Not Today
I encountered a man
the other day
Who smiled benignly
as he came my way
A familiar smile,
but much was wrong
The figure was weak,
but had been strong.
Where eyes had sparkled
hollow caverns lay.
As he got closer,
I whispered;
“Not Today”
I turned as we passed
And the corporeal figure
Dissipated in the mist
And I whispered again
“Not Today”
© Fergus Martin
May 2021
Looking from her window,
she struggled
to understand
how it had come
to this.
Fighting against
the tide of emotion
that had;
engulfed her;
drowned her;
had worn away
the last remnants
of survival,
she had fought,
and survived.
Until now.
Her window on the world
revealed a planet
in turmoil.
Existing,
as she once had,
on scraps of hope.
Tearing itself apart
at the seams.
Disintegrating.
Shattering into schisms
of uncompromising
delusions.
Falling slowly
into the darkness
that once consumed
her soul.
Reflected in the glass
was a face
she did not
recognise.
Eyes that once
shone brightly,
now dulled
and unreachable.
Slumping in her
favoured recliner,
eyelids drooped
as thoughts raced.
Heartbeat pounded
incessantly.
A sigh and
a thin-lipped smile,
as the heartbeat
faded away.
The note,
on the coffee table,
Read simply:
Winning?
© Fergus Martin
Nov 2018
This time of year is always a particularly rough period for me, having lost a number of friends in recent years to the conflicts of today. I always try to write something appropriate, and this year is no different.
The Angel’s Kiss
Brothers, friends and boys;
Fathers, uncles and workmates;
all strode cheerfully down their streets.
Overjoyed to be playing their part.
to be standing up to be counted,
in nearby foreign fields.
Through Passchendaele and Mons,
Ypres and the Somme,
they fell to the blood-drenched ground,
in numbers unimaginable.
Over the wire and through metal hail,
they pushed for every inch.
It will all be over by Christmas,
but the guns raged on.
And with every wave of anticipation,
the ships returned with the fallen.
As soldiers fell on Flanders field,
the dead and the wounded came home.
She guides me with patience to my bed,
leans over, kisses me,
and smiles.
I cannot see her,
But I know she is smiling.
For today,
the guns fell silent.
© Fergus Martin
Nov 2018
I live in a rural area of Highland Perthshire. This is our current reality.
Rural Reality
Withered leaves droop limply on the vine,
unpicked berries lie rotting on the ground.
Fields lie unploughed in the summer sun,
fallow memories of golden harvest.
Plastic avenues, once full of movement
silently echo with northern winds.
Old man sits silently at the table
as he listens to the lambs crying.
Coffee stained papers litter the room;
he stares vacantly at angst filled parchment.
Decisions to be made become harrowing
as the walls that surround him crumble.
That which was gained is now lost.
The land that was sown will be barren.
Mouths that were fed will now starve.
Futures once certain moved on.
As the clock winds slowly to midnight,
time will run out for some.
F Martin
© Oct 2018
Deja Vu
Growing up,
I believed the tale
that peace and harmony
would triumph,
and the world would be safe.
Glasnost and perestroika
would allow east
to meet west,
and usher in
a brave new world.
I fought for that truth,
I believed that tale,
I was wrong.
It was a lie!
In 60 years,
nothing has changed.
The Bear,
The Dragon
and
The Eagle
still play their games
of war and one-upmanship,
as the world sits
in silence.
The never ending chess game
continues unabated.
As the players position pieces,
the audience watches on.
In fear.
F Martin
Aug 2018
Black Hole
Cohesion,
like the splitting of an atom
divides into polar opposites.
Never being brought together,
unless by forceful collision
to work as one.
With positive balancing negative,
without which there is nought;
but emptiness.
F Martin
May 2018
Butterflies And Bowlers
Fusillades ring out in the night,
fireworks light up the moon.
Orange tipped stars race skyward,
deliver fiery gifts from the heavens.
Huddled together in their tin can,
like cattle headed for slaughter.
The stench of sweat and fear prevails,
camouflaged in false bravado.
Exploding from their steel cocoon,
chrysalis combatants emerge.
Butterflies fall in the killing fields.
There is no beauty in this birth.
As you fly towards death or glory;
remember the oath that you took,
remember the life that you offered,
remember the promise you made,
remember the days full of hope,
remember the lies you were fed.
Another flag drapes another cocoon
as father hides in the shadows of pain.
Mother shoulders the sadness of sorrow
and remembers the days full of hope
As the minister offers his prayer,
the bowler hatted brigade turn their backs.
F Martin
Feb 2018
Democracy Is Dead
Democracy is dead.
Bought and paid for
by complicit charlatans.
Auctioned for the rights
of the paper powers
of the morally corrupt.
Sold off to the highest bidder,
with the lowest ethics.
Destroyed by the desire
for a seat at the table,
and a gold-trimmed mansion.
Ransomed at gunpoint
to the religiously impure.
Betrayed by worshippers of vanity,
on the altar of privilege,
for the souls of the innocent.
Democracy is dead.
© Fergus Martin
Feb 2018
Birdsong
I hear the birdsong in the morning
of a summers day.
I see a magpie on a windmill,
hear it calling me.
And I remember,
the morning that you broke away.
Birdsong in the morning,
humiliating me.
And I recall,
we had it all.
Holding hands in lovers lanes,
The twilight kiss;
and subtle smiles.
Enigmatic moments
in the endless game.
And I remember,
cannot forget.
Whispers in the classrooms,
and the jealous stares
The baying of the wolves
on the hallways stairs.
The poison pen that shattered
my neon signs.
Twisted words that came
from the sharpened knife.
Unleashed in verbal onslaught
They dropped like fallen soldiers
in the free-fire zone.
The weapons of insecurity,
condemning to obscurity
And so the warrior leaves this battlefield.
With a battered crown and shattered shield.
Whilst the birdsong whispers goodbye.
© Fergus Martin
Feb 2018
End of Days
Dawn creeps despondently through the gaps in the ragged curtains. This is not the bright shining sky of enlightenment, but cold dark shadows of a world imploding on entitlement.
A world seeking instant satisfaction
betrays itself with each needy action.
Differing opinions create visceral reaction,
tides of division lead to waves of inaction.
Like-minded souls swarm to their faction.
Lives torn apart by the friendly assassin.
And the man in the shadows hears your lies.
Devoid of soul and imagination,
world today provides no inspiration.
For those living now or next generations,
lives lived out in trepidation.
A day without fear, a mere sensation,
one step away from degradation.
And the man in the shadows sees hope die.
Belligerent voices causing commotion,
as acolytes kneel in devout devotion.
Ruinous plans set spinning in motion,
financial destruction that succours the chosen.
Across many lands and over the oceans,
escaping disaster a fanciful notion.
And the man in the shadows hears souls cry.
Dinosaurs gorge on their fossil solution,
gold in the pocket trumps planet pollution
Turning back to the past, a hopeless regression,
as ritual progress turns to reverse evolution.
A flick of the switch sparks the final regression.
A dystopian world from a nuclear obsession.
And the man in the mirror has sad eyes.
© Fergus Martin
Feb 2018
Wandering Words 