Sheila's Collected Poems Someone Else's Shipwreck; Dreams and Nightmares; Dundee, City of Discovery; The Middle Ages; Advice to myself on a cold night Someone else’s shipwreck A bit like Robinson Crusoe Salvaging what you could reach You set up home Beneath the upturned hull of your life On a far from tropical beach. Hard to identify people at first In the distance through a telescope; Hard to tell if they’re waving or drowning Surfing or sinking It may be too late once you’ve thrown them a rope. Because you don’t mind swimming with the dolphins And even meeting the odd shark But being crushed by the debris of someone else’s shipwreck Is not your idea of a lark. ‘Why don’t they radio the coastguard? Why not send out a mayday? I’m not a lifeguard, I don’t man the lifeboats, What do they want from me anyway?’ But in spite of yourself you know that Somewhere out there Clinging to the wreckage of a life May be a dolphin in disguise who can open your eyes And might even make you care. Because I know you like swimming with the dolphins And even meeting the odd shark And the risk of being crushed in a shipwreck Is no worse than being left in the dark. Back to top Dreams and Nightmares I am afraid of my dreams now I am afraid I will keep one as a pet A plaything To amuse me on those long dark nights Just for fun? When I've had enough I'll forget to feed it And it will die. But instead it turns vicious and snarling Bites me to the bone, and won't let go. I am afraid of my castles in the air So beautiful when I first build them All light and bright with fanciful turrets and spires Floating above me Insubstantial, How could they possibly harm me? I'll turn my back and walk away when I've finished with them. But they crumble and crash around my ears Long before then And the flying rubble bruises me and its dust chokes me. I am afraid to dream at all For now. But the only alternative to reality is To adopt a new pet from the home for stray dreams Or to build another magic castle on another cloud To hope with no reason to hope? Maybe this time will be different. Back to top Dundee, City of Discovery In the clear north light you can touch the basking seals on the furthest sandbank touch their velvet skins dampened at random by a wave's crisp plume. The harsh north light glints on all the grey hairs illuminates the wrinkles dark circles round the eyes reflected in the mirror of your childhood room. In the cruel north light you see your life in focus it shines into the corners where all the fur-balls gather untouched by mental mop or intellectual broom. Back to top The Middle Ages In a final fine flush of hormones I'm a born-again teenager Though crumbling teeth and creaking bones Make me a real has-been ager. Sometimes I think I'm an expert juggler Meeting people's demands But suddenly I'm an uphill struggler As the clubs slip through my hands. Riding the emotional roller-coaster For the very last time Edgier than a wasp in a toaster Is this really my prime? Back to top Advice to myself on a cold night Put away your emotions Fold them up neatly together Hide them among your jumpers You may never need them again. Send your dreams out to sea Let the tide take them gently away By the time the waves bring them back You'll have settled for what you can have. Slide down off that rainbow - Try not to land too hard Stop looking for crocks of gold That are never really there. Back to top Back to Stray Dreams