor,
we followed those who walked before,
and fought for access, just and fair.
Anticipation everywhere,
one thousand hopes that filled the air,
in celebration of outdoors,
when Sunday came.
On Winter Hill, together there,
still talking of a fight to share,
this treasured land of mine and yours,
places, spaces, we might explore,
with rights to roam and breathe clean air,
when Sunday came.
Categories:
halliwell, celebration, england, environment, history,
Form: Rondeau
I started watching Charmed - when it first came out.
That I fell in love with it - there really is no doubt!
I believe it called out - to my Spirituality!
Time and time again - it brings me so much glee!
I almost gave it up - when Prue Halliwell died!
And yes - I admit it - on that episode I cried!
But curiousity got the best of me - so I went on to season four.
I'm so glad I did - because it offered so much more!
The Producers did a lot of research - but added fiction too.
The inaccuracies in the show - are minor and just a few.
I must be addicted - because I have all the seasons numbering eight.
It's like I'm drawn to it - maybe even by fate!
If you're ever at my house - come over and take a look.
Because I can even show you - many a Charmed book!
I even know some of the lines - of the show by heart.
From this series - I know I'll part!
People that know me - sometimes get quite alarmed!
That after all this time - I keep going back to Charmed!
They don't understand - that this show brings me so much pleasure!
And to me it is - most definitely - a unique kind of treasure!
Footnote: My second favorite TV series is "Leverage".
Categories:
halliwell, dedication, devotion, faith, family,
Form: Rhyme
THE HOURGLASS
Frank Halliwell
The sand runs swiftly through the glass
For me as well as you,
The lines etch deeper every day,
My mirror proves it's true.
We're here for just a little while,
A mere instant in time.
A single flutter of a heart
In life's great pantomime.
The act of birth; a miracle!
...A death sentence as well!
For just beyond the wondrous joy..
The tolling of that bell.
Old age should not a burden be,
Though we may feel that's true.
...Consider it a privilege
That's granted to a few.
***
Categories:
halliwell,
Form: Rhyme
CHESS
Frank Halliwell
The king, the Queen, the Knight, the Pawn.
All wonder where their friends have gone!
The Bishop from his church will stray
It can't be done another way!
And down the side a stealthy Rook
Attacks from cover, by the book!
Protect the King, up goes the shout!
We'll turn the castle inside out!
Boots clatter loudly down the halls
And echo from its granite walls
Let down the drawbridge, close the gate!
All drawn and quartered be his fate!
For if we find him here within
He will pay dearly for his sin
King's knights surround the castle's moat
And prod its surface from a boat.
But fate is fickle as we know
The Kingdom's struck a mortal blow
A knight hidden behind the gate
Captures the King, so it's checkmate!!
***
Categories:
halliwell, world,
Form: Rhyme
San-Goanna Blue
Morning Halliwell are you right? {rhymer halliwell is 85}
or have your toes tucked up so tight,
are you with us or cantered through,
beyond the vale Saint Peters Zoo,
no brown snakes there tonight?
Or are you dancing an Irish jig,
With some well fed porker pig,
And playing snooker too,
Or bilious Kangaroo,
and on into the bloody night,
with Sand-Goannas what a sight
and lacy Monitors joined in too,
Brownie snake said bugger off Blue,
that Goanna just might bite...
Don Johnson
Categories:
halliwell, adventure,
Form: Ballad
Thoughts on Citizenship day.
Frank Halliwell
Can you hear the trumpet fanfare?
And the crowd shouting "hooray"?
Cause they're making me a citizen
Down at the hall today!
Who will make the presentation?
Will it really be the ones
Who have the greatest claim on it,
Or those who had the guns...
To wrest it from those peaceful blacks
Who owned this ancient land
To make a place for criminals,
...The thief and the brigand!
But I'll front up for the paper
And attend the little bash
While the pollies in Canberra
Dip their fingers in the cash...
...And fly around the country
Visiting ficticious joints
While the Australian taxpayer
Funds their "frequent flyer" points!
