Dec 2020 – Mine Quick Voice of Aquarius

A Shepherd’s Tale

I do hope my post this week finds you well If you are locked down like I am, markets falling, pandemic raging, loved ones distanced from you -I urge you to read this extra long mail before the new year looms on the horizon. Whether you are religious or not the message of love is universal.

You may or may not know there are two Bethlehem’s in Israel; one in the South near Jerusalem and the other in the North near Nazareth. Gospel accounts of the Jesus’s birthplace are only found in Matthew and Luke –not mentioned in Mark or John, or in the Gospel of Hebrews, otherwise known as the Aramaic Matthew. It is Bethlehem in Judea that is referred to in Matthew and Luke. The other Bethlehem is in Galilee, known as Bethlehem of Zebulun, approximately six miles outside of Nazareth, whereas the Judean Bethlehem is some 68 miles away. One has to question why Joseph, who lived in Nazareth, would have taken a pregnant woman on such a long journey to comply with a census demand in the South when the Roman administrative centre for the North was Sepphoris -less than five miles away?

For that matter why would he need to take Mary, since the registration of wife, siblings, and other dependants was made by men, or otherwise by women in powerful positions who owned land. The purpose of the Roman census was to establish who could be taxed. We are told by the gospels that Joseph was betrothed to Mary and they both lived in, or in the proximity of Nazareth. If that were true at the time of the birth, or nine months before -they would have been breaking Jewish law and living in sin. Joseph, we are told was a carpenter, yet his work would have included building or repairing dwellings, making agricultural tools, and have required skills to work metal, make drains and culverts. And we must not assume he worked on his own but had or was part of a business employing others. And according to Apocrypha writings Joseph had sons older than Jesus.

How come Jesus’s birth took place in or near Bethlehem?

It is well documented a riot took place in Sepphoris around 4 – 5 BC. The Jewish population rebelled against Roman & Herodian authority which resulted in the city being burned and 2000 Jews crucified. Tenable reasons for Joseph and Mary not being in Nazareth when Jesus’s birth took place are (1) they were on their way to Mary’s family who lived in Sepphoris and Jesus was born prematurely (Anne the mother of Mary and Joachim her father, according to New Testament Apocrypha Gospel of James, lived there), or (2) they were fleeing from Sepphoris to escape the conflagration and birth took place before they could reach home. There is no evidence of a census during that period of time.

Mount Carmel is but a few miles from Bethlehem and dotted with caves, as also are the Galilean Hills at the top of which is Bethlehem, and in those days Bethlehem was a large town, not a village. The Essenes had a community on Mount Carmel and some of their calling lived in villages and towns of Galilee –this branch of the Essenes, by far the largest, were known as Nazorean’s. there is reason to suppose Joseph was a Nazorean -his son James the Just became leader of the Essene community in Jerusalem in later years.

The Way of the Sea was a coastal plain that extended the length of Israel, from Judea, Samaria to Galilee and beyond. Shepherds at that time were regarded socially as the lowest of the low and were of two kinds; those who lived and tended flocks close to villages and towns and the more nomadic groups who moved up and down the Way of the Sea. The nomadic shepherds were mostly of mixed blood, hailing from the desert regions East of Israel, and those with roots in Galilee and Samaria. The Samaritans were at odds with the Judeans and had been so for some 400 years as they believed their Pentateuch bible was the authentic word of Moses and Abraham. They were also more liberal than the Judeans and allowed intermarriage with non-Jews.

I’ve provided this background so you may better understand the scenes described in my poem, ‘A Shepherd’s Tale’.

Consider, discuss, decide as you must. A boy
of nine I was, given to play? Yes-
but impatient to grow. A minder of sheep
and goat, not quite a shepherd, you understand.
Arab Jewish Samaritans, lowborn we were
under Roman rule in the land of Moses.

Tent dwellers; nomadic in the Way of the Sea
we moved our flocks from pasture to fold
over plain, hill slope, through mountain pass.
Self-sufficient, our mixed blood had no ties
in towns and we were shunned in cities.
At that time there was much disquiet,

camel borne travellers would hail us
seeking safe passage to Damascus
anxious for news, telling of homes destroyed
of livestock lost. Herod by the sea of salt
in hope of cure, still covetous of power.
Riots and Roman soldiers everywhere.

