A sudden temperature drop overnight has left downtown Ottawa awash in fog. So cool 😀
Category: Uncategorized
Chilly But Beautiful
I was doind my rounds at work this morning and I just loved how the light was hitting the building against the overcast sky.
#WestBlock #ParliamentOfCanada
Personal Creativity Project
Well….. I’ve made it through NaPoWriMo with at least a few brain cells intact. Now that I’ve had a week to recharge the batteries, I’ve decided it’s time to remedy that. I’m going to seque into a new format. Instead of writing a poem every single day, I’m going to try and put up something creative two or three times a week. It may be a poem, or a drawing; a bit of short fiction or an essay on something of interest to me. Whatever it may be, the page will continue…
THE OLD WAYS
I take a little bread and milk,
And put it in a bowl.
I leave it for the little folk,
Who live beneath the knoll.
It’s best to always care for them,
For then they’ll care for you.
But if you don’t, you cannot guess,
Just what it is they’ll do.
If you should be out on the green,
And hear a piping song.
Or someone fiddling merrily,
You must not tarry long.
The little folk all love to dance,
They’re merry ’tis no lie.
If they ensnare you with their tunes,
You’ll dance until you die.
There is a hole a hidden way,
Which leads beneath the sod.
Where dwell the folk of legend still,
Safe from invading God.
I know you’ve heard of treasure there,
Such riches so they say.
But do not try to find that hoard,
I beg you stay away.
For all you’ll find is fairy dust,
Which gets into your mind.
‘Til you forget the real world.
Drift off leave all behind.
Now in the morning mist I see,
The long grass start to sway.
I know the ancient folk are out,
To start upon their day.
So honour them, these folk of yore,
Your offerings prepare.
For though you may not see or hear,
I swear they still are there.
The folk of legend, little folk,
Dwell still beneath the hill.
And dance and laugh and sing each night,
I pray they always will.
Cheers, Winston
NaPoWriMo Day 28
Because of the last two night shifts and having to work tomorrow at 0600, I haven’t slept since about 1430 yesterday. This has some strange effects upon my little brain. For starters, I had absolutely no idea what to write about today, only the determination to not miss a post this close to the end of the month. So I just started putting words on the page and trusted it to write itself. Enjoy!
WELCOME TO YOUNGWICH PLOT
“You are a witch and so must burn!”
The magistrate declared.
So terrified, the young girl sobbed,
And in her heart despaired.
“All these good folk have seen you dance,
With devils in the night.”
“And when you spoke to Widow Blythe,
She fell down dead of fright.”
“You’ve cursed a babe and blighted crops,
Done Satan’s own dark deeds.”
“You’ve done all this and so much more,
To suit your evil needs.”
“When you have died, your grave shall be,
Unhallowed, unmarked plot.”
“With iron chains and salted earth,
To bind you to the spot!”
“Now speak the truth, or not at all,
Repent now, do not lie!”
“Confess to us your evil ways,
Confess before you die!”
Her fate confirmed, she stands up straight,
“The truth is what you seek?”
“Then harken to my words and learn,
About your future bleak.”
“The spells I weave, no devils need,
All nature is my loom.”
“It’s true that with some herbs I mix,
I fly upon a broom.”
“I’ve done my best to help this town,
Through famine, drought and plague.”
“And many a good Christian has,
Sought my help with the ague.”
“But then one day an old man tried,
To have his way with me.”
“So I did as my Mother taught,
Displaced him with my knee.”
“Then Sunday next, that man stood up,
And lied of me to you.”
“He is a man and I am not,
So his words must be true.”
“He swore he’d seen me dancing with,
Three devils in the night.”
“But did not say why he was there,
So late to see that sight.”
“What was it that he hoped to see,
When peeping in that pane?”
“Was he possessed of some dark urge,
From which he’d not refrain?”
“But you don’t want to hear this truth,
I see this plain as day.”
“There’s just one thing before I stop,
It’s this that I will say.”
