Graeme is a published poet.  You can find his latest book on Amazon, ‘The Poets Craft’.  It is a very popular collection of impressionist poetry.

Graeme also writes poems by request and for specific occasions, particularly for weddings and funerals.  The following poem was written for the wedding of Chris and Hanna.

AN ANCHOR OR A SAIL

A wedding is a marriage and a marriage is for life

A man gets a wondrous thing when he takes himself a wife

The lady, in this union, will gain a champion bold

To care for her and love her and to keep her from the cold

 

But you must work at marriage to keep it from getting stale

Will you face your challenges as an anchor or a sail?

As you embark upon this journey there’s a simple choice

Getting it right in marriage gives you reason to rejoice

 

Now an anchor is useful thing, solid and reliable

Will keep you safe in harbour and that is undeniable

It ties you down and holds you in the place that you should be

Makes sure you’re never blown off course or simply lost at sea

 

But marriage ties never work when seen as a restriction

Because making less from more must be a contradiction

Do not try to change your spouse to recreate your persona

Today you gained a partner, you did not become an owner

 

So think hard before you stamp your foot or make too many rules

Never persist in argument, that is the way for fools

Find a way to compromise when things do not go your way

Always try to listen and let your partner have their say

 

A useful anchor you could just be, but rather be a sail

Spread your canvas to the welcome wind, grab life by its tail

Look for opportunity; life is a great adventure

Take on all the challenges that it chooses to send you

© Graeme Ward 2017

 

The next one was written for Patricia’s funeral

The Dancing Girl

The Dancing Girl was born to soon

But she would not let that stop her

The shoe box was her warm cocoon

Her dinner was from a dropper

Her dancing feet would need some toes

And her hands would need completing

Doctor, a magic spell compose

To mend her while she is sleeping

Her early life had highs and lows

Her teen years touched by wartime noise

Then dancing was the life she chose

Taking her pick of eager boys

Until, by a cruel act of fate

She chose the wrong one as her mate

Though blessed by two children bright

There came a time to end the fight

And so alone she struggled on

Her girls were always by her side

However hard, her light still shone

But never again was she a bride

As years went by she made a plan

 ‘I’ll see the world while I still can’

From Asia to the Northern Lights

She set out to see all the sights.

Full circle turns the wheel of life

And her journeying days were done

A happy trail though with some strife

But always out to have some fun

The Dancing Girl has left us now

But she has left us much richer

Her loving family will avow

To keep the memory of Patricia

© Graeme Ward 2016

 

Somewhat tongue in cheek, Graeme also considered his own demise.

At the event of my death

I imagine I’m probably dead, honey

And the nurses have covered my head

I’m sorry for dying

But please don’t start crying

Just remember the good times instead

I’m so sorry that I had to leave, honey

And I know that you feel you must grieve

The finger of fate

Has taken your mate

But there’s one thing I know you believe

I always did the best that I could, honey

And I tried on the whole to be good

If it wasn’t enough

I’ve wasted my puff

Or perhaps I’ve been misunderstood

You’ve always been a wonderful wife, honey

My good friend and my partner for life

Through ups and through downs

More smiles than frowns

And with tolerance rather than strife

I’ve loved you and been loved back for years, honey

So please shake off those burdensome tears

Just raise a glass

And say “Silly Arse”

And remember the laughs not the fears

I believe that it’s all in our genes, honey

Not how good or how bad we have been

So the kids hold the key

To the future you see

We live on in their hopes and their dreams

Don’t dress up all in black on the day, honey

And no shaking with sobs on the way

Now I’ve said “So long”

Just think of a song

That my favourite jazz band can play

Please just scatter my dust to the breeze, honey

Leave my ash to the arms of the seas

Rather inside a cod

Than under the sod

That seems so much more useful to me

So don’t leave any mark, cross or stone, honey

And don’t make my bones lie all alone

Let me go loose

I’m of no further use

My life can be told through this poem

Just organise one hell of a wake, honey

Give our friends a few drinks and some steak

Read out some of my rhymes

Reminisce the good times

Raise my soul with the noise that you make!

© Graeme Ward 2016

 

And here are two poems that relate to humanism.

On belief

 

Belief and religion

I think that they are two different things

With religion you don’t have to reason

You must simply believe what you are told

No need for any decision

I may stand with Karl Marx

Religion’s the opiate of the masses

Designed by kings and thugs to get control

When simple reason or truth did not work

Obey the priest who barks

But, oh, if you believe

With all your being, with your heart

Whether in a deity or

In a conspiracy or plot

Much more you can achieve

Mine is a lesser god

I believe in the spiritual

Like Hamlet, that there are more things

In heaven and earth than we know

Roads we have never trod

So keep faith with the truth

But with an open mind and heart

And know that there is right and wrong

Good should always be the winner

Simplicity of youth

As it says in the Book

Let your light so shine on the world

That it is your example that talks

And not just the things that you say

Or even how you look

As for life after death

Heaven, hell or purgatory

Simply cannot exist in truth

The only way that we live on

Is in the next baby’s breath

It’s what we leave behind

Is the world is a better place

Because we had our brief stay here?

Did all of those beliefs of ours

Ever benefit mankind?

© Graeme Ward 2019

 

Random acts of kindness

As we go through life let’s take time

To think about this little rhyme

“Every good deed we pay forward

Might bring, one day, its just reward”

But I think we’ll find more pleasure

Without a thought of any treasure

I would much rather hear you say

I’ll do a good deed every day

A random act of kindness

The old lady pecks through her purse

The cost of shopping’s getting worse

Lays aside the frozen veg pack

So she could buy her little snack

Gent behind her says lady please

Allow me to pay for your peas

And in fact I think it is best

If I just pay for all the rest

A random act of kindness

The man next door is working nights

The noise from neighbours soon excites

Angry shout or frustrated moan

Oh, let me sleep; leave me alone

So the neighbours get together

To plan no noise whatsoever

Nine to five he can sleep in peace

Even the children’s shouts will cease

A random act of kindness

The swan is tangled in a line

Must be somebody’s fishing twine

She cannot swim and cannot fly

Without some help she’ll surely die

He wades waist high without a thought

To cut away those binds so taught.

Although he risks a broken arm

He will make sure she’s freed from harm

A random act of kindness

I’d hope that I could be that way

And help somebody every day

I’m not some crazy Robin Hood

Running around the verdant wood

But if fortune should call on me

Or someone needs to be set free

Then I will show I’m one who cared

And always will be there prepared

With a random act of kindness

© Graeme Ward 2019

 

IF YOU WOULD LIKE GRAEME TO WRITE A POEM FOR YOU, EITHER FOR A CEREMONY OR JUST BECAUSE YOU NEED ONE, PLEASE CONTACT HIM THROUGH THIS SITE’S EMAIL