For thirty years

We fought off the fears

We survived the drowning tears

We always did

Your every extra day

Was a wondrous array

We pursued life’s ballet

We always did




Your olive eyes always smiled

We promised each other an emerald isle

We danced across life’s blackened tiles

We journeyed through time’s gruelling miles

We lived a grateful and humble lifestyle

We always did

The story is engraved

Under my eyelids

“We’ll Make It Through”, by Ray LaMontagne

Had our share of the pain
Of the clouds, and the rain
Lean on me
And I’ll lean on you
And together, we’ll get through
We always do
We always do

I know you’re scared ’cause
You can’t see the light
You toss and turn through the night
Holdin’ me
And I’m holdin’ you
And together, we’ll get through
We always do
We always do
We always do

Where do you go, when there’s no road to follow?
Faces look hollow, only strangers to you, now
Where do you turn, when this livin’ starts to burn through
Layers that you learned wrap around your heart somehow

I turn to you
I always do
I always do
I turn to you

I know you’re scared
Can’t see the light
Gotta believe it’s gonna be alright
Lean on me
And I’ll lean on you
And together, we’ll get through
We always do
We always do
We always do
We’ll make it through
We always do
We always do



Ivor Steven (c) January 2021

Featured Image Above: The cakes I received for Christmas !!

A Naughty Sweet Tooth



I am walking empty streets

Looking for a lost news sheet

For the information about me

That I saw nailed to yesterday’s Christmas tree

There must be a meeting place

For one’s like me, hiding in disgrace

Who have eaten too many cakes

And are addicted to the sweetest bakes

Where do I find Cake-oholics Anonymous?

I need to be saved from my wantonness

So I can re-float my over loaded Nautilus

Surely I am not the only one?

With a naughty sweet tooth in the gun.

Ivor Steven (c) Jan 2021

My heart was pulsating

Like a child’s first day at the beach

Excitedly wide eyed, a wondrous sight

A vast seaside water world

My lips tasted the sea air

My hips plunged into refreshing salt water

The waves were not too steep

The ocean was not too deep

I’m almost alive

I’m almost at home

Here at the Ocean Grove beach

Here in ecstasy, sun, sand and surf

The place where friends met

The home of Tullawalla

The house where imagination began

The universe of my creative waves

Ivor Steven (c) Jan 2021

My key is low and unopened

My sea has been a rough ocean

My year could be right or wrong

My dreams are in this year’s theme song

And on those dark foggy days

When I cannot clearly see the way

Unsure but steadily I shall walk on through

To see beyond the fog, where my sky is still blue

I am to be always thankful

That I didn’t lose myself under life’s waterfall

I am to be always honest with myself

And not expect too much from my old bookshelf

Ivor Steven (c) January 2021

No need to dine out

I am living on life’s leftovers

And leaning on her vacant shoulder

The silence is deafening

But I hear soft sounds of violins

Gently echoing on my heart strings

They are humming the chords of our song

That momentary tune, from once upon a time

“Happiness is letting go of what you think your life is supposed to be like and enjoying it for everything that it is” — Mandy Hale


Let The Past Be Gone (Revised)


The end of December, and January is near

The bell tolls louder and how perennially I jeer

Those same old questions and no answers every year

Annually dismayed as old dawns disappear

Let the past be gone, now that today’s here

Let the future come, as I face tomorrows haunting fears

Last years sins have been but not totally gone

The new year’s about to begin, could be right or wrong

Next year’s eeriely hovering and I anxiously worry far too long

Knowingly waiting for my angels mourning song

“Let the past be gone.” declared todays final word

Let the future come, but tomorrow’s crying, I heard!

Ivor Steven (c) January 1st 2021