Relationships

Poem 32 – Opportunities Lost

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I wish I’d asked but youth does not
Appreciate the finite opportunity possessed
By the time I realised time’s scarcity
Those doors were shut

What was it like as a youth yourself
Once island locked to bid goodbye
Leave familiar shores, be evicted abruptly
Those doors were shut

Sail to alien lands with brothers unknown
Fight famine, plague, war and face death
Grim conflict without, peace lost within
Those doors were shut

Finally coming home to family changed
Moved on in life without your presence
Faces altered but you’re the stranger
Those doors were shut

How could you cope with enduring such sorrow
Those vivid scenes secretly stashed away
A simple return to normality that couldn’t be
Those doors were shut

Armistice Day (11.11.21)

Edit: I reworked this overnight, not being completely happy with it before, especially the final stanza.

© Ben Quant 2021

Armistice Day (11.11.21)

© Ben Quant 2021

Poem 27 – Silence

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It is not empty, so
Those in matured relationships
Need not feel obliged to
Fill every moment
With words

They can simply be
Not threatened by silence
Nor disturbed by
What is left
Unspoken

Content to be vulnerable
Before the other’s thoughts
Trust fills the gaps
And plasters over
The pauses

I’ve been married for 27 years. This week in isolation has underlined the simple yet profound pleasure of simply being in the same room together. Thank you K. As a Christian, this pleasure and these verses point towards the human-divine relationship too.

(06.11.21)

© Ben Quant 2021

Poem 13 – The Assembly

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What did the world look like
When I was one of them?
I summon lost memories
To return, reveal all
Alas to no avail
That world is far away

What do they see in me?
Am I to them a friend
To be received gladly
Or a stranger remote
An alien passing through
Merely tolerated?

But as I share my tale
Offered with laughter and
Perhaps a hinted tear
In return hearing theirs
A bridge is built between
Our two worlds divided

At that point between us
Common humanity
Is briefly discovered
Imaginations meet
What seemed so disparate
Brought together, complete

One of the joys of my job as a church minister is taking school assemblies, I love it. But often as I start to speak I realise their is a gulf between us, and that’s just me and the teachers! But isn’t making contact across such divisions one of the most rewarding things?

(21.10.21)

© Ben Quant 2021

Poem 12 – Magic Words

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Some talk of three magic words
Don’t get me wrong, they’re great
Best followed by two truly meant
‘I love you’
‘You too’
There are another four
Their simplicity deceives
Childlike
Plain
A single breath
They too are words of promise jointly made
Of traveling hand in hand come what may
Of walking into worlds unknown together
For richer or poorer
For better for worse
One lifting the other
The other trusting to be held
A covenant made
‘Once upon a time’

Only time for a quick poem today. Stuck for what to write about I reached for the classic start, only to find it became the end…

(20.10.21)

© Ben Quant 2021