DISCS OF MEMORY

MARY Pictures, Images and Photos

When the wind peered

with its spirit eyeglass

through the window to my soul

I felt its chill,

icy on the outside

and warm and gentle in,

while the jukebox stored my lusts...

inside, the foaming pot was filled

and outside the snows drifted down,

phlox on the darkening night...

and the poet sang

a song to catch the wind,

the artist spread

his Degas on the sand,

and the sweet folk singer

with her fragrant hair

knew those were the days...

and as she knew it they had flown,

the days, that is, for clocks

had ticked their way to yesterday

and all the yesterdays that come

and go like grains of winter sand...

and where had they gone,

the flowers, every one?

And the young men warring,

every one?

And the girl from the north country

wandered off to silence

while her shadow

fuelled our lusts...

the colours of her hair in the morning...

But they've gone, now, the good old songs,

gone to the jukebox of the past

and the old man sits here, thinks them,

but the meaning is an old man's meaning

and they were the thoughts of the child.

Comments: 24

Anthony W Allsop Mar 25, 2012, 7:09am UTC

Beautiful poetry, Peter. One of your best.

Peter Rogerson Mar 25, 2012, 7:17am UTC

Crikey! Praise from the mighty is praise indeed!

Anthony W Allsop Mar 25, 2012, 7:24am UTC

I thought I might try and confuse you as to who's shout it is at Mrs Miggins.

PS. Ask Dorothy if that "who's" is correct usage or should I have used "whose", would you?

Peter Rogerson Mar 25, 2012, 7:35am UTC

The correct whoseage, according to Dorothy, is use.

Anthony W Allsop Mar 25, 2012, 7:42am UTC

Thanks, Peter. I will whose it all the time from now on.

Dorothy Rogerson Mar 25, 2012, 7:43am UTC

As you will gather, Tony, I have been misquoted. "Whose" is correct, as I suspect you know! I believe it's your shout x

Dorothy Rogerson Mar 25, 2012, 7:44am UTC

OOps. You got in before me!

Peter Rogerson Mar 25, 2012, 7:44am UTC

I like to be helpful. It's what humanity's all about. I wonder what gthe purists would make of whos'?

Anthony W Allsop Mar 25, 2012, 7:47am UTC

I wonder what gthe purists would make of gthe?

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Anthony W Allsop Mar 25, 2012, 7:45am UTC

OK!!! IT'S MY TURN!!! Is that loud enough?

Dorothy Rogerson Mar 25, 2012, 7:56am UTC

Just about deafened me!

Barbara H. Mar 26, 2012, 2:15pm UTC

Ha!Ha! Peter, you and Tony are like two brothers always back and forth with each other! I love it!

Anthony W Allsop Mar 26, 2012, 2:24pm UTC

He's like the brother I never had. Or was it a sister.

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Cynthia C. Mar 25, 2012, 8:08am UTC

Thank you so much for sharing with Sadies Points

Peter Rogerson Mar 25, 2012, 8:26am UTC

And thank you, Cynthia

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CL Mareydt Mar 25, 2012, 12:03pm UTC

I think I recognize a few lines from a folk song ... ???

☀★¸¸.☆.¸¸ . ✶*¨*. ¸ .✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*¸¸.☆.¸¸ . ☀★☀★¸¸.☆.¸¸ . ✶*¨*.
THANK YOU FOR SHARING AT SURREAL CIRCUS!

Peter Rogerson Mar 25, 2012, 12:07pm UTC

There are references to several 1960s songs, CL.

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Priya P. Mar 26, 2012, 4:50am UTC

This flowed quite beautifully Peter

Peter Rogerson Mar 26, 2012, 7:40am UTC

Thanks, Priya.

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Barbara H. Mar 26, 2012, 2:13pm UTC

I could FEEL all the warmth and questioning of that youth and lust and love AND as you sit as an older man, I sit as an older woman, wondering how the time went so quickly, and moreso, why if we are aged do we still FEEL like seventeen inside? You write exquisite poetry Mr. Rogerson

Peter Rogerson Mar 27, 2012, 7:50am UTC

Thank you so much, Barbara. There's been a gap since I was a youth, an empty gap that I can barely remember, though there were a few obstinate highlights!

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Barbara Boden Mar 26, 2012, 5:53pm UTC

Love the poem, Peter. Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end....
They didn't end, they still live within us, it is only our bodies that have aged.

Peter Rogerson Mar 27, 2012, 7:51am UTC

Just you tell me about aged bodies, Barbara. Though since we moved into this one-storey park home my knees have undergone a vast improvement.

Barbara Boden Mar 27, 2012, 5:02pm UTC

Know just what you mean, its the lack of steps that does it, I'm so glad I moved into my cottage for the same reason.
I used to sing that Mary Hopkin song, in the days when I sang in the clubs. Seems like yesterday!

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DISCS OF MEMORY

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