"Matilda" always stirs my soul
A song without compare!
But I have reservations on
"Advance Australia where?"
But I love this land of blue skies
And I have for decades past,
And when the dealer calls my hand
It's here I'll breathe my last...
Where sparkling diamonds fill the night
And nothing dulls the gloss,
Of paradise in southern seas
Beneath the southern cross!
****
Categories:
halliwell, world,
Form: Rhyme
COMPUTERS
Frank Halliwell
Beware my friend they're watching you
They record every fact
No overt trick escapes concern
They know your every act!
You cannot hide your secret wealth
Nor bank account abridge
Your washer watches everything
They're even in the fridge
From high up on the mantel-piece
Your clock may wear a frown
If you fudge on your income tax
And don't write it all down!
The vacuum and the kitchen stove
Now flash and whirr and blink
They're sharing all your secrets now!
Time's shorter than you think!
The human race is in decline!
There is no time to spare!
The microchips are closing in
They'll soon be everywhere!
***
Categories:
halliwell,
Form: Rhyme
THE VIXEN
Frank Halliwell
The grey dawn streaks the morning sky and puts the dark to flight.
A few black feathers tell the tale of terror in the night!
Around the feeder ten red hens are waiting for their grain,
But big black hen is gone and she will not return again!
A stealthy flash along the fence, a glimpse of rusty red,
A furtive caller in the dark, with all the house abed!
She picks the biggest of the hens, the ideal one to steal.
A scratched out hole beneath the fence, a pathway to her meal!
And while she goes about her work my guard dog's fast asleep!
Dreaming those dreams that doggies dream about rewards he'll reap!
But back along the river bank far from the night's ordeal,
In some deep den beneath a bush her kits await their meal.
I hate her not, though I might wish she'd picked another meal.
She has a need like you and I, she really has to steal!
Regard our fellow travellers! This is no fairyland!
For some must kill and others die, it's all been poorly planned!
o0o
Categories:
halliwell, world,
Form: Rhyme
The Deadly Mile
Frank Halliwell
A mile of deadly road exists, a bit beyond our ken,
Where fate awaits the careless act, a common fault of men.
Perhaps out in the country on some dusty rural road
Or wide and modern highways with a heavy traffic load.
There are no signs to mark its start, and none to mark its end,
No flashing lights will warn you of the dangers just ahead.
It may be in the heart of night, or in the blaze of noon.
There'll be no indication that your end is coming soon!
The mile behind is history, its danger's in the past.
The mile ahead, a mystery, its peril unsurpassed!
Its hazards lie round every curve, its dangers; manifold.
It waits to trap the careless, the unwary, and the bold!
Beware of inattention and the drunk whose sense has fled!
The deadliest of roads you'll drive.....
... Is that mile just ahead!
***
Categories:
halliwell, world,
Form: Rhyme
The Evil Net
Frank Halliwell
The world is going to the dogs
It's obvious to me,
With drugs and murders everyday
And frequent robbery
No one is safe out on the street
Especially alone,
And obscene calls are often heard
When you pick up the phone!
A man's home was his castle once
Secure and sacrosanct,
But now its just another place,
As unsafe as a bank!
That evil Internet's the cause
I read last Saturday!
I guess they'll have to censor it,
There seems no other way!
I don't know how we'll ever stop
The smut from near and far,
And all that **** that I see nightly
On my VCR.
***
Categories:
halliwell, world, drug,
Form: Rhyme
The Game
Frank Halliwell
The dealer sits in shadow as he shuffles out the cards
And he deals around a new hand for the game,
And the random distribution on the table disregards
Your wealth or social standing or your name.
For there'll be tears down through the years before the game is done
And most will find that they'll have losses too.
For some the game is nonstop fun, for them, a lucky run...
But for others, Lady Luck will be untrue!
Who knows what fate may lie in wait, beyond the shrouded veil
Of the dim and hazy distance just ahead?
