Tag Archives: poems

Know Myself

I want to know myself and so,
I want to be fit for myself to know.
I want to be able as days go by,
Always to look myself straight in the eye.

I don’t wish to stand with the setting sun
And hate myself for things I have done.
I don’t want to keep on a closet shelf,
A package of secrets about myself.

And fool myself as I come and go,
In to thinking nobody else will know.
The kind of person I really am,
I don’t want to dress myself with sham.

I want to step out with my head errect,
I want to deservedly receive men’s respect.
And in life struggle for fame and wealth
I wish to be able to like myself.

I don’t want to look in the mirror and know,
That I’m just a bluff, an empty show.
I can never hide myself from me,
I see what others never see.

I know what they will never know,
I can never fool myself, and so,
Whatever happens I want to be,
Self respecting and conscience free.

 

Invisble Lady

You came in to this world, born out of love
Your dad found your mum irresistible
Through laughter and tears and all of these years
You somehow now feel you’re invisible

You listened and learned and taken your turn
Built a character based on a good principle
Worked hard every day and paved your own way
Yet somehow you now feel invisible?

You’re a daughter a wife through trouble and strife
A friend many found so dependable
Selfless and giving, so many forgiving
Yet somehow you now feel invisible

You’ve carried your load along life’s dreary road
Achieved more than you thought ever possible
Without real recognition from those high in position
Yet somehow you now feel invisible

You’ve governed your life as a mother a wife
Each day and each night unpredictable
After all of these years you’ve fostered this fear
That now you’ve become so invisible?

Well your life is a light shinning brighter than white
Your loved with more love than permissable
Do not ever despair just continue to share
Your kindness and caring is visible.

I was inspired to write this by an elderly lady I met called Jean who is retired and a volunteer for ‘Help The Aged’

God Bless her.

 

Plain talkin’

It’s a shame,
We know we’re all the same,
But pretend that we don’t know it,
Cause if we did we’d have to show it

It’s a shame,
That when we feel shame,
Words for bullets, we load them and take our aim
At others, so to avoid us shouldering blame
It’s a shame

It’s a shame,
That people choose to fight
When talk can truly put things right
And through that we’ll all become real tight
It’s a shame

It’s a shame,
Just to think of yo’ self
In a world full of pain and increasing ill health
Get real, come on,let’s all spread the wealth
It’s a shame

Jesus taking hold of me

Sometimes, often I long to see around
corners of my life.
See what the future holds,
And what god has planned for me.
And yet He has called me as His servant.
To walk in the darkness and mystery,
in not knowing and wondering.
It seems an endless eternity,
A decade of my life that I have
been kept In the anguish of affliction,
The frustration of restriction,
It has not ended yet.
But all the while He is working, training,
preparing me for what is ahead.
He is my rock, and the strength of my life,
I never stop believing, trusting Him,
Letting him lead me into new depths,
He is raising warriors,
Men of blazing passion for God.

What does it take to make such fire?
What does it take to make such devotion?
Watever it takes,
I’ll be there.

 

Written by my friend, co worker and inspiration to start the Walk to Glory from my days as a volunteer at the YMCA in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

Johnathan Hales (Myalic Encephalomyelitis (M E) sufferer for several years)
Effects of (M E) Debilitating low energy levels, painful muscles and joints, disturbed sleep, poor memory and concentration, gastric disturbances, neuropsychological complaints, painful lymph nodes, prolonged fatigue after exercise.

What would a bird do..!

 

 

Birds

When faced with hunger…
What would a bird do?
Would it rob a store,
Or sit and starve?

When it’s home is destroyed…
What would a bird do?
Would sit on the kerb
Or move into a squat?

When left out in the cold,
What would a bird do?
Would it complain,
Or just curl up and die?

When happy or sad…
What would a bird do?
Well it would do what it
always does in any situation..
It would sing!

 

MEASURE OF SUCCESS

Are you fit for this job? I’m the man.

Can you meet the criteria? Yes, I can.

Can you follow this itinerary? I am able.

