Poems By Mary

The path you trod over decades
The path l trod over decades bears no comparison
Yet has similarities of dedication working with people and for people
The theatrical thread of understanding on how the drama of life unfolds within us all
On first meeting of minds. A chance meeting
that happens only once in a lifetime
If not given the opportunity of this chance encounter
126 being the magic number
Thoughts of what the future holds for me and thee
The road we all travel with its twists turns with cul de sacs
The frustration of having to unravel the wool
How many rows must l take with a backward step
We never are the finished article
New roads with left and right turns into the unknown
The wonder of finding
opportunities awaiting to pluck us from our comfort zone
How often one does one consider the road that one will trod
Forward planning is a mythical beast
A trick beyond our control
The growth of ideas stems from the belief that we are in charge of our lives
Innovation to create a new way of thinking
Has more power than we anticipate of who and what we are
The base line set owing to the disturbance of outside factions
Taking us out by chance events outwith our control
The rules set over decades by others
Giving a well trodden path to explore and discover
The fact of life that thee and me are destined to change direction
Yet on a similar path
The environment of working with people and for people
Is the thread that connects thee and them with others together on the same path of discovery
Changing what needs broke , leaving well alone what should not be altered
Whims of fancy with no reality as its baseline
Altering not just the present
Devastatingly altering the future
On a road no longer trodden with the surefooted knowledge of past generations
unravelled like wool never to be resurrected
Like lace once torn into shreds that cannot be repaired
Has nature tricked us into buying into the notion of thought
All is well in our own backyard
Set for life
The chance encounter is the trip wire unseen in the undergrowth
If fall at the first fence on our race to reach our destination
One must pick oneself up and try try again and again
The spider with his web
The bird who dives from the sky into the sea
Seizing the chance for survival
Stepping off the trodden path into the wilderness of thoughts ideas and feelings of self
l can do this says the inner voice within
We are creatures of habit for our survival
Choosing to climb a hill
Standing firm
The horizon out there inviting within us The desire to explore
Get out of our comfort zone
It cannot be done without understanding
I need you and you need me
Fall to the ground
An ankle injured preventing the surefooted from being able to walk
I need you and you need me is the reality check
Stops us in our tracks on our journey through life
No one reaches the goal of being the finished article
No more than the stream quietly rippling
A sea of change diverting its path into the unknown
The world does not stop at the border between our need to open doors for self growth
The unknown out there can nurture or nature our long term growth
If fall at the first fence and find can take a step followed by another
By leaps and bounds one can find our way
Leaving behind a path trodden not cluttered with regrets
We cannot change the past ‘ reflect only on how we can improve the present and future
Look in the mirror? What do we see ?
If see the finished article ?
There is no growth if there are no seeds of discontent within
‘ l ‘ with thee and others can grow seeds of discontent or even the poison of hatred towards thee them and those never met
We cannot change thee and others
If have the power to change oneself ?
Growth is not an illusion nor a delusion
I need you and you need me is the key to opening doors to understanding
Be the keeper of your own Soul
The eyes are the mirror of the Soul
The trip wires are there
No road is without its hidden danger
The ice unseen
The pothole over years of erosion
Gut feeling over the years honed when journeying on the road of Life
When to ‘ seize the opportunity’ or sink into the oblivion of never knowing .
I need you and you need me is the key to success or failure
Working together is the only way forward
independence is but a ‘ mythical beast ‘ that can trip wire and be ‘ a step backward rather than a step forward
The ladder climbed with one step forward
the next rung followed by another
The ladder if resting on shaky ground
The journey climbed
The destination desired by one and all
With no other around to correct the mistake
Lends well to the understanding
I need you and you need me
Independence is a ‘ mythical creature’ bearing no resemblance to the truth
United we stand divided we fall
Centuries past have proven this Fact
Interdependent is what we are
From Birth to the day of ‘ closing one’s eyes when our journey through life is over
I need you and you need me is a factor determining who you need and if their need overlaps with their desires for power absolute
Democracy is the only form of power that works .
As they need us and we need them
Within the family unit to what has worked over generations , should not be usurped
The lone voice of dictatorship found in every walk of life
There is no place for this approach
United we conquer . Divided we fall ‘ raised by one’s own petard
Is a journey self made and unsustainable
when all enter this world
when leaving it behind ? We are judged for eternity
By those whose lives have been saved or destroyed by the actions of others
Socially and politically we all walk a road through life with’ the unseen ice patch or the pothole that has the power to change
I need you and you need me might turn out to be the one that does not nurture well ? the working together
Totalitarianism is always lurking to the left or right of every road travelled
Democracy not perfect but the only road to travel
Relative to Absolutism it is the midline between freedom and the lack of it .
Mary G Douglas

Bus full of people from all walks of life
From bus stop to bus stop
Clamber aboard hoping for a seat on the aisle
A window seat loses its appeal when find one is squashed
No disrespect intended
When on comes a passenger whose circumference requires more not less
Seat sat on with a view
Losing attraction when shared with another?
A seat plus more not less required
A wave of panic descending
Good manners should prevail no matter what
Survival mode sets in
Only my head has room for manoeuvre
Excuse please
The inevitable creates another dilemma
My wish is to sit farther back where an aisle seat is vacant
Now blocked as expected to make for descent
Why must the simple steps in life
Create barriers
Now obliged to consider the feelings of another?
Standing on the pavement waiting for another?
Next bus due in 20 minutes
Where does one draw the line between my needs and another?

