Sahara

Send A Hose And Rinse Away

On our face, in our hair and over our heads,

Our floors, clothes and our flower beds!

You can keep your rats, cacti and reptiles but

How on earth has it travelled thousands of miles?

Over our houses, our shops and our cars,

Windows and pavements, it's spread so far.

Built sand castles from dunes in our study

But as it rains down it looks so muddy.

You could have sent over some traditional food

And what you’ve delivered over has a strange hue!

Tho' it will come in handy to mix up cement

As we need more houses in Essex and Kent.

Your desert has spilt over our tee shirts,

Blown here and there around our skirts!

Glad you kept hold of all your camels,

Scorpions, snakes and other mammals!

Our beaches now pretty with shingle and sand;

We ought to be grateful that you've lent a hand!

It must have bypassed the Bay of Biscay

And landed on our soil from all that way.

A yellow like coating on bird’s bees and trees

Overseas Sahara in our air and the breeze

And among the rubbish and the debris

Some African sunshine and Vitamin D.

Please next time may the wind blow

Further down south and way down below.

It might be useful for somewhere that snows

And Greenland might like the gift you bestow.

Copyright Linda Lawrence

15th April 2015

I care

I care

Elderly man in a care home with scarf and hat

The company he keeps is a budgie and cat.

A wealth of knowledge and a lifetime of work,

Not one day of sickness or an hour he shirked.

He fought for a better life for us,

Suffered much more than bruises and cuts.

Never once did he ever let us down, but

Some people won't care when he's not around.

The intelligent mind, fought through a war,

Now it seems, he's being ignored.

If only right now, he was able to speak

But some people think he's just a freak.

The medication he takes to keep alive

To get through the day, to breathe and survive.

If only he was given the choice,

It's been so long since he lost his voice.

His mind and thoughts have started to fail,

It won't be long before his body will ail.

But all the doctors are still insisting

That he keeps on living and existing.

It's important that he's kept alive

So big the greed to grow and thrive.

The G.P's will keep handing out the pills

To help along all the aches and ills.

He's lived far too long, can't you see?

Bodily functions not what they used to be.

It's quite wrong for the human anatomy

To make millions for some drug company.

Now, like a zombie, his spirit's died

It's been nine years since he lost his bride.

Did I mention that he has vascular dementia

Do you think he's worth more than a mention?

A memory gone, he's so confused

His life story is now all fused.

He was our hero, a respected man,

We should be helping him all we can.

Although he looks happy in his locked mind

Almost deaf and nearly blind.

Even though he seems resigned.

We must understand and just be kind.

A life of hospital and district nursing;

If he understood, he would be cursing.

Spoon fed, washed, it's become a wage

To look after old people in their old age.

Copyright Linda Lawrence

12th April 2015