Enlightenment Poems
I myself I am not free , I need words to enlighten me .
I find myself sometimes in a place , where the light has left my eye , I need
words to be my guide ,
When darkness shrouds my every thought ,
I think, what I would give to turn back the hands of time ?
Nothing, for I would not be me , I have an inner strength you see .
I find the light in kind thought .
A word or two upon the page, help me from a lonely place.
Never think never , for that is an empty space .
I know not when, I am patient you see ,
But why does my mind get so lost , I want my thoughts to run free.
Line after line, a pause or two, the brilliance of words will show me a way
through.
Pauline Price
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
TRUTH TRAVELS FORTH BORNE ON THE WIND
In a dark wordly time
A great moral wrong to truth was done
On a hilltop a sad maid sits
Whispering words to the wind
The messenger wind picks them up
Floats them far and wide
Alas and alas, hear the soft breezes sigh
Alas and alas, hear the soft breezes sigh
A dark shadow moans
Windswept ‘cross the moon
Her words now passed
Held on the wind whisper again and again
Haunting wolf’s primal call
Picks up truth’s sad refrain
Alas and alas, he howls and he bays
Alas and alas, he howls and he bays
The message so secret
In this time no mortal shall know
From the past to the future
Whispering truth as it goes
Sometimes close when storm winds
In their anger full blown
Alas and alas the wind moans as it blows
Alas and alas the wind moans as it blows
Rain’s downward descent
Picks up truth’s words from the wind
Tumbling, falling, it splashes
Sorrowfully down to the ground
Crusty earth soaking up
Carries truth to its core’s burial mound
Alas and Alas, Deep truth is hid
Alas and Alas, Deep truth is hid
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Hot from earth’s core
Comes truth carried on volcanic energy’s rush
Lava spews up the words
From the rain spilled on earth’s dust
Ignited, rising, truth’s burning heats
Rushes forth with the gush
Alas and alas to the wind once again
Alas and alas to the wind once again
Perfectly still a man sat on a hill
Ear to the wind, he listens well
Hearing words from the maid
Borne on wind’s sighing moan
Truth’s unheard message
Into his conscience becomes known
Alas and alas, the truth whispers to him
Alas and alas, the truth whispers to him
This sage broadcast forth
The maid’s words fresh from the wind
Shouting lout to be heard
Above men’s noisy, immoral, lies din
The story of truth
Trumpets out clear cut on his calls
Alas and alas, truth shouts to be heard
Alas and alas, truth shouts to be heard
Cross annals of time
Morally wronged truth’s thrust full to the light
By maid’s sweet voice
Broadcast so sadly to the messenger wind
Time alone picked the place
And her champion’s name
Alas and alas, and so it is done
Alas and alas, and so it is done
© Miss Annie Christopher Dec 2013. (Last poem of the year)
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
Foreshadowed
The word was on the page
gilt-edged illuminating the history
of the English nation governed by the writings
of the man of God and God to man.
Each letter of each paragraph
in its floral brilliance gave shout
‘this is the matter of the law you must obey’
and for their own salvation
the preachers set up crosses in towns
and villages and by holy wells wells sacred to an earlier generation.
And so the pagan past was subdued
and finally quashed
and the dark ages came and went
and the light from a few small points
paints a new enlightenment
shining on an old beginning
and the eager take the word of Nature
for truth, and place it in their hearts.
John Neville Jarrett
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
The Long Road
Life is a highway, a main road, a street,
The grandest of pathways for plenty of feet,
That highway has speed and is simply put, vast,
Every tree is a moment that is rushing straight past,
Every street has its alley that is chosen by few,
Which leads to the mazes with further paths through.
You see life is a city, a tangle of lanes,
With ways to get lost and drive you insane,
For every path leads you, hot on your pursuit,
No map or clear course, could lead your heart true,
There's no Sat Nav or mentor that shows your destination,
The thing that gets you through is purely your determination.
'Mina R, Avonbourne College'.
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
REMEMBER
Remember me when I am gone away
Away from you and this world today
Remember the happy times we shared
We were so happy in our youthful ways
During all those wild and carefree days
When nothing we ever did seemed marred
Try not looking back and be too sad
Remember those happy times we had
Then let all your feelings be prepared
For that day when we will meet again
Whether it be in sunshine or in rain
Remember how much we always cared
Patricia Taylor
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
On Bournemouth Beach
A solemn glow reveals a day
About to dawn on Bournemouth Beach.
