Poems
As a place to share poetry ideas suggested by local residents, we start this off with a suggestion from Repton Primary School:
The Rainbow Children 🌈❤️
The history books will talk of now,
That time the world stood still.
When every family stayed at home,
Waved out from windowsills-
At those they loved but could not hold,
Because they loved them so.
Yet, whilst they did they noticed all the flowers start to grow.
The sun came out, they can recall,
And windows, rainbows filled.
They kicked a football in their yards,
Until the night drew in.
They walked each day but not too close,
That time the world stood still.
When people walked straight down the roads,
That once the cars did fill.
They saw that people became ill,
They knew the world was scared.
But whilst the world stood still they saw,
How much the whole world cared.
They clapped on Thursdays from their doors,
They cheered for the brave.
For people who would risk their lives,
So others could be saved.
The schools closed down, they missed their friends,
They missed their teachers so.
Their Mams and Dads helped with their work,
They helped their minds to grow.
The parents used to worry that,
As schools were put on hold,
Their children wouldn’t have the tools,
They’d need as they grew old.
But history books will talk of them,
Now adults, fully grown.
Those little boys and girls back then,
The ones who stayed at home.
They’ll tell you that they fixed this world,
Of all they would fulfill.
The RAINBOW children building dreams,
They’d dreamed whilst time stood still 🌈
by Gemma Peacock
Poems and photos of holiday memories have been added in the hope that it will encourage others, inspired by their holiday surroundings, to submit a poem or poems they have created. Perhaps a small way to fill the gap of a lost holiday. Poems and photos can be sent to eileenfs@hotmail.com for inclusion.
The West Highland Line
Charging through a leafy tunnel
Overhanging ferns and berries
Rosebay willow herb and fox glove –
All along the banks of Gareloch
Dappled shadows in the hollows
Rhododendron and grasses
Yellow gorse and ox-eye daisies –
By Loch Long shore to Arrochar
Craggy hill top – sporadic forest
Increasing height shielded by ancient oak
Hazelnut and rowan curtain –
Shielding hill tops growing higher
Rocky overhangs more perilous
White washed villages in depth of valley
Whispy cloud around Ben Lomand –
Shimmering waters of Loch Lomand
Twenty three miles of beauty and grandeur
Sail reflections – orange and white
Curling trails from adventurous skiers –
Whole surroundings a shear delight
Grazing cows by sparkling stream
Honeysuckle and silver birch
Pause for train split – Mallaig – Oban –
From Crianlarich through Strath Fillan
Hang gliding and eagle compete for thermals
Cumulus clouds float in deep blue sky
Remains of snow in distant corrie –
From Upper Tyndrum to Bridge of Orchy
Hairpin road to sloping quarry
Grazing sheep by Highland Way
Ben Chaorach towers above us –
Heather clings to rocky gorge
Silver streams wind down steep hillsides
By the track dog rose and brambles
Bridge of Orchy – remote and peaceful –
North to Summit of Rannoch Moor
Above the tree line by Loch Tulla
Tom thumbs and colts foot
Cotton grass and bilberry –
Where are the deer on Rannoch Moor?
Weary walkers on the hilltop
Endless marshland, golden lichens
Regimented lines of forest fir trees –
Crow on power line stretching onward
Water lilies afloat in shallow lochan
Bubbling streams into Loch Eigheach
Brief stop at Rannoch Station –
Wild beauty to unending skyline
Ruined croft remote and lonely
Skeleton roots of ancient tree
Wind power found at moorland hostel –
By Loch Treigh to Glen Spean
Along winding track carved from steep hillside
Descending to loch shore at Tulloch
Via tunnel in the hillside –
Past roots of forest trees to the station
Speeding now through the valley
Brief glimpses of the River Spean
Onward past Ben Nevis –
Cap of snow towering over Fort William.
Eileen Saunders
22nd July 2000
A Levada Walk in Madeira
Colourful butterflies tracing my trail
Fern fronds dancing in the breeze
Sparkling water ready for the pail
Banks of thyme flowers under the lees
Such are the delights of the Levada
Eileen Saunders
Appledore
A dark blue, stormy sea
Screeching gulls and splashes from jumpers
Wetsuits tight like a banana skin
Lots of boats
Smelly seaweed
Never ending sea
The smell of fish and chips
A crab claw left by a gull
Happiness
Charlie Stewart
Covid 19 Poem
A few weeks before Christmas and all through the town
People wear masks to cover their frown
The frown had begun way back in the spring
When a global pandemic changed everything
They called it corona unlike the beer
It didn’t bring good times it didn’t bring cheer
Contagious and deadly this virus spread fast
Like a wild fire that starts when fuelled by gas
Airplanes were grounded travel was banned
Borders were closed across air sea and land
As the world entered lockdown to flatten the curve
The economy halted folk lost their nerve
From March to July we rode the first wave
People stayed home they tried to behave
When Summer emerged the lockdown was lifted
But away from caution many people drifted
But wave two came and cases were spiking
Very much so to our disliking
Frontline workers Doctors and nurses
Try to save people from riding in hearses
This virus is awful this Covid 19
But we now have hope they’ve found a vaccine
It’s true this year has had sadness a plenty
We’ll never forget this year 2020
Christmas won’t be cancelled and neither will hope
If we lean on one another I know we will cope
Janet Threlfall
December 2020