It was the hottest time of year -too hot.
My father the elder shepherd of our band
decreed we leave the plain of Armageddon
skirt the Galilean hills and drive
to Mount Carmel and fold there in cool caves
the pasture good, the Kishon river close.

Unusual for time of year it rained unexpectedly.
Wet and freshened I explored cave and gully
gaping at rock paintings, sling shooting
hawk foolish enough to target our flock.
When night fell there was talk about events
on the highway, riots in Sepphoris.

Mahmud was our Rabbi, a Samaritan
Who taught us boys by rote from a scroll.
He would disappear for days on end,
reappear warning of wolves, thieves in hiding,
bringing herbs, fruits, figs, salt preserved fish,
feet, hands, and body bruised and bleeding.

But not this time -from the tomb of Rachel
he had seen columns of soldiers, pillars of smoke,
people fleeing carnage, a forest of crosses.
He arrived much distressed. Nearby, he said,
there is a camel camp of Persian men,
star diviners, here for some special event.

So deep the dreamless sleep I slept, when roused
I complained of being woken. My father’s
command to dress was brusque and impatient.
Mother soothingly said be quick no time to rest.
Sheep and goat were want to break the folds
and strange lights had appeared in the heavens.

Girding mantle, grasping staff, sling, and pipe
I joined the men grouped around a fireside
where Mahmud, repeated yet again
to disbelieving ears, of a vision given
in prayer, how an angel of the lord appeared
announcing birth of a messiah to all men.

How he had run to the Kishon River
to impart this news to the Persian men,
and they, exclaiming in response said this
was the proof, the final proof they sought.
And without delay broke camp and headed east.
The river shining phosphorus in the night.

Did I hear a voice as we knelt in prayer?
For when Mahmud said follow me, I knew
the angel would want us shepherds go!
Find the birthplace, give tribute to the child.
More in fear I think, of unearthly things,
Claiming protection of the women folk,

some herders stayed with the folded flock.
For me this was adventure, side by side
my father leading with Mahmud we trod
the Magi’s tracks. An uphill beaten track
Nazorean’s often trod beyond Bethlehem
to Elijah’s tomb. In silent awe we came

to where the light was strongest; there halted
by a well-dressed Jew, then let pass. Mahmud
having yet again spoken of his vision.
We entered a cave, two donkeys tethered
looked at us curiously –and there
in a lamp lit area no bigger than a tent

a babe in swaddling clothes lay in the arms
of a woman and before them, three Magi.
Also, an Arab woman, an older sage-like
Jew and a fearsome looking man whose smile
belied his looks. The air perfumed –a scent
so strong my head whirled with feelings.

We knelt on the hard stone in a presence
of many persons unseen; God’s angels
I know them now to be. We presented
lamb and kid –the best of the litters
we had, and in turn were given sweet wine.
Yet I was not allowed, and she, seeing this

beckoned me to drink from a leather gourd
that hung from the cradle bed, a sweet
warming juice. I drank gazing as I did upon
the new-born baby’s face. Then not asked
but sure of rightness I began to play my
shepherd’s pipe. With eyes closed he smiled,

as if somehow, he had heard me play before.
The tune was new to me and full of majesty,
my fingers moving my brain asleep
I lost all sense of time, only just aware
of his mother’s happy face; the attention
of all that were in that holy place.

As dawn began to show we took our leave.
My father with pride made much of my tune.
There was curious talk about the older man,
was he her husband? Why birth in a cave?
They were not poor, and the Magi had
given gold! There had been talk of Herod,

more so the riots and of Rome’s steel hand.
Yet for all this talk as we returned, the paths
aglow, I sensed my nomadic life would never
be the same again. We had gained in status
been received as equals –us lowborn
shepherds; and feted at a godlike event!
Yet despite this, seeds of doubt took root.

The holy book lost its magic -I questioned
why Jews and Gentiles warred, sacrificial lambs,
the militancy of God. Instead, I dreamed of union
in remembrance of the child, believing
he would one day share our daily bread
forever hopeful that our souls might wed.

Consider, discuss, decide as you must
the burden of proof is a human need.
My shepherd’s tale, straightforwardly said
is to you a plea -that in the body’s Keep
your soul should no longer groan and weep
but celebrate the Love that is Heavens Bread.

