MY LOVE AND I

My love and I
Spend too long apart,
She's my world
And I am hers
We wait
For our life
To start.
Time slowly moves
The clock face ages,
I miss her
So much
Tears fall
On fading pages.
Her eyes
Beautiful and yet, in pain
I held her
I held her so close,
My Angel
In wind and rain.
We share a love
A love of life,
We laughed
We loved
Now My heart
Is run through by a knife.
I see her everyday
My love and I,
Her smile
Her voice
It melts me
Without her I'd die.
I know she sees
The same stars in the sky,
The wind on her cheek
Is my kiss
My gentle caress
To my love from I.

Phil Hall  February 2014

WARTS AND ALL

I love life
Warts and all,
I adore everyday
I'm having a ball.
It's not 'cause I'm healthy
Or being six feet tall....
No,
It's because I see the world
Its colours and its sights,
The life giving sun
The stars at night.
The birdsong and the flowers
The great canopy of trees,
The harvests each year
And the hum of the bees.
The sound of the sea
The spray of the surf,
The feel of it on my face
And what it all is worth.
I love the tastes
"Hey there" I'd call
"What'll you have?"
A tall drink or something small?
We can dine in a beach shack
Or a marbled hall.
The tenderest fillet steak,
Boschendal grenache, oh so fine
Oysters or giant langoustine
Crisp Chablis in crystal
The pleasure is all mine.
Wherever
Whenever,
I'm having a ball
Living life to the full
Warts and all.

Phil Hall  March 2014

THE LIGHTHOUSE

Out there
In the depths of yourself,
There is a lighthouse.
When you see its light.....
Follow it
It'll bring you eternal peace.
This is my lighthouse.....
My mind was concrete,
Numbed and mauled,
Years of daubed graffiti
Upon which
Scratched and scrawled
I was created.... Completed.
Pat my head, why didn't you?
I was just like a little kid,
You didn't see the man inside
Pulsing strong,
Deep within the carotid
I was me.... The soloist.
The house, the job, the child
That's life, it's what you said
Exotic holidays, good car, the man
Just about that order
Free spirit?..... Yeah right, dead.
I was treading water
Freedoms river, without a boat
The racing tide
Of life denying
Couldn't breathe, just about afloat.
I swam.... Away.
I saw the bank
Through mist and the fog,
A branch reaching for me
I staggered
Through clinging mud and bog.
I saw.... The lighthouse.
The beam, beautiful and warm
Directed me in its light,
I reached out toward it
Soft and delicate
And so very right.
Love?.... Yes, real love.
My thoughts for years
Sailing the storm tossed sea
The crashing waves
Of interfering minds,
Drowning the real me.
Salvation..... The light.
The ray of hope in darkness
Offered warmth and direction,
The storm in my mind
Subsided
I felt a new protection.
Pure..... The way forward.
My mind is now at peace
With calm sea, no commotion,
My lighthouse
Guides my course through life
On this vast and personal ocean.
Anchored..... My beautiful haven.

Phil Hall March 2014
Copyright: Philthepoet61.blogspot.com

THROUGH THE LYING GLASS

HUGH
Hi.
My name is Hugh
I'm six feet two
And eyes of blue,
I hope you don't mind
But You were easy to find
We seem to be of a kind.
I drive a big sports car
And I was a football star,
Now I own an upmarket bar.
I've just turned forty,
I like that you're naughty
And your picture looks really sporty.
EVE
Wow.
I'm sure we're a great match
I drive a racy little sports hatch,
You'll never find a better catch.
My name is Eve
And would you believe
That looks can deceive?
I'm not really naughty, I'm shy
That picture shows a lot of thigh,
I was on a hen party that's why.
I'm thirty five and like to live
To most good causes I like to give,
I'm a busy woman, an executive.
THE MEET (REALITY)
HUGH
So,
You work in a lap dancing bar
You don't drive a hatch back car,
Am I correct so far?
You're on the minimum wage
Nearer fifty would be your age,
So different from your profile page.
Your names not Eve it's Maggie
Your hairs grey and breasts saggy,
Even your eyelids are baggy.
After all the build up and hype
I'm sorry but you're not my type,
I wish we'd have talked on skype.
MAGGIE
Well
I'm too much of a lady to cuss
And I won't make a scene or a fuss,
Flashy sports car? You got off a bus!
Just turned forty? You're nearer dead,
Blonde? All I can see is grey on your head?
What? I've only just started, there's a lot to be said.
If swilling beer was a sport, i'm sure you were great,
You could never play football carrying all that weight,
How could you manage a bar with your snout in the plate?
You'll find the girl of your dreams on an adult site
Where you can play with yourself all night,
You do that already don't you? You know I'm right.
CONCLUSION
This may just be a bit of fiction
A poem to cause laughter,
But seriously, keep it real
And live happy ever after.
By all means stay in anonymity
A pseudonym or a disguise,
But, if you come from behind a mask
The truth will be your demise.
Phil Hall February 2014

