POEMS FOR MATURITY by John Pemberton

PRETTY PASS

2011-01-14T04:26:00.000-08:00

They’ve each a bus pass of their own
That tells a sorry tale.
Why make them wait until they’ve grown
So wrinkled, frail and pale?

OLD STAGERS

2011-01-14T04:12:00.000-08:00

At last a bus pass of their own,
And with their picture on!
Why make them wait until they've grown
So wrinkled, bald and wan.

FUTURE TRANSPORT

2011-01-14T03:44:00.000-08:00

Our grandson laughed when we told him our cars
Had tanks underneath we filled with hoses.
He smirked: 'You'll tell me next you'd owned a cart
That was pulled by a couple horses!'

What happened after was what we both feared:
He pressed a red button and disappeared!

EYE CANDY

2011-01-14T03:41:00.001-08:00

The male of middle age today
Increasingly his eyes diverts
From modern misses’ bland display,
And hopes to minis they’ll revert.

DISCARDED HISTORY

2011-01-14T03:38:00.000-08:00

Those vacant, silver corners on the page
Bespeak a treasured photograph reproved.
Was grief the reason, jealousy or hate,
The missing image came to be removed?

With crowded recollections long replete,
That picture had a legend to impart.
But never hence will heirs its tale repeat.
Thus carelessly our history we discard!

ALICE

2011-01-13T10:13:00.000-08:00

Young Alice left the woodland way
To follow where the cuckoo called,
Beyond the bluebells' vast array;
In May, when magic never palled.

Alice is ninety-one today,
And seldom, now, the cuckoo calls;
Nor do so many bluebells sway,
The way that, fondly, she recalls.

EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY

2010-12-21T05:36:00.000-08:00

On my eightieth birthday I sit, chilling out,
Just wondering what all the fuss is about.
The bird-bath wants filling where fledgling chicks bide,
And pots still need washing, then rinsed out and dried.

I notice a list I’m expected to take,
Along with the missus, who’ll brook no mistake.
At least she won’t know I’ve been wasting my time
While she’s at her barber’s and I'm shunning mine.

MIND AND MATTER

2010-12-20T09:33:00.000-08:00

Age is a case of mind over matter;
If you don’t mind, things aren’t going to matter.

LIFE'S AUTUMN

2010-04-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

There’s a time to progress and a time to retire,
But the season between is the one we desire.

EXTENUATION

2010-04-22T10:58:00.000-07:00

The older person’s extenuation
Needs more frequent recuperation.

THAT CERTAIN AGE

2010-04-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

Many roles are played on the marital stage,
Some unfittingly tried at that certain age.

AGEING ADMISSION

2010-04-19T11:10:00.000-07:00

An ageing actor admits as years flit by
Much more on cosmetics he’s forced to rely.

OLD SAGES

2010-04-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

Given the number of things they’ve been told,
Intelligence ought to favour the old.

PENCHANTS

2010-03-29T11:01:00.000-07:00

The average man has a penchant for pleasure;
Retired, he fancies a pension forever.

LONGEVITY'S TOKEN

2009-06-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

There’s nothing can beat, with old age so hard,
Receiving a sweet monarchical card.

AGEING SAGES

2009-06-04T03:57:00.001-07:00

Adding a year to one’s earlier age
Ushers one nearer becoming a sage.

DECREPITUDE

2009-04-07T08:13:00.000-07:00

Decrepitude hovers over the old,
Despairing of health and fearing the cold.

SCHEMER

2009-04-06T11:45:00.001-07:00

Extremely attractive, though level-headed,
She’d wed old beans with a need to be steadied.

DEFAULTING

2009-03-20T12:53:00.000-07:00

Our faculties fail old burdens we’d shoulder,
But we aren’t to blame for our growing older.

DOZING TIME

2009-03-13T10:30:00.001-07:00

The shorter our span of time has to run,
The longer our hours of dozing become.

