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Ray Moody Poem
I came back to you in September
you were quiet then
still,
like you used to be,
when men were men
and I was just a child
When the smell of the fish docks
mingled well with the stench of the slaughter from the cattle market
and an early morning crescendo of hooters
meant work
And you had to go
When your father
and my father
crowded down on the docks
desperate to catch the foreman's looks
And from where so many fathers
were turned away
broken
yet unbitter men
Returning home like so often you did
to pray and dream of better days than these
and you hoped that things would change
but for you
you knew
that they never would.
And then the war came
and I was sent away to fight for my country
this country
the one which had kept us all alive on a few pence a week
and I left behind the smell of the fish docks
the reek of the slaughter
to earn my place in that world
Your world
And one day I returned
fell in love and made love
amongst the ruined ashes of what once was
of what could never be again
I lay planning out my life while the bombs fell
And I sat amidst the solitude of that old terraced house
frightened to death by that silence
that stillness
as ceaseless clocks
ticked slowly away
an era
an end
and I looked at your face
and tried so hard not to see my own
And I returned to that war
that cruel bloody war
fighting one inside me even greater than that one could ever have been
but that war ends
and I returned to that war
your bloody war
the one you pretended you never saw
And the world returned to the smell of the fish docks
the reek of the slaughter
to that broken down world
full of broken down lives
grey faced men
greeting
faceless, shapeless wives
And long before faces could ever begin to smile
you died
quietly giving up on your life
like you had so many years before
and I died
as they buried you in an already forgotten part of that world
and I could linger there no longer
and left behind the smell of the fish docks
the reek of that slaughter
And I came back to you in September
back to stare at a world which once was
and yet could never be again
Only a few old buildings remained
standing empty and silent
like when the bombs came
and I looked into that face
and tried so desperately not to see my own
And I stood aloof to a world which could no longer reach me
yet still I trembled
lest some derelict echo from the past drew me back into that world
that old cruel world
where all men ever wanted to be was men
And yet how I loved you in September
as time once more stood still
and oh
how I loved that stillness
as I returned to where childish laughter once filled empty spaces
places where I had so long ago ceased to dream
Amidst the dark dancing shadows
where love becomes so physical
that the poet's dreams are so finally shattered
And on the cracked broken pavements where the bombs fell
where you fell
where we all fell
so many years before
And silent leaves fall on your grave
on my grave
like falling tears
my tears
for so many wasted years
I came back to your in September
you were quiet then
still,
like you used to be,
when men were men and I was just a child.
Copyright © Ray Moody | Year Posted 2016
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Details |
Ray Moody Poem
Steve Säid
None so brave
Did on so many occasions
save
Me from the bullies
Who
For far too many
Their school days ruin
Steve Säid
Jet black hair swept back
Coffee coloured skin
Immaculate
Steve Säid
How the girls did swoon
Oh, how I wished I could have been like you
Ray Moody
Copyright © Ray Moody | Year Posted 2016
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Details |
Ray Moody Poem
I really did like you Susan Fewster.
Even when I said, 'Well I don't like her!'
When you were absent from school that day
And your classmates made me aware
When they told me that you liked me and I blurted out,
'Well I don't like her!'
Please forgive me, I was childish,
I was shy and I really, really did care
My mouth may have blurted out those words,
But my heart said something else,
I was just embarrassed, young and stupid,
And I thought that's what
Boys were supposed to say
But I really did like you Susan Fewster
You were the modernist girl in 3B
But I was shocked and maybe a little amazed that day
When your friends said
That you actually liked me
Because there were so many other boys in the class
Good looking and full of swagger
And I sadly regret that day when I plunged teenage loves young dagger
And your 'friends' just couldn't wait to tell you
Those hurtful words I said
Each word hammering the anvil
And left ringing in my head
And after that day you tried to show,
Your dislike for me
But just before you left the school I had one last opportunity
To say the words, to put things right, but I just sat there silently,
Childishly believing that you might actually show some pity for me
And it's haunted me through the years as
I've thought about
Those cruel words I said
At such a tender age, killing love stone dead
So finally, here are the words that I truly always wanted to say,
That I really did like you Susan Fewster
You were the modernist girl in 3B
You were pretty, you were lovely
And I'm glad that you once had a moment for me.
Copyright © Ray Moody | Year Posted 2016
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