Purple Lady Poetry

The first wave is the furious oneThat knocks you overThat destroys infrastructure.All is washed away, landmarks vanished and bones revealed. You see the vast expanseAnd the distant line of the… Read more: Second Wave

You cycled through lifeUncaring of weather or convention.The daily trek to work;A place you didn’t want to be.Perhaps your mind still cycledDuring those office bound days. Come the age of… Read more: Cycle

If I should describe my grief as beingA handbag that bumps and swings at my hip,Would you consider my thoughts ungracious?Would you think I am simply not seeingThe harsh magnitude… Read more: Handbag

We have cleared the wardrobe, the cupboards, the drawers.We have bagged stuff, dumped stuff, sold stuff, donated stuffAnd kept stuff. The odd gloves, the glasses, the car boot detritusThat tell… Read more: Another Passing

When I sat with my friendAll those months agoAnd I said “There will be guilt”,I could not comprehend my inabilityTo divorce knowledge from emotion. To know the whys and whereforesIs… Read more: Prophesy

You would think I might be pleasedTo see your name.There in bold, black print on screenBut, to my shameI feel a mundane stab of irritationAnd then glee.At last a chance… Read more: A Chance to Shout

I didn’t give you the right answer,Did I?When you asked how I was now I was alone?You didn’t like my litany of life and actions.My denial of regret and grief.My… Read more: Not the Right Answer

My daughter asks meTo make batter for Yorkshire puddings.Listening to the rhythmic clop of spoon in liquidI remember my mother. Will this be how I am remembered? Haiku form My… Read more: In Memoriam, In Perpetuity

It is twenty seven now.Last week was twenty six.I continue to count somehowAnd my memory never sticks. I hold the line for fear of loss.If I forget the thread will… Read more: Telling the Days

Who will you bewhen I am oldAnd the life we livedHas long gone cold? My sense of you nowis strong and clearBut time runs fastAnd, that, I fear. Will I… Read more: Question

In the in-between timesLife floats suspended;In this wood between worldsThoughts and intent seem ended. On this threshold nothing can move.In between light, dark, old and newIn between the past and… Read more: In-between

Let me be a garden at my end.Colours in riot, blooming and newSharp shooting bulbs shouting joy of SpringFoliage and flowers of every hue. Let life fight for space and… Read more: Let Me Be a Garden

The late. Asleep. At peace.These words that describe a state of not being.Passed away, crossed over.Departed this world. Unseeing. So stark, so obtuse, so not.Not you, not there, not here.Black… Read more: Dead Language

Words lock up these little bits of pain.They wrap them in soft tissue.Precious heirlooms to be preservedFor future study. To name a thing, to explain it.To measure, to describe.Does this… Read more: Words

Dear friend, I look at you and thinkI cannot tell you how it was.You will not want to listenAbout the fear, the pain, the loss. The loss, the ache, the… Read more: Dumb

Seeing the leaves fall;I think you went too earlyTo touch their beauty.

Distance and direction drew us apart andSomewhere on that path I lost you.Time slipped; told another story andMists obscured the view. From birth to death body changes form.From beginning to… Read more: Losing Our Way

Then….Came the morningAnd the window’s lightDrew me closer, calling. All was simple.My choices seemed clear.It was as was said.I had no more fear. Like swimming, like flyingI passed overhead.This isn’t… Read more: Morning Came

This you must know –That death is rarely kind andYou cannot make it so. For all your plans and logic,Preparedness and thought,Death comes suddenAnd in ways you never sought. You,… Read more: Advice on Dying

Frost crystals concealing fragmentsOf last year’s Summer heat.Herbs sweet and bitterLabelled, month and year; so neat. That June, there was no knowingLayers of emotions, frozen fastCould mean so very much.Things… Read more: Clearing the Freezer

This is the first day of the rest of my life.My rebirth is certain. My destination, unsure.Casting off the cloak of who I had become.I go through another door. I… Read more: This Is the First Day

In this space in other timesYou walked.Moving the air before you.Creating waves that rippleEven now. This space enfolds me in your warmth.Your thoughts, now still,Exist in timeAnd nothing is lost.

In passing your coat I touchAnd inhale the scent.You too passed and left me this.

I like to think of youTravelling free,Untrammelled by fearOr land or sea. Your options are wide;No mortal conventions.No one to say noOr block your intentions. Go wide, go far.Go long,… Read more: Long Journey

The calendar and clockCarry me, unwilling,Far from the pointOf your living and being. How can I stopThis inexorable slide?How can I returnTo before you died?

Seeing a green leafI chose to fix it in mind.That leaf is still there.

Everything stays the sameNow you’re gone.The sink is clearNow you’re gone. If I tidy the roomAnd go out for the dayThere is nothing to showThat I’ve been away. The shoes… Read more: Everything Stays the Same

With my dead husbandI sit sipping coffee;He in his box and me in mine.Listening to life at the next tableI breathe. Haiku version With my dead husbandI sit sipping hot… Read more: Company

A sculptural beauty;Your face caught frozen in time,Half way twixt life and death.I see your gaze – not sightless –But forever fixed on limitless viewsThat only you can see. Travel… Read more: Strange Beauty

Not a train crash.Just a slight adjustment of points on the trackAnd the scenery starts to change.Quite subtle really. We were on one journeyAnd then we’re on another.I can still… Read more: Not a Train Crash