“By powers of the earth and air,
And of the waters deep.”
“From now until your lives are spent,
You’ll know no restful sleep.”
“Each time you close your eyes to rest,
Wherever, you may be.”
“My tortured face all wreathed in flame,
Is all that you shall see.”
“Your stock shall flee across the land,
To seek their wild way.”
“Your lands shall bear no crops for you,
“Now heed these words I say.”
“Now none of this must needs to pass,
Surcease my freedom buys.”
“But if I burn, this curse shall last,
‘Til each one present dies!”
They burned the witch so legend says,
Her every word came true.
Those who slew her soon rued the day,
Too late there’s naught to do.
So now you know the reason for,
The name our town has got.
I welcome one and welcome all,
Welcome to Youngwich Plot.
Cheers Winston
NaPoWriMo Day 25
I’m posting this a little later in the day than usual. I spent my morning at the Heart Institute getting some tests done. Many of the other people there are in far worse shape than be so it served as a “Memento Mori”. It started me thinking about my eventual end, and this is what came out of it. Enjoy!
A SPARK TO MARK MY PLACE
Sometimes when I’m reminded of,
My own mortality.
I realize I’ll one day face,
The utter end of me.
I wonder where the time has gone,
Just where the years all went.
I’ve lived my life like anyone,
But was my time well spent?
Should I regret the things undone,
The chances that I’ve missed,
Or bow my head and thank the fates,
For each time I’ve been kissed?
And of the lives that I have touched,
Which ones will shed a tear?
And which will share a laugh about,
Some mem’ry they hold dear?
Why do I ask? It matters not.
When I no longer live.
As I wink out, will I believe,
I gave all I could give?
There’s more that I could do not doubt,
Before I leave this place.
Not something grand, some little thing,
To ripple through my race.
Perhaps this verse could be that thing,
That in a thousand years,
Someone may find and read these words,
Find themselves moved to tears.
But maybe not, I cannot know,
Just hope to leave a mark.
And pray some tiny spark remains,
When my own light goes dark.
Cheers, Winston
NaPoWriMo Day 23
As they used to say on Monty Python’s Flying Circus…. “and now for something completely different.” I love ghost stories. I always have, and so they serve as another recurring theme in my poetry. Enjoy!
MY OBSESSION
I do not sleep at all these days,
I have not for some time.
I wish just to complete my verse,
I seek that final rhyme.
So many words within my head,
A rude, unruly mass.
I snatch, and grab and try to catch,
The right one as they pass.
But every time I think that I,
Have finally got the one.
The clever line I thought I had,
Forgot and so undone.
But I go on, I know it’s there,
Deep down within my mind.
If I keep on, I know that I,
One day the words will find.
I pace about all day and night,
My thoughts through chaos dance.
And seek to find one perfect word,
If not by skill, by chance.
I’ve laboured at this verse so long,
That nothing else remains.
Not love nor life nor anything,
Nobody now complains.
So if you hear some phantom steps,
Do not alarm your host.
Those faintly whispered words you hear,
Are just this poet’s ghost.
Cheers, Winston
Sketch of the Day
Here is my latest digital painting. Done using the Apple Pencil on my iPad. The app is called Coloured Pencil. The palette and toolset are a little unconventional, but it’s a lot of fun once you get used to it.
Let me know what you think 😀
NaPoWriMo Day 22
We often hear about the greed of the super rich. But the fact is, it’s most of us as well. We all see the poverty in our own communities and around the world, but so few step up to do anything about it. Instead of waiting for the rich to throw money at these problems or the government to fix them, it’s up to each of us. Today’s poem is about the low-level greed and despair that hold us back from a better world. Enjoy.
WE CAN BE THE CHANGE
Today I have enough to eat,
A roof over my head.
I turn a tap and water’s there,
I have a warm, safe bed.
Sometimes there’s things that I may want,
I’m sad I cannot get.
