January 8th, 2008

9:46am Tuesday 8th January 2008

WELCOME 2008 Welcome 2008. Another new year.

How the time flies. Are we ready for it?

First of all, let us find a solution, How to keep our new year resolution.

We are full of good intentions, At the beginning, Not to give way to our weakness And overspend, not to borrow, nor to lend.

To look after our body, And watch what we eat, Be safe and watch Where we put our feet.

Be ready for each month, As they come along, The spring sunshine, the rain, the wind, The blossoms on the trees, the birds that sing.

Let us not aim for great heights, For simple things mean a lot, Happiness and good health Are much more important than wealth.

Emma Thomas, Darlington.

TIME TO GO

It's early, dawn's just breaking, Yawning, I stretch my arms to welcome the day, Enjoying the warmth of an early morning dawn, after a long lonely night.

An eerie silence prevails all around.

The guns have fallen silent, there isn't a sound.

The absence of sound is hard to stand, As we gaze across the wilderness of No Man's Land.

The silence is deafening, it continues to grow.

Suddenly it's broken by a single blow, That comes from the sergeant's whistle, it's time to go, With a heavy heart and my rifle in hand.

I make my way into No Man's Land The sound of shot throws me on my back.

As I look to the sky, a small bird flies by, Informing the Earth with its mournful cry, That it's free, free from the shackles of Earth.

I smile and breathe my last, as everything turns black.

NL Kellett, Sunnybrow, Crook.

A NEW BEGINNING

I was the sunrise one early morning Looking east across the sea of mystery White fluffy clouds with gold and silver linings Against a beautiful blue and turquoise canopy.

I close my eyes and hear the ocean Crashing waves on sand and shingles I lift my arms up to the heavens And gentle breezes disperse my fears.

Soon a horse and rider appear As in a lovely tranquil dream Splashing through the spray and foam Then quickly pass as they head home.

I look once more over the water The sun is up and full of fire To warm and comfort everyone And tell us a new year has just begun.

Elizabeth Sayers, Spennymoor.

TOO MUCH HASSLE FOR THE CASTLE

Steve was ready for Rolling Stones action Cos the counterfeits spelled satisfaction, But old Jumping Jack Flash Had a hell of a crash And resembled a codger in traction.

The pain was so bad in his back The room it did paint itself black And the poor little bugger Could have done with Brown Sugar Or the stuff that Keith smoked by the sack.

Steve Craggs, Darlington.

A CHRISTMAS GIFT FROM ELECTROLUX

It's Christmas: a time for the well-chosen gift, With warm generosity stressed.

Electrolux! Thanks for a seasonal lift.

They've given the ultimate Christmas bequest.

Their gift is my notice: the plant is to close.

For the first time in 42 years I'll be out of a job; the most crushing of blows!

When the plan was announced, I was almost in tears.

I've railed against work, in this place, on the whole: I've been caustic and cutting indeed.

But redundancy followed by life on the doe Is the one Christmas present that I didn't need.

RIME RHYME

With winter's bite, deep in the night The world's awash with silver light: A frozen, frigid, frosty blight Paints window panes in rime.

A poet's dream presents this paean To icy climate, cutting, keen.

A fertile fancy sets the scene: Paints winter pains in rhyme.

Ken Orton, Ferryhill Station.

THE NEW WISE MEN

Aggressive atheism pervades the manmanured Christmas air As with corrosive tongue old beliefs are stripped bone-bare Revealing a world reconstructed with clinical clarity anew.

Devoid of superstitions and nought of a Christian hue.

Politically correct New Wise Men with glorious gifts galore Present themselves to rid this world of all religious lore.

To be replaced by clinically-tested constructs of new reality Devoid of Gospel or the rewards of Christ's regality.

This joyless, faithless test-bedded life they gladly proclaim.

Exhorting all to forsake belief and do the same as themselves.

All-knowing, none-believing, deliberately DNA led Into a brain-washed future. A new mankind, albeit, genetically bred.

A micro and nano-chipped Eden. A research scientific revolution Points the way to promised lands. Mankind's next evolution?

As to the source of old beliefs, the Sacred Spirit, deep within?

Discarded with contempt and zipped into the deleted bin.

Yet the folly and fallacy of this fab lab world may truly be As inspiration rises unbidden from within.

Can anyone see Into an indefinable space? Probe unkown depths? Mystic recesses, Wherein the essence of life lies hidden. But God alone possesses?

Donald Fraser, Newton Aycliffe.

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