ROUTINES

2009-03-13T06:23:00.000-07:00

Living tends to decline into daily routines.
The older you get, the fewer that means.

SLOWING DOWN

2009-03-03T10:06:00.001-08:00

Once known as the ultimate man of action,
He found relaxing his later attraction.

OLD

2009-03-03T09:49:00.000-08:00

It’s tough when we’re old.
We loathe being told
To mop up our spills,
And take those damned pills.

RECUPERATION

2009-02-24T09:26:00.001-08:00

Our years in vigorous occupation
Deserve some later recuperation.

REUNION

2009-02-16T10:57:00.000-08:00

Fifty years on, a reunion traces
The remnants of once-familiar faces.

LAST APPLES

2009-01-09T10:04:00.000-08:00

Like the last apples attached to a bough,
We hang on as long as time will allow.

ACKNOWLEDGED

2009-01-09T10:01:00.000-08:00

Knowledge accumulates in the wizened,
Where it deteriorates, self-imprisoned.

GREATER REGRETS

2008-12-21T10:56:00.000-08:00

The older we get,
The more we regret.

ANECDOTAGE

2008-12-21T10:32:00.000-08:00

Aware of repeating the same old stories,
He’d boast of achieving his anecdotage.

CHAT SHOP

2008-12-02T04:41:00.000-08:00

When oldies go to the barber’s shop,
It’s mostly for chat, partly for chop.

FAMOUSLY AGED

2008-11-28T09:53:00.000-08:00

He feared his celebrity
Bespoke his antiquity.

YOUNG AGAIN?

2008-11-18T11:09:00.000-08:00

I wished I was young, then heard the refrain:
I don’t want to go through all that again!

GROWING OLD

2008-11-16T09:38:00.000-08:00

Teens were the time when I played and I learned;
Schemes were the aims that achievement confirmed;
Dreams were illusions for which I once yearned;
Means were the proceeds I constantly earned.

The cold drives into me easily now,
Through wafer skin and on to my bones now.
Light exercise fails to re-heat me now;
No wintertime sport can unfreeze me now.

Now I recede to the warmth of my teens;
Now I deceive when I tell of new schemes;
Now I believe is the end of my dreams;
Now I perceive what this growing old means.

ELDERLY EVENINGS

2008-11-13T08:43:00.000-08:00

Plodding through listings, dodging repeats;
Hoping for programmes rated as treats.

FATIGUE

2008-11-13T08:21:00.001-08:00

When each of use finishes what was required,
Achievement reveals us increasingly tired.

SHAKESPEARE

2008-11-03T10:20:00.000-08:00

Keeping Shakespeare to read when retired,
Assumes by then you won’t have expired.

AGE

2008-10-13T11:34:00.001-07:00

The hand of time demands our compliance;
Age won’t tolerate people’s defiance.

PLEASURES OF LIFE

2008-10-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

Pleasures of life are there to be tasted;
Time is measured, don’t let them be wasted.

PATIENT WAITING

2008-09-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

The shorter our term that’s still remaining,
The longer we keep our patience waiting.

EXPECTATION

2008-09-16T04:52:00.000-07:00

Is that expectation who knocks at the door?
Why today? Why today?
Why the persistence? Don’t knock any more.
Go away! Go away!

I’ve done quite enough to keep you at bay.
Yes, that’s so. Really so.
If I felt any guilt, I’d invite you to stay.
But I don’t. No I don’t!

When I was younger it wasn’t the same.
That was then. That was then.
Don’t expect me still to play the old game.
Not again. Never again!

WASHING WATCH

2008-09-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

Alert to the weather, the senior waits
To gather-in washing as raining dictates.

TASTES IN LIFE

2008-07-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

Our tastes in life are seldom stable:
We undertake just what we’re able.

DECEPTION

2008-07-29T11:03:00.001-07:00

Folly will always enjoy being told
It looks so young when it’s growing so old.

