Not Too Big

                         Newcastle; New South Wales

THURSDAY THINK TANK

http://poetryblogroll.blogspot.com

chose the topic, 'City'

NOT TOO BIG

A village can be cosy, like a little world, enclosed;

A city can be thrilling and enthralling.

A village can be neat and tidy, with everything in view;

A city can be be brash, with buildings sprawling.

I have lived in both of them, the tiny and the large,

Villages and Cities, both world-wide,

And it seems to me that neither has the answer to it all;

Neither has habitation cut-and-dried.

A village can be narrowing, and gossipy as well;

A city can be faceless and unkind;

A village can imprison a young person seeking 'life';

A city can impose the daily grind.

I lived in the village of Alton, in the county of Staffordshire,

A village complete with Castle, yes, the lot.

I knew everybody and everybody knew me,

And I found the place a really 'blessed plot'.

Then I lived in London, and I loved the noise and buzz;

I loved the bright lights and the dash and verve.

I loved the press of people and the buses clanging by;

I loved the tingle in each youthful nerve.

But, luckily, in my old age, I've found an even better place,

A city which is like a village too;

A big town (called a city) in Australia, by the sea;

A place that just abounds with things to do,

And yet a place with a small-town feel, exactly the right size;

'Big enough' yet 'Small enough' .......that's true.

My mini-city's Newcastle, up the coast from Sydney Town,

Three-hundred thousand people, that's our lot;

'Come up and see us sometime' if you're ever round this way.

I know you'll think that we have hit the spot.

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PAUSE FOR THOUGHT

Before we start our celebrations,

Turkey and Santa Claus,

Giddy times with close relations......

Let us stop and pause.

This shot of the Festive Season

 Dates from 2009;

Men, for whatever reason,

Close to the front line.

Santa hats are on each head

To get them in the mood.

Without their loved-ones, they all dread

A Christmas of solitude.

But some wont see this Christmas;

They have died in the years between.

So let us give some thought to them

As we view this 'happy' scene.

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