Can you shoulder this responsibility? I am capable.

Are you as good as your word? I am good.

Can we count on you? Yes, you could.

Can you take what we dish out? I can take it.

Can you achieve our objectives? I can make it.

 

This game we play of positive professions.

The things we say in place of honest confessions.

Our daily bread, dependant on our reputation,

A nation run upon fabricated presentation.

We learn to lie, to reinforce their confidence.

Endeavour to try to live up to our pretence.

Under duress, compelled to serve in this farce,

Placed under stress, not knowing what will come to pass.

 

Will the job get done? I don’t know.

Will the assignment be completed? I’ll have a go.

Will the destination be reached? I might get near.

Will the deadline be met? I’ve no idea.

Will the vision be realised? There’s a possibility.

Will the brief be followed? I doubt my ability.

Will the program be executed? Wait and see.

Will the quota be fulfilled? I’m thinking maybe?

 

‘If the Lord wills…’, an unacceptable excuse.

Causing cold chills to those planning our use.

They seek for certainties for their fortunes to be projected.

If we give no guarantees, we candidates will be rejected.

But is it possible to commit to anything at all,

If we can not predict the coming pitfall?

Whether acts of God or acts of nature,

All have an effect on us securing the future.

No promise should be given if it can’t be kept.

So how can we accommodate this moral concept?

 

If we could somehow measure our chance of success,

We may be able to untangle this mess….

 

I was positively sure that I would have enough time,

But I came up short before the clock’s last chime.

My qualifications matched the stated criteria,

But the challenges proved my knowledge inferior.

I accounted how much money I was required to save,

But the overheads swamped me like a tidal wave.

I planned ahead to have enough resources,

But they were drained before time by undeclared sources.

 

These material elements on which our performances depend,

Deliver no guarantees for achieving our end.

 

Our lack of desire can leave us short sighted,

And unprepared to accommodate factors uninvited.

Our slack of commitment can dull our convictions,

Then parameters we set can become our restrictions.

Allocation of resources we stingily ration.

This conservative thinking must be overcome by passion

For the quality of our work to not resemble inferiority,

It is necessary for our goals to become our priority.

 

Will you follow this fashion? I’ll set the trend.

How far will you go? I’ll fight to the end.

Can you commit to this cause? To the fullest extent.

We’ve expanded our horizons…I’ll enlarge my tent.

Prepare for the unexpected! Before I begin.

Will you cave under pressure? I’ll never give in.

Can you swim against the tide? You’ll see me progress.

Your vision of the future? I’ll be a success!

 

Poem by Danny Baxter © 2010 Xian Force Productions

 

 

UNITY

 

I am bound by shackles brother to brother.

I am a detainee of loyalties once professed.

I am chained to my oaths of yesterday.

I am a prisoner of allegiances confessed.

 

My next step is shadowed by accountability.

My next move oppressed by regulation.

My next word threatened by liability.

My next thought subjected by expectation.

 

My expression of identity conflicts with the common purpose.

My expression of individuality suppressed by uniformity.

My expression of desire labelled as self indulgence.

My expression of virtue challenges corporate integrity.

 

I put my hand up to protest but for unity I put it back down.

I stood up to testify but for unity I sat back down.

I stepped forward to represent but for unity I stepped back down.

I dashed forward to escape but for unity I slid back down.

 

They have held me in my position by my commitments.

They have held me in my place by my confessions.

They have held me in tow by my secrets.

They have held me in rank by my affiliations.

 

If I break my silence, I risk humiliation.

If I break my vows, I risk accusation.

If I break my rank, I risk excommunication

If I break my ties, I risk isolation.

 

They employ me now but I shall resign from this unity.

They exploit me now but I shall regain my dignity.

They exhaust me now but I shall retrieve my energy.

They enslave me now but I shall be free.

 

Poem by Danny Baxter © 2010 Xian Force Productions

 

 

 

THE UNFULFILLED DREAM

Incompleteness, failure, ruin and death

The could ‘as and the should as’ all wasted breath.

