Daffodils I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. . Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They […]
The Frog . Be kind and tender to the frog And do not call him names As ‘Slimy Skin’, or ‘Polly Wig’, Or likewise ‘Ugly James’ Or ‘Gap-a-grin’ or ‘Toad-gone-wrong’, Or ‘Billy Bandy-knees’: The Frog is justly sensitive To epithets like these. No animal will more repay A treatment kind and fair; At least so […]
November No sun – no moon! No morn – no noon – No dawn – no dusk – no proper time of day. No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease, No comfortable feel in any member – No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! – November! […]
To Autumn Season of Mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit that round the thatched-eves run; To bend with apples the moss’d cottage trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; To swell the gourd and plump the hazel […]
The Football Pitch that Dad Built (continued) At last they arrived. Dad unwrapped the parcel and unravelled the nets. He stretched them between his vice like hands testing their strength and smiling his approval. Eventually the bright orange nets hung over the posts. He put the ball down, took three paces back ran… and then…thump! […]
Today’s a nipping day, a biting day; In which one wants a shawl, A veil, a cloak, and other wraps: I cannot ope to every one who taps, And let the draughts come whistling thro’ my hall; Come bounding and surrounding me, Come buffeting, astounding me, (from ‘Winter My Secret’ by Christina Rossetti) Tuesday […]
It had been the mildest winter for many a long year and there was just the suspicion that we might be going to get away with it this year ………………but NO! The month started off cold and on Wednesday 1st February, I went with my son, Liam and nephew Conor and it was the coldest […]