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Monday 16 April 2012

Heaven Or Hell























I ponder the clay, earth’s memory mark,
And hear the dawn chorus of linnet and lark,
And say to myself, I knew this man well,
But is his brave soul in Heaven or Hell?
When he was with us he made his own rules,
He scorned all the Clergy; “those poker-faced fools”.
He claimed that all mortals were spits in the night,
Conception considered could never be right.
No question of man could merit reply
When no one could forecast the best time to die.
He dismissed all book learning as squandering time
When monkey and parrot were able to mime.
He set his own standards of right and of wrong,
In mainstream of morals he didn’t belong.
But the light in his eyes when he felt as in dream
The time textured touch of a stone in a stream.
Or the pleasure he got that he couldn’t explain
When he dangled his toes at the edge of a drain.
And I knew that he knew the beggar man’s lot
Of rejection and scorn, and striving for what?
He shared the blue hunger of tinker and waif,
That need to be needed, that greed to be safe.
And the way that he’d smile at the game of a child,
Or the fire in his face when he preached whiskey wild
Of the hypocrites, two-faced, and liars abroad,
Who sacrificed souls to a relative God.
And all that was in him was savage and free
And pure as the earth that holds him for Thee,
And now his own service, with resonant bell,
Yet I know he’s in Heaven,
He’s a long time left Hell.




("The nights were dark and lonely, the days were lonely too,
But now they're oh so bright, cause all i see is you")

6 comments:

  1. Absolutely inspiring and beautiful! Well done!

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    1. thank you for the kind and thoughtful comment. he was and always will be my mother's son.

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    2. And that's a fact! Love you P.J. X

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    3. No wonder this poem was a masterpiece. So much so that I couldn't find the proper words. But when there's a higher reason to do so, we speak. So very sorry for the loss of your brother.

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    4. Turquoise, as Stevie Wonder said to Paul McArtney during the recording of "Ebony and Ivory" "Man, I can't see you, but I know you're beautiful"!

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  2. Beautiful,told with such searing honesty, RIP to someone so loved by you all

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