THE BAD SAMARITAN

Hello!
Who's there?...Hello!
You're through to Phil
What's your problem good fellow?
Ray!
Speak to me Ray!
Don't mess me around
I'm having a bad day.
Gone!
She's gone!
Well so has mine
It's great, second to none.
Love!
You were in love?
Well so was I until
My neighbour gave her a shove.
Died!
Oh... She died!
Well so did mine
After what I'd spied.
Hang?
Yourself?.... Hang?
Good idea
Go out with a bang.
Next!
Who's next?
Never known it so busy
I'm getting vexed.

Jump!
Go on.... Jump!
All this self pity
Is giving me the hump.
Shoot!
Please shoot!
Cover me in blood
Ruin my suit.
Track!
Put your head on the track!
Squashed by a train
No looking back.
Pills!
Pop them pills!
Overdose and destroy your liver
Because you can't pay your bills.
Blade!
Slice the blade!
Sever your carotid
Look at the mess you've made.
Mistake!
A big mistake!
My advice will help you
Miss your next birthday cake.
Wrong!
The numbers wrong!
You've called the euthanasia clinic
And not the Samaritans all along.

Phil Hall  April 2014

PSST.... OI! OVER 'ERE

Psst
Oi, over 'ere,
Pull up a stool
And lend an ear.
What's your tipple
Wine or beer?
I'm not trying
To chat you up
Let me make that perfectly clear.
No
It's just that
I've something to say,
It won't keep
Another day.
I've been thinking
Thinking of flying away,
I pray it's the right thing to do
Oh how I pray.
Here
This is my lady
She's the one for me,
This picture of her
A recent memory.
I'll be leaving this life
So much to let be,
This country, my England
My friends, my family.
Yes
Of course I'll miss them
I'll miss it all,
Long summer days
Cricket and of course football.
Fine English ale, fabulous cider
And the autumn leaves fall,
I'll miss the Christmas carol
And the beautiful robins call.
Tears?
What tears?
No, that's my advancing age,
The next chapter in life
Starts on the next page.
A step into the unknown
Excitement being my wage,
A better life lies in wait
To which I'll engage.
Thanks
Thank you for listening
It must've been a chore,
Sipping on your red wine
Hearing the drone of a bore.
But, I needed to chat
To think aloud once more,
I've never done anything
Like this before.
Bye
Be safe
Wrap up, outside it's  cool,
Another beer please barman
Maybe a frame of pool.
I'll stay off the Irish whiskey
Don't mix that's my rule,
Psst! Pull up a stool friend
Have a drink and please listen to this old fool.
I'm not trying to chat you up
Let me make that perfectly clear.......
Phil Hall  February 2014

HUMAN ZOO

Flea in the ear
Frog in the throat,
Dog breath,
Wearing a mink coat.
Swine flu
Tongue is a fork,
Lionhearted
Eyes like a hawk.
Memory of an elephant
Built like an ox,
Timid as a dormouse
Sly as a fox.
Ants in your pants
Fight like cat and dog,
Talking very croaky
Throat contains a frog.
Animals everywhere
All over me and you,
A walking menagerie
A human zoo.

Phil Hall February 2014

EIGHTEEN

Eighteen
Some were just eighteen,
When they fell
On that foreign shore.
Eighteen
Oh what might have been,
Never again to step
Through their front door.
Eighteen
Life unseen,
Fallen angels
Sons no more.
Eighteen
Sea breeze keen,
An iron wind
A battles gore.
Eighteen
Forever eighteen,
The day they fell
In that distant war.
Eighteen
Some were just eighteen,
They lie side by side now
Heroes evermore.
Eighteen
Only eighteen,
When they fell
On that foreign shore.

