The black days are upon us,
Those times when all goes wrong,
But look ahead and see.
The grey days fill us with fear,
Where do we go from here,
Look ahead and see it.
The white days are upon us,
All is well in our lives,
It has been found.
Where once there was darkness
Now there is light,
And no matter how bad life appears
That light will never fail.
It is Chet Bakers Birthday today 23rd December 1929.
Yes, I was there when it happened;
The day he died.
I was always there, he depended on me,
And I didn’t ever fail him; did I?
This man chosen by The Bird to play in his band;
Dizzy wanted him, and bebop rang out,
Loud and long, until that day
When he was joined with Gerry,
And the Quartet struck gold.
And that is when I joined him, this man
Who could play like a nightingale,
And sing like an angel.
All the time I was there, supporting this man,
Never left him, followed him all over the world.
He played those gentle tunes that we know
With a sound so mellow, that the birds stopped to listen.
That day when he went looking for me,
The saddest of all, beaten to a pulp;
No longer able to play for months but he found me,
I wasn’t far away that day but not close enough
To protect him.
But he came back and the music swelled again
From this genius of Jazz.
Then came that day in Amsterdam;
Just the two of us in the hotel room.
I as ever supporting him
As he injected me into his arm.
He got up and stumbled, and as he fell from the window,
I was still there, when his eyes closed forever.
“The Leaves! The Leaves!”
Came the cry.
I saw him sweeping
Sweeping up the leaves,
No smile on his face,
Every time he swept
The wind would blow,
And the leaves would scatter,
Scatter once more.
“The Leaves! The Leaves!”
He shouted in despair,
Such abject despair.
He swept and swept,
Suddenly the ground was free,
Free from leaves,
He had won,
He had earned his coffee.
Coffee drank,
Paper read,
Outside he went,
The ground was covered,
Covered once more
With leaves.
“The Leaves! The Leaves!”
Came the cry once more,
“When will autumn end!”
I was standing in the shower,
Body nicely cleaned,
When I stopped.
The water spraying over me
Started to spray through my mind,
Taking away the troubled thoughts
And washing them away.
The more I stood,
The more clear my mind became,
The clarity showing me the way.
I stepped out of the shower
And into a new day,
A wonderful new day.
Over thirty years ago I saw it,
I still remember it,
Remember it in my mind’s eye.
The room was filled with art,
Art and sculpture of all types.
It was a degree show,
Showing the works
Of the students
Those who achieved degrees.
Our daughters work was there,
That piece that now dominates,
Dominates our lounge,
Amongst her other works.
I walked round the show
Looking at all,
Looking at all with my untrained eye,
That has now been trained
Into an appreciation of art,
Art of so many differing types.
But this piece stuck with me.
As I walked round it hit me,
I just stopped and looked,
Looked and was drawn in,
Into the mind of the artist.
It was a drawing,
A drawing in charcoal.
An alley was shown,
The sides were solid wooden fences,
The path went on,
Went on to a corner,
A corner turning left.
For over thirty years
That drawing has pulled at me,
Pulled at me in my mind.
All I want to know
Is what is around that corner.
I will never know,
But in my imagination I dream,
I dream that paradise is there,
And that is where I am going,
Where I am going to be,
For eternity.
Natures vast power
Takes me to a different world.
Everlasting peace.
The barge sits there
Waiting for us to board,
The ropes are freed,
And so are we as we move,
Move gently down the canal.
The engine throbbing gently
Moving us past Natures canvas
Painted all around us.
At the side of the water
The birdlife looks at us
In their serene way.
Further and further we glide,
The peace only interrupted
By the soft throb of the engine,
And the wonder of Nature’ Symphony.
We glide to a stop for the night,
Sitting on the deck in the evening light
Peace reigns,
Except for the song of the birds.
As darkness encroaches
The birds stop singing,
Silence surrounds us.
Into a dream filled sleep we sail
Until we awake refreshed,
Ready to continue our journey,
The journey of life,
At four miles an hour.
In the coffee house I went,
Sat down with my coffee,
Got my book out
And started reading.
I looked up and saw him,
Saw this old man sitting,
Sitting in the corner
Drinking his coffee,
Reading a book.
I read some more of my book,
Drank some coffee,
And looked up once more.
There looking at me
Was that old man.
I nodded and smiled
He did the same.
That was when I knew,
I knew who that old man was,
That old man will be me.
My day started so long ago.
Into this day I was born
From loving parents.
They showed me the way,
The way the day should progress.
Each second of the day
Gave me more to learn,
And learn I did,
Through school and college
Into my working life.
Those seconds turned into minutes
As my work carried me though
The morning and afternoon.
My lover joined me at lunchtime
And we carried on together,
Through the afternoon
Into the early evening and beyond.
Now in the late evening,
I wonder what will happen,
With the remains of the day.
I have been trying to write poetry for a few years now, I write at least one poem every day and hope it is going to be OK. I write for my pleasure about life, nature, music and nostalgia. Being now retired I have more time to indulge my passions of listening to music especially classical and jazz. I listen to all other types of music as well and to my mind there are only two type of music, that which you like and that which you don’t.
GoldiePoetry 