English Poems From Kye Gaun Hame Poem by Sheena Blackhall

On a Second Wedding: Two friends discuss
Her first had faults in plenty
He had, but don't we all?
You could say she was picky

He was a banker
Yes, gold standard through and through
Oh but that man was boring
I'd have left him, too

Her second's well heeled
Out of the top drawer
Not handsome. Honest enough
Not smarmy
None of that lady killer malarky


Mementoes
I have made origami birds for each city I've visited
Colombo, Bangkok, Beijing, Delhi etc

I have mixed a cocktail for all the rivers I've known
The Potomac, Seine, Dee, Ganges, the mighty Mekong

I have built a cairn of pebbles, for Bens I've seen
Eiger, Sigirya, Morven, Lochnagar

Too old now to explore the wider world
I travel in my memories, click my pebbles


My Mother as a Sugar Tongs
My mother, as a person, was precise
As any sugar tongs, she'd concentrate
On living life respectably and nice
Sugar in cubes, not in the wild state

No waste, no blurring edges, gritty- sharp
As saccharine, her truth was always bleak
Her views, judgemental, biblical and stark
Nothing about her, cuddly or meek

She meted out her hours exact and grey
And never once rebelled, nothing askew
Liked costume jewellery, furs, impeccably
Attired, on Sundays, took her hallowed pew

In death, her mansion up in Paradise
Was her reward for keeping free of vice


Sitting Around a Table
A badger wearing tap shoes shimmies to jazz
Today there was a blizzard of tigers and mice
The ancient tortoise wore a pink bikini
My fingers fired out lightning bolts of flowers
Why does the chaffinch beg for the blue asparagus?
The cloud is heavy with putti eating pizzas


William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger
Drank 3 bottles of port per day
He was P.M. at 24
But his liver, it gave way
And so, he died at 46
Beloved of the nation
They buried him at Westminster
Cured of inebriation


George, the Prince Regent
George the Prince Regent
Loved racing and gambling
Drinking and partying
Theatre and dining

For breakfast,2 pigeons,3 beefsteaks he ate
Washed down by champagne, port, fine wines and some brandy
It took 3 hours to lace the prince into his corset
That regent, the friend of the fop and the dandy

It was no surprise that he suffered from gout
Till all his excesses they cancelled him out