Bridlington 1968

BRIDLINGTON 1968

There's a cold wind
racing along the prom
Few folk venture on to Bridlington beach
when the cold wind blows
A fortnight from now,
when the sun blazes down,
the beach will be overcrowded
There'll be Joe with his kids, from Castleford,
Aunt Emma from Heckmondwike,
and a Sunday-school trip from Liversedge,
totally obscuring the sand
whereon someone has scrawled
with pebble, stick, something sharp,
- Home Rule For Yorkshire -

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 1st August 1968

Publications

1970 YORKSHIRE POETS '71 (Sheffield, Grove Publications)
1973 ENVIRONMENT (Thames Ditton, Ember Press)
1973 Platform (UK)
1974 North (UK)
1980 THE RAINBOW AND OTHER POEMS (Heckmondwyke, Fighting Cock Press)

00:10 Jan 1

00.10 HOURS JAN 1

Ten minutes ago it was last year
Now it's a New Year
So what ?
The clock strikes midnight
We take down the old calendar
But what is the point
of all this celebration ?
There is no difference
between this night
and any other cold, wintry night
A year has passed
but years pass all the time
not just at one specific moment
decreed, not by nature,
but by the men who devised the calendar
The passage of time
is not something that can be escaped
Time itself ceases to have meaning for me
but yet I write
with an urgency
suggesting that time is short

We all must change
for otherwise
time will change us
whether we like it or not

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 1st January 1967

Publications

1971 YORKSHIRE POETS '72 (Sheffield, Grove Publications)
1997 The Writer's Home Page (Internet)
1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)
1998 NASA (USA)

I Sense That

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© Gerald England

Composed: Glasgow, 11th October 1966

Publications
1970 YORKSHIRE POETS '71 (Sheffield, Grove Publications)
1972 THE WINE THE WOMEN AND THE SONG (Pyle, Kenfig Press)
1990 Temm (USA)
1991 California State Poetry Quarterly (USA)
1997 The Bard's Library (Internet)

My Happiness

MY HAPPINESS

For the past few days
I've been feeling happy
but I'm unhappy
in my happiness
because
I don't know why I'm happy
and anyway
I know
from past experience
that my happiness
will not last,
that soon
something will happen
to make me unhappy
I would be waiting
all the time
for something to happen
to bring me out of my happiness
and make me unhappy
I wish that that something
whatever it is
would happen
and make me unhappy
for I'd know
from past experience
that my unhappiness
would not last

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 1st August 1966

Publications
1971 YORKSHIRE POETS '71 (Sheffield, Grove Publications)
1972 Numquam Mens (UK)
1986 Psychopoetica (UK)