Tough Love

I remember Lesley told me

Take that rod from your back

Admire its strength and

Put it back.

This is hard.
Depression threatens
when the response is

Nastiness, but it's only pain.

Baking gives a

Surprising sense of worth

But what I'm doing here

Is good enough

It is doing right

Whatever the response

So put back the rod

And give yourself a pat.

LMC 1 Sept 13

Can you get bejeweled on the NHS?

the rigging in my sails is creaking, 

craving oxygen

so scared of breath loss

slow it down

focus on the game

breathe slowly

if I play I don't think about

that wet sponge 

sitting in my chest

can't use any more ventolin

or my heart will pop

would you rather play bejeweled

or sit in A&E all night?

breathe gently

don't be afraid

so slow it down

and match the jewels

can't clear it out

it doesn't move

just wrings me, coughing.

as long as you still 

have a choice 

you do not need to go

you know about A&E

sat there all last Thursday night

for them to send you away in conditions

that your own doctor found so shocking

you know they cannot cope

and you'd just sit there

craving oxygen and 

getting in amongst 

everyone else's germs

and 111 is worse

and ineffectual scam

to line the pockets of tory companies

bejeweled works, for now

breathing control 

with home comfort

honey tea on hand

Dino hovering with that instinct

for when I am unwell

and no alarming the spouse

on night shift

The Silk Road

Deb's off to Samarkand
and re-wakens in me 
that desire to travel along 
the Silk Road

From terracotta armies 
to the cave of 1000 Buddhas
from desert oases to the 
greatest Sunday market in the world

through the Karakorum
and into beautiful ancient cities
whose names alone are so evocative
Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand.

Once I thought the only way
to start in the Hunza valley
go over the Karakorum passes 
to Kashgar's Sunday market

That road has long been warblocked
and so I no longer dreamed.
But the Silk Road was never 
one sole route and so....?
LMC14Apr2013