Gone Not Gentle

GONE NOT GENTLE

on spindrift pages
from the raging moon he wrote
for heedless lovers

by St.Martin's Church
poetry pilgrims honour
a simple white cross

at the Lamb & Flag
talk is of a drunken poet
stripping off his shirt

in the U.S.A.
professors then young students
recall his last lecture

curtains still open
in a thousand small theatres
to Under Milk Wood

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 15th December 1993

Publications

1994 Purple Patch (UK)
1994 Current Accounts (UK)
1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)
1998 Black Creek Review (USA)
1998 Perihelion (Internet)
1998 Black Creek Review (Internet)

Greta Garbo on the Blackpool Bus

GRETA GARBO ON THE BLACKPOOL BUS

Elsie Williamson

met Greta Garbo on a Blackpool bus

going to visit a friend

in Poulton-le-Fylde.

"Ee luv, you do look like her;

I've seen all her films, you know;

I think I must be one of her biggest fans!"

"Have I many fans in Blackpool ?",

biting her lips at the utterance of "I".

"O hundreds, luv, and I reckon on

there must be at least a million

in the whole of Lancashire -

will you come to tea with me tomorrow?"

She scribbled her address

on the back of a brown envelope

that had had her gas-bill in;

"Must dash - this is my stop -

see you tomorrow".

George told her she was daft

but enjoyed the ham and ate the cake.

Two weeks later

a letter arrived

with two complimentary tickets

for the film premiere in London.

Elsie wondered

where she could find

the money for the train-fare.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed:  Gee Cross, 6th June 1990

Publications

1991 The Vincent Brothers Review (USA)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)
1994 Current Accounts (UK)
1997 Pickings (Internet)

May Special

MAY SPECIAL

It was May and it was snowing
as we drove down that delightful lane
lined by saxifrage and beyond them trees
We did not stop at Rievaulx
but only surveyed it from the car
Further on a pheasant, or a partridge,
flew down from the trees
to land behind a fence
It wasn't any special day
But later, when the sun forced out its warmth,
for our son, running over the grass
of Mount Grace Priory dodging daffodils
and trying to get in on the photograph
a girl was taking of her boyfriend,
perhaps there was something special after all

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Oldham, 1st May 1979

Publications

1980 THE RAINBOW AND OTHER POEMS (Heckmondwyke, Fighting Cock Press)
1988 Pennine Ink (UK)
1995 Current Accounts (UK)

The Way Ahead

THE WAY AHEAD

(for Vivienne)

For him the dance is done
despite continued clattering of guns
What matters now is not
the point nor mode of death -
only the life that went before

You have to feel your grief
And you have to live beyond
to keep the memory but loose
the sense of loss

Even in your solitary time
you are not alone, my love
He and I and we, we all are one

The mystery will remain unsolved
for we who have yet more to live

All endings are but a passing on

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 22nd October 1973

Publications

1980 THE RAINBOW AND OTHER POEMS (Heckmondwyke, Fighting Cock Press)
1993 East & West Literary Qtly (USA)
1995 Current Accounts (UK)
1998 Ygdrasil (Internet)