And of the hidden twists and turns on life's secluded trail
That fill our nightly dreams with fear and dread...
So if you want to win the game, there's really just one way:
...To live life to the fullest, and to savour each new day,
...To make the most of what you have, before the daylight fades,
For somewhere in that dwindling deck is still, ..the Ace of Spades!
***
Categories:
halliwell, world,
Form: Rhyme
The Hiker
Frank Halliwell
At last the weekend has arrived
And time has come to now enjoy
Some relaxation with good friends.
Sand and surf are beckoning.
A bow of scarlet ribbon holds
In place her long blonde ponytail.
'No hiking now! ' Her mother said,
..Her concern was amusing!
The day passed in fun and laughter
Filled with fellowship and good times.
In the afternoon it ended
With the happiest of smiles.
But the night was fast approaching
And there's no bus for an hour!
'I'll just hitch my way this one time,
For it's only a few miles! '
It's said that all of life's a school
And that we learn from our mistakes.
Life would be more rewarding if
We learned from those of others.
I guess it's just a forlorn hope
Expecting things will ever change,
As long as kids are certain that
They're smarter than their mothers!
Off a bush track in the forest
Just a short mile from the highway,
In a lonely forest clearing
Circled round by silent trees,
Hangs a bit of soiled red ribbon
Caught among concealing branches,
And it flutters in the twilight
Shaken by the fitful breeze.
***
Categories:
halliwell, angst,
Form: Verse
The Kookaburra
Frank Halliwell
They congregate at break of day,
when night is almost done,
for a joyous benediction
to the rising of the sun.
And once again come evening,
when the western sky so bright,
surrenders all it's duties
to the velvet cloak of night.
I'd like someone to explain to me,
before I turn to clay,
'cause I've never heard that cackle
in the middle of the day.
Why they sometimes start at 4 AM
and wake me with a fright,
to join with them, to celebrate
the middle of the night!
o0o
Categories:
halliwell, world, , western,
Form: Rhyme
The Old Station
Frank Halliwell
The ghosts of Iron Horses haunt
The station in the glade.
The shrill scream of escaping steam
Must still these walls pervade.
She's there, if one should care to look!
Deserted and downcast.
Half-hidden now and overgrown-
A portal to the past.
A passport to a place in time
A world that once I knew,
These great trees that were saplings then,
Now shield her from our view.
They hide the rot and peeling paint
The broken window's stare,
The ancient litter on the platform
Blowing here and there.
Grass clogs the idle right-of-way
The rails are red with rust
And unseen wraiths gaze down the tracks
From windows streaked with dust.
They strain to hear that whistle's moan
Borne by the vagrant breeze.
But all is silent, save the birds
Up nesting in the trees.
The old station is derelict
Its shutters swing awry.
And holes up on the rotting roof
Are open to the sky!
She waits, year after endless year,
Unwitting of her fate!
She's waiting for the next train,
But the next train's running late...
***
Categories:
halliwell, world,
Form: Rhyme
THE OUTSIDER
Frank Halliwell
The coffee's packed, and sugar too....
(I DID forget the cup!)
It looks like that should be the lot...
I'm off before sunup!
Computer programs as a gift
For those that share my lust,
For such it is, as writers know,
We write because we must!
A month to plan the big week-end
And maps to find the way
As dawn first streaks the eastern sky
It's up, up and away!
The longest trip I've driven for some
Twenty years or so,
Through country that I'd heard about
But never got to know.
Why have I travelled all this way
To join this happy throng?
Why have I let a shyness
Turn a right day into wrong?
They gather here and there in groups
Five hundred miles from home.
There's happy laughter everywhere!
Why do I feel alone?
Unrealistic it would be to
Wish a big brass band
But maybe just the token
Of a warm and friendly hand!
Far to the south and waiting
Are my friends: beyond all doubt!
My welcome: sure and joyous there!
...I guess I'll head on out
***
Categories:
halliwell, writing,
Form: Rhyme
Related Poems