Philip Busby

PHRAISES with SPRAY Philip Busby

80 poems to encourage, in a strange way, those to whom they speak. The pain of life mixed often with a stubborn hope and a sprinkling of humour. They frequently reveal a belief in God's desire to intervene. In PHRAISES, Christian themes are mixed with poems about relationships, stages of life, freedom of thought, and pure whimsy. In SPRAY, the added theme of the sea as a metaphor for life's journey recurs like the waves washing in on a shore. A short poem or two from each... From Phraises... "A GOOD HEART BEAT"... The sound of her heart- Hublub, hubbub. Her old, faithful heart- Hublub, hubbub. For eighty odd years, through all her fears, continued to beat- Hublub. She dusted her home- Hublub, hubbub. Till widowed, alone- Hublub, hubbub. With neighbours and friends, helping attend. Her kin on the phone- Hublub. Appointment to keep- Hublub, hubbub. Alarm set to beep- Hublub, hubbub. But in that day's morn, with heart well worn, she died in her sleep... Don't cry. "WORDS ARE LIKE BIRDS"... Words are like birds- fly fast and far. Hop in the home, sing in your car. Call down the phone into your ear. Some stay to nest; in your mind rear. Then out your mouth fly far and near... Some words are nice others are raw. Feed those that sing, starve those that caw. From Spray... "BRING ME TO THE COPPERED SHORES OF VENUS"... Come glad, gleaming, silver sea of love from heaven's purest home of pulsing rays. Beat and beat your waves abreast my heart and wash my damping harbour's walls away. And then... draw me out upon your sky-flung froth; letting me dance through Venus' startling doors: Bound in step to step and step with her till lonely silver gilds on coppered coloured shores. "PRAYING"... In silence I press my eyes and wait, and wait for your presence. Palms open, I let pain go in sobs and sighs of repentance. And breathing, I feel again warmth and warming, rising, falling. Rekindled: My faith reborn; I rise, and rising, face this dawn.