Breath of Life

In the current environment where restrictions on movements and socialising, repress our need to share interests and concerns with loved ones, we turn inward, the Self seemingly less knowable. In last week’s blog I said evolutionary consciousness is a state of awareness ‘outwardly’ born. I probably left you wondering how to achieve that -I also advised the practice of being PRESENT, as the child is, but it’s easier said than done. So, today I will advise how you can get started -practices easily carried out in any given waking state.

The root to all forms of consciousness is Breath

Dictionary definitions are not helpful, they only refer to air taken in and expelled from the lungs, or given the appellation of life force. Breath is not only a function of forces in lung bearing creatures -it’s a function of forces in all forms of life -yes I did say that, all forms of life. So, what is happening for example in a plant or a mineral? It’s the same process that happens in you. A movement of energy takes place when we breathe causing a reaction of energy movement in the bloodstream and lungs. What follows is a movement of energy that accounts for the energy reaction initially made -in humans we breathe out carbon dioxide. Ultimately we know breathing keeps us alive, directly and indirectly causing the continuation of life in every cell of our body. A plant and a mineral has the same function -the difference is they don’t breathe air as we do, they breathe in terms of energy, seen and unseen. Oh, and by the way, so do we, but we consciously don’t know it

We tend to view breath only as an intake of need, whereas the movement of energy is a causative process that operates from without to within and vice-versa. The efficiency of that process is determined by the body of energy we can call the Self. Plants and minerals do this very efficiently, but like everything else life is qualitative, in accordance to its design, a measure of what it takes to change and evolve. You can say the same about animals -but no you can’t say that about us humans! We are very poor processors. When we breathe wrongly the nervous system maintains a level of unnecessary stress. As a result we get ill from internal mismanagement and shorten our lives. If we breathe correctly our health, both physically and mentally, is much better.

This is how to breathe correctly

Breathe in and out of the gut -that’s what babies naturally do. Observe animals -they also do it naturally. Now -why is that so hard to do? I mean how do you keep it up -do it all the time? You may notice even as you are reading this your thought processes are reacting, whether supportive of this guidance or not, the result of thinking will move the centre of breath intake and expression upward toward the chest. Two things are happening here when you are in thinking mode. The brain in your head in particular the cerebrum, is biased to produce alpha rhythms, i.e. the inward management of thought processes. When this is happening the brain in your gut (oh yes -there is a brain in your gut!) is being suppressed. You probably know the brain in your head represents the largest part of your central nervous system, and the brain stem is regarded by science as the lowest most primitive part of the CNS -it controls basic survival functions such as heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, digestion, taste, hearing, and sight. The stimulus for these functions comes from the spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system. The instinctual mind centre is in the gut from where our breath naturally cycles -if we allow it to operate as our body design intended we maintain good physical and mental health.

The way you breathe directly affects the function of the brain in the head!

Naturally, the breath cycle is a wave like motion -now you may fine tune it by time measures of inward, still, and outward breath, but that’s not essential to get the balance right between the brain in your head and the instinctual brain of the body. When you initially practice wave breathing from the gut you will complain it doesn’t allow you to think -so sitting or standing still is not the right way to get the function back -the right way to re-introduce it, is to walk. When you walk your senses must remain alert for obvious reasons -your thoughts will be focussed on getting from A to B. Just one other thing to do -you need to walk in a balanced way, i.e. with your weight centred between the ball and the heel. If you revert to thinking on other things, or you might say ‘unconsciously walking’, the body balance will shift to your heel, if you are in a hurry and your thoughts are biased to future expectations, their expressions become shortened and pithy in character, and the body balance will shift forward to the ball of the foot.

Give it a try!

Don’t expect perfection. It’s not possible in today’s information pressured world to get this right 24-7, but the more and longer you persist -the better the benefits. The brain in your head becomes more like a processor, which is what it was designed to be, and less like a storage if information and access alternatives. Your energy levels will improve because food requirements are less governed by appetite -are more instinctively managed, and dare I say it you may even look younger as your health improves!

Next week it’s Christmas and I plan to give you a bit of unwritten history of arguably the most influential man who ever lived! The poem I’ve written for today has echoes of breathing….

The Rook

In the stone-hard furrows
of a winter fallow field
head down
pecking the ground
the rook -knows a lean meal
when he sees one.

With a non-stop brain
in the belly unlike you
-‘I’ brain conscious,
his beak keeps pecking
burning calories
getting little and less.

