More Boring Interesting Stuff.

New Newspaper Launched in Scotland Today.

 

  Link  -  THENATIONAL.SCOT

 

 

Scottish Evening News - First Taster.

Scottish News is a social enterprise, funded by individual donations. This means our bulletin will be free from the influence of shareholders, politicians and advertisers. We are committed to independent journalism speaking truth to power, without fear or favour.

Link - SCOTTISHNEWS.SCOT

Last of carefree days.

Little Hand

You don't know
you're breaking my heart
or how I wish
it could be me instead of you
I sit at the bottom of your bed
and there's nothing I can do
I pray my earnest prayer
for God to let you stay
but know deep inside
he's taking you away

Carefully structured expectations
unspoken hopes and plans entwined
though struck by such a feeble hand
collapse entangled in the mind

This is the last of carefree days
of youthful jest and childlike joy
but captured moments of these and more
this day will not destroy

And the wounded heart will never
let go of this little hand
still reaching where the treasure is
will sojourn only in this land

And the wounded Saviour will never
let go of our grief and pain
God knows we do not understand
it's hard enough to be sane.

Super Market.

Famine

A man in Ethiopia

picks up a piece of thrown bread
eats it and lives
to till again the tortured soil
in the forlorn hope
of a bland subsistence

A man in Scotland
who could pick up his phone
and have a van load
of delicacies
delivered to his door
Picks up a rope
and hangs himself

It isn't easy to understand
why a man in great need
clings to life
and a man with no apparent need
takes his life

It is said  - "A man cannot live on bread alone"

And it would be reasonable to suppose
he considered the supermarket to have nothing
to comfort the torment
of his hungry soul.

To the Right Jim Murphy - Below the City of Hiroshima.

 

 

Crash and Burn.

Crash and Burn                                                    

When I think of
all the things I should have done
all the things I could have done
all the things I've never done

I feel like my soul is on the run

I've always been too cautious too sensible too wise

A kamikaze pilot comes to mind
methodically going through
the correct take off procedure
then skilfully flying his plane
on his way to crash and burn

We should begin at the crash and burn
but that is where we end
and if in this moment
we know what we should have done
it comes with the price that the chance is gone
and this is where we find and can hardly miss
.......Folly.......
as it dances a Jig
around the smouldering wreckage
of all our sensibleness

And in this moment I will know
I should have lived more on the edge
I should have taken more chances along the way
does it matter if we singe our wings
when we're going to crash and burn anyway

This is what I believe
I believe that one day soon
I will stand before God
and there be asked to give an account of my life
and what will I say

will I say

"Caution made me recklessly
throw every chance away"

That would be a twist in the tale
a day of going back to school
to learn all I should have been
was more of a fool.

Cadillac.

Cadillac

Someone's got a Cadillac                 
and they are so rich
they wouldn't even care
if they slid it in a ditch.

Someone's got a ford
it needs an m.o.t.
and in the words of the song
they should - Let it be.

Someone's got a rolex
but the time doesn't matter
they wear it to show
that their times are better.

Someone's got a seiko
they look at it and curse
it tells them to hurry
or they'll miss their bus.

Someone's got a choice
of where to live and what to do
"We just had to buy the place
when we saw the view."

Someone's got a flat
they loathe with pure disgust
the view from the window
is another drugs bust.

Someone's got the penthouse suite
Someone's got a cardboard box
they have plenty paper
but not the kind that talks.

The sum of a human life
is not in what we possess
the riches of the wealthy
do not make the poor worth less.

The nationless refugee
dying from hunger beside the road
has the value of you or me
in the reckoning of God.

We have all come from God
and to God we shall return
and in the flame of judgement
paper is the first to burn.

Meccano Set Instructions.

The Meccano Set

My Father gave me a Meccano Set
but whatever I tried to do
there was never enough bits
to see the project through

I nearly made a bridge
I almost made a crane
I became a little miffed
and decided to complain

'Father' I said - 'This Meccano Set'
'Half of it's not there
whenever I try to use it
I'm tearing out my hair'

He looked at me and he smiled
with a knowing kinda glow
the way Father's do before explaining
something you don't know

He then said - "son
if I gave you Worlds to play with
it wouldn't be enough
you would still come before me
complaining in a huff"

"The more parts the more scope
to make a greater wrong
the tyranny of a distant World
sending a greater bomb"

"Do not despise your Meccano Set
the missing pieces will keep you safe
where understanding ends
span the chasm by faith"

Longevity.

Did you know

If you

Determine to eat healthy food

Drink lots of water

Do moderate regular exercise

Do not smoke

Drink alcohol only in moderation

Then you may take longer to die.

Remembrance.

                             This is Culloden Moor the site of the Battle of Culloden near Inverness.

Here on the 16th of April 1746 the Army of Prince William the Duke of Cumberland.

Strengthened by many Scottish recruits who did not want a Jacobite King.

Defeated the mostly highland Scottish Army of Prince Charles Edward Stuart.

The great possibility of there being no First World War and therefore no Second World War
also died that day on Culloden Moor.

Solomon.

 

          Arnold Abbott 90. being arrested for feeding the homeless in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The wisdom of Solomon                               

Part One                                                 

The wisdom of Solomon
was not to rule
but to know he was
a wretched fool

To have your soul
laid bare
before your eyes
it could be said
such a man
could be wise

But in such cases
the subject - usually dies

And if they live
you wouldn't want to hear the cries

So for the sake
of keeping your cool
it's best to believe
you're not a fool

But be careful in the choice
of what you despise
what kind of wisdom
must point out a fool
to make it seem wise.

Part Two

Walking the wastelands of meaningless vanity
stripped of illusions grasping for sanity

Crumpled in a doorway
watching people pass
some stopping to admire
the pillows quilts and beds
behind the plate glass

The darkness of night
brings a dark thought
- you'd be better off dead -
until the light of remembering
(The son of man
had nowhere
to lay down his head)

Resting in the comfort of this thought
until the break of day
awaking and believing
there is one who knows the way

When the Towers
of human illusion fall                           
the wastelands appear
in poignant clarity
and in the midst
one man left standing
The Christ - The Reality

Looking back
toward the Citadels
the heart recoils in pity
the fallen Towers of human mastery
it was all a cardboard City

And the people
we stepped over
dismissed - with a meagre ration
are waiting in the wastelands
and greet us with compassion.

Parklife.

The View.

               The View

               The window
               looks out
               upon the twilight
               of an apprehensive morning
               slowly turning grey
               in the sunless dawn
               such a long night
               has finally broken
               into an appropriate day

               Cutting through
               the industrial sky
               rain falls orange
               on the street below
               and sparks up
               into an angry ballet

               Inexorable concrete
               reinforced
               with latticed steel
               rises monolithic
               imposing it's dimensions
               upon the horizon

               Buildings
               clothed in shadows
               are sentinel
               standing to attention
               locking out the night
               locking in
               the workers of the earth

               The prisoners
               of oppression
               sleep and awake
               in poverty
               and the soul
               is a silver thread
               spun upon a reel
               and life
               is more 
               than the mind can know
               but less
               than the heart can feel.