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My most recent photographs of Notre Dame de Paris, taken in July 2018, fifty five years since I first went to Paris and as a star struck fifteen year old fell permanently in love with the city and its many treasures. Notre Dame will rise again from the ashes,I just hope it is in my lifetime.

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Anna and I share a common interest in buses, trams and trains.

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When I was young and lustfully inclined I set my sails to cross the wine dark seas In search of lands where lotus eaters lived, Seduced by tales of hedonistic joys; A world of myriad fleshly delights And unrestrained sensual indulgence, Where I could gorge on luscious nubile fruits In endless days of sweet debauchery.   With never a moment’s pause for regret Or backward glance to...

Added 16 Apr 2019 | Category Poetry | Votes 2 | Avg Score 5 | Views 96 | 1 Comment

“Are you coming,” she said, with that look in her eye, That bewitching look that could melt the coldest heart, And in that instant I became her willing slave Forever condemned to do her every bidding.   “Are you coming,” she said, with a tilt of her head And turned towards the open doors to the garden, Leaving me in confusion, should I follow Or stay, and forever know the pain of...

Added 08 Apr 2019 | Category Poetry | Votes 5 | Avg Score 5 | Views 132 | 3 Comments

In any relationship with another Should we seek to know the unvarnished truth; And if we did what would be the effect, On our feelings, even for a brother? Would the surface of our lives still be smooth Or would the disclosure of each defect In their character be so harrowing To create a rift beyond repairing? Wiser perhaps to gratefully accept That ignorance may be the better way, ...

Added 06 Mar 2019 | Category Poetry | Votes 6 | Avg Score 5 | Views 332 | 4 Comments

Standing on the cliff edge early on that spring morn He watched the sun rise over the rim of the world, Painting the cliffs golden in the clear light of dawn. How he envied the sea birds who with wings unfurled Left their craggy roosts to soar up into the sky,  To float unrestrained on unseen cushions of air, Free as the gentle zephyrs that carried them high Above his stooping form burdened...

Added 12 Feb 2019 | Category Poetry | Votes 4 | Avg Score 5 | Views 490 | 3 Comments

He lay stretched out on the narrow iron framed bed Idly staring at the cracked and blotchy ceiling, Its surface resembling a map of no man's land, A senseless wilderness of craters and barbed wire. Unthinking, his mind was empty of all feeling Other than a sense of utter futility, A weariness that had seeped into his marrow Like the water bleeding from the walls of the trench Whose...

Added 30 Oct 2016 | Category Poetry | Votes 8 | Avg Score 5 | Views 995 | 7 Comments

Paris … ah Paris … he had been in love with the city since that magical day in April fifty five years before when he had stepped off the train at the Gare du Nord and walked out of the station into the bustle of the busy streets of the capital. He was a country born and had lived all his life on his father’s farm and his mother had decided that now he was fifteen it was time he saw something...

Added 15 Jan 2018 | Category General | Votes 4 | Avg Score 5 | Views 348 | 3 Comments

We first met entirely by accident On a lovely bright sunny day in Spring, It was the first of May as I recall; Even now I remember it clearly, Although almost four decades have passed by. Strolling along the Boulevard Haussmann, Just outside the Magasin au Printemps. I wasn't looking where I was going, Daydreaming as usual, distracted By the pretty girls selling their bunches Of lily of...

Added 29 Jan 2017 | Category Poetry | Votes 3 | Avg Score 5 | Views 399 | 3 Comments

My love, you looked so radiant tonight, Seated at your dresser combing your hair, Crowned with a bright golden halo of light From the lamp on the stand beside your chair. Though you demur, I only speak the truth When I declare, that ‘spite of time, your face Has never lost the rosy bloom of youth, And though the passing years have left their trace, Those marks of grace serve merely to...

Added 16 Apr 2017 | Category Poetry | Votes 2 | Avg Score 5 | Views 446 | 2 Comments

As we lie here in the afterglow of loving, With your head upon my shoulder, and your soft breasts  Warm against my side, I gaze again in wonder,  Upon your lovely face, so peaceful in repose,  Remembering the many times before tonight  When we have danced among the stars in ecstasy,  Our perfectly matched spirits soaring high above,  As our bodies melt and fuse into each other  In...

Added 13 Nov 2016 | Category Poetry | Votes 5 | Avg Score 5 | Views 374 | 5 Comments

I pray you, do not trample on my dreams.  Though you may only see this outer shell,  A frail thing of flesh; this outward reality,  Is of no greater substance than the air, Masking the real truth that lies within From the unperceptive gaze of the world, Blinded by the harsh glare of common sense.  Outwardly I may be on the dread path That leads to mortal decay and old age, My limbs may now...

Added 27 Aug 2016 | Category Poetry | Votes 6 | Avg Score 5 | Views 516 | 6 Comments

Each night beneath the kindly moon’s soft radiance We make again that joyful connection of love Vulnerable in our emotional nakedness As we bare the most profound feelings of our hearts All too soon the hour of parting is upon us Catching us unaware in our communion The whistle of the passing train is the sad signal That we must reluctantly say goodnight, sweet dreams Come away with me on...

Added 20 Apr 2017 | Category Poetry | Votes 6 | Avg Score 5 | Views 561 | 6 Comments