Paul Hansford Poems

If you read somebody’s poem and it makes you want to say,
“I think this piece is wonderful; it really made my day, ”
just go ahead and say it – feedback like this is good,
but saying WHY you like it will please them (well, it should) .
...

Perhaps in another world
another sun comes
up,
lighting a different
...

The one who should have lived has gone so fast.
The old ones, in their dotage, linger on –
they, with no future, live only in the past.
...

This is my husband, my mother said
to the nurse with pride,
only she meant me.
Everyone in the day-room knew
...

I was only seventeen, and you were about the same,
and I knew nothing about you – I barely knew your name.
But I looked at you, and you looked at me, and we looked at each other, and then…
I knew, the first time you smiled at me, I wanted to see you again.
...

My ultimate ambition in life
is to be recycled. When I die
I shall not be put
with the newspapers, plastic bottles,
...

I gave you violets;
you gave me your smile.

I gave you elderflower wine;
...

(After the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a traffic accident, an RAF officer helps to carry her coffin to the plane for return to England.)

The burden I bear is more heavy than lead.
The physical weight is a thing that I share,
...

Called out of a staff meeting, I was told
my mother was on the point of death.
Searching in the regulations,
the secretary told me
...

January's frost and snow
makes your central heating blow.
February? That's no better;
almost as cold, and a good deal wetter.
...