The Hidden Thread

The Wordle 

SUNDAY WHIRL

We are asked to use all the words in the Wordle.

THE HIDDEN THREAD

There is thread which winds it way

Through every family tree

And that's the thread of surnames

Which are plain for all to see.

But they're the surnames of the men

The women disappear.

Oh you can find them if you search

But they're not immediately clear.

Like a silver thread the men's names run,

Back through the centuries

Revealing where the power has lain

And where the power still is.

It was a way of thinking

Tied up with biology.

Women's bodies damaged them,

They were bound by maternity.

Childbearing was their single  task

They gave birth just like cattle

Not for them heroics

Of men involved in battle.

As for the single women

They counted even less;

Why record a person

Who was only a governess?

Today our lives are different

We are not so trussed and bound

We wish that this were only true

Within the world round.

*

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OUT OF SERVICE

"The number you've reached is no longer in service;"

All you are left with is your deep regret.

For far too long you forgot to remember,

And now you are wishing that you could forget.....

Back then, in the old days, her voice was like music,

Then rancour and bitterness reared up between.

The days turned to months and the old world kept turning

And only vague heartache recalled what had been.

'One day' you would say, 'I'll remember her number.

One day' you would say 'I'll just give her a call'.

But one day, alas, very soon became hundreds

And now you are speaking to nothing at all. 

*

Job Interview

The Wordle

THE SUNDAY WHIRL

http://sundaywhirl.wordpress.com/

asks us to use all the words in the Wordle

JOB INTERVIEW

So you are a job seeker......
What, then, can you do?
Let me give you a list of jobs
One may appeal to you.
Could you handle a job in a cafe
Or maybe a nursery?
Being a great fern expert
Might be the thing to be.
How about being a tour guide?
You look sturdy enough, that's true.
Could you face selling peanuts?
Not thrilling enough for you?
Could you face a job in the cabinet?
Politicians are paid well.
Not only that but you'd be well dressed
And look rather swell.

I've a post at an animal shelter;

There's a whole lot happening there.

Or you could keep score at the darts match

But the pay is only fair.

I recommend  you view my list

And decide what you're suited for.
Oh! You think you'd rather live on the dole!
Good afternoon. There's the door.

*

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INSTANT RECOGNITION

Swift turn of the head in the Plaza!

It's Margie! Goodness me!

I haven't seen old Margie

Since 1983!

'Hallo Margie!' I shout out, loudly,

Right across the mall.

'Oh! How terribly embarrassing! 

It isn't her at all!

*

That Song!

The Wordle    

SUNDAY WHIRL

http://sundaywhirl.wordpress.com/

asks us to use all the words in the Wordle

THAT SONG!

How many years have passed, my love, since you and I were young?

You came back into my mind, my love, when a certain song was sung.

'A fella with an umbrella' those were the words I heard

And, suddenly, I was young again, even though that sounds absurd.

By now you've become an old lady, and maybe your memory fails,

But I hope you, too, have a mental picture that never ever pales.

*

I remember a day of thunder......it seemed it would never stop.....

And my Auntie Anne, your Mother, said 'Just run to the shop.'

We started making excuses.....'The light has nearly gone!'

'The puddles are getting deeper!....on and on and on.

In the end we were persuaded to brave the stormy sky,

And so we set off, laughing, the umbrella held up high.

*

The shop was really very near, just half-way down the lane,

We got there without much trouble, but then, down came the rain.

It was a childhood adventure; we decided we would stand

Close by the wall of the church-yard, which was quite close at hand.

We stood so close we were almost joined and it suddenly came to me

That this was the very relationship which was clearly meant to be!

*

For thirteen of my fifteen years you had been around,

And yet here were brand new feelings I had suddenly found!

'I'm going to marry you, Amy.' Suddenly the words were said

And I kissed you under the umbrella!......... You flushed a rosy red.

'Don't be silly! We're cousins!' you said and ran home again

While I was left feeling foolish, all alone in the rain.

*

'Amy! You're soaked!' said your Mother; 'Tom should have kept you dry!'

You hung your head, determined that you wouldn't catch my eye.

Long ago you parted from Peter; and my marriage just didn't work out;

Never again, in my whole life, did certainty replace doubt. 

I vowed I would forget you and inherit my place in the sun,

But you were always in my mind, you were always the one.

*

And now, though memory shifts and fades, I still recall the umbrella,

And that wonderful moment in the rain when I truly was 'your fella.'

*

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A LOT OF SEA

A scene of domesticity

And yet one of enormity

Because although our town's terrific

It's perched on the edge of the great Pacific.

Little houses huddle by

The vastness of the sea and sky.

We look out on a placid scene,

Boxy houses, gardens green,

Yet if we shade our eyes and look

Beyond our cosy little nook,

We see eternity flowing by;

Eternity of sea and sky.

South America's 'over there',

Way, way off in the east, somewhere,

Over the curve of the earth, then on,

Further than many folk have gone.

Water, water everywhere

Nothing but water and thin air!

And, underneath such life is teeming!

We only see the wave-tops gleaming,

But sea-creatures are living, thriving,

Bounteous numbers coiling, diving!

What audacity for us to think

That we, who're living on the brink,

Building little fabrications,

Tiny human-sized creations,

Matter at all! We can't defy

The vastness of the sea and sky.

*

Times Past

    The Wordle 

SUNDAY WHIRL

We are asked to use all the words in the Wordle.


TIMES PAST

There among the willows where the breeze blew through the trees

I sat down on the soft grass, writing, at my ease.

The rustle of the summer leaves was all that broke the calm,

And every aspect of the scene was infused with peace and charm.

Should I write a poem full of heartfelt grateful thanks

As I sat beside the river, on its gently sloping banks?

*

Then, suddenly, a knowledge! A scene from long ago,

A certain realisation that life was not always so!

A vision of a battle, fought in this very spot!

A time in ancient history when blood was running hot!

The swords are taken from the sheaths, and piercing screams are heard,

An unbearable fever grips the men, as deep wounds are incurred!

Ancient passions  now explode! Brittle bones are breaking!

Wounds crust over, throats are cut, men are left bruised and shaking.

*

Then, just as the vision had arrived, its tale of battle sending,

It faded, and I knew my soul could recover and be mending.

But my Muse had slipped away from me, appalled by grief and pain.

I will never choose that river bank  to write poetry again.

*

*
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HEAD IN THE CLOUDS

Mary Jane

Was rather vain

And also rather dreamy;

Although, 'tis true

Her eyes were blue

And her skin was peach-and-creamy.

The crinoline

That she was in

Was white and frilled and flouncy,

And she'd waltz and sway

Right through the day,

With steps elegant and bouncy.

Her Mother said

'Your silly head

Is in the clouds for sure!

One day you'll fly

Up in the sky

And we'll see you no more!'

And look! It's true!

Up in the blue,

Still crinolined and dreamy,

Is Mary Jane

Singing this refrain....

'Now everyone can see me!'

*