Execution Square.

The prisoner was led into execution square.
He had been sentenced to death.
To be hung by the neck until he was dead.
The hangman pinioned his arms behind his back and placed a hood over his head.
Prison officers placed him on a footstool.
It was just high enough so that,when removed ,his feet would not touch the ground.

The hangman placed the noose tightly around the lad’s throat.
He kicked the footstool away.
The lad dropped but his neck did not break.
He struggled and the crowd could hear his cries.
Nobody helped him nor stopped the execution.

From somewhere in the crowd a single shot rang out.
The aim was true.
The young man died.
A voice whispered through the air.
“May God have mercy on his soul.
But not yours.”

Andy Fox 060522

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Where are you?

Quietly we waited for your thoughts.
Patiently, for we are patient people,
 we waited for your pearls of wisdom.
You howled at the moon but wisdom was lacking.
You tried to insult us but  your barbs lack menace.
We waited for your answers but answers there were  none.
Gone are the days of the great Scottish statesmen.
They have been replaced by failed lawyers and incompetent fools.

Andy Fox 23032022

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Age and insecurity.

No quarter asked for, taken or given.
A little understanding asked for and refused.
Lies told and openly refuted.
Belittling comments told to others are passed on.
They are designed to hurt and they truly succeed.

Tell me what you want from me and,if I can, I will give it.
Everybody wants something.
Why should you be any different to them?
I don’t ask for help.Is that a personal fault?.

Sometimes I need a private ear to vent my frustrations.
Words that are said in confidence and are kept so.
I don’t trust easily and I am well aware of why.
Thankyou to those who understand.

My weight is piling on.
I understand why and why but I am struggling to cope. with that.
My body isn’t healing in the way,or the rate, that I demand of it.
I test its limits to find out where they are.
I need to know.

Get in,get the job done, get out.
Be open and private both at one and the same time.
Keeping confidences was learned the hard way.
So what do you expect of me?
I ask because I do not know my place in the world.

Andy Fox 101120

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Aftermath.

Paracetamol to ease my hurts.
Naproxen to help with the swelling.
Sleeping upright in a chair to sooth the pain in my ribs.
To add to the joke I now have a cold.

I ease myself upright from my chair.
I pause and catch my breath as my shoulders complain.
To add to my joys my ribs decide to hurt.
All this from a bloody mistake.

” I will be fine” I say, lying to myself.
Dissenting voices call my bluff.
I swear violently at the pain in my ribs.
It doesn’t stop them hurting but at least I tried.

Lumps under my skin from the seat belt.
My chest a mass of swollen tissue.
I don’t bounce back like I used to and that is the truth.
I am not the young man I once was.

Andy Fox 01102020

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On a wet Sunday in November.

We are gathered here.
It is a wet Sunday in November.
Remembrance Sunday.

We stand to remember our fallen.
It is the first time in many years that my mother has attended.
The first time that she has attended without my father.

A gentle soul shelters her from the rain with his brolly.
I stand bareheaded and feel my hair turn colour.
Silver turns to oaten blonde.

We are but two of many here and the many are the whole.
There is a unity of purpose here.
A unity of spirit.

I was not born here but this town raised me.
I am just one of many and part of the whole.
This town.
My home.

Andy Fox 201218

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Democracy.

Did you vote?
Did you take your place in a queue to make your mark?
Did you stand with the young and the old alike?
Or did you expect that the vote would go the way you wanted and not bother?
Away ye bleating bairn if that were ye.
You abide by the decision made by those who cared.
By those who voted for a new future.
By those who wanted a repatriation of powers given so blithely away.
And by those who wanted away from an institution
that they were never given a vote on joining.
There was no vote on joining the EU.
But there was a vote on leaving it or staying in it.
The UK voters chose to leave the EU.
Now it is in the hands of the politicians.
They promised to respect the result of the EU referendum.
Now it is time to keep that promise.

Andy Fox 070618

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Do not go gentle into that good night. By Dylan Thomas.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

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Shadow.

Sometimes I see the kitten he must have been.
The kitten I never knew.
Before me stands a powerful barrel chested tomcat.
But his eyes are looking into mine and all he wants is to be loved.
He wants attention.
I stroke him and I feel his chest vibrate.
He holds his tail high in pleasure then rolls onto his back.
His tummy is exposed.Defenceless.
He demands a tummy rub.
I smile and comply with his demands.
His paws grip my hand and he nibbles at my fingers.
I am building trust with this beautiful boy.
Happy now he closes his eyes.
I watch him.
I am amazed by his gentleness.By his power.
He wears his strength lightly.
Look closely and you can see his vulnerability.
Look closely at me.
Do you see mine?

Andy Fox 130916

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Why?

I ask why and get no reply.
Nine years turned into a lie.
Why?
Why tell me over the phone and not to my face?
You knew which buttons to press.

I could only offer you friendship.
I knew I wanted more but forbore
to ask you time and again.
This is the most bitter of ends.

Now you hide.
The indian giver turned coward.
Use and abuse two sides of one coin.
See it spin in the air like a toy.

So many partings.
So many faces on one head.
Sure I wished you dead.
Figuratively.

Silence from the abuser is nothing new.
Do you recognise you.
Still the thought in my head.
Why?

Andy Fox 100816

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Curio.

She collects friendships like she collects curios.
Carelessly.
She discards them when they no longer amuse her.
She shatters hearts like she shatters glass.
Others have to pick up the pieces.
I would love her anew.
But my heart is still weeping from our last encounter.

Andy Fox 190216

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