Contents
CONTENTS
1 Cairns of Sussex Chalk (About this book)
This then is my testament to time
2 They That Don’t Belong (About being a traveler)
I’ve read, in other’s words, about the ones that don’t belong.
3 Tomorrow’s Past Life (About missing being a traveler)
There was once a time when my life was filled with living;
4 Viboras y Osos (Peru … A rattle snake on the Inca Trail)
5 Life Well Lived (About living life to the full)
He’s traveled every ocean where he charted every isle,
6 Follow Me, Follow You (Rhodesia …. A buffalo hunt, but who was hunting who?)
7 Travelers Upon the Road (About paths crossing)
We’ve traveled far from distant lands and met here on these shores
8 Switch to Chanel 12. Over (British Virgin Islands ….. Bare boat anchor panky)
9 A Standard Issue Rifle (About being not just a gun)
Night had settled quiet round the yawning ridge backed dogs.
10 The Lambing Shed (England ….. Animal midwifery, or should that be midhusbandry?)
11 Judgment of Life (About living the best you can)
Times there are for each to try to manifest our reason
12 Canadian Subarctic Survival (U.S.A ….. All of us made it out of the plane crash alive)
13 The Mate (About a raw sailor)
I’ve rarely seen a man who could have stood his ground so long
14 The Merc (Rhodesia ….. A g’nuther gnu story about misperceptions)
15 Old Dicky Dog is Dead (About an old departed shipmate)
Now, while I raise his stiffened leg and place him on the sheet
16 The Navigator (Portugal ….. Even shipwrecks can be positive ….. sometimes)
17 Chapters of Life (About moving on and looking back)
So onward once again I tread
18 Riding Shotgun (Rhodesia ….. becoming a veteran with a veterinarian)
19 More Noble than the Dawn (About earning your place in tomorrow)
Leave now each day more noble than its start
20 2009 Thoughts (Canada ….. A contemporary philosophical doodle)
21 Preparation (About why)
Me it was I thought that formed this past
22 Among Incan Ghosts (Peru ….. Dawn at Machu Picchu)
23 Of Thylkes and Frumps (About being too quick to judge)
A drumpling frump one summer’s day came grimbling through the wood
24 Disrespecting Cultures (Peru ….. Up the Amazon without a paddle)
25 Learn Well From the Lessons I Can Give (About mistakes)
Please, sit beside me traveler of the road
26 Grandfather Teachings (Canada ….. Native wisdom vis-a-vis invasive species)
27 Rights of Passage (About becoming a man)
Only when you’ve journeyed to your spirit’s farthest reaches
28 Dogwood and Dogma (Canada ….. Catching dreams with the expert)
29 The Last Portage (About reluctant change)
We came down that winding path together
30 Whale of a Time (St Barths ….. What the charter guests didn’t see)
31 The Memory of Before (About nostalgia)
Soft and silently she blows
32 What Really Needs to Happen (Gibraltar ….. Sometimes the winds of fate do blow in the right direction)
33 The Selkie Son (About a mythical being)
When the young moon danced on the westering breeze
34 Uninvited Callers (St Lucia & Florida ….. A tale of two searchlights)
35 Greeting the New Day (About honouring our place within the Universe)
A new day grows each morning, evolving from the past
36 The Not So Vicious Bugger (England ….. A youthful memoir)
37 River of My Sussex Childhood (About memories)
River of my Sussex childhood, ebb and flow inside of me
38 A Mid-Winter’s Tale (England and Canada ….. A tradition Yule want to remember)
39 This City (About living where you don’t belong)
I’ve lived among fighters and sensed what they fear
40 Charity and Inner Conflict (India ….. To give, or not to give….That is the question)
41 Tavern Not Far From the Shore (About sea folk ashore)
Between the sea and coming ashore
42 Delivery Delayed (Bahamas ….. An ill-fated voyage in pirated waters)
43 Wake Well This Day (About living the day)
Wake to this dawn like no day before you
44 Voice in the Storm (B.V.I. ….. Coming together when all else is being torn apart)
45 Okavango (About a place yet unseen)
I search for her in magazines and T.V. shows
46 Rugby, Diving and Playing Cards (Gibraltar ….. The best game that was never played)
47 In Search of Home (About being rootless)
Where is my home? I have no true notion
48 Sardines and Dirty Laundry (Morocco ….. Happy hippie days)
49 Epitaph (About wasted life)
No stone has he on which to carve these lines
50 Parrots, Elves and Wonder (BVI ….. After the storm comes the…..Elves???)
Afterword: An ordinary Man (About being no-one special)
There’ll be no portrait hanging on the walls