a roman spy reminisces

Sent to shadow him
reporting daily
there were times I even
might have joined him -

not on the cross, of course
but there were times
his spirit called me
to leave the world.

To go with him.
Word or world?
A real dilemma.
 Instead

I hunkered down
in the equivalent
of today's small cottage -
as later on we all

in our small cultures -
writing my reports
(twice daily now)
waiting...

always waiting...
waiting for
his spirit to depart -
which finally it did.

And then I knew
for the first time
that, not the crowds,
it is the man

who so disturbs me.

.................................

I have posted this watercolour and ink drawing before, but not the poem.
A Happy Easter Everyone.

watercolour and haiku

on a broiling day
a distant stretch of water
reflects its coolness   

I am now giving myself a few days off blogging, a week at the most, the more effectively to attack a few domestic projects that are becoming bogged down - not least, one associated with our daughter's 25th Wedding Anniversary - and maybe to catch up on my reading and re-charge the batteries, that sort of thing. (I am also hoping that by then Blogger will have put its house in order.)

I do intend to be keep up with the visiting, though maybe not commenting quite as much. My grateful thanks to you all for support thus far. See you again anon.

Reflections.

Another from the sketchbook. I had driven out to capture a particular group of trees, parked under some nearby trees and became fascinated by the reflections of them on the car.

Lake Windermere

Towards the end of January I showed some of my earliest photographs, taken in my late teens or soon after, which I had come across in the process of trying to re-organise my work space. They depressed me slightly, if the truth be known, because I thought them better than I am achieving now, notwithstanding the fact that I now have much superior equipment.

Here I am trying to correct the emphasis. This is one of my earliest watercolours. I don't feel the same way about it, though it is not a finished painting, but a sketch from my sketch book.

2 Still Lifes With Guitars : (Photo/Water Colour)

Red Landscape

Boy with Robot (watercolour) and "Haiku" #296

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It's dangerous they say
eating more than two per day -
that's octopus heads

Fungi : Watercolour -- and Haiku 281

This was one of those should-never-happen occasions when I found myself in woods without a camera. I came upon these fantastic fungi and made black and white sketches with colour notes. The painting was produced from the sketches and notes a week or two later, as faithfully as they and my memory would allow.

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Gormley, Hirst and co
are the new custodians -
of our Manor Houses

Night Woods - and Haiku #275

Another of my "mixed media" efforts.

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Germany pays up
this Saturday - it clears its debt
for the first World War.

Watercolours and Haiku #158

A couple of watercolours looking towards the cricket ground on which my grandson plays on Sundays.

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Haiku #158
Suicide bombers
now in short supply in Iraq -
they must look abroad

... and here's one I prepared earlier...

Several visitors commenting on my recent poem mentioned an interest or a delight in lily pools or pads, so I thought I would post one of my watercolours of the said pool.

And here for good measure one I doodled to accompany the poem. Not meant as an illustration, of course, just a light-hearted doodle.

The background, you might be interested to know, is a sandy bank with, beyond it, two amazing tree-tunnels - though much of the vegetation has been cleared and the trees lopped since then, so I doubt whether they are still there.