Bath

 Dear Reader,

I went to see an old friend last week and we talked of this and that, gossip and world news. She asked me about my poetry, was I still writing. I told her the muse seems to have deserted me lately and she made a suggestion.  There are so many new difficulties old people have to go through, why not write a short book of 'old age' topics in poems and try to keep them humorous.  I thought about this when I got home and wondered whether if could do it.  

I started thinking about getting into the bath and how difficult, well, nigh impossible, to get in it or out of it.  Then I started to write the following poem and hope you enjoy it.  There are so many things we have to accept that we can't do any more and try to find something positive about how we are now. I will be writing more poems in the weeks to come.  Perhaps you could put a comment on the blog to say if you like the idea. 

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Years ago there was an extremely funny series on the television called "Dad's Army".  Being deaf I hadn't been able to hear the jokes but I had a lovely surprise this week because I found that the series had subtitles.  It is still as funny as ever.  I laugh and laugh.   Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring, the main character, is such a wonderful actor every twist of his mouth or roll of his eye are beautifully timed.  I thoroughly recommend this series if you want and like good comedy.

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From Dorothy Wordsworth   April 9th  1798  in Somerset

'Walked to Stowey, a fine air in going, but very hot in returning.  The sloe in blossom, the hawthorns green, the larches in the park changed from back to green in two or three days.'

From Gilbert White    April 11th  1790 in Oxford

'Thames very full and beautiful, after so much dry weather: wheat looks well; meadows dry, and scorched; roads very dusty.'

  

 Bath

I stand looking 

at the bath,

my friend the bath

what times I have had in it,

splashing and twirling

diving under the water,

scrubbing with French soap

from Marsailles,

listening to Mozart

by candlelight,

Badebas pine bath oil

scenting the room,

just lying back

thinking through the day

enjoying the warming water.

 

But Now?

 

The side is too high

I can't get over it,

getting out is nigh impossible.

Now baths are out

I will have to take

up the challenge

and shower.

 

I hear people like them,

maybe I will.

 

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With best wishes, Patricia

 

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A Variation on the Tortoise and the Hare

 Dear Reader,

The story of The Tortoise and the Hare is one of Aesop's Fables.   It is the account of a race between unequal partners and has attracted conflicting interpretations.  

The fable itself is a variant of a common folktale theme in which ingenuity and trickery are employed to overcome a stronger opponent.

The one sense it is no surprise as to why the classic moral of the story is "slow and steady wins the race'.  This is what takes place in the fable, the tortoise did move slowly and did win the race.

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I do everything slowly these days and find the pace very comforting.  No rushing about, no headlong dashes somewhere, just an even step to help me along the way.  Would that I had known that earlier in my life and I might have taken different turns.

                                                                              

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 From D.H. Lawrence  April 18th 1918 in Berkshire

'Yesterday there was deep snow, though the trees are in bloom.  Plum trees and cherry trees full of blossom look so queer in a snow landscape, their lovely foamy fullness goes a sort of pinky drab, and the snow looks fiendish in its cold incandescence.  I hated in violently.'

From John Ruskin  April 19th  1873 in Lancashire

'Up at 5, out at 6, in calm morning, wholly glorious.   Lake like a dream.....Entirely Paradise of a day, cloudless and pure till 5; then East wind a little, but clearing for twilight.  Did  little but saunter among the primroses and work on beach.'

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A Variation on the Tortoise and the Hare

The tortoise, shell-encased,
shy and timid,
was fond of quiet places.
He ate lettuce sandwiches
drank bottled water
and did deep breathing exercises.
He was slow alright,
but kept on "keeping on", getting there,
although a little fearful
of what life can bring.

Then, he discovered anxiety pills
and grew bolder,
he opinionated more,
rejected lettuce,
ate avocado and prawn cocktails,
drank vodka,
and tried his hand at salsa dancing.
Confidence changed him.
He became the hare.

This hare spoke his mind.
He jumped and danced
texted and mobiled friends,
arranged outings,
and had a ball.
But the Gods were watching him,
they sent a "don't forget card"
to remind him of his tortoise life,
his quiet life,
the life that was right and good
for a tortoise.

He threw the anxiety pills away
and slowly his shell grew back,
he started reading again,
he talked less,
thought more,
enjoyed lettuce sandwiches
and drank bottled water.
He became the tortoise
that he was meant to be.

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With very best wishes, Patricia