ASHES WON, JOB DONE

Strauss’s team waltz their way through Aussie batsmen,

Both English, bowlers and batsman, being master craftsmen.

Bowling length, accuracy and precision

Umpires being in perfect position

Eyes as keen as that of a hawk

Each English appeal

Asking Aussie batsmen to walk.

Now Ashes won back

Thanks to English bowling and batting attack.

Vince Elsbury, Darlington,p>

WAITING ROOM

Back and forth they go,

Here, there, to and fro,

Doors opening and closing,

People sitting, reading, dozing,

Watching, waiting, counting patterns on a wall,

Hoping to hear a voice, a name, a call,

Noisy footsteps on a polished floor prevailing,

A motionless clock, silently ailing,

Still relentlessly back and forth they go, memos in a hand,

Doctor’s scrawled notes about a troublesome gland,

At last a call, can it be for me?

Am I the patient they want to see?

Alas not, I change my seat and look with disdain,

Those dreadful patterns, I’ll count them again.

Geoff Gregg, Tursdale, County Durham

SECOND TIME AROUND

The highways are under water

So there ain’t no place to park

Gonna cut myself some timber

And build myself an ark.

The water level is still rising

Soon all the valleys will fill

Think I better build my ark

On top of the highest hill.

I can only take two people

So that will be me and you

The animals walk up the gangplank

Swaying in two by two.

The water level has risen

The boat begins to float

I think of all those, left behind

A lump comes to my throat.

So I stand upon the swaying deck

In a typical sailor’s stance

When a dove lands on the masthead

It’s carrying an olive branch.

It flutters down onto my shoulder

Cooing words flow from its mouth

Turn your boat around Noah

Dry land’s that way heading south.

It seems to me that all us people

Just want to be on the side that’s winning

Do you think that this is the end?

Or only just the beginning?

G Clay, Bishop Auckland

MY LOVING FAMILY

Forget me not

For I won’t forget you

The love you’ve given me

All the years through.

You’ve always been there

When I needed a hand

You’re the most loving family

In all the land.

B Watt, Durham