From Hengistbury to Studland Bay,
And every Chine along the way,
The glimmer glows to auburn light:
First auburn Autumn light, whose fingers reach
Along the sands on Bournemouth Beach.
All tranquil first, but then, the few,
The few who live not very far,
Walk in morning’s surf and curse the cold.
This hour they claim this wind-moved dust as theirs,
Theirs alone to sculpt and mould;
How time ekes out on Bournemouth Beach.
Southbourne, Alum, Branksome, Durley
Host the families stumbling early
Finding plots on Bournemouth Beach.
The soft afternoon sun invites
The young, the loud, the proud, the meek
In waves and floods and troughs and peaks;
In search of dying Summer, they unite
For sheer delight on Bournemouth Beach.
In evening time and fading light,
In evening light on Bournemouth Beach,
The sun adorns the Purbeck Hills
The sands are cast in growing shade
The shadow-cliffs slowly invade,
The crowds disperse—they’ve plans to keep—
But still the waters glimmer bright.
Littoral meanings tremble long and deep,
In memories of Bournemouth Beach.
John Blackmore
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
She
Was free
Like the wind
Her soul on fire
And her mind it was full of hope and drive
The choice she made had shone light in the dark
And gave her strength
And she smiled
She was
Free
Russ Werner.
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
D.I.E.
These initials look quite gruesome
But their meaning’s different:
They’re “Discovery”, “Illumination”
And then “Enlightenment”;
They represent three chapters in
A tale I will relate
Of kind deeds by kinder angels and
A country clergyman’s fate….
DISCOVERY
We were walking back to our houses
From our pub, “The Noah’s Ark”,
Taking the short-cut across the field;
It was warm but very dark,
When my foot struck something tender,
I tripped, fell to the ground,
I wondered what on earth it was,
What was it that I’d found….
I called for a light to my friend Jim –
“Come here, Jim, please”, I said,
“There’s something in the grass down here,
“So be careful where you tread”.
ILLUMINATION
He shone his torch where I told him to,
“Now what”, I thought, “have we here?”
We were so taken aback to see
Our rector lying there.
He was stretched out upon his back
Beside an ancient style,
His eyes were closed, he was fast asleep,
But on his face was a smile.
We picked him up and carried him home
Back to The Rectory;
We slipped inside and laid him down
On the couch in his library.
We crept away, quite silently,
Thinking that he might wake,
But, ‘though we’d carried him all that way,
Never a sound did he make….
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There was just a whiff of cider,
Caught when he started to snore,
And we wondered if he’d had a glass
As we quietly closed the door…
ENLIGHTENMENT
Next morning at the Ten O’Clock
We were in our usual pew
Lustily singing the age-old hymns
With the words that we all knew.
When time came along for the sermon,
In the pulpit our rector stood,
We wondered just what he would say
As, if you’d been there, you would….
He preached on the wonders of marriage –
Marriage, The Christian Way –
And, about half-way through, he said,
“I was at one yesterday,
“And I was at the reception too,
“A wonderful affair;
“It was right”, he thought, “to celebrate
“With all those people there”….
“I had a glass or two of cider
“Or maybe it was three
“It is a mystery just how I got
“Back to The Rectory;
“Angels must have carried me home,
“Must have looked after me,
“’Cos when I woke up this morning
“I was in my library…..”
“I mention this”, the rector said,
“To show that it is true
“That gentlemen of the cloth like me
“Are just the same as you;
“But I wonder who those angels were…..”,
He gave a little sigh,
Then cast a glance towards our pew
With a twinkle in his eye….
©Rob Bury – September 2015
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
The Lanterns of the World
The dark doesn’t have to be so dark,
the night doesn’t have to last too long;
When somebody carries a lantern for you,
the light of love will show you’re not alone.
The cold doesn’t have to be so cold,
the storm doesn’t have to last too long;
When somebody carries a lantern for you,
the light of love will come to keep you warm.
So let us light the Lanterns of the World,
and carry them to all who need a friend;
To the young, to the sick, and to the old,
and let them know on us they can depend.
