For As Long As They Live

Some people in their words can be so unkind
They only look for flaws in others and what they look for they do find
Of others they never have good things to say
But suppose they can't help it since this is their way
They lack in compassion, insight and empathy
And what they do look for they always do see
In a flowering garden they will see decay
Such people  never grow  wiser only old and gray
Their minds have become homes  for negativity
The goodness in others their kind  cannot see
In their negative judgement of others pleasure they do gain
This  is how they are and this is  how they will remain
For as long as they live this  is  how they will be
What we look for in others we always do see.

The Rhymes Come To Me

I have  written the rhymes of  the far away hills
And the babbling rivers and silver tongued rills
That have inspired the  makers of story and rhyme
And have flowed through the old fields  through centuries of time

I have  written the rhymes of people and  life
Of the hard drinking man and  his neglected children and wife
And the homeless and misplaced who are doing it tough
The people who know what it's like to sleep rough

I have written the rhymes of Nature's beauty i've seen
Like the bluebells in bloom on the ditch of bohreen
When the hawthorns are cloaked in their white blossoms of May
The  memories of what was in me live today

For decades of years i've been a rhyming buff
And i am one who has written pages of stuff
The rhymes come to me on notepaper i jot them down
But never for money or literary renown

I have been penning stuff for four decades of time
Suppose in a way i was born to rhyme
Of stories i hear and of things  i do see
The rhymes every day keep on coming to me.

Those Who Dice With Death

Those who dice with death do receive their due
An old saying of meaning i hold to be true
The longest human life  in time is not a  long span
So live for as long as you possibly can
The praises  of dead heroes and heroines people may sing
But the great gift of life is a marvellous thing
The last night and day of us all is ahead
And joy is never found in the place of  the dead
Us humans are mortals and born to die
This is a fact of life and  fact never lie
And even though lady luck may not be smiling your way
Do try to make the most of every day
For we are getting older and  yesterday's gone
And our biological clocks do keep ticking on.

Old Koroit Town

Oh sing me a song of old Koroit Town
It surely does have many claims to renown
Where the  legends around Celtic and Indigenous cultures have grown
And for it's links to Ireland it has become widely known
Tower Hill  the inspiration of story and rhyme
A volcanic valley old in the  Dreamtime
That echoed to the sound of the didgeridoo
Where the tribal hunters hunted the kangaroo
A Town of two pubs, a post office, a  superstore and a primary school
Fifteen minutes by car from the City of Warrnambool
In South Western Victoria's potato growing countryside
For it's hospitable people it is known far and wide
For it's cultural history Koroit is well known
And one can say it does have a charm of it's own.

You May Not Change The World

You may not change the World but you certainly can
Make it better to live in by becoming a better woman or man
The World better off without the arrogant and greedy and selfish and the judgementaly inclined
And far more in need of the compassionate and kind
Doesn't matter who you are or your clan or your race
You can make the Human World to live in a better place
If on a fair go for all people you do believe
And you are one of those who does give to receive
Good Karma in the kindness and compassion to others you have shown
In life we receive the fruits of the seeds we have sown
This  is how it is and it always will be
At least anyway that's how to seems to me
No matter who you are or your clan or your race
You can help for to make the Human World to live in a far better place.

In Me There's The Need

Some who believe that for one's writings one ought to receive pay
Have told me i ought to give rhyming away
But to their advice  i never pay any heed
To keep on penning rhymes  in me there's the need
If i said i'd quit rhyming that would be a lie
Since i hope to be doing it till the day i do die
My better days  in life to the forever gone
But for as long as i can rhyme  i will keep rhyming on
I never refer to myself as a poet
Nor am i one  worthy of literary note
But despite what some  who give me free advice do say
What i enjoy doing why should i give away
To keep penning rhymes in me there's the need
Without it in my life i'd feel worse off indeed.

The Old Merri River

In and out of Lake Pertobe it slowly winds it's way
And then on to the  ocean close to Lady Bay
The waterway that has inspired story and rhyme
The old Merri River is so old in time
Many centuries before the first people to Australia came
And long before  it was called The Merri by name
And long even before  there was Warrnambol Town
The old winding river it babbled on down
To flow into saltwater at the Pacifc Shore
It has flowed forever and will flow forever more
Many people like  the Seasons  have come and  have  gone
But the old Merri River forever flows on
In and out of lake Pertobe it slowly winds it's way
And on to the ocean close to Lady Bay.