MUTUAL SUPPORT

2008-07-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

The best of advice old age ever taught
Was giving each other mutual support.

HOMAGE

2008-07-16T12:54:00.000-07:00

We thank the Lord for the 'Hurry' and 'Spit',
And valiant pilots in flying kit.
Never, throughout all the annals of war,
Was owed to so few such a debt before.

For Royal Air Force click here.

PETALS OF LIFE

2008-07-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

The petals of life all flourish in turn,
Then wither and perish, to our concern.

ENDANGERMENT

2008-07-10T09:48:00.000-07:00

Mature generations that send us to war
Endanger the young, not consulted before.

LOVING LIFE

2008-07-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

Can they who have reached the end of their span
Without love, have lived as well as man can?

BEING OLD

2008-07-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

When you have to concede to being old,
At least you don’t need to do as you’re told.

OUR LATER LIFE

2008-07-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

A simple poem is all we need,
That tells of who we are.
Our life excludes the favours of greed
That beckon near and far.

It spares the time that others require,
That's made without their call.
It shuns the objects others acquire,
That have scant use withal.

It bears the tasks, recurring each day,
That draw on strength and health.
It shares the joy of physical play
That yields beyond mere wealth.

It finds the leisure to clear our minds,
That gives our being its rest.
It fosters the love of family and friends,
The dearest thing possessed.

ONE-WAY TICKET

2008-07-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

Since Nature gave us a one-way ticket,
Our test is finding how best to use it.
(Life)

NOW'S THE TIME

2008-07-01T11:07:00.001-07:00

Don't reach the point where you wish you'd said it.
Speak out the words! Best heard, not regretted.
(To Ponder)

LIFE'S JOURNEY

2008-07-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

Our life is a journey to death from birth:
A proffered pursuit for proving our worth.
(To Ponder)

JUDGEMENT

2008-07-01T10:57:00.000-07:00

People, like plays, should never be rated
Until their last act has been related.
(Life)

RESEEDING

2008-07-01T10:54:00.001-07:00

Keep sowing seeds for germination:
Life succeeds your own termination.

WEAR AND TEAR

2008-07-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

Many troubles are born
When components get worn.
(Health, To Ponder)

MEMENTOES

2008-07-01T10:40:00.000-07:00

His medals ring a chime but muted heard;
Both hurt and fear she’d read within his eyes:
Brave deeds and suffering a simple word
Like ‘gallantry’ or ‘valour’ can’t describe.

For nine years past they’ve lain beside her bed,
Sustaining memories of things he dared;
And, pending sleep, in every prayer she’s said,
Her thanks have been for all the years they shared.

With what were his she knows she now must part;
No choices left, admits a weary mind
That’s reconciled itself to troubled heart,
Disquieted to leave the past behind.

Determination’s mask in place, she dons
A fleecy coat, its brooch reflecting light;
Then, probing tremble-handed, finds the spot
To pierce her hat aright and fix it tight.

Returning home, both clasp and pin are gone,
And all the sparkling’s done by wrinkled eyes
That watch as treasured medals, one by one,
Resume their hallowed places, side by side.

EYESIGHT

2008-07-01T10:37:00.001-07:00

Our weakening eyes improve the view
Of younger faces that older grew.
(Health, To Ponder)

RECIPROCATION

2008-07-01T10:35:00.000-07:00

His last consolation, when old and feeble,
Was being rude to objectionable people.
(Behaviour)

BIRTHDAY NUMBERS

2008-07-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

Of all the signs of ageing we could choose
Some tell their tale less subtly than the rest.
Thus grey-white wisps can soon whole pates suffuse
While, neath them, brows with wrinkled lines are blest.

Each step, once light and agile, now is slowed
And bended knees will not with ease unbend.
Nor is the mossy sward so swiftly mowed
As in our thirty-somethings we pretend.

