As I See It: Past, Present and Future
By Jane Willis
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About this ebook
It would be nice to think that readers of my work could relate to some of my sentiments, especially the humour in poems like The Ironing Pile and The Driving Test.
Those of you who are grandparents could well feel the same as I did when my grandson was born in 1996, he was the inspiration for For Leo/
And for all those of you with military connections, please look for Falkland Malvinas, To Keep The Peace For You & Me and Thanks To Wootton Bassett.
Actually having my poetry published at last is a lifetime dream come true for me, and it will make me very happy indeed to have a few readers and for my poems to make them laugh, cry and think.
Jane Willis
Jane has always written, ever since she was a child at junior school, but it wasn’t until the mid-70’s, when she was a wife and mother, that she discovered her talent for writing in verse, and since then she has penned over 150 poems. Sometimes there are long, non-creative periods of time, when, in her own words “my brain goes into standby mode” and nothing is forthcoming, then, for no apparent reason, something happens to kickstart her creativity again. She writes from the heart about her own life experiences and how she feels about past, present and future newsworthy events, local, national and worldwide. She has been inspired to write poems about her family, friends and pets and they all have their own personal favourites, the majority of which are published in this, her very first book.
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As I See It - Jane Willis
CONTENTS
Childhood Memories
Falklands—Malvinas
My Plea For Ethiopia
The Driving Test
Sweet Crazy Love
The Light
Five Years On
Hanging on in There
When Words Are Not Enough
The Alpha Male—
Protector of his Tribe
Unashamedly Hippy
In Sight of Heaven’s Gate
Putting the Past in Order
Greathouse
Shining Through
When the Chips are Down
Amazing
Searching
Recovery
The Good Life
Treasure Withheld
Christmas Spirit 2006
Answers to Prayers
Happy Christmas Gosh 2006
Love’s Evolution
The Final Countdown
Chippenham—
A Better Place
Time Passages
Wishes Hopes and Prayers
It Must Be Love
Thanks to Wootton Bassett
Against All Odds—for Greenpeace
Biodegradeable Bottles
Wishes
The Return—Thanks
Appreciation of a Father’s Love
Save It
Not Enough Love
Fortress of Love
Lest We Forget
It Is Time
Interval
If—The Unanswered Question
Hope for the Future
Gladly
Friendship
For Leo
Fantasy
The Day Before the War
A Child’s Prayer—Those Who Wait
Choose Love
Breathtaking
Blessed by Love
Bitter Harvest
Life’s Merry-Go-Round
Because of Love
Another Day
Children of Tomorrow
The Dimensions of Love
Love’s Elasticity
Not Knowing—Marking Time
Patience
Star Wishing
Wishing Star
Surviving to Live or Living to Survive
Unite a Nation—
Bosnia, Ireland, Africa
The Ironing Pile
To Keep the Peace for You and Me
A Woman in Love
with a Man
Childline—Lifeline
The River Of Life
The Women Of
Greenham Common
Is It Any Wonder?
Love’s Shattered Dream
The Memory Of You
Tomorrow’s World
CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
OH WHERE ARE THE SUMMERS OF YESTERYEAR
I REMEMBER SO WELL AS A CHILD,
WHEN THE SUN SHONE ALL DAY FROM A CLOUDLESS BLUE SKY,
AND MY FRIENDS AND MYSELF ALL RAN WILD.
ON HOT SUNNY DAYS WE WOULD SWIM IN THE STREAM,
THEN ARRIVE HOME JUST AS IT GREW DARK,
AT NIGHT WE SLEPT SOUNDLY, AND WHEN MORNING CAME,
WE AROSE WITH THE DAWN AND THE LARK.
QUITE OFTEN WE WALKED TO THE WOODS ON THE HILL,
WHERE THE TREES SEEMED TO SING IN THE BREEZE,
MADE BELIEVE 'TWAS AN ISLAND WITH CASTLE SO FINE,
SURROUNDED BY MOUNTAINS AND TURBULENT SEAS.