Never retire from thinking of having never retired
Is the secret of never growing old
Never shirking from waking up with a plan on how to spend the day ahead
Rain hail snow or wind whistling out there
No barrier to being creative with how to seize the day
Today will be our yesterday when the Dawn breaks
The unexpected out there is awaiting
The tourist from Australia with their own story to tell
The joy of listening to their ‘ accent when sharing their experiences
Giving another dimension to how Edinburgh is viewed through the lens of another
The filth and dirt of Princes Street unseen
The castle nestling high on the hill
The monument complementing by piercing the atmosphere
Unseen by those whose head is bent
The mobile phone with eyes down and oblivious of what is on their left or right or up and beyond
How will those who spend their lives with eyes down
In their senior years
memories of decades past
The walk through a park or the walk with children running around
on the esplanade at Portobello
The crashing of waves
Sun sea and sand with sandcastles built
Children with spade and buckets
The pleasure of sitting on a bus or train with the wonder of nature merging into one
A panoramic view that is a fixed memory
No photograph taken can compare
The eye taking in all that is fleeting yet fixed for ever
A kaleidoscope of colourful imagery
To be revisited
When in one’s Senior Years
Is the secret of never growing old
Mary G. Douglas

Childhood years of given a half crownI cried as it made no noiseMy Aberdeen Papa  happily exchanging  it for two penniesIt took a growth of two or three more yearsWhen given the half crown pocketedPapa looked with despairI returned his gaze with a look of innocenceThanked him with a smileThe smile wiped off when became apparentNo more did Papa offer such a prizeTwo pennies it was thereafterIf had the wisdom gleaned over decadesSaved and bankedMany a millionaire emerged from being insightfulThis is the lesson of how the world of money worksSome spend some lend and some invest and reinvestThe spin of the wheel can make or breakNow we have looking aheadA cashless societyWhat then the pleasure of the childHaving the sound of coins jingling in a pocketBanks disappearing from High streetsContactless transactions now the norm Cold currency is the futureThe warm shake of a hand when being introduced to anotherHow do you do says you with no expectationConversation flowing with easeNo speak English with a smileNo speak Spanish or another language with a smilePhone held in handPeripherally speaking no interactionEyes front and head bent with concentrationThe unseen passers byA shrinking world on the streets of lifePrinces Street milling with crowds of touristsA camera noted fixed to a cap on a headEyes focused on the sights aheadStriding forth for posterityOnce holiday overSitting with family and friendsThe video of the streets of Princes StreetThe gardens and the milling crowd on the streets of lifeNo need for studying language overheadThe babble of voices mingling into a meleeHappy tourists going home with memoriesA walking tour by videoBrings in revenue for the Country visitedThe chain of events of the streets of lifeThe toil of one’s daily livesFactory to farming all now done by remoteA computer count of all that is requiredThe rollers taking the item of food for consumptionPackaged and delivered in containers with the contents labelledThose who spend their lives on a setteeWatching in silence with Jaws chomping the pizza or burger with satisfactionVoice on the telly with food in the bellyWhat then in centuries aheadWhat then will the human body be capable ofCommunication by remoteWorking at home staring at a screenWho will be those with boots on the groundNo need for shop windows displaying the latestA beeline online if by scrollingOne finger exercise at speed ordering the fashion seen and desiredA takeaway boxed and deliveredHospital wards with patients suffering fromneed for replacement of knee jointIf don’t use it lose itWhen sitting with eyes fixed and takeaway boxedEyes ahead with finger food despatched frombox on lap openedWill the day arrive when one is transported from chair by medics to ambulance outsideIn a fixed positionShaped like a chair ?The metaphor of what lies aheadIf don’t use our vision for left and right ?Our limbs for striding out into the world outside ?What will the human body and mind evolve intoThe couch potatoTaking instructions on what pill to take ?A pun above on how life and limb of the population of the future might evolve ?The population having at their fingertipAll that is required to live and work to be productiveMoney in bank deposited by remote controlThe takeaway bringing to our doorNutritional meals boxedA cashless society receiving their income by remoteFor work done on the screen facing usSitting for hours on a seatEyes front : not to the left or the rightOne finger exercise on the keysLegs with both feet in prone positionThe tourist striding the streets of lifewith camera fixed on cap on headArms dangling at sidesWhat then for the child from crawling to standingIt’s world seen by remote on the screen of an iPhoneIf opens their mouth to gain the attentionof a parent sitting on a bus muteresponds to the wailing child in its buggyby remoteWhat use of child dressed in its best ? sitting strapped in for safetyA genuinely loving parent corresponding witha bottle of milk or juiceAn iPhone with a cartoon speaking in a form ofsqueaky talkThis is the modern world of city lifeThe enlightenment of 18th Century it is notMary G. Douglas

