I come from

I come from the smoky rooms of former North London cottages

A place where, as time goes by becomes more urbanised and exotic as does its people

A close peaceful community nudged out by hordes of shoppers, losing your family in the chaotic crowds as the familiar becomes ever increasingly strange

The cosy smells of fish and chips, apples, fruit and wool, overtaken by spice and petrol as new buildings pop up like toadstools in the night

The meadows I played on with dogs and cousins too polluted now, the solution?  More pollution of course, another hundred toadstools pop up to house more strangers, till the village is devoured by the ever starving beast called London

I come from the gossiping nurses and the nagging sheet metal workers, sitting around smoking their money and complaining that making it is too hard!

The smell of bleach stuns your senses and makes your eyes bleed but at least it’s clean

Helicopters sing you lullabies as you fall asleep and police sirens wake you up the next day

I come from neighbours leaning over your fence, giving you gardening advice and cake and eventually curry!

Stray dogs chasing loose cats and getting run over by milk carts

Pigeons swamping the garden pecking at stale bread and the last lizard I’ll ever see gets taken by a fat crow, falling down roof tiles and into a gutter unceremoniously

I come from two sides of a road that society says shouldn’t be crossed

But here I am and I am me and both sides are equally mine

I come from sugar, fat and bread, fizzy drinks and tea

Pure white walls broken by ivory and chrome

Vacuums replaced yearly due to overuse and the bigger the telly the more kudos to you!

I come from a large garden, a sanctuary and au pair

I come from fashion critics, jealousy and violence

In books I hid myself in multiple worlds so that it could never touch me

So I would be free to be me and not them

Finding my own way to a new place

A place that is more like me

It is lost forever now, that place, where I come from.

I am nature’s daughter

I feel the breeze around me, freshening up my exterior like flicks of water

I am nature’s daughter

I sit amongst the flowers of the meadow, watching the deer leap to and fro

I am nature’s daughter

I lean against damp rocks where waterfalls flows and I shower under them each day

I am nature’s daughter and I won’t have it any other way

I sip dewdrops from the clover in the morn and wash myself by rolling on the lawn

I am nature’s daughter

I stand in front of the sun washing my face within its glow

I am nature’s daughter and with the world I’ll grow

The little bumblebee

Who trusts the little bumblebee that it will not sting?

A little fairy on a bough with brightly shining wings

She trusts the little bumblebee that it will harm her, not.

That is a little fact you know, that we have most forgot

A little bee won’t harm us, to them that’s suicide

Instead we shouldn’t flap our arms; just let them fly right by

The noble bumblebee, what will we do without?

It’s such a shame we forget them, and give them all a clout

Without their grace and charm, we will have no farms

Without their working ways, in the meadow won’t be hay

Without them it won’t be funny, we need more than just their honey

Just think about them as friends, and their life never put an end

Bees should last forever, without them we will starve

Bees should be protected, both near and far

So if you care about the world, just remember this

Bees are there for us, do not treat them amiss

© Tina Cousins 2013