Great and Rugged Pyrenees
Whose solid presence demands
Notice of lush valleys
And Spanish oaks that dot the glens -
Prevailing winds churn in wrath -
I stop to breathe in them;
You cut the horizon in half
And grip my eye with icy hands.
Your cohort - a mix of clouds -
Can't forever hide your majesty.
Seville looks on from the south;
Andorra claims the victory.
Categories:
pyrenees, mountains, snow, uplifting,
Form: Rhyme
He surveys his kingdom each day,
from Iron Gate to Wooden Wall.
Each leaf that falls and blade that sways,
his loyal subjects one and all.
The cattle grazing in the field,
the kittens nestled in the shed.
He knows each puddle and haystack,
where he can drink or make a bed.
With Snowball, the grand Pyrenees,
Seargeant, his faithful Shephard knight.
His trusty human on his leash,
he will sniff everything in sight.
Squirrels that frolic in the oaks,
rabbits that scurry through the grass.
Each know King George is at the helm,
and would stop to stare as he’d pass.
When to his castle he returns,
knowing all’s well within his land.
He’ll settle beside his master,
getting pets from his caring hand.
Categories:
pyrenees, poetry,
Form: Rhyme
The time had come
For the swallows to leave
Travelling to South Africa
Over the Pyrenees
One chick in particular
Was not ready to go
Despite being urged by its siblings
In a to-and-fro
Into the stable
Its mother flew
“Tswit-tswit,” it sang
There was one thing to do
Using her claws
She picked up her chick
What she was about to commence
Would make it think quick
Over the orchard
This mother carried its chick
As it was time to use
That age-old trick
Down the chick went
As the mother let go
Its new found talent
It was about to show
Out stretched its wings
In the nick of time
Gliding over
The wild mountain thyme
Categories:
pyrenees, nature,
Form: Rhyme
A NOTE FROM MALCOLM
My advice is free, and time’s not billable
Try speaking French and I will soon know
Don’t claim a local or a provincial accent
It really does not sound as if heaven-sent
Nor a comment heard such as il fait beau
As the accent is always on the last syllable
As a teacher, these things do really matter
One must develop that Gallic look as well
Sometimes that simple shrug just says it all
From Southern Pyrenees up North to Gaul
Whether from Paris or le Midi, one can tell
In some regions, the vowels do sound fatter
So, let us practice the deep grunting sounds
And don’t forget all those hand gestures too
But accents can apply to letters when written
Cedillas, acute or grave never seen in Britain
Where just the plain and simple words will do
Whilst pretty perfume accents do the rounds
Categories:
pyrenees, language, rude,
Form: Rhyme
Big Orange was a housecat gone wild
He'd eat my cat's food then he smiled
No more do I leave food out
He no longer has clout
He came back with wife and stepchild
Big Dog Great Pyrenees from next door
Said, "Cats one species I abhor".
Now they're three on the housetop
Where they are sure to eavesdrop
They surely lack grace and candor
They will hear everything I bark
Share the information with lark
Big Orange from his position
Hired a famous musician
Now they rock gossip out of the park!
Written: November 28, 2022
Contest: Children's Limerick
Sponsor: Eve Roper
I know silly, nonsensical work.
Categories:
pyrenees, animal,
Form: Limerick
The end dear friend is just the entry and he pointed, but he never meant me, it was the old man sat inside me that the message was intended for.
I sat and wondered about the door and what was it the entry for and could it be he meant me after all?
Then the timepiece changed into a watchtower and it changed back on the hour, every hour
what tricks these eyes can play
what puzzles and to blind.
In the end I wouldn't mind a new beginning
somewhere with a decent climate
and
slightly South of the equator
where I could do a baked
potato
on the rocks.
but don't worry
they'll twin you with a town up
in the Pyrenees
which
you'll find out
will be full up with
the Chinese who'll
be
making origami
chewing gum from
Sorghum and
reciting verses from a book
by ...tse Tung
The end is just a fixture
another game we play
away.
Categories:
pyrenees, best friend, betrayal, books,
Form: Rhyme
White like the snow
Ice stiffened limbs
Reaching out
No saviors about
Snow flakes in the wind
I reached and reached and reached
Towards deaths cold hands
Never to see her again
I looked down
Wine of bloods holocaust
Flowing from my hands
Unto the devils abode
Whitest of Pyrenees days
I died beside her departure
Railroad tracks empty
Bloodless heart
Ashes black
Butterfly born
Categories:
pyrenees, angst, art, french, grave,
Form: Free verse
Never to see her again
I looked down
Wine of bloods holo
Flowing from my hands
Unto the devils abode
Whitest of Pyrenees days
Categories:
pyrenees, art, children, death, grave,
Form: Free verse
For tens of thousands of years man has roamed this planet
By nature a warrior..a conqueror..an explorer
He is a seeker of truth and a lover of grandeur
The Pyrenees, the Alps, the Rockies, the oceans -
Vast planetary wonders that stir a man
To look outward and beyond,
To travel to the moon in search of adventure .
Man is at his best on adrenaline
And yet.
And yet....
Near the millenium that marked the latest thousand years
Some man with a loud voice cried "ME, ME!..
I AM THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE!"
And man began to implode
He found himself amongst the subatomic particles -
The protons and electrons and ions and neutrons
Instead of grandeur he found himself in awe of himself.
He manipulated the subatomic structure - which his eyes cannot see -
To entertain himself and found that staring at a device
No bigger than the palm of his hand....thrilled him and occupied his time'
Adrenaline was no longer needed to satisfy man's spirit
He was king of his own universe
And it was no bigger than the palm of his hand.
And the world turned upside down
2/27/2017
Categories:
pyrenees, adventure,
Form: Free verse
Sugar stealers.
sugar stealers in the sky are floating forgotten dreams;
chasing girls with squiggly worms and giggling like sun beams.
catching frogs with muddy socks and eating tangerines;
climbing trees and jumping streams as easy as it seems.
getting 10pence off your mum and buying 5 penny black jacks with 5 strawberry strings;
playing wheelies on our bikes or shooting arrows with green garden sticks and flying them as high as the pyrenees.
well after that it was half past seven and our mums had made our teas.
Categories:
pyrenees, childhood, mum,
Form: I do not know?
lying on her hill top knoll
the great Pyrenees half dreams
doing what she was born to
as alpaca sleep
Categories:
pyrenees, animals
Form: Dodoitsu
Greatest of military men, Carthage's son, bright and bold
Took the elephants of war over the Pyrenees frozen cold
And would delay the Gentile's time fulfilling when the race
Stood proud, under your command of the second Punic war
But then that Africanus, your student with love displaced
Entered North Africa, to plunder, to maim, and there to scar
Except you had relinquished pride for love of native land
To find your Waterloo at Judas unwaning hand in the sand
Tell me how you conquered Spain again, tell me how Iberia
Under Africa's constellation slipped from darkness and hysteria
Into confidence and light; Tell me about Bithynia's fast fleet
That routed the Pergamons, and revenged Antiochus plight
Look now how Alexander, Caesar, Napolean, before your feet
Lay their laurels, and in Tunisia old men eyes gleamed light
When your name is called, but where is your grave, great one?
How past all mighty empires in the dusk of the setting sun?
Categories:
pyrenees, warme, love, me,
Form: Verse