Paul Hansford Poems

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.
...

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

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,
...

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,
...