In contradiction, passing years can show,
Albeit to the inner eye this time,
New ways to savour all the things we know
Yet failed, alas, to treasure in our prime.

I’ll not let birthday numbers rule my span,
But measure what’s of value while I can.

AGEING

2008-07-01T10:21:00.001-07:00

Most of us know when we're getting old;
Only the foolish need to be told.

FLAKED

2008-07-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

He cast his eyes on the barber's floor
And saw the snow, not present before.
(Humour)

LIFE'S LAST PRAISE

2008-07-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

Three parting swans spill sapphires on the lake,
Their splashing webs assisting lift for flight;
Once clear, the birds create majestic shapes,
All clad in pristine cloaks of purest white.

But wait! Their wings are now to gold transformed,
In gleaming sunlight-shafts an instant caught,
Then in a trice by cloud to white reformed:
The gold more precious for its brief resort.

So we may all a moment’s glory find,
Illuminated for our fellows’ gaze
By recognition of some quality defined,
Held close-confined till told at life’s last praise.

GOOD HEALTH

2008-07-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

For overall health in old age to prevail,
Both mind and body must counter betrayal.

LEFTOVER TIME

2008-07-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

The leftover years, when mating is through,
Provide us with time, old hopes to pursue.

MEN OF THE FRONT

2008-07-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

Good friends they saw pass on
While others stricken lay;
When every hope was gone
- They never fled the fray.

All ammunition spent,
And rations washed away,
With body wracked and rent
- They never fled the fray.

From direst wounds they bled,
To heaven above they’d pray
Though wishing they were dead
- They never fled the fray.

If taken prisoner,
No comrade they’d betray
Despite their own despair
- They never fled the fray.

Old soldiers of the front,
We honour them today;
All those who bore the brunt
- Yet never quit the fray.

UNRETIREMENT

2008-06-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

The aim when that gainful span has expired
Is keeping one's faculties unretired.
(Health)

GROWING

2008-06-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

Growing old we can't refuse:
Growing up's for us to choose.

THE YEAR OFLIFE

2008-06-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

Year’s dawning months - when all was pure
And innocence proclaimed its worth -
Assumed young habits would endure
And so remain to death from birth.

But March’s sap began to rise:
The character of life transformed.
Ambition thrust content aside
And April’s new pretensions spawned.

They flourished in the blooms of May,
That means of reproduction cloaked.
Then June conveyed with her display
How, fertile made, they’d be invoked.

July and August, times of heat,
Could wear spring’s freshness nevermore;
All novelty seemed in retreat,
Yet much remained they might explore.

September sought, within its right,
To stretch the warmth of summer out,
With hopes that mild October might
Bestow on love its second bout.

Though longer nights, it once was thought,
Would lengthen November’s pleasure,
December showed that there was naught
Could hinder life’s final measure.

A KICK AT OLD AGE

2008-06-29T11:22:00.001-07:00

Aiming a foot at a dangling sock, he cursed:
'This bloody old age thing gets bloody well worse!'

LIFE'S ENDEAVOUR

2008-06-29T11:20:00.000-07:00

The mere achievement of ripe old age
Can life's endeavour never assuage.

TRIKING AND BIKING

2008-06-29T11:18:00.000-07:00

The trio of wheels on her new machine
Outsparkle the rims my duo provide.
Combining both, as we’re frequently seen,
Enlivens a trike-and-bicycle ride.

Dreaming of years when we pedalled afar,
Breathing fresh air whatever the weather be,
Here once again on our saddles we are,
Out on the road riding togetherly.

HOUSE WISE

2008-06-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

Once eighties' mobility takes its toll,
Logistical planning assumes a role;
One's peregrinations from room to room
Entailing, at times, a list and a route.

