Viewing the Comet

Photograph © 1997 Valentin Grigore.

VIEWING THE COMET

(for Mother)

The day before your funeral, as I bath my son,
I tell him. "Tomorrow we are saying goodbye
to Grandma; — she is going away
to meet and be with Jesus."

The knock on the door is our neighbour’s child
hoping to borrow binoculars which we lost years ago.
She points out the Hale-Bopp comet, bright in the Northern
sky, visible even above the city lights.

Because of the biting wind, I return indoors
to dry my son and my eyes.

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 26th March 1997

Publications

1997 The Pink Cadillac Review (Internet)
1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)
1998 Aireings (UK)
2008 Ackworth born, gone West (Internet)

The Peasant, after Van Gogh

(image courtesy of Olga's Gallery)
"THE PEASANT" AFTER VAN GOGH

Little changes in the country
Tillage of the earth
provides merely a scrap of living
But the face is of one resigned
to the receipt of scraps
Half-piercing eyes
can see beyond the superficial
But the hands are much
much too old and wrinkled
to stretch out
at certain rebuff
Years of setback
harvests ruined by too much rain
or too much sun
interspersed with bumper years
of fine harvests
good wine to drink
and hope for the future
have combined to form
this heavy brow
and old grey beard
wondering just how many warm summers
and how many winters
are yet to be endured
For little changes good or bad
in the country

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Glasgow, 10th August 1967

Publications

1968 Platform (UK)
1980 THE RAINBOW AND OTHER POEMS (Heckmondwyke, Fighting Cock Press)
1987 POETS FOR AFRICA (Las Vegas, Family of God)
1993 Mobius (MI, USA)
1997 The Writer's Home Page (Internet)
1997 The Pink Cadillac Review (Internet)