Month: Jan 2026

Poem 768 – European Nights

/ BenDQ / Leave a comment

The team sheet’s on the radio,
It’s time to start, the whistle blows,
As one the crowd stand up to roar,
The ball is kicked and off they go!

Like eager dogs fly from the doors,
Their fleeting feet pounding the floor,
To chase the mark, a spinning ball,
And swift to shoot, a goal to score.

It’s time for heroes to stand tall,
And answer adultion’s call,
In shooting straight the winning shot,
And with their nimble feet enthrall.

A goal tonight, the perfect plot.
The winner’s prize? Take home the lot.
So go on boys, give it all you’ve got!
So go on boys, give it all you’ve got!

I had no idea what to write tonight, so took another look at different poetry forms, and opted to try an interlocking rubaiyat. Liverpool were playing in Europe at the same time, so the two inevitably came together.
(21.01.26)

© Ben Quant 2026
Photo by Daniel Norin on Unsplash

Poem 766 – Once Upon a Time

/ BenDQ / Leave a comment

One day long ago, (Afrikaans)
Or so the story starts,
When tigers used to smoke, (Korean)
And serpents lies impart, (Gen. 3)

There was and there was not, (Arabic)
A river of mighty torrents,
Beyond seven mountains,
And beyond seven forests, (Polish)

In that corner of the world,
Where everybody had a nose, (Catalan)
In a Galaxy far away,
A long, long time ago, (Star Wars)

Where the water was being strewn
And the sand was being poured, (Slovak)
A knight once won his spurs (song by Jan Struther)
And stories were adored.

Watching a round on Countdown last night, my attention was caught by phrases other countries use for ‘once upon a time’.
(19.01.26)

© Ben Quant 2026
Photo by Andreas Weilguny on Unsplash

Poem 765 – Hope

/ BenDQ / Leave a comment

Hope, the belief that things can change,
that just as night turns into day
these troubled paths can be rearranged.
Hope, the belief in a better way
than we experienced yesterday.
Hope, the belief that despite the past,
there’s more to life than fickle chance.

I wasn’t sure what to write tonight and so picked out a form I hadn’t tried before, a Chaucerian Stanza, which uses an ABABBCC rhyming pattern.
(18.01.26)

© Ben Quant 2026
Photo by Ryan on Unsplash

Poem 764 – The Three Companions

/ BenDQ / Leave a comment

Three gentlemen stood perched along the bank:
the heron, egret and the cormorant.
The first, an aged fellow, grey and boney,
so motionless he seemed already dead.
His beard hung limp along a saggy throat,
contrasting with those penetrating eyes,
alert and constantly alive to us.
Beside, a smaller man not grey but white,
the translucent white that only comes with time,
serene and wise. Two unexpected river-
bedfellows. But is this stillness just
their cover? Up above their carer pearched,
high upon an ivy clad lookout.
Wry grin upon his long, compassionate beak,
he watched wondering what mischief lay ahead.

Walking along the New River today, we spotted the unexpected sight of a great heron, little egret and cormorant next to each other. Surprising and somewhat comical.
(17.01.26)

© Ben Quant 2026
Photo by Jessica Moss on Unsplash

Poem 763 – The Traitors Shields

/ BenDQ / Leave a comment

To steal, or not to steal, that is the question:
Whether ’tis better to grasp immunity
And run the risk of being banished, or
To face the blows of traitors’ bows and arrows?
Which fearful fate is worse: to walk or sleep;
The paranoia of the table or
The letter on the chair that passive slays?
Whichever choice is made, the chance is real:
‘Cos other’s hands the dagger doth employ,
Considering options that perchance destroy.

Loving The Traitors again this year, what gripping TV.
(16.01.26)

© Ben Quant 2026
Photo by Albert Stoynov on Unsplash

Poem 761 – The Cultural Pot

/ BenDQ / Leave a comment

The circling critics mass with clicking keys,
headlines angrily declaring that,
the multicultural culinary dish is dead.
They clearly haven’t tried our bubble and squeak.

Today a Brit, a Turk and a Kuwaiti worked
together, serving food to English neighbours.
Their dishes? Cuisine cooked from diverse cultures,
a blend of ingredients derived from different nations.

And as they did they shared from a common pot
of love and conversation. Send them home?
If we did, we’d find we’re left with silence, vacant
plates and empty hearts; a menu of empty lines.

I had a lovely afternoon today working at our foodbank with two volunteers both of whom have come from our Conversation Cafe for those who speak English and a second language.
(14.01.26)

© Ben Quant 2026

Poem 760 – Residents

/ BenDQ / Leave a comment

A tall gentleman pacing around in circuits,
A woman being wheeled past, who smiles and waves,
A book of Dad jokes, sometimes inappropriate,
A carer noticing the unnoticed,
The groaning of a ghost in an upstairs corridor,
A visitor, uncertain of where to go,
Loved ones, and those who can see beyond their years,
A manager who makes this home a home.

A snapshot from today.
(13.01.26)

© Ben Quant 2026
Photo by Age Cymru on Unsplash