The bad doesn’t have to be so bad,
the pain doesn’t have to last too long;
When somebody carries a lantern for you,
the light of love will make your heart grow strong.
The strange doesn’t have to be so strange,
the fear doesn’t have to last too long;
When somebody carries a lantern for you,
the light of love will help you carry on.
So let us light the Lanterns of the World,
and carry them for all of those in need;
Giving them protection like a magic shield,
and with the light of love we will succeed.
Terence Anthony
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
The Pilgrim’s Road
Can you hear the sound
That echoes down the closing of the year?
Distant thunder ends the summer time,
And brings the autumn near.
Now the night winds are returning,
Keep the fire burning bright.
Through the dark chill of winter,
And the fading of the light.
Let your faith become the lantern
That will guide you through the night.
Tell your sad heart when you’re lonely,
There’s a love that only hides.
’til the first bud of springtime,
And the changing of the tides.
Sleep awhile and in the morning
You will find that love abides.
There’s a power and a glory,
That will surely take you there,
To that bright new world calling,
And the love that’s waiting there.
Take the pilgrims road and you will find
The love that’s waiting there.
Terence Anthony
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
ENLIGHTEN ME
Enlighten me my love are you his or mine
Should I release you and let two hearts entwine
Does the smile you show belong to him or me
Please enlighten me my love so I can set you free
Does the love light in your eyes shine forever true
You promised to love just me, so what am I to do
Do you want a life dear of being ever totally free
A life with only him not the one you planned with me
Then I shall let you go my love not a care be spared
After all my love I find I'm really quite prepared
For at last I've found a love on whom I can rely
Who wants me just for me dear so I will say goodbye
Patricia Taylor
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
Love
Last night the moon fell screaming from the sky,
Drowned in the ocean, sank and was gone.
In the morning, the sun went roaring
Over the whole Earth, inconsolable.
His beloved, mirror of his better self,
Had vanished: he turned inward on himself,
And all consuming, almost was consumed;
His song became the sound of one hand clapping.
What does fire see when it looks at fire?
What silent, ever changing flames must burn
Eternally in everything, and why
Anyway such light in the universe?
Maybe the light is Love flowing in us
As through a water-clock. New suns and moons
Open their eyes; stars fade and die. Mother, Father,
This is the face I had before you were born.
I leave these bones and my water to the tribe.
James Manlow
Poet Laureate for Bournemouth
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The Light
We unfurl
Day by day
From our birth
Learn to touch
Want to smile
And we laugh
So we grow
World expands
See the sky
Why what how
Start to ask
And we trust
Won't you shout out loud with me
Why is that, what's it do
How do you know it's true
We feel pain
Someone hurts
It's unfair
We see life
Differently
No more trust
So won't you scream out loud with me
Why is this world unfair
Why are there rich and poor
Why are some crushed when I am free
We want change
We want light
Equality
So just please shout out loud with me
Let's revolutionise how it works
Let us all be free
No more poverty
So come and scream with me
Give us equality
We bring peace
Chrissie Morris Brady
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall
Bournemouth - My Town
This traveller is glad to be home again in Bournemouth, for you see
Throughout the world I couldn’t find, a style like Bournemouth’s special kind.
Cosmopolitan describes it well, a charming many cultured spell
Is woven through this lovely town, the golden beach bejewels our crown.
From the shore and cliff top walks I see the distant Island chalks,
Healthy bodies in the sun, children laugh, and play, and run.
While older folk paddle or snooze, and some enjoy a mini-cruise,
As gently sloping cliffs recede the prom train is a centipede.
Distance lends enchantment so they say, but enchantment’s here in every way.
In theatres, with fun and fantasy, the orchestra’s melodious ecstasy.
The Pine Walk music rings out fair and carries right into the square,
And now I meet the busking clown who won’t let anybody frown.
The Upper Gardens lead to wondrous calm and show still waters as in David’s Psalm.
The joys of many parks serene, a bowling ball on carpet green,
Leather thwacks on willow sweet and dry, another tranquil evening wanders by.
In evening air the cobwebs flee and thoughts can fly, un-tethered, free.
Childhood memories clamour once again, Bournemouth, I’m home, and home I shall remain.
Mo Turner
www.bournemouth.gov.uk/poetrywall