Until slowly
little is no more
and weakness halts him.
Observer and naturalist
take note
the rook has no name.

This bare faced
creation of feather and bone
constant host
of protozoa
is an avatar
not found in your books.

His smallest parts
are self-known
unicellular kingdoms
unbounded by form and time.
He knew that before
his face was feathered.

The half-closed eyes
have no regrets
as he caws
the one last time.
What does
your looking tell you?

Do you suppose learning
comes from observing,
dissecting, magnifying?
Can you rise above sympathy?
If so, why can you not
reveal the mystery?

He caws not for bread
or his mate
long since dead
he caws for his life
that bounds
from his head.

See –now
the wings
no longer lift
the legs do not move.
The order to rest
is final.

Perfect.

Learn from that
if you can.
The rook who didn’t need name
whose belly forever guided his brain
shows you life’s three-fold harmony
how life transforms without pain.

Wheeling as you do
caged between
Earth and Heaven,
what release
does your harmony bring
self-appointed surrogate King?

The Knowable Self

You could say that knowing yourself is taking notice of whom you are and for most that will mean ‘looking’ at the self through the thoughts and actions we have. Some people devote their lives to this analysis in the belief they improve themselves and perhaps others also by the record of effort. Have you noticed how time and all its attendant reflections of thought cease to matter when we are able to DO the right thing in the right place with the right people for the right purpose? In the aftermath of such experiences we are hard put to describe exactly what happened simply because we were living the moment in present consciousness.

If analysis and reflection is the answer to all our actions, why are we not getting consistently wiser? We don’t -we continue making the same errors as before. The history books tell us how Hitler made a fundamental error attacking Russia, because when less than 200 years earlier Napoleon had clearly demonstrated how it should not be done! How many times have you said to yourself ‘here we go again!’ or kick yourself for not seeing the obvious… meaning we’ve been here before?

This merry-go-round of error and reminder continues to wind us up because we are not consciously efficient. If you take a modest view of life’s knowing journey you realise soon enough that most of what constitutes knowing comes from the experiences we subjectively develop. In relationships for example, doing involves many different kinds of experience – self-knowing comes from the big picture, a ‘subjective overview’ which escapes analysis and reflection. So, what are we experiencing unconsciously which can from time to time be felt in present forms of consciousness? To answer this question we need to understand the instinctual nature; the process of being we inherit physically, emotionally and mentally.

After birth we take food instinctively, our thoughts are not reflective, language is not yet learnt. As our persona develops we culture the habit of eating -consciously think about what we eat because our sensorial reactions indicate delight, disgust or disinterest. The instinctive action of fuelling the body however, does not change – the effect is so deeply subconscious we are able to engage our consciousness to other matters almost entirely, confident the actions of our body mind are in our best interests. The body and its functions, quite apart from its impressive chemistry, is a remarkable example of inherited knowledge – it’s always in a doing mode… only when the alarm bells ring do we, ‘the masters’, take notice.

Many situations in our lives are ‘managed’ subconsciously. Housewives will tell you they have routines – some parts are automatic and never brought to present consciousness, other interests can be thought about, as they carry out their routines. The accounting clerk, familiar with doing arithmetic calculations in the work environment, can finger-tap out statistical solutions whilst the conscious mind is paying attention elsewhere. The machine minder after a period of consciously attentive training, knows the sequence of operations -actions becoming so familiar the conscious mind ceases to prepare for them -it consigns operations to the unconscious, and time awareness alone triggers instinctual conscious acts to stops and starts the regulative actions required of the job in the right order. Consciously the minder can think about something else- read a book perhaps. And subsequently acts to service the machine as an interruption to this other activity. No doubt you can think of activities that you perform that fall into this category of ‘secondary action’.

These examples serve to show how our consciousness develops and the more we want to do the more we rely upon this ‘reminder’ mentality. Education as taught in our world means to remember values that can be drawn upon to enrich life’s experience, but clearly it is not a faultless process -if it were mankind could show progression -gains from efforts and the mass of knowledge, harmonise his entire self.

If you were to become the pupil of an Hindu guru, he might in due time give you a mantra to aid development. The mantra, a word or phrase, needed to be intoned during your meditative practice. The key to mantra usage is REMAIN FULLY CONSCIOUS OF THE MEANINGS IT GIVES YOU. The guru knows when giving the mantra it is a key to PRESENT KNOWLEDGE -if the pupil consigns awareness to the “secondary action” of their mind – the purpose and power of the mantra will not be realised.

