In My Own Words – Page 53 – The Poems of David Garlick

The hours spent in countless woven dreams,

that wont endure, the light of dawning day.

A mystery of tangled thoughts or vague ideas,

that fill our minds, while our slumber lasts.

So clear the words of story, dream or poem,

how do we lose so quickly brilliant lines,

unless we rise to quietly leave our bed

and steal away to scratch on waiting pad.

There under lamp or early light,

we mark the waiting page.

A wisp of dream Impaled by pencil lead.

Quick scratches, try to clasp a thought,

that wants to slide away and hide.

Teasing, a word or name that will not clear

the foggy mire of minds enslaved by age.

Time spent in dreaming our chance to meet the muse,

laziness the opiate of our unconscious thoughts.

David Garlick, Sidney, November, 2002

All the horrors of ageing,

all the softness of time.

All the love lines of living,

all the furrows of growth.

All the memories of youth

all the years we have loved.

All the work we have done,

all the fine children raised.

All the animals nurtured,

All the plants fertilized.

All the flowers plucked,

all the weeds, fiercely pulled.

All the years fully lived,

all the laughter shared.

All the friends also ageing,

all the understanding and smiles.

Many thanks to you all,

for ignoring my faults.

Both of them !

Amen.

David Garlick, Sidney, October, 2009

I met her in the summer time

and like a summer flower.

She filled the room with colour,

to brighten up an hour.

We laughed and talked together

in her salty sailors tongue.

That first hour was a pleasure

of a friendship just begun.

Till now the autumn of our lives.

When storms have bent a stem of two.

With wit and laughter hours pass,

in friendship tested true.

The winter, we will greet one day,

if not with pleasure, then a smile.

For life has given us a way

to enjoy the last long mile.

David Garlick, Victoria, 1986

The Bittern bit a bit of bitter bread.

But bitter Bitterns can’t bite they peck.

A Bittern bird can bite bread by beaking it,

but a beak can’t bite it, though it can break it.

Broken bits can be pecked by a beak.

Bitten bits, broken by the Bittern’s beak,

can be bitter to the biter, blighting Bitterns.

So a bite can be bitter and a Bittern bite.

thus the bitter Bittern can be bitten in a bight.

Quod erat demonstrandum!

David Garlick, Sidney, September, 2007