Phil Hall  February 2014

THE STREET

Take a walk
Down any street
Just wander,
Follow your feet.
Unruly children
Gardens neat,
Odd goings on
Not very discreet.
Several fathers
Called Uncle Pete
Scruffy miscreants
Who roam the street.
Wouldn't have thought it
About her at 24
She has a crucifix
Over her door.
Well it takes all sorts
I thought she was sweet,
Until she allowed in dirty Pete,
The amorous postman
Who delivers more than mail
When he walks down the street.
Now Sarah who lives at 48
She seems to have
A revolving garden gate,
Many a man leaves
Disheveled and replete
She works from home
On easy street.
Her old man
Used to hot wire cars,
Before he got caught
He's now behind bars,
Maybe he'll start a clean sheet
When he returns
From his stretch in the scrubs
To life in the street.
The vicar lives at 69
He invites the homeless
Around to dine,
But the buggars drink
All his communion wine,
Its alcoholic at least
And tastes very sweet
And the homeless get wasted
Down on freebie street.
I'm the one who lives at 23
Big Ford on the drive
Lights on my apple tree,
I mind my own business
So don't bother me,
By all means say hello
But then retreat
As I keep myself to myself
On this odd street.

Phil Hall  February 2014

LOST IN SPACE

Stare into my eyes
Amidst the debris and flies,
a rugged coast, weathered lines
Lanterns under cloudy skies.
Hardened by age
Deep within a yellowed page,
Lost in space
They're hard to gauge.
There was once fire
And deep desire,
Even a trusting faith
Adorned by hallowed spire.
As time passes by me
Each breath seems to flee,
I'm lost in space
Floating toward what will be.
Will you care?
A hope in which I dare,
Hold my hand
As I gulp at rarefied air.
I'll take my place
Step from the never ending race,
Look into these eyes
You'll see a future star
Lost in space.

Phil Hall  February 2014

SHAMBLES

Would you like to ramble
Peruse and preamble,
Through centuries of wonder
From days long ago in yonder
Down the enchanting Shambles?
Past gentleman and spinster
Toward the imposing Minster,
Where choristers sing
And mighty bells ring
And Guy Fawkes plotted against Westminster.
Of ghosts the people talk
On many a spooky walk,
Where many a haunting begin
The Golden Fleece Inn.
A skull in a casket
May seem a little wierd,
But, when I took the photo
A ghostly face appeared.
Hollow eyes stared back at me
With a deathly, horrid grin
Who was this spectre looking out
From beyond the grave within.
The swinging sign above the door
A gibbet for traitors and thieves,
This crooked inn of mystery
Macabre tales hide under its eaves.
Eboracum, Eoforwic, City of York
Warrior of the Yew tree, a star
Guarded still by the murder holes
From the turrets of Micklegate bar.
Centuries of trade from the river
Romans and Vikings sailed the Ouse,
To the medieval market 'Shambles'
A wonderful place to peruse.
York, the beautiful star of the north
Where ancient history comes alive,
Englands jewel in the crown
And ghouls and ghosts do thrive.
Phil Hall February 2014

ANGEL EVELYN

"There is a happy land
Far, far away
Where saints in glory stand
Bright, bright as day."

She looked just like an angel
That's what my Mother did say,
When Jesus came to Nans house
And took my aunt away.
Her skin glowed in tranquility
With a coolness like mother of pearl,
She looked just like an angel
A frail, yet vivacious girl.
She'd stand at the bedroom window
And watched her siblings play,
She should stay in bed and rest
That's what the doctor would say.
Evelyn never reached her teens
She lived just to the age eleven,
My Mom still says happy birthday
To her elder sister in heaven.
I'd have loved to have known my aunty
But she died so long ago,
Though Mom often tells me about her
The angel I didn't know.
Rest in peace dear Evelyn
Most of your family sleep  with you too,
The angel my Mom remembers well
Who to Heaven flew.
Aunt Evelyn used to play piano
A poem she would sing aloud,
My Mom recited it the other day
With head so slightly bowed.

"There is a happy land
Far, far away
Where saints in glory stand
Bright, bright as day"

Phil Hall  February 2014

CAMELOT

Waves crashed
And winds lashed,
We stood
On the edge of the world.
Camelot.
The proud flag
On lonely, rocky crag,
Lovers stood
Atop this ancient wonder.
Camelot.
From a faraway land
Holding hands,
A King and his Queen
Rekindled the legend
Of Camelot.
For Englands sake
Please
Lady of the lake,
Bless this love
As keen as Excaliburs blade.
The ancient story
Arthur, Guinevere
And Old Albions glory,
Re enacted in wild Cornwall
On the fabled battlements
Of Camelot.
Linnets flit o'er the tousled grass
Peregrines swoop in arcing pass,
Nature reigns
In this lonely place
The magical castle
Camelot.
She stood alone, defiant queen
A lover very seldom seen,
A new monarch walked the sacred heights
The windswept, mystical realm
Of Camelot.