The examples of the minder, accounts clerk and housewife show our earth born mind’s work on more than one level -a dichotomy of differences; consciously doing, unconsciously proposing. The example of mantra usage advises the way of instrumental consciousness -living and learning in the flow of consciousness. If you stop and think about it, you will realise states of acute awareness when time, place and purpose are consciously experienced in totality. They create harmony in body and mind. We may have moments of acute perception, like in dreams and inspirational thought from time to time -but invariably we retrogressively value them.

Some people think that meditation means looking inward, sorting and ordering consciousness, and some think it means being changed by what they inwardly experience. Observe the child and how we are all drawn to acknowledge the power of its life – the child experiences present consciousness, momentary awareness taking place before our eyes. We can love animals for the very same reason. The path of self-knowing demands present consciousness; it requires developing the instrumental mentality you are born with. What is senile dementia but the collapse of ‘reminder’ consciousness and a reversion to child mentality? Present consciousness is forever doing, changing, non-judgemental and expressive of harmonising actions. Consider the esoteric meaning of the Narcissus myth – this beautiful young man is arrested by his reflection in a pool and thereafter remains a prisoner of his own image. The message is simple; if you look at and admire the reflection of conscious Self, the evolutionary actions of the entire Self are blocked.

So the points to remember are these:

1. Evolutionary consciousness is a state of awareness ‘outwardly’ born and varies with individuals according to their state of awakening.
2. Nothing (essentially) is new, there are no forgetting real values – we awake to what is present.
3. Consciousness evolves harmonically by outworking the change of awareness through our conscious being.

What we need to do is this:

a. Practise being PRESENT as the child is, truly aware of every moment.
b. BE what you DO as often as you can.
c. Give everything your complete attention, don’t let time-based conditions control you.
d. Meditate on this mantra Awareness is not perception. Awareness is – perception was.

Our consciousness as we truly KNOW it, is extremely limited, not only do we remember little; our present consciousness is but a small part of the entire Self. The DEPTH of what we consciously experience is largely unknown. All control is based on self-awareness. The first and last commandment of life is….. “KNOW YOURSELF”, said to have been inscribed above the gates of the Delphic Oracle.

In the coming weeks I’ll continue to advise ways and means by which the bottom line of all our needs can be met. The poem I’ve written for today’s blog is an expression of that maxim ‘know yourself. I hope it reaches into the depths of your mind.

Oracle

Time brokers these intentions of mine,
some become deeds and some
scatter like seed in the winds.
My instrumental hand is a forge of cause,
heating, hammering, casting Love.

Deeds are doings of my better born seeds
some grow like trees and some
gently perfume moments of privacy.
My instrumental voice is a flute love shapes,
healing, reassuring, divining Love’s song:

Time will forget the music of my rhyme
words like works will transform
and return to the wheel forming heavens.
Yet this Instrument Self will stay fused into One
Love’s emissary burning bright as the Sun.

Are you looking for a way forward?

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is pexels-photo-556666.jpeg — Photo by luizclas on Pexels.com

In last week’s blog ‘Old as the Hills’, I spoke about day-to-day life being on two levels, adhering to directions promoted by the factual world for our material needs, and on the other hand inwardly defining our present and future on a ‘what if’ basis. I posed this question; should our must have needs be driven by the ‘truths’ of the objective world, or should they manifest from our higher nature -that state of consciousness which is not governed by the time/form expression of knowledge? And in answer I said you needed to be conscious of the ‘driver’, which in essence is day-to-day awareness of your inner self. Unlike the ego we necessarily develop our higher nature is eternally present, it’s not judgemental, doesn’t demand, or compare you to others. What it does do when you allow it to be present -is give awareness of self-purpose.

In the current environment self-purpose is taking some pretty hard knocks, even non-communicative, unsocial, people can’t avoid restrictions -they have to eat and a shop or supermarket visit will have them feel defensive, judgemental, not to mention the emotional feeling aftermath, which for some will bring on depression. On the bright side those of us who have pets know just how supportive they can be -and would you believe, know when we are down and need cheering up. Thank God for the animal world! They can teach us a thing or two.

