D-Day (6 June 1944)

This poem is in memory of all those brave souls who gave so much to ensure we enjoy the freedoms we have today. May they rest in peace.

D-Day (6 June, 1944) – 77th Anniversary

77 years ago today,
History teaches,
Was not a holiday
Time on the beaches.

Juno was not a film of repute,
Gold was not a song,
Sand was in hot dispute,
In a war raging far too long.

The British were put to the Sword,
Omaha and Utah were the States,
All part of Operation Overlord,
Uniting Neptune’s mates.

Land gained was so hard fought,
Blood too easily bled,
Lives lived far too short,
As sea and sand turned red.

Yet without this call to arms,
And unselfish acts of bravery,
We’d be singing foreign psalms,
And living lives of slavery.

Seven decades have past,
So history has taught,
Time enough to make their actions cast,
Keep the young alive in thought
And make their memory last.

© Nick Ritchie 2021 (originally 2015)

#D-Day #Dunkirk #WW2 #WWII #poetry #poem #poems #writing #warfare #military #ArmedForces

D-Day (6 June 1944)

This poem is in memory of all those brave souls who gave so much to ensure we enjoy the freedoms we have today. May they rest in peace.

D-Day (6 June, 1944) – 76th Anniversary

76 years ago today,
History teaches,
Was not a holiday
Time on the beaches.

Juno was not a film of repute,
Gold was not a song,
Sand was in hot dispute,
In a war raging far too long.

The British were put to the Sword,
Omaha and Utah were the States,
All part of Operation Overlord,
Uniting Neptune’s mates.

Land gained was so hard fought,
Blood too easily bled,
Lives lived far too short,
As sea and sand turned red.

Yet without this call to arms,
And unselfish acts of bravery,
We’d be singing foreign psalms,
And living lives of slavery.

Seven decades have past,
So history has taught,
Time enough to make their actions cast,
Keep the young alive in thought
And make their memory last.

© Nick Ritchie 2020

#D-Day #Dunkirk #WW2 #WWII #poetry #poem #poems #writing #warfare #military #ArmedForces

NaPoWriMo 2020 – Day 30 ‘Ode To A Fly’

‘…I am the fly, the fly in the, the fly in the ointment’ lyric courtesy of the band Wire

Ode To A Fly

Short-lived,
Hated,
Germ carrier;

The fly

Briefly circles
Then lands,
Carefully;

Rather shy

Glistening wings,
Delicate legs,

Watchful eye

Unaware of human warlord,
Waiting;

Nearby

Raised arm,
Weapon held up,

Rather high

Soon to cause,
The fly,

To die

But why?

© Nick Ritchie 2020

#NaPoWriMo #GoProWriMo #poetry #poem #writing #words #poems #fly #flies #insects #creatures #ode #odes

NaPoWriMo 2020 – Day 29 ‘Sweet Suburbia’

Sweet Suburbia

Living life in a dream,
Silence preferred,
Suburban scream
Never to be heard,
Blackened eyes
Peer out,
Bleeding lips realise
A muted shout

Cover the pain
In a cosmetic shroud,
And suffer again,
But not aloud
Praying for release
From this domestic bliss,
And landscaped peace,
Sealed with a hated kiss

© Nick Ritchie 2020

#NaPoWriMo #GoProWriMo #poetry #poem #writing #words #poems #relationship #domesticviolence #suburbia #sweetsuburbia

NaPoWriMo 2020 – Day 28 ‘Two Minutes’

‘Two Minutes’ by Nick Ritchie

©Nick Ritchie Photography 2020

Two Minutes

For two minutes
The world falls silent
Or at least it should
For two minutes
If it was your loved ones
I know you would

Two minutes
To mark lives lost
Two minutes
To remember the cost
Two minutes
For those with so much to live for
Two minutes
I would ask for so much more
Two minutes
Is not enough of a measure
Two minutes
Is not enough memory to treasure
Two minutes
Is not that long
Two minutes
Is not even the perfect pop song
Two minutes
To put your phones away
Two minutes
To have nothing to say
Two minutes
To pause your games of violence
Two minutes
Silence

For two minutes
The world falls silent
Or at least it should
For two minutes
If it was your loved ones
I know you would

© Nick Ritchie 2020

#NaPoWriMo #GoProWriMo #poetry #poem #writing #words #poems #war #twominutes #silence #remembrance

NaPoWriMo 2020 – Day 27 ‘Ode To Leonard Cohen’

Ode To Leonard Cohen
(1934 – 2016)

Like a bird in flight
You alight
On the wing
Off into the sombre night

To sing

Those uplifting songs
Of sadness and love
They’re gently drifting down
From up above

Melodies are floating on the breeze
Falling with the icy rain
The words begin to freeze
On a slight refrain

And the birds that accompany you
On your way
Can be heard to say

Hallelujah, hallelujah

And in the wind we hear the chimes
And through the clouds
The sun shines

Clear signs the gates are open for you

© Nick Ritchie 2020

#NaPoWriMo #GoProWriMo #poetry #poem #writing #words #poems #ode #music #LeonardCohen #epitaph

NaPoWriMo 2020 – Day 26 ‘Footfall’

Footfall

Light of touch,
Press
Softly, not too much,
Less
Nature’s bed
Be beyond repair,
Your leaden
Footfall
Permanently, recorded there

Tread gently on,
And upon
This aged land,
Leave only thoughts
No careless hand,
So all that here, remains
To be,
Another’s cherished memory

© Nick Ritchie 2020

#NaPoWriMo #GoProWriMo #poetry #poem #writing #words #poems #footfall #walking #walk #nature #environment

NaPoWriMo 2020 – Day 25 ‘Ode To A Cactus’

‘Ode To A Cactus’ by Nick Ritchie

Ode To A Cactus

Oh little Cactus
How sad you look to me,
Condemned to that
Plastic pot for eternity

Oh prickly friend
I’m sure you’d rather be,
Standing proud
On the lone prairie

© Nick Ritchie 2020

#NaPoWriMo #GoProWriMo #poetry #poem #writing #words #poems #ode #cactus #nature

NaPoWriMo 2020 – Day 24 ‘Dazed & Confused’

Dazed & Confused

I like to see my friends
Through the bottom of my glass,
A murky haze,
Just like my past

I drink myself to sleep,
It’s a state of mind
I like to keep

It’s no surprise
My mood’s so flat,
Blood-shot eyes,
Glasses cracked

No loving arms
To hold me,

No gentle palms
To mould me,

No quirky charms
To enfold me,

Tired and lonely

Washed-up,
Mashed-up,
Strung-out
And hung-out

Never so bitter tasted,
A life so wasted

© Nick Ritchie 2020

#NaPoWriMo #GoProWriMo #poetry #poem #poems #writing #alcohol #drink #dazed #confused #words

NaPoWriMo 2020 – Day 23 ‘Awe’

Awe

I laid myself bare to you,
Felt your acid tongue
Burn beneath my skin,
The picture it etched,
Stung,
And where you had been
You proved,
Some scars are not easily removed

© Nick Ritchie 2020

#NaPoWriMo #GoProWriMo #poetry #poem #poems #writing #awe #love #relationship #words