Patience drifts around the clock

Patience floats in dry-dock

Patience hovers in transit

Patience belies my spirit

Patiently I walk

Patiently I talk

Patiently I listen

Patiently I have forgiven

Patience is the essence

Patience is my sentence

Patience is my burden

Patience is my warden

Patiently I wait

Patiently I update

Patiently I sleep

And alone I weep

Patiently I Compromise

Patiently I will arise

Patiently I mutate

Patiently I will gravitate

Patience commands my time

Patience is my crime

Ivor Steven (c) April 2021

I’m a day away from yesterday

And a day away from tomorrow

I need to borrow another day



Time is running away

Time is bursting at the seams

Time is melting into moonbeams

The hour is now

The hour is how

Between here and then

Beyond why and when

Where is the power in my pen?

Show me the tower of zen

Ivor Steven (c) April 2021

“In the confusion we stay with each other, happy to be together, speaking without uttering a single word.” –
Walt Whitman


Brave Heart

I always remember

The last time I saw the sun

I always remember

The last time I saw you run

Yesterday I remembered

The colour of your eyes

Yesterday I remembered

The colour of our brilliant sky

Today I remembered

The happiness in your smile

Today I remembered

The happiness of our every mile

Tomorrow I will remember

The final beat of your brave heart

Tomorrow I will remember

The unread pages of our lost charts

Ivor Steven (c) 17th April 2021

Nine years ago today, I took my lady to the hospital for the last time, finality was on the way, and the day was her Birthday… and two weeks later, she gracefully passed away….

Gracious Lady

There is a lady on the horizon

Slender against the dusk

Sliding down with the sun

She vanished in the daytime

Hiding between the dawn

And the fading moon

A quiet and gracious lady

Who would relax on her old garden seat

There between her lily pond

And her faithful dog

Waiting graciously to be set free

Far beyond her flowering wattle tree

Forever glowing, my brightest light

Forever shining, on my darkest nights

Ivor Steven (c) April 17th 2021

violent winds

and turbulent seas

left our fairy penguins

struggling to breathe

their tired wings

wore wounded feathers

frozen by the storm

testing the tiny creature’s

natural resilience

and vigilant rescuers

lined the blustery shores

nurturing the survivors in need

Ivor Steven (c) April 2021

The poker faced cameraman said cheese

I thought, “I will have swiss cheese please”

The starter said, “Get on your marks”

Secretly, I was ready to fart

The referee pointed and said, “Get off the pitch

I swore, “Not my fault the guy was a bitch”

The train conductor said, “Who pulled that emergency cord?”

As I speed down the corridor on my skateboard

The teacher said, “Who wrote that silly limerick on the blackboard?”

And I hid behind the brick wall listening to Pink Floyd

The grumpy lecturer said, “Who lit that smoke-bomb in the Library?”

I was last seen mischievously rescuing the principal’s secretary

Ivor Steven (c) April 2021

“The strongest and sweetest songs yet remain to be sung.” – Walt Whitman

Tomorrow’s Song

When I am old

Or, when I am older

Not if, but when

Alone my later years I will spend

I will listen to music at home

Croon along with Leonard Cohen

Read dusty books by poets and champions

Write simple words about bees and lions

When I am old

Living on leftover fools gold

I will hobble down smooth paths

Sip on tea and savour Guinness draughts

And thank my tiring tongue

For hungering what I have left undone

When I am old

Shivering from the cold

I will silently snuggle up in bed

Quietly chase dreams in my head

And thank my fading mind

For seeing what I have left behind

Ivor Steven (c) April 2021