GOOD SIGNS

2008-06-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

A smile, a wave, a nod, a wink
Mean more to us than we might think.
(To Ponder)

THINGS PAST

2008-06-29T11:11:00.000-07:00

The now impenetrable past
Still speaks of things that couldn't last:
Of gods and kings who once held sway
By rights and laws unknown today;

Adventurers who found new lands,
Beyond blue seas and golden sands,
That feature in those weighty books
Of history in inglenooks;

Fine fashioners of sculpted form,
Of classic buildings long outworn,
Famed artists, slaves to shapes and tones,
Composers' works and poets' tomes.

All met the end each man befalls,
Alike their castles and their halls:
Nor living nor inanimate
Escapes the skeletal estate.

LUCK

2008-06-29T10:59:00.000-07:00

How lucky we are if our living ends first:
The symptoms of ageing can only get worse.

VITAL SPARKS

2008-06-29T10:55:00.000-07:00

His looking back would seem too late,
Close friends and family all gone;
The needs of now predominate,
Past thoughts precluded, one by one.

Mementoes, woebegone, still stand
By misted pictures on the shelf,
No longer touched by loving hand:
Neglected, of all care bereft.

Yet, where two curtains barely meet,
A chink of early light is drawn
To strike a figurine petite,
In graceful ballerina’s form.

Just then his weary, waking eyes
Shine for a single instant, bright,
As gaudy rising dawn moves by,
Replacing fast-dissolving night.

And in that magic moment comes
So clearly to his mind the wife
Whose dancing image overcomes
The fenced-in nature of his life.

With windows now flung open wide,
His dusted souvenirs revive;
And talk with folk he asks inside
Will keep those vital sparks alive.

NEW PLEASURE

2008-06-29T10:53:00.000-07:00

Smiling at babies peeping from cover
Brings great pleasure, as oldies discover.

RIDING AGAIN

2008-06-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

At seventy-six he’s riding again,
Feet on the pedals and cheeks on the seat.
He’s turning the wheels and straining the chain,
Something he thought he would never repeat.

He thanks the fates for this glorious day,
For granting such pleasure he didn’t expect:
A present whose worth he couldn’t repay,
Except by treating their gift with respect.

No wonder the sun has vanquished the cloud;
No wonder his face is wrinkled with smiles;
No wonder once more he’s singing aloud.
No wonder! Just think of those still-to-ride miles!

EPITAPH

2008-06-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

When tides of mortal life have ebbed their last,
The tiniest feature of my own past
I’d wish their scouring flow to leave behind,
Within the emptied harbour of my mind,
Would be an echo of these words I pen:
That I was thoughtful of my fellow men.

OPTIMISM

2008-06-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

See pleasure in trees; hear joy in song;
Find goodness in people; life isn't long.
(Lifestyle)

OUR FUTURE

2008-06-29T10:36:00.000-07:00

Our empire gone, where’s now the pride?
Perforce we turned the other cheek.
That harm was done can’t be denied:
An outlook bright transformed to bleak.

Our land has felt the strains of war.
For freedom’s sake our fathers fell.
With allies by their side they saw
A common cause that bound them well.

Our nation state has learned through strife
And others show a wish to share
Our democratic way of life
Where folk are equal, laws are fair.

Our populace by races mixed
And generations sturdy grown
Is undeniably enriched,
With future prospects widely sown.

Our country can in time achieve
A greater glory, unashamed.
So long as all in her believe,
She nevermore will be defamed.

OLD AGE

2008-06-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

When virile days have disappeared
And naught occurs that used to please,
Hard lives must thrive on soft settees
And slippered feet. Or so we’ve feared.

Our late-life reveries require
That youthful years kept feeding more
To recollection’s treasure store
Of joy and satisfied desire.

