HAVE A DECKO IN THE ECHO
Watch page 12 have a decko
At the poems in the Echo.
Long and short, funny and sad
Some of them are not quite bad.
Just a little bit of fun
Nothing like it in the Sun.
Local news from near and far,
You don't get that in the Star.
So just keep watching, have a delve
And have a browse in page 12.
Betty Watt, Durham
PAWS FOR THOUGHT
I've just spent a week in Eastbourne,
And the heat was so terrific
That I had to buy some bigger shoes,
Size nine, to be specific.
For, my burning feet expanded
To astonishing dimensions,
So, I couldn't wear my normal shoes
Not even for a pension
On my super-swollen paws.
Though that holiday in Eastbourne
Was enjoyable, impressive
I was pleased to head back northwards
To a climate less excessive.
Now, my back-to-normal tootsies
Have no need of large containers.
But, that leaves me with the problem
Of those over-roomy trainers
For no-longer-swollen paws!
Ken Orton, Ferryhill Station
SMILE
Smiling is infectious,
You catch it like the flu.
When someone smiled at me today
I started smiling too.
I passed around the corner
And someone saw my grin,
When he smiled I realised
I'd passed it on to him.
I thought about that smile
Then I realised it was worth
A single smile just like mine
could travel round the earth.
So if you feel a smile begin
Don't leave it undetected.
Let's start an epidemic quick
And get the world infected.
Sheila Smith, Ludworth
CHILDHOOD DAYS
Oh what a joy to laugh and run
Down through green fields on summer days.
Past pond and hedgerows, oh such fun.
Happy to see skylark's displays
and hear it singing in the air
as rabbits ran without a care.
The silent fox with steely stare
Laying in wait and then not there.
Over the railway line we'd go
to hear the "plops" as water voles
Dropped into the beck's meandering flow
then disappeared into the holes
along the banks, beneath high trees
at West Howle where bold wasps displeased
and dragon-flies and bumble-bees
Took to the air to flaunt and tease.
But when slow coal-train rumbled by
And smoke swirled momentarily,
Coy cattle in the field would hie
to find tranquility.
'Til water-hen from East Howle nigh
Calmed all around with piercing cry
And we enjoyed we don't deny
To play there 'neath blue summer skies.
Albert Curle, Ferryhill
HUGGED STEAM
Hug the past,
That reminds only
of childhood, of rusted times been.
Back street, ash dust,
washing lines, shovelled dark gold,
to feed industry.
The roaring engines, boilers, kitchen fires,
the industry of those times.
If only prosperity still lurked in this time,
that is mine.
But it has gone, like everything else,
with the prosperity, the mines,
the minds, the industry of this time,
That has moved, to prove its potential,
but longer true to roots,
As chains as dust settles,
as the questing spirit, moves then parks.
Age remembers only the joy of the past.
Alison Carr, Bishop Auckland
MAM KNEW BEST
Can you remember that far off day
and all the things your Mam would say?
Pearls of wisdom one and all
"Don't run just walk you're sure to fall."
Sometimes you would think
"Oh drat, Mam, what's the use of that?"
Things that then could make you smile
but now can make you stop a while.
Like "Always have clean underwear,
you never know while you're out there
You might get knocked down by a bus,
don't let the nurses see and shame us."
But why a bus and not a car?
Well, Mam used the bus, she didn't go too far.
And when you got that "daring dress"
she'd offer a cardi but preferred a vest.
Then when you got a wheezy chest,
according to Mam "Goose grease is the best".
Often at night when you couldn't sleep
"Say your prayers," she said, "they'll keep
You safe and free from fear."
So pray you did and before you knew
Morning had come. Her words had come true.
Can you remember as you grew older
and winters always seemed much colder
Than they do now,
but Mam knew best
and still she pushed that blessed vest.
But fashions change, now vests are in
and now it's not an awful sin
To wear a frilly-fronted vest,
So once again, yes Mam knew best.
Another one of Mam's wee pearls was
"Eat your crusts and you'll get curls".
I never liked the crusts, perhaps that's why,
I now have hair that's as straight as a die.
Sometimes she'd shout and make a fuss,
"be sure that you're on that 10.30 bus".
And she'd always be there waiting up
"in case you feel you'd like a cup
of tea or cocoa or just a chat".
Have you noticed? Mams are nearly all like that.
Our teenage fashions turned Mam pale,
but she would never fail
To find some kind remark
or other, even if it was just the colour.
Although she'd sometimes have to find the strength
to turn a blind eye to the length
of skirt or dress,
which thinking back were quite a mess.
And the stilettos became the craze
and Mam viewed them with frightened gaze.
"You'll pay for wearing them" she said,
but remarks like that went over your head.
And now on your bunions you hobble,
you often wish you'd taken the trouble
To listen to your Mam a mite.
'Cos nine times out of ten - she was right!
PA Aspinall, Crook
THE RAINBOW
On the darkest day
We see a rainbow
And we know
That God is there.
For He never breaks
a promise
And He hears
Our prayer.
So trust your
Heavenly Father
Through storms
Both big and small.
For He's the one
Who loves us and
For us gave His all.
So when there seems
No sunshine
But only rain.
Day after day.
Hold on to His promises,
It is the only way.
Elizabeth Tomlinson,
Richmond
NELL'S LEGACY OF GOLD
We shared the glorious months of spring,
When life seemed young and kind.
When evergreen the valleys seemed
And fair the roses twined.
We savoured too the summer wine -
of endless happy hours.
And reaped the harvests rich and true
From autumn's gilded bowers.
Till winds of change hit hard and deep
Our way through life to sever.
But in the heart,
time turns to gold,
The memories Nell forever.
Gillian Walsh, of Bilsdale. A tribute to a beloved working Border Collie
THE SEETHING CLIMAX
Words of action dressed up in pain
As people ride roughshod over,
Expecting me to smile and take the hell
As I get knocked over again and again.
The dependable guy,
They teasingly mock.
A good natured bloke,
Never one to angst or bite.
Not any more!
As the venom seethes in veins,
Snarling steams of anger,
Eyes glazed in red mist.
The maddening power of Krakatoa
As propaganda of hate
Flash repeatedly over and over again.
For, like a a legionnaire ready for war,
No longer, no more.
Rob Moran
Consett
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