December 13th

 

from the tattered box

as old as me chipped and tired

mum’s nativity

 

I’d enviously

peer at it imagining

the great games I’d play

 

I would shove the sheep

out the stable far from King

Herod’s tyranny

 

And sneakily I’d

position my plastic toy

soldiers to guard Him

 

they’d have shot his men

like in the Victor comics

Budda Budda “Arrghh!”

 

The three wise men would

tentatively approach Him

safe from their grenades

 

my brave company

British commandos mostly

and a few Vikings

 

I’d be told off when

mum’s silent panther steps would

catch me red handed

 

I’d always return

to play the Jesus war game

this year I’ll be good

April 3rd

Patchwork foal staggers

to the warmth of his mother

stitched from rags and socks

 

I was driving to the office in Stevenage, I remembered a couple of years ago I used to look forward to a certain stretch of road, this was at the time when my visits to that office were far more regular. Every morning I’d look out for the foal in the field by the side of the road, just past Hitchin. It was so gangly and fluffy. Like a toy. It used to stay close to its mother looking especially timid. As the weeks and months progressed, it got bigger, grew more confident, I’d see it playing sometimes, running along, throwing his head from side to side. Little snapshots of the foals life, watching it grow up, in those short seconds each day I was driving by. The memory made me smile.

There’s more ponies in that field now, and another foal, but I can’t be sure if it’s the same family group. It’s like my memory is that of a feeling or an emotion rather than any image or pictures in my mind. I can’t even exactly be sure what the foal looked like now.