Staying active

'Joy of ageing' poetry competition runner-up David Ashton:

I am 67 this year‚ like generations of my folk an old beekeeper‚ a granddad‚ a husband - who they say is disabled!

I wrote this poem in a reflective mood whilst thinking about the coming spring and the joys of being alive.

I wrote some of the poem in Cumberland Dialect‚ here is a translation of some of the hardest words:

• Nowt = nothing
• Laikin = playing
• Dossing = doing nothing
• Crack = a good talk

My Joy of Ageing
Or
A Hobblehoys Hobnobbing Philosophy

Dossing‚ Laikin‚ Ratchin‚ & Dreaming‚
Well there’s is nowt I loves better than
Thinking Sketching Making music

Beekeeping & Talking to Bees
Writing Poems Talking & Listening

Getting Others to talk & hear their Crack

Drinking cups of Tea  Dancing
Listening to Music or Sounds of Nature Winds‚ Rain‚ and Water
Gardening or Cutting wood in forest scents & sounds

Sleeping besides a River or a Cumberland Beck
Looking an Listening to Sounds of Silence
Watching Clouds Lying on my Back
Sowing Seeds in Spring or Planting Bulbs In Autumn

Harvesting Food for Free like apples‚ brambles‚ pears‚ plumbs mushrooms wild vegetables & herbs‚ an making teas from leaves

Just sitting thinking ales there’s nowt sa much ta crack on min ah theres a lot to dream about

Eating Fish Chips out news paper  sat on bench on market day and having a crack

Watching Red Admiral Butterflies Ardent Passion on warm late Summers day garden wall

Reading New Words in Dictionaries

Sitting On Public Transport Watching and Listening & Seeing World Go By

Some Would call all this being bone idle or dossing‚ but to my thinking its what’s keeping me sane and will one day save our planet and Mother Earth

 

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