TO CLIFF ON HIS 52nd BIRTHDAY

When the World is in a mess,
Events all around not going well
Parliamentarians in distress
Gone home to face their private hell

There can be another side
To every situation
With the turning of the tide
Comes a different interpretation.

What care you, the clasp and grasp of Class?
Or of lives led to deceive the World?
Only the values that never pass
Are worth getting life’s flag unfurled.

The foundations are dug deep,
Prosaic they may seem
Besides the glittering display
Of shallow lives in palaces
Built upon a base of clay.

One may dream one’s thoughts
From day to day, or with grand sweep,
But life is building solidly each day
Towards a distant goal
Where all is understandable
If bittersweet.

And when it’s time to rest
The thoughts that can be trailed
Are, I have done my best,
And that it has prevailed.

July 2009