Such radiance;
Your beaming smile
It surely can’t be
Meant for me?
Can this be love
The radiant smile
That stretched across your face
I see?
Your smile
Has such effect on me
Your face so lit
Sheer poetry.
My response to the Daily Prompt via Radiant — The Daily Post
Sing a song of sneezing
The Queen has got a cold
Four and twenty tissues
For a royal cold!
Could be even worse news
Phillip has it too.
Two red royal noses
Whatever will we do?
Phillip’s in his counting house,
Counting out his money;
The queen is taking remedies;
Lemon hot with honey.
The maid is in the garden
Hanging out the clothes,
When down comes the Queen’s cold
And reddens up her nose.
They send for Phillip’s doctor,
To get them well again;
He treats them right royally
And sets them right again.
So all’s well in the country
There’s not much in the news
Just a sniffy royal nose
Bunged up in the mews.
There’s more to do when in Madrid
Than watch parades of men in hoods
Especially when the weather’s good
In spring.
It’s good to be outside and warm
To bask in welcome spring time heat
Find good things to drink or eat.
My thing.
Great wide open public spaces
Tall treed gardens, sun filled plazas
Snack in sun filled squares on tapas.
Fit in.
The city has so much to offer.
Places to go and things to do
Palace Real, Cathedral, Prado
Great thing.
Velazquez, Goya art to spare.
There’s Real Madrid, Athletico
The Santiago Bernabeu.
They sing.
But all good times must have an end
Our time is up we have to go
Goodbye to sights we got to know
Travelling.
“And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.” Matthew 28:2 (ESV)
Easter Sunday Tamborrada
Beat their drums in Plaza Mayor
See the drummers of Madrid
Beat their drums to say he lives.
Christ is risen from the dead
Say the drums of old Madrid.
Banging, banging Tamborrada
Beat their drums in old Madrid
Drummers marching; past a hundred
Beat their drums to say he lives.
Christ is risen, from the dead
Say the drums of old Madrid.
Buildings shaken by the sound
Of the beating, beating drums;
Rising to a great crescendo
Shakes the streets and buildings round.
Rumbling like a mighty earthquake
Great vibrations through the ground.
Banging drums the Tamborradas
Sound the message that he lives.
Beat their drums in old Madrid
Sound the message that he lives
Christ is risen from the dead
Say the drums of Old Madrid.
Happy Easter Everyone!
I passed a masterpiece today
I passed a few what can I say?
We did the Prado, Thyssen too.
How many pictures? Barely know.
Caught Picasso, Tintoretto
Saw a Goya, a Titian or two.
Others we passed, what can I say?
We missed a few. It’s how things go.
Visitation, crucifixion
Salvation now annunciation.
Here’s another; come this way.
We wander past them to and fro.
That’s a Monet, and there’s a Bosch.
We can look but must not touch.
This one’s Durer, that’s El Greco
Velasquez here, some Reubens too.
Now a room of gentry, royalty.
Carlos third; we know that nose.
On and on and on it goes.
All we tourists passing through.
There’s classic figures nude, unclothed,
Pictures of heaven only knows.
Round and round and round we go.
So many rooms we just pass through.
Masters painted, sought perfection
Showed technique and dedication.
But we can’t really take it in
And what we see we hardly know.
The artists could have never known
Their pictures would like this be shown;
Now just another wandered past
That should stand proudly on its own.
I passed a masterpiece today.
I passed a few what can I say?
We did the Prado and Thyssen too.
How many pictures? Barely know.
For Ellen Hawley
Great Britain is ‘Great’ and always will be
The largest island in the British Isles
Ireland is smaller and so truly
Great Britain is ‘Great’ and always will be
It’s nothing to do with hope or glory
Our politicians’ boastful lies
Great Britain is ‘Great and always will be
It’s the largest island in the British Isles.
The ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’, official title of our country, consists of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland, six provinces on the smaller island of Ireland. It’s ‘Great’ in roughly the same way Great Yarmouth is. Someone should tell the politicians.
You’ve seen the scenes in Spain, Madrid
Celebrating Easter there.
Meanwhile upon an English Street
You’ll hardly know it’s Holy Week.
English people lack the passion
Won’t process in Spanish fashion.
We’d feel so foolish on the street.
And cringe if neighbours we should meet.
We make a gesture on Palm Sunday;
The congregation forced from out their chairs.
Shuffling round the church half hearted.
Clearly wishing they weren’t there.
Glumly at the vicar’s bidding
Squirming, near the passing traffic;
They all stand; outside the church
Passive, quiet and undramatic.
They’ll nervously grasp their small palm cross
But will they wave them? ‘No not us’.
We’ll take them home without a fuss.
Displayed but nowhere obvious.
Good Friday some process the cross
But only if they’re very keen.
Much braver than the rest of us.
Who’d rather die than be thus seen.
The cockerel crows three times for us
But such is English nervousness
You won’t find us below the cross
For that would so embarrass us.
Watch as round the streets they go
Procesion del Silencio.
Eerie in their tall white hoods
Through the streets Madrileño
Their respect in silence show.
Solemn march to mark Good Friday
Christ died for our sins that day
Silent, white robed, in their hoods
The eerie figures make their way
And mark this solemn holiday.
Come and join the Easter Egg Hunt
Bought to you by Cadbury
Needn’t wait for Easter Sunday
Egg hunts happen every day.
Don’t be bothering with Good Friday
Men on crosses, stuff thats sad
We all love the Easter Bunny
So much fun that can be had.
Run around our muddy woodlands
Chase around our muddy lakes
Nature trails and Cadbury’s cream eggs.
Why be sad for goodness sake!
Come and have a fun filled Easter
Cuddly bunnies, little chicks
Can’t be fussed with resurrection
Church was never fun like this.
You can fight a fiery dragon
You can solve a mystery
Face paint, games, and fun activity
Carnival and family games.
Help preserve our special places
So future generations can explore
As long as we’ve got special places
Easter’s message we’ll ignore.
Britain’s National Trust, a charity that preserves land and historic properties for the nation, was criticised last year for an Easter Activity programme that made no reference to the religious festival. Their original publicity even omitted the word Easter.
Holy Thursday in Madrid
You’ll see men with faces hid
Wearing big tall pointed hoods
Penitential brotherhoods.
And you’ll see Los Costaleros
Struggling with the mighty Pasos
Images on weighty altars
Gold and silver painted thrones.
Through the crowded streets they’re carried
Shoulders struggle with the weight
Images of Jesus, Mary
Sometimes all but feet are hid.
It can be a slow progression
There can be a lengthy wait
Spanish people stay up late
Their processions will continue
Late into the Spanish night.
Andrew Green's Poems 