We all have a natural instinct to protect ourselves when our day-to-day self-awareness is threatened; a reaction born of our animal nature. We call it the self-preservation instinct. If it’s not governed by our higher nature it only achieves to defensively underwrite the objectively important needs of life. However, when you respond with the awareness of your higher self, actions are promoted which not only protect present needs, they also strengthen your real character; building knowledge of your true Self. How so you might ask?

Conceptually Man is no different from all other forms of life, he is an open system of consciousness at all levels. The time honoured phrase, ‘I am what I am’ denoting self-consciousness has encouraged Man to develop a hierarchical knowledge of life where in Earth terms he regards himself as the evolutionary head. We go so far as saying self-consciousness is soul and other conceptions, for example trees and plants, don’t have souls. Believing, as we do, in our autonomous nature creates barriers between ourselves and other forms of life, and worse still, because we have ‘our heads in the sand’ develop blockages within our Self.

If you look carefully at the people around you, it is noticeable the sensitive types get most problems – They may also get the “better rewards”, but nonetheless can, and do get burdened by mental and emotional down drafts which disrupt their natural harmonies. The satisfaction you have in life is a direct result of the control you manifest in character, both to the world outside and the universe inside. We have natural methods of control which we are oblivious of – my aim to have you recognise these means in yourself.

Has it ever occurred to you what the first musical instruments were? They were the drum and the pipe -it tells us something we need to acknowledge. The drum can be anything which vibrates sound on impact. The first of our species recognised was sound is carried by vibrations, not only did the sound carry beyond his vision, it also enhanced awareness of himself. And the pipe which came in as a close second, developed awareness of himself. We call this process of awareness -instrumental. Our ancient forebears had much simpler ego’s than we do today -they didn’t question the process -they accepted the benefits.

We cause a great many actions in our lives without awareness of their effects – you may not think you do, and perhaps only afterwards think on what you did. The wisdom of hindsight has very little value if our thinking practises do not evolve. If control is developed only by the ego it will be repressive and restrictive of our naturally born instrumental Self. You can be efficient, capable of starts and stops, and protective of yourself without awareness of the higher self, but if you want the ability to recognise good and bad conditions, be progressive and evolutionary, be creatively stimulated -then you must engage the instrumental nature of your consciousness.

In the coming weeks I’ll advise the ways and means by which the bottom line of all our needs can be met. The poem I’ve written for today is an echo of freedom, an event that really did happen, and I hope it will instill you with thoughts of positive outcomes.

Somewhere in Time

We’ll go east, west, wherever’s best
down garlanded leaf shaded lanes.
Mortals without plan, purpose, or price
heading for the green untrammelled earth.
Who knows what gems we will find
when the email and phone are left behind?

Curious, in want of some old-fashioned tea
off the beaten track, we drove
past cows on road, Sheep on verges,
turning; where to now? there’s a cottage café
thatched and worse for wear; an open door.
Our taste buds anticipate, we stop to explore.

A low beam ceiling gives a closed in feeling,
the windows are small the chairs worn
and the counter displays farm eggs.
Beyond is a kitchen of sorts, and a kettle sings.
A tousled head with long sideburns pops up.
‘It’s coming on twelve –be you wanting a cup?’

‘You’ll have some tea, cakes maybe?
Sit yourself down the rooms’ all yours.’
We look at the bare boarded floor
the unpainted oak blackened door, and then
at this bent great hulk of man, and say
‘Tea for two please, apple pies and cream.’

Strangely, he makes no sound moving around.
His eyes purr ‘my pleasure, he says -come far?’
‘Portsmouth’ I say. ‘Is that so?’ he replies,
ambling off with a shake of the head. ‘Well, I be.’
All is silent –what can he be doing back there?
The silence is deafening, like a church at prayer.

The mustiness of wood makes us feel good,
the smells of coal ash and oiled table cloth,
the sight of a clock that silently ticks
all fits -when the room darkened by cloud
starts doing something and opens our minds,
slipping and sliding into past times.

Serge and coarse vests jostle and rest
starched collars and crinolines appear,
chained Albert’s and hatpins sparkle with light.
We hear pipes tapped, the snorting of snuff,
feel the smell of leather and tangy felt hat.
The growl of a dog facing a cat.

‘Now here’s a rose fresh cut –somebody knows!’
And he gives me a nod and a wink.
I swear I didn’t ask this tousled grey head!
Awake as from sleep, smilingly secret
we toast adventure, a day to remember
you, me, and the apple pie vendor.