Paul Hansford

If you read somebody’s poem and it makes you want to say,
“I think this piece is wonderful; it really made my day, ”
just go ahead and say it – feedback like this is good,
but saying WHY you like it will please them (well, it should) .
...

Perhaps in another world
another sun comes
up,
lighting a different
...

The one who should have lived has gone so fast.
The old ones, in their dotage, linger on –
they, with no future, live only in the past.
...

I was only seventeen, and you were about the same,
and I knew nothing about you – I barely knew your name.
But I looked at you, and you looked at me, and we looked at each other, and then…
I knew, the first time you smiled at me, I wanted to see you again.
...

My ultimate ambition in life
is to be recycled. When I die
I shall not be put
with the newspapers, plastic bottles,
...

This is my husband, my mother said
to the nurse with pride,
only she meant me.
Everyone in the day-room knew
...

I gave you violets;
you gave me your smile.

I gave you elderflower wine;
...

(After the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a traffic accident, an RAF officer helps to carry her coffin to the plane for return to England.)

The burden I bear is more heavy than lead.
The physical weight is a thing that I share,
...

Called out of a staff meeting, I was told
my mother was on the point of death.
Searching in the regulations,
the secretary told me
...

They were going to start a new life;
childhood sweethearts become man and wife.
But a drunken stag-night
ended up in a fight,
...

Just as when looking into the sun
I am dazzled by pure light,
which is invisible,
and I only see what is lit
...

Still waters, deep,
surface like glass reflecting green above;
and below are trees, sky,
shadows, leaves, sunlight,
...

Why does the right hand get all the good jobs,
like greeting visiting dignitaries
(such a pleasure) ,
or blowing farewell kisses to the one you love
...

1
The morning sun warmed the dew
from the opening rosebud;
a bee visited the fragrant heart of the rose;
...

1.
Into a dull day
you came all unexpected.
My afternoon shone.
...

Stand there, he told me.
Look up, try not to move.
So I stood there
while he painted me in half-profile,
...

I have looked at sunsets as long as they lasted
the reds and the golds and the pinks of them
the play of light on the edges of clouds
the changing shadows over the land.
...

I write my shopping-list in rhyme.
It doesn’t take me too much time,
and always helps me to remember.
(I’ve been doing it since last September.)
...

Why does a cow say moo, Daddy?
How many leaves has a tree?
Why am I smaller than you, Daddy?
How does food turn into me?
...

January's frost and snow
makes your central heating blow.
February? That's no better;
almost as cold, and a good deal wetter.
...