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Best Poems Written by Alison Douglas

Below are the all-time best Alison Douglas poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Alison Douglas Poem

Clouds

Charcoal grey, silver grey, shading to white,
Changing and shifting,
Pewter grey, ashy grey, darkness then light,
Trailing and lifting.

A quiet avalanche of melting clouds
In horizontal fall,
Covering distant hill tops like a shroud
Or funeral pall.

Shapes form, reform, then float away
In careful counterpoise,
Then balance, hover, shift and sway,
There is no noise.

A sudden change, the wind picks up,
Disorder in the sky,
Which way to go at first unclear,
Then the clouds begin to fly.

Across the vast and open prairie skies
The clouds stampede,
Driven by wayward winds they fall and rise
At breakneck speed.

Such confidence we can never realise.
Here on the ground we hesitate and stumble.

They are in their element.

Details | Alison Douglas Poem

Night Fears

Waking at night, suddenly,
Silence and darkness,
Save the whisper of the wind
And a faint glow of orange light.
The familiar clutch of fear,
Always there.

But fear of what?
The unknown?
Or the known certainty that the end will come,
Gradually or suddenly,
Peacefully or brutally,
Inevitably.

Our lives are but a tiny indentation,
Then the water closes over.
No sign, no mark, no trace,
Of a life half-lived,
Of family and friends half loved.

Of chances not taken.

Details | Alison Douglas Poem

Defiance

Defiant stand the distant trees,
Their battle colours red and gold,
Their enemy the cruel wind,
Sends vicious gusts of piercing cold.

A row of beech trees form a shield,
Their sword-like branches held on high,
Their stance is resolute and strong,
"Fight to the end", their fearsome cry.

Their battle standards tattered now,
This conflict lost, defeat is near,
The ending never was in doubt,
What happens next is all too clear.

So rage against these winter storms,
Defy the cold, deny the end,
Our instinct is survive and fight
And never, never bend.

Details | Alison Douglas Poem

At the School Gate

She does not see me at first
An anxious set to her face
Worry in those soft brown eyes.

Yet she continues 
Climbing up the steep steps.
She does not hesitate,
She is resolute,
Despite fearing the worst.

A tiny figure in her pink jacket,
Unbuttoned of course,
School bag nearly as big as she is,
Her hair escaping from the velvet band.

Then she sees me.
And I am rewarded with that smile.
She quickens her steps.
Confident now, happy now.
We hug.

I give her confidence,
She brings me joy.

Details | Alison Douglas Poem

Our Garden

Our Garden 


In my mind’s eye,
I see you still,
Standing still in our garden,
Motionless,
Deep in thought.

So what were you thinking?

The seeds we planted together,
Grew strong,
We tended them,
Fed and watered them,
Gave them shelter and support.

We watched anxiously.

Now they are strong, gloriously confident,
They no longer need our tender loving care.

The scarlet poppies, petals as fragile as crepe paper,
Grow miraculously strong on delicate stems.
The marigolds, like a cluster of brilliant suns,
Know their power.
The trailing lobelias explore exuberantly 
And will not be contained.

The seed of our love we also planted together,
Tended with the same loving care and understanding,
And at first a willingness to forgive.

But in time, as it grew, it too needed protection,
From sudden tempests, sudden frosts,
And tears that felt like rain.

Desperately we provided support and protection,
But it was never enough.
The seed which at first had grown so joyfully,
Now withered 

And died.

Details | Alison Douglas Poem

Snowflakes

From starry skies the snowflakes drift,
Each one unique cold winter’s gift,
Shaken from a starry sky,
They float, they swirl and then they fly
To land on branches that glitter with frost.
Weightless as phantoms, as white as ghosts
Spectral in the gathering gloom
Of an early winter afternoon,
As delicate as lace they melt too soon,

Their lives like ours are brief.

Details | Alison Douglas Poem

Snowflakes

Slow flakes,
Shaken from a starry sky,
Floating through the air
Like tiny fragile ghosts,
Settling on black branches
Glistening with spectral frost.

The great silence of falling snow.

Each flake unique,
As delicate as old lace,
Pure and white as an untroubled soul.
They brighten up the gloom
Of an early winter afternoon.

Each flake insubstantial, transient,
Their lives, like ours, are brief,
Their beauty a passing moment of radiance.

In the light of a street lamp they fleetingly transcend,
Only to be seen no more.

Details | Alison Douglas Poem

Unexpectedly

Unexpectedly I grew old.
Yesterday I was seventeen
With all my hopes and silly dreams.
I was often told,
Do not grow old,
Old age is for the very brave.

But I didn’t listen, hadn’t a care,
Chose to ignore the odd grey hair,
Chose not to believe what harsh sunlight revealed,
Preferring candlelight and what it concealed.

Found ways to excuse the much slower pace,
Getting through life was never a race,
Found missing items in the oddest of places
And laughed off the memory lapses.

Then waking one night to silence and darkness
I knew it was time to confess,
I had wasted my life, had not taken chances
Had not taken part in life’s myriad dances,
Never seized the moment, never chose to dare,
Never waltzed through life with hardly a care.

And now I knew  I could no longer ignore 
What the rest of my life had in store:
A time to reflect,
A time of regret,
With only myself to blame.