The project lies dormant, the structure not built,

The tears over flowing as the milk lies split,

The piling of casualties from the battle not fought,

The pain of regret when the performance came up short.

This is not what the people expected to see.

The reason for this outcome is like a mystery

 

The Heroes defeated without explanation,

The Visionaries diverted from their destination…

ENOUGH!

 

Is this the new fashion, is this the new trend?

Are we here for a season, will this losing streak end?

Question after question, who can give an account,

Why the number of failures has reached this amount?

Only now at the end do we all realise.

How did these things take us by surprise?

Prophets and seers have nothing to say.

Should these wise men not have warned us before today?

The vision was a lie but was it ever true?

Could this outcome have been seen before it was due?

Arrogant we were, steps we missed out.

We didn’t understand what these things are about.

This can not be accepted. This can not be resolved,

Until this mysterious problem is solved

 

At the start we agreed that this path was the way,

An opinion not sustained in the light of this day.

We all testified that our convictions were true.

The future looked bright for the things we would do.

Now things have turned ill, our hope changed to terror,

It’s time to look back and locate the error.

 

 

 

 

Hope and faith are mankind’s greatest strengths.

Together can take us to extraordinary lengths.

But these alone protect not from delusion

We can find ourselves following an illusion

To achieve the exploits we believed we should do,

We can end up throwing out the things that were true.

Afraid of failure we are blinded to reason.

Critical analysis is branded as treason.

To defend our beliefs with lies that cheer,

Is not evidence of faith but a display of fear.

 

Faith is the trust of the invisible that is real,

Based on laws that exist not merely hype and zeal.

So it can be measured and therefore projected,

And the future be saved if presumption is corrected.

If deception exists then foresight can be blurred

It must be exposed by the power of the true word

Then gaps can be bridged and the lack can be filled,

Securing foundations before we start to build

So we can accommodate the unforeseen event.

Then the unfulfilled dream will be a thing we can prevent.

 

Poem by Danny Baxter © 2010 Xian Force Productions

 

THE SPIRIT

 

I exist

I am an idea, an ideal.

I am information.

I am a message, a story.

I am an identity, a personality

I am a spirit.

 

I am a rhythm.

I have my own composition, my own vibration.

My image is my handiwork, my glamour and my fashion.

My fragrance is my reference, my biography.

My body is my network, I am formless.

I flow through matter, attitude and concept.

I sign my name with another’s signature by another’s hand.

I am a spirit. 

 

I am an element

I am the material of the material,

The substance of the unseen,

A mystery to the ignorant, a signal to the wise.

I can move through awareness as a portal, through association I span great distance

I can transmit myself across the stars in an instant

I can mask what was, intercept what will be

I am a spirit 

 

I am invisible

Invisible but recognisable

If you can not recognise me, I can not be seen.

If you can recognise me, I can be known

If you know me, you are with me.

You are a part of me and I am a part of you,

I live through you.

If you do not know me, I am with your shadow,

I live where you are not

I am a spirit.

 

 

I am a destination.

I can influence destiny, I can command nations.

I can deceive and delude, I conceal from the rebellious

I can educate and expose, I enlighten the student.

I am a power with intent, a force with intuition.

I can depress the arrogant and revive the faithful

I can threaten the coward and inspire the brave.

I am a spirit.

 

Poem by Danny Baxter © 2010 Xian Force Productions

 

 

 

Can I be myself with you?

 

Can I be myself whilst you be yourself?

Do you have to be yourself whilst I am with you being myself?

 

Do I have to become you, to be myself with you?

If I become you whilst being with you, am I still myself too?

 

Do I need you to become me, in order for me to be myself?

If you become me whilst being with me, are you still yourself too?

 

If you are no longer yourself,

Can I continue to be myself with you whilst you are being me?

 

I can not be myself by myself

 

If I can not be myself with you, you are as nothing to me.

If you can not be yourself with me, am I nothing to you?

 

Are we nothing to each other?

 

Am I still by myself when I am with you?

 

Poem by Danny Baxter © 2010 Xian Force Productions