PETS AND PEOPLE

2008-06-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

Pamper your poodle, converse with the cat;
Neighbours could do with attention like that.
(Animals, Friendship, Lifestyle)

REPENTANCE

2008-06-29T10:20:00.000-07:00

When all the energy of living's spent
And strength once known has drained away,
One thing remains for us to do: repent
For any wasted, precious day.
(To Ponder)

MODERATION

2008-06-29T10:17:00.000-07:00

The less we possess,
The more we treasure;
In modesty's dress
We find most pleasure.
(Behaviour, To Ponder)

HIS HARVEST

2008-06-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

Before his prime he used to peep
At lovers neath the willow.
This is the harvest he did reap
When once a voyeur callow.

He was quite unable to keep
A lissom young dear fallow.
This is the harvest he must reap
Since in their beds he’d wallow.

He always had to go too deep
When sense said ‘Keep it shallow’.
This is the harvest now he’ll reap
With more, he fears, to follow.

And lonely from their rooms he’d creep,
His indent on their pillow.
This is the harvest he should reap
For making curtains billow.

Yet for his deeds he’d never weep:
They made his darlings’ cheeks glow.
This is the harvest he would reap
From pleasuring long ago.

And as he lays him down to sleep
The candle sheds its tallow.
This is the harvest now he’s reaped,
A blithe and loving fellow.

SIMPLE THINGS

2008-06-29T10:05:00.000-07:00

The delight we find in simple things
Is recompense for what ageing brings.

TOMORROWS

2008-06-29T10:03:00.001-07:00

Seek to discard the worst of your sorrows
And concentrate on better tomorrows!

GRANNY'S ABODE

2008-06-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

Some terms have changed to match the times:
Apartment's one that comes to mind;
But some remain as chipped in stone,
Like granny flat and nursing home.

PLEASURES

2008-06-29T09:49:00.000-07:00

Seeking pleasures today, while vigour’s at hand,
We tend to ignore what our dotage has planned.
(Health, Lifestyle, To Ponder)

CYCLING SONGS

2008-06-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

Oh how we sang, my bike and I,
As miles beneath us fled;
Our theatre the boundless sky
That floated overhead.

At times we’d be the audience
And marvel at the lark
In all his wild magnificence,
Till stilled by gloaming’s dark.

The swish of rain and humming tyre
Made vocal harmonies
To which the choristers aspire
And no man’s ears displease.

An uphill stretch might steal our breath,
But ups repay with downs;
On each descent we’d feel refreshed
And sing our loudest rounds.

If only we could ride again!
I know we’d both enthuse
To use the tunes we warbled then
- With words for us to choose!

REGENERATION

2008-06-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

Gladly I find it's lately become
Son and father, from father and son.

LIFE'S CYCLE

2008-06-29T09:34:00.000-07:00

June in the garden finds fledglings feeding:
June on the beach sees seniors snoozing.
(Humour)

HAPPY FAMILIES

2008-06-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

Before TV and other diversions,
Forebears counted their cousins in dozens.
(To Ponder)

AIRS AND WRINKLES

2008-06-29T09:27:00.000-07:00

Refrain from plying your airs and graces;
We all end up with our wrinkled faces.
(Lifestyle)

SNAPSHOTS

2008-06-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

That glowing heath I conjure yet,
As were it Earth's sole coverlet:
Massed yellow spikes of gorse thrust high,
So bright against an azure sky.

They're oft recalled, such wondrous thrills
That memory's filter swift distills;
Their moments plot our toil and play
As milestones punctuate the way.

It bodes us, though, to take due care
We constantly remain aware
That snapshots make past times recur
Oft better than in truth they were!

GARDENERS

2008-06-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

When mothers retire,
Before they expire
They turn to earth's
Perennial rebirths.
(Hobbies, Lifestyle, To Ponder)

AGE MATTERS

2008-06-29T09:14:00.000-07:00

Epic verses hours assuage;
Bitesize poems match our age.
(Poetry)

NOT ALONE

2008-06-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

We watched them queueing for lunch in the store.
Was that why they'd come? We couldn't be sure.
Later thet queued for the bus to go home.
Queues must be better than being alone.
(Lifestyle)