Child

CHILD

Child, you were nourished nine months
while your mother grew
Skilfully you were removed from that home

Child, tube-fed in an incubator,
you would not learn to suck
till illness and hunger forced

Child, you lived and fought three weeks
resisting pain, refusing death
till in the end your heart gave way

Child, you gave us three and a half weeks
of memories our minds will cherish
long after the tears have dried

Child, we are happy you came to us
We praise God for the joy you brought
into all of our lives

Child, beneath the soil of your little garden
you have staked for us a place
in the cemetery we love

Child, you only saw faces masked
and women who wore white aprons
outside your oxygenated hot-house

Child we don't know the reason
why you came but only thank you
that you came

Child, our child, our first, we pray
remember us with love as now you sleep
We who remain awake remember you

© Gerald England

Composed: Oldham, 25th October 1975

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1976 Pennine Platform (UK)
1977 Compassionate Friends Newsletter (UK)
1990 International Poetry Suplemento (USA)

(c1)

those people who eat
biscuits in bed shall sleep on
the crumbs that remain

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Droitwich, 23rd June 1974

Publication

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)

House Hunting

HOUSE-HUNTING

In the little Methodist chapel
edging on to the moor
the couple drank tea,
preparing themselves for a journey,
the rock-backed house only
yards away their hope
A staircase spiralled skyward
The pure melodic line
of the chattering chaffinch
was harmonised only by the ivy,
climbing like a solicitor's beard
enveloping hollow walls
There was nothing to fear in the reservoir
bursting its dam in the next valley
A choir sang in the crystal water
The couple drank deep

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Shaw, 24th April 1974

Publications

1974 Intak' (UK)
1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1988 Aireings (UK)

The First Poem of 1974

THE FIRST POEM OF THE NEW YEAR

Somewhere I saw a Southwest wind
and I heard a sun rise in the distance
These are the only signs
of an Early Spring
The year is but a few days old
It has been a frosty start
Winter has still to accomplish her work
So little seems to change
So much continues as before
One day seems much like another
I should not have given the old year such a kick with my boot
I cannot welcome the New Year with bruised toes
It deserves better,
especially if there is to be an Early Spring
There is ice lying on the upper moor
I slipped and fell,
rolled in the brittle standing grass,
grazed my knee on a hard rock
The injury has healed
but even in the valley there is no heat
I want to warm the New Year with kisses,
to give it my whole body,
but I have been deaf to the rising of the sun
and blind to the Southwest wind
I will throw all that remains
on the fire
I shall use all the fuel at my command
I will force the fire to burn
It will be an Early Spring

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 1st January 1974

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1989 Working Titles (UK)
1999 Helicon (UK)

Funeral

FUNERAL

He would have been buried
two days ago
but Christmas intervened
I watched them bury him
in the New Cemetery
on the village outskirts
He booked his spot there
when it was opened twenty years ago
For twelve years
his has been the only empty grave
He helped to lay the track
of the railway line
that ran behind the graveyard
The line of the track
makes a good footpath
The embankment is fine for viewing
his funeral from
He used to play dominoes
in the Boot each Saturday night
I took his place
the day he died
We won every game we played

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 30th December 1973

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1988 Waterways (USA)
1993 Pomes (UK)
2004 Curlew (UK)

The Questioner

THE QUESTIONER

He questioned all the time,
sought the source of sustenance
It was not that he had none,
although he had none
They could have driven him away
but they did not,
because of his questioning,
because they were willing to be generous
They all answered him
- if you are short of food,
take, share ours -
It was not that they had it to spare
It was not that they were being generous
It was rather they wished
to fill his mouth with food
to put a stop to his questioning

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 12th December 1973

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1988 Gypsy (West Germany)
1992 Attitude Problem (USA)
1998 Ygdrasil (Internet)

******

CEL CARE INTREABA

A intrebat mereu,
a cautat sursa sustinerii
Nu ca n-ar fi avut niciuna,
desi nu avea vreuna
L-ar fi putut alunga
dar n-au facut-o,
datorita intrebarilor lui,
pentru ca vroiau sa fie generosi
I-au raspuns cu totii-
-daca duci lipsa de mancare,
vino, ia dintr-a noastra!
Nu ca ar fi avut prea mult
Nu ca ar fi fost generosi
Ci mai degraba pentru ca vroiau
Sa-i umple gura cu mancare
Ca sa-i intrerupa intrebarile.