One for the road 

The usual Rob?

Make it a double Jim

Two hours later ‘  time

Time folks ‘ last order 

One for the road 

Make it a double 

The usual Rob?

Make it a double Jim ‘ and 

A bottle of whisky ‘ usual brand 

Last orders folks ‘ bar is closed 

The road is long ‘ the river beckons 

From the shoreline ‘ a sobering thought 

The bottle of whisky ‘ held fast in Rob’s  grip 

Raised arm ‘ with bottle aloft ‘ 

Rage overtaking ‘ conscience stricken 

It soars upwards and onwards ‘ in an arc

Illuminated for seconds ‘  

a full moon ‘ low in the sky

Rob stood in awe ‘ as it made its descent 

A voice in the night ‘ what are you doing  ?

Rob turned into the night 

The road is long ‘ 

The door ajar ‘ there Mary ‘ stood 

A sheepish grin ‘ you know what it’s like 

I do not know what is like 

What is for dinner ‘ Rob dared to enquire 

A dinner ate alone ‘ is a dinner served cold 

It’s past midnight ‘ good night 

Sunday morning ‘ how about dinner out ‘

To forgive is welcomed ‘  where shall we dine ?

The food at the Local ? The table is booked 

Comfortably seated ‘ with a view of the river 

Armed with our order ‘ Rob goes to the bar 

A glass of red wine ‘ and a single of the usual ‘

Rob ‘ says the bartender  ‘ we no longer stock it .

You no longer stock it ? Why ? Says Rob 

When it ends up in the River ‘ out of favour ? 

A sobering tale ‘ the boats were out ‘ to no avail . 

Forty years on ‘ yet to be found ? 

Mary G. Douglas

When a child of five l stared at my reflection in the mirror
Who are you ? Thought l
When a teen and stared at my reflection in the mirror
I thought l knew who l was and my path in life chosen
The pattern of events that have made me who l am today
Now having reached the early years of my eighth decade
Do l now know who l am ?
I now reflect on a fact of life that who is now reflected back
Is not who l am today, it is who and what l have been through decades
On my own journey of learning and understanding what shapes us and what shapes others
It is a revelation on how one can be perceived by others
Appreciating not to allow the perceived judgement of others
Those ‘ others ‘ when reaching their eight decade less or more
It is a revelation on how one can perceive on reflection of how one has judged others
During our journey through life and how we have misjudged ourselves
The process of learning is a long term journey
Of who and what we are and how we judged who is reflected back at us
When having reached the early years of one’s eight decade
We think we know who we are from our yesterdays and our todays
The tomorrows are the ones when we reflect on our yesterdays
We think we are knowledgeable suffice to be
judgemental of others
The gaps of decades between then and now with no between
Who are we to judge another when no bridges have been crossed
Stagnation of thought from decades ago
Memories of who what why where when ?
Manifests into a judgment of another? Based on What?
The mirror on the wall is a reflection of Self
Whose only reflection is of Self worth
One cannot judge the worth of others
If decades of ‘ not knowing another ‘
The only person that one can judge is Self
One cannot pass judgement on others because they are not there to defend themselves
A truism of never judging a book by its cover ?
One has to read chapter by chapter
The reflection on the mirror of oneself
Is only a reflection on how one reflects on
oneself and not on how one is perceived by another
The delusions of how one presents oneself to others
If one has no aforementioned knowledge of what has offended
That is the conundrum of the whole world and where as individuals we fit or not fit in the scheme of events passed or present
Do we know who we are ? Do others know who they are ?
We think as others think and thinking can be as good or not so good depending on one’s own perspective of the reality of the difference between Fact and Fiction
On looking in a mirror decades plus on how the story is presented and accepted
Peace and goodwill to all at home and beyond
Is the mystery that we all know is what we want
Yet another mystery on why it is not possible for all mankind at home and beyond
The answer to this question has to wait for eight decades plus to pass
The reflection of oneself has the power to reflect on the past
The answer is not on how we perceive others
It is how we perceive’ Self ‘
Learning to know and understand the meaning behind the phrase
Judge thee not me
Mary G. Douglas