But then I try to realize,
They are not needs I bet.
So many live without enough,
To eat or even drink.
How spoiled am I to stress about,
Stuff I don’t need, I think.
It is the blessing and the curse,
Of where I live I guess.
We have so much, but want much more,
It makes our world a mess.
Why’s it so hard to understand,
There’s others need it more.
The money that I spend on whims,
Could truly help the poor.
Instead of doing all we can,
To help those most in need.
We drop our coin, to buy that thing,
And never think it’s greed.
No, greed’s a thing for CEOs,
Not folks like you and me.
The truth is we are just as bad,
On smaller scale you see.
We want to keep all that we make,
The same as rich folk do.
And get upset when strangers ask,
For cash from me and you.
We don’t want to be told the truth,
Reminded of the fact.
That we are just like all the rest,
Who know but will not act.
We get so overwhelmed when we,
Think of the problem’s scale.
But don’t forget that plankton feed,
The mighty baleen whale.
No runner ever starts the race,
Right at the finish line.
It’s all the steps that come between,
To victory incline.
So think on this, the smallest step,
We take is something more.
And even baby steps move us,
From where we were before.
Before you buy that shiny thing,
That just now caught your eye.
Give just a bit, it’s not that hard.
To help someone, just try.
Cheers, Winston
NaPoWriMo Day 20
My grandmother lived to be one hundred and four years old. She grew up in London, England in the late 1800s before moving to the prairies in Saskatchewan, Canada. She went from living in the bright center of the British Empire to living in a sod shack. The last time I saw her, she was talking about all the wonders she had seen over her lifetime. From steam engines to moon landings and from telegraphs to television. The pace of progress is even quicker now. Who knows what wonders we will see…
TOMORROW’S WONDERS
I travel ever on and on,
Through this strange place called life.
And lose myself in daily rounds,
Of sadness, joy or strife.
But every now and then I wake,
And look around in awe.
At miracles I see each day,
And then forget I saw.
A medicine that saves a life,
Last year was surely lost.
But we don’t see the miracle,
Just grumble at the cost.
A car that stops before it hits,
A person in the street.
Don’t care about the life it spared,
Just think, “That’s kinda neat!”
A human habitat in space,
Now orbits overhead.
Where scientists experiment,
While I I’m asleep in bed.
The pace of progress does not sleep,
It forges ever on.
As long as questions still get asked,
‘Til the last human’s gone.
Think back to when you were a child,
Now see the massive change.
Now see tomorrow and the next,
How beautiful and strange.
I know that it’s not guaranteed,
This future that I see.
But giving it a fighting chance,
Is down to you and me.
Try to consume a little less,
Give back a little more.
If we all do a little bit.
We’ll reach that golden shore.
So look around with open eyes,
At what we can achieve.
Now every one of us must build,
That future we believe.
Cheers, Winston
NaPoWriMo Day 18
The future is coming faster than we think. One day, not too long from now, we will be looking to colonize distant worlds. First within our own system and then someday… beyond.
INTO THE DARK
With thunder louder than the storm,
Light brighter than the dawn.
A mighty ship, heroic crew,
Far from this earth they’ve gone.
They join up with the mothership,
This one will be their home.
Will keep them safe, and warm and fed,
As through the dark they roam.
There’s worlds out there that beckon them,
There’s colonies to found.
With room to grow and cities build,
And riches in the ground.
Don’t ask why they would take this chance,
The answer changes not.
There’s sights no one has ever seen,
And things no one has got.
They are the first to live out there,
That’s why they want to go.
To be the first, do something new,
Know things no one can know.
So up they go beyond the sky,
Where it is always black.
They know the odds, that most of them,
Are never coming back.
But that is how it always is,
How it has always been.
The first to go have often stayed,
Now rest in graves unseen.
Now watch them soar beyond our world,
To their brave words now hark.
They take the future of our kind,
With them into the dark.
Cheers, Winston
Brain Bits To Go 