GERALD ENGLAND

Romanian translations by Octavian Blaga and Florentin Smarandache

Publication

2000 The Fifth Season (Romania)

[4k]

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 25th September 1973

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1981 DADDYCATION (Ashton under Lyne, New Hope International)
1982 Interstate (USA)
1993 FOUR SQUARE REPLAY (Leeds, Krax)

[7e]

© Gerald England

Composed: Sheffield, 20th September 1973

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1985 Printed Matter (Japan)
1986 International Journal on World Peace (USA)
1996 AN IDEA OF BOSNIA (Reading, Autumn House)

[6e]

© Gerald England

Composed: Bath, 6th September 1973

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1990 The Affiliate (Canada)

[4h]

© Gerald England

Composed: Sheffield, 30th August 1973

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1985 Printed Matter (Japan)
1993 FOUR SQUARE REPLAY (Leeds, Krax)

[3c]

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 10th August 1973

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1985 Printed Matter (Japan)

[8d]

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 1st July 1973

Publications

1974 Osiris (USA)
1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)

[56da]

© Gerald England

Composed: London, 6th June 1973

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1982 Interstate (USA)

[11a]

© Gerald England

Composed: Sheffield, 1st May 1973

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1982 Interstate (USA)
1993 Apostrophe (UK)
2003 Blackbird (USA)

(46)

any man may be
destroyed by death - the idea
of death may save him

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 1st March 1973

Publication

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)

A Wife's Portrait

A WIFE'S PORTRAIT

for Mervyn Peake

And it was her love
brought forth his joy
who took leave on a forged pass
when a sergeant denied romance
to visit his love the just bearer
of their second child
The joy of their love
negated the army's medical rejection
invalided out meant home
to write to draw to make love
family willing sitters
for fairy-tale illustrations
The fame did not come easy
Harsh critics tore at a sensitive mind
Senility is a hard case
for the young to swallow in the young
And it was her love
that caused more anguish pain
at seeing him drained of the forces
that transformed inspiration
into poetry
She does not talk now
of those days
remembers not the homes that weren't
thinks more of tea rooms
a Chelsea attic a country cottage
and a man whose sickness was Age

© Gerald England

Composed: Sheffield, 20th February 1973

Publications

1974 Pennine Platform (UK)
1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1988 Iota (UK)
1997 Poetry Lounge (Internet)
2000 Sydney Mosaic (Internet)

(44) & (45)

his decisions might
be seen as the reactions
to situations

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 2nd January 1973

Publication

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)

*****

too busy living
in the present to spare a
thought for the future

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 4th January 1973

Publication

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)

(43)

no door can ever
be finally locked whilst there
are keys that will fit

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: London, 12th December 1972

Publication

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)

Winter

WINTER

We had our first snow today,
she said, in her letter
Winter had been a long time coming
We had waited for it,
expected it for months
whilst shed trees stood leafless,
the wind's bite grew colder,
the nights started in the afternoon
but despite two morning of frost
and the preparations for winter,
it wasn't to be felt in our bones
till now

We had always equated winter with snow
It began with the first snow's fall
and ended with the final thaw
Less time consistent
the snow
for us
was a more practical
definition
than that of any calendar

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 1st December 1972

Publication

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)

I Said I'd Never Been So Then I Went

I SAID I'D NEVER BEEN SO THEN I WENT

So this is Brighton
home of Dowdon, George
and sundry other socalled poets of lesser note
The beach is all pebbles
and none of them flat enough for skimming
They have a peculiar way too
of numbering the streets
consecutively up one side
and down again the other

I arrived in the dark

In the morning light I'll leave

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Brighton, 1st September 1972

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
2002 Blue Beat Jacket (Japan)