Just Think

 (Picture Credit - Childhood Memories from Lastly com)

Just think of all that you’ve seen

And experienced

Even forgotten

Throughout your Life.

Not just the Big Things.

The tiny

Seemingly insignificant things too.

Those various TV quizzes

Soaps, sitcoms, adverts

What would Aliens think?

Remember the savoury smell of freshly cut grass

Baking bread

And toilets!

Coffee as well.

See every detail of your table –

Strewn with papers

Objects

Mobile, wallet, medications, books…

Count those leaves on that tree

Stalks of grass

Grains of sand on a beach

Stars in the sky.

Remember all the people

You have met

Or seen

Or heard or read about.

From the rowdy

To the silent ones.

From Good to Evil.

I could go on…

But.

Who knows what our Subconscious Id

Has stored away

In the caverns of our minds?

Things that are with us always

Right until we Die.

And what happens to them then?

A whole universe of things.

Do they vanish

In a “pool of tears”?

Or are they somehow resurrected

Somewhere in Heaven?

We can only Hope…

Paul Butters

© PB 28\5\2020.

Tree 1

(Picture Credit - Pexels)

A tree to me:
A swaying palm, towering oak, a yew.
But what for you?
Some weeping willow,
Or a monkey puzzle tree?

My sweeping plains,
Lush meadows, in my mind's eye.
For you -
A dusty desert under a sun-seared sky?

My visions are reshaped
By every different viewer,
From paradise-landscapes,
To something from the sewer.

Paul Butters

© Paul Butters, on Humberside - 7\1\2011 at 21.05.

Tree 2

(Picture Credit - Cedar by Woodland Trust)

Where life exists

You often find a carpet

Of grass or moss or whatever.

And in sacred groves and forests

You will find

The tree.

The tree: nature’s skyscraper,

Deep roots, hard bark and leafy canopy:

Linking the Underworld to The Heavens.

Looming beauty my words can but strive

To describe.

A tree can live for many an age,

Legends about it, even longer.

Since ancient times the tree has been revered.

The Norse People had Yggdrasil:

A cosmic tree linking many worlds.

Comprehend the Eastern Indian Kalpavriksha –

A jewel of a wish fulfilling tree.

The Peace Tree of the American Iroquois,

And many more.

In West Africa the Oubangui People plant a tree

Whenever a child is born.

The Bible tells of the Tree of Life

And the Tree of Knowledge

Growing there

In The Garden of Eden.

Bow to the Tree Goddess.

Bow to The Tree

Bow to its sturdy bough.

Our tree is home

To many a creature

Nymphs and Dryads too

Maybe.

A skyscraper indeed,

Full of life

Safe in its shade

Some behind walls

Of solid wood.

We lose ourselves

Just looking

At that tangle

Of twisting branches

Spiny twigs and clouds of leaves.

Will it stoop over

And pick us up

With its enormous

Hands?

Or will it just keep playing us

A lullaby

With that whistling wind?  

Oh Tree,

You show such grandeur,

Goddess-like indeed:

Shaken by gales

Yet not disturbed

We trust.

Long Live The Tree –

Even giving us

The air we breathe.

Let your branches spread

While you reach ever upward –

A towering spire.

Paul Butters

© PB 26\5\2020. With due credit to Wikipedia.

Queen

 (Picture Credit - IMDb)

What can I say about Queen?

A band who superseded The Beatles

And maybe even bettered them.

That Voice of Super Freddie

The Sun King indeed.

Brian May’s soaring guitar

Backed up by the typically quiet Bass Man

John Deacon

With Roger Taylor

Pounding those drums.

They were the complete package.

Even their lyrics were great.

Songs ranging from hard rock

To slow songs that seduce the soul.

Songs that will live forever.

Some that make me cry

And others that later make me

Get up and shadow-box

A heavier version of Freddie himself.

For Freddie Mercury was larger than life,

So cruelly taken from us

Too soon,

As John Lennon was.

And Elvis of course.

Too many bite the dust.

Bee dop bop bee dee bop

Bee bop, bee bop

Dee da day

With these immortal words

Freddie sends us

On our way.

Paul Butters

© PB 23\5\2020.