Sunset
Night sweeps over the century
One war gone, another going;
Memory’s sun sets, leaving us
With history’s flickering candles
— July 2017
Public service
She was always there,
Like the milkman, the gas board,
and the NHS,
Remote, but fixed,
Anchoring a parental world we could rely on.
And now she’s gone.
Like the milkman, the gas board,
and the NHS.
— September 2022
Note to Emily #1
I built myself a prison
With bars I could not pass
I found myself a gaoler
(I met him in my glass)
I gave myself a punishment
(A profession, you see)
And tried to love my cell mates
Whom I called family.