Phil Hall  February 2014

HEAVENS GATE

Hair as dark
As a ravens wing,
She stood
A beauty
Before her king.
Her smouldering eyes
Worth the wait,
Tremulous smile
On hesitant lips
She stood at heavens gate.
Her feline walk
Caused a stir,
Many a man
Cast a longing glance
Toward her.
There I stood
My dream come true,
Through heavens gate
Then by my side
I knew.
I know it now
As I knew it then,
A future together
Not if
But when?
Such feelings
Does she generate,
My love, my life
My whole world
when she stepped
through heavens gate.

Phil Hall  February 2014

SHRUNKEN HEAD

I have this shrunken head
It's perched upon my neck,
I'll tell you all why it shrivels
So here goes
What the heck?!
It's because I'm working nights
The infamous graveyard shift,
Where ones mouth
Is like a bird cage
I think you get my drift.
Ungrateful doctors everywhere
And Midwives running about,
To get any sense out of them
I feel I have to shout.
My throat is dry
My eyes they sting,
My ears are still reeling
From my bleeps incessant ring!!!
My legs have turned to jelly
My thoughts turn to my bed,
This is why I'm suffering
From a knackered shrunken head.
So when you awake
A new day refreshed in the sunshine,
From your bed you leap
As I'm stumbling into mine.
My shrunken head is drooping
Rational thought is hard to keep,
Nights are not for hard work
They're supposed to be for sleep!!

Phil Hall  February 2014

SATURDAY BLUES

It's Saturday again
My day is full of gripes,
Another wasted afternoon
Following the blue and white stripes.
Once a beautiful woman
Wonderful to behold,
But, she always break my heart
As the ninety minutes unfold.
I follow like a sheep
Just like thousands of others,
A horde of disappointed Baggies
A gloomy band of brothers.
We sing, we chant, we bounce
Still the performance makes me frown,
It'll take a bloody miracle
To stop my Baggies from going down.
I don't have to do it
But Albion are in my blood,
Maybe I should go shopping
This loyalty is never understood.
The second half is starting
The ref is lighting the fuse,
I'll watch with a prayer on my lips
To hopefully halt the Saturday blues.

Phil Hall  February 2014

THROUGH THESE EYES

A heart once gladdened
Now often saddened
With what I see
Through these eyes.
A part of me dies
As each day flies,
My eyes were blue
They say,
I think they're grey
Still the same sight
Just now
In black and white.
In childhood I'd chase the stars
Climbing trees
Little fish in jam jars,
Grazed knee when I fall
When playing football
"MOM!!!" I'd loudly call.
My eyes have seen love
They've seen joy,
They've spied on girls
I was a naughty boy.
They still wrinkle up
When I frown or grin,
I try to hide fear
So deep down within.
Through these eyes
I've seen many a day,
I've seen death many times
Loved ones taken away.
Sometimes my thoughts
Are lost in these blackened holes,
Through these hollow eyes
Shuttered windows to my soul.

Phil Hall  February 2014

HOLDING HANDS

We were holding hands
When we walked
Upon ancient, windswept sands.
All was unplanned
Spontaneous,
With deep loves demand.
We were holding hands
I stroked your firm thigh
You in a foreign land.
Though we understand
Sensations
Passions high in England.
Across the seas
We're still holding hands
Faces through glass again,
Just like the English rain
Tearful
Love torn apart... The pain.
But, my angel
We'll hold hands very soon,
Say a prayer
Cast the runes
Hope
We'll dance again to our tune.
I held your tiny hand
You responded to mine
Our touches tender
Our kisses like wine,
Joy
In the knowledge
All will be fine.

Phil Hall  February 2014

THE JIGSAW

A jigsaw is just one piece
With hundreds of component parts,
All mixed to make a puzzle
Out of both our hearts.
We pieced together a future
From a few days in our own world,
All jumbled emotions and wonder
And how our love unfurled.
From that moment of landing
Small, hesitant steps from the flight,
Our jigsaw started forming
When you came into sight.
Your eyes, oh Lord your darling eyes
They seared a path to my heart,
Is this the girl from from faraway
To fill this aching void, a new start?
We had yearned for this moment
Yes, it was wonderful, pure bliss,
Your tiny hand held in mine
As you reached up for our first kiss.
The airport disappeared from view
As we were entranced by loves rays,
The jigsaw came together
We are still held tight in the daze.
The beginning of a love story
We stepped out into the night,
The jigsaw fitted snugly in passion
Everything feels so right.
A journey is just beginning
A path towards love blest,
We're bonded by our Celtic love knot
The union of east and west.

Phil Hall February 2014.