Diaphanous Delight | Peter Matthews — Whispers and Echoes

Please check out my poem on Whispers and Echoes

Flittering, fluttering, butterfly wings One of life’s wonders such beautiful things Alighting on flowers and floating on high Painting new portraits way up in the sky Some look like tigers and some look like eyes There’s so much to see as the butterfly flies You may be surprised at the height they can soar Six […]

Diaphanous Delight | Peter Matthews — Whispers and Echoes

Numbers

One is one and two is too

And so are three and four

Then comes five and six and seven

Then eight and nine and more

†

Our days are numbered: very few

In years three score and ten

Translated into days perhaps

you’d think a lot, but then

†

It is actually only twenty five thousand five hundred and sixty eight days

†

At approximately 8.20am today I was:

26,916 days old

645,984 hours old

38,759,040 minutes old

2,325,542,400 seconds old

†

Don’t waste a second!

That was then – This is now

Linda, Angie, Paul, and Pete

one had spots and smelly feet

another stuttered all the time

one took up professional crime

Do I know which one, or not

I’ve no idea, ‘cause I forgot

It’s just that they were pals of mine

The details dim, but that is fine

Although the memories fade away

What lingers helps to light my day

§

Linda, Angie, and Paul do exist, as do I. I have no recollection that any of us had spots, smelly feet, a stutter, or were ne’er do wells. I do know that they were excellent co workers and friends without whom I could not have done my job. There were others, of course, but these three have a particularly special place in my life!

Although it can be very pleasant to look back on our youth in later years it is never a good idea to try to compare one with the other. Times change, circumstances change, and our perceptions change. I like to try to live in, and for, the moment, and to enjoy it, and help others to do so too!

Private – Keep Out!

I spend time inside my head

when awake or in my bed

it is not a space I share with people freely

If you peeked inside you’d know

that it has to be just so

otherwise you’d think of me a bit too queerly!

§

You are not the only one

to have pondered thereupon

and perhaps some tried returning more than once

Folk have even dared to say

that in every single way

I could easily be classed a stupid dunce

§

But do I really care

if they think I’m not all there

and consider that I have a few loose screws

I care not what they think

I’ll just have another drink

and make stories up as if I were Fox News

Random facts and a little fiction

• In 1964, 57 years ago today, I reported to Uniacke Barracks in Harrogate, Yorkshire, to begin a three year apprenticeship as an Electronic Engineer, thus beginning my Army career which lasted for 28 years and 151 days
• After 22 years in the army I morphed into a military accountant
• On Monday I watered a sparrow – she was asleep in a bush – I apologised
• I have created a very small wildlife pond – it has been immediately colonised by mosquito larvae
• My wife and I are somehow suffering from multiple mosquito bites

I’m happy and I’m shallow

but sometimes I am deep

I’ll often write best sellers whilst I am fast asleep

Poem-A-Day 2021, Day 11: Hafiz — Sappho’s Torque

I came across this profound and lovely poem on Angélique’s blog. Please click on the link here.

If you have never read any of Hafiz then this could be the start of a life journey for you!

Sappho’s Torque

the blog of Angélique Jamail, Author

Here is another lovely fragment from Mala of the Heart, this time by Hafiz of Persia (Iran). It reminds me of the need and mutual benefit of kindness in the world. God blooms from the shoulder of the elephant who becomes courteous to the ant. *** Hafiz (ca. 1320-1389) was born in the garden city of Shiraz. It is said that after the early […]

Poem-A-Day 2021, Day 11: Hafiz — Sappho’s Torque

Summer Love | Peter Matthews — Whispers and Echoes

My third Summer based poem shared from Whispers and Echoes. Please follow the link.

Lying on the lawn with Lorrilee A game of tennis then a nice cream tea Walking hand in hand beside the sea Dancing in the moonlight full of glee * Watching fluffy clouds go scudding by Looking at the seagulls flying high Playing silly games with twinkling eye snuggling close together, my oh my Peter […]

Summer Love | Peter Matthews — Whispers and Echoes

New baby

I love your little fingers and I love your little toes

I love your dimpled chin and your little button nose

I even love your whimpering and all your wild kerfuffles

And probably the best of all I love your snores and snuffles

But p’raps there’s one or two things that annoy me all to hell

I hate it when you vomit ‘cause I cannot stand the smell

There’s one thing that would really make me very very happy

And that’s the day you learn to live without that dreadful nappy!

British Summer | Peter Matthews — Whispers and Echoes

Another Summer based poem shared from Whispers and Echoes. Please follow the link.

Summer rain so warm and wet only to be expected, yet…. I see a bit of blue sky there Come my love, let’s not despair * It’s ages since we picnicked here and now the sun’s come out it’s clear we’ll sit down here beneath the trees and rest our plates upon our knees * […]

British Summer | Peter Matthews — Whispers and Echoes

A day at the beach | Peter Matthews — Whispers and Echoes

Please click on the link below to read my “A day at the beach” in 10 lines!

Puffy white clouds avoiding the crowds buckets and spades put on the shades ice creams we lick `em seagulls they nick `em toddlers shout family day out sun, sea, and sand isn’t it grand! Peter Matthews, a country boy at heart, lives with his wife of 47 years in the suburbs of Nottingham, England.  His greatest […]

A day at the beach | Peter Matthews — Whispers and Echoes