ALONG NARROW LANES, WHERE THE HEDGES GREW HIGH,
WE WOULD CYCLE FOR MILES ON END,
STOPPING OFF FOR A PICNIC BENEATH A TALL TREE,
THEN DISCOVERING WHAT LAY AROUND THE NEXT BEND.
LAYING BACK IN THE GRASS WITH THE SUN BEATING DOWN,
ALL OUR TIME WAS SO EASY AND FREE,
WE TALKED OF THE FUTURE, OF DAYS YET TO COME,
AND THE WAY THAT WE HOPED THINGS WOULD
TURN OUT TO BE.
WELL THE YEARS HAVE FLOWN BY, I’M NO LONGER A CHILD,
MY TWO SONS ARE BOTH GROWING UP FAST,
HOW I HOPE THEY’LL HAVE MEMORIES AS HAPPY AS MINE,
WHEN THEY STOP TO REMEMBER THEIR SUMMERS GONE PAST.
This was one of my very early poems, written in the late 70’s
FALKLANDS—MALVINAS
YOU CAN’T FIGHT A WAR WITHOUT LOSING A LIFE,
FOR THERE STANDS A WIDOW, WHERE ONCE STOOD A WIFE,
AND A MOTHER WHOSE SON HAS GONE MISSING AT SEA,
THAT YOUNG GIRL OVER THERE WAS A BRIDE SOON TO BE.
A FATHER, A SON AND A HUSBAND, NOT QUITE,
ALL DIED FOR THEIR COUNTRY, AND KNEW THEY WERE RIGHT
TO STAND UP TO AGGRESSION, AND NOT LET IT WIN,
IF THE DOOR ISN’T OPEN, YOU CAN’T JUST WALK IN
AND THEN TAKE WHAT YOU KNOW MUST BELONG
TO ANOTHER,
DO YOU THINK YOU CAN DO THIS WITHOUT CAUSING BOTHER?
AS THE CONFLICT GOES ON, OTHER LIVES WILL BE LOST,
BUT WE’LL WIN IN THE END, WHATEVER THE COST,
WE’LL PLAY ≈FOLLOW MY LEADER" AND
≈GOD SAVE THE QUEEN",
FOR THIS COUNTRY IS GREAT, AND IT ALWAYS HAS BEEN.
SAY A PRAYER FOR THE WIVES, DAUGHTERS,
SISTERS AND MOTHERS,
THE FATHERS AND SONS AND THE HUSBANDS AND BROTHERS,
GIVE THEM STRENGTH TO GO ON AND TO OVERCOME SORROW,
TO FIGHT AND TO WIN, SO THAT MAYBE TOMORROW,
THE FIGHTING WILL END AND THE DYING WILL CEASE,
AND WE’LL END WITH A VICTORY, A VICTORY FOR PEACE.
1982
MY PLEA FOR ETHIOPIA
PLEASE HELP TO SAVE A COUNTRY,
PLEASE HELP TO SAVE A LAND,
HAVE PITY FOR THE PEOPLE THERE,
AND TRY TO UNDERSTAND,
HOW A TRAGIC SITUATION
IS CREATED OUT OF GREED,
WHILE LITTLE CHILDREN STARVE TO DEATH,
PATHETIC IN THEIR DESPARATE NEED.
A MAN HAS LOST HIS BROTHER,
AND A FATHER HAS NO SON,
A CHILD HAS LOST HIS FAMILY,
NOW HE’S THE ONLY ONE,
AND ‘THOUGH RELIEF IS POURING IN,
YET STILL THE PEOPLE DIE,
THE SMELL OF DEATH IS EVER NEAR,
AND EVEN GROWN MEN STAND AND CRY.
SO KEEP DONATIONS COMING IN,
TO FEED THE WORLD TODAY,
LET’S GIVE TO THEM THE GIFT OF LIFE,
LET’S HEAR THE LITTLE CHILDREN PLAY,
LET FEAR AND HUNGER FADE AWAY,
AND LIKEWISE DEATH AND SORROW,
SO THEY MAY LIVE IN HAPPINESS,
AND HOPE TO COME FOR