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    A World Apart
    A World Apart
    A World Apart
    Ebook128 pages1 hour

    A World Apart

    By Richard Pearce and Roy McTaggart

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    About this ebook

    This book is for the lighthearted bedtime reader of any age. The poems are some of several hundred written over many years. Some of the short stories are recent, others were written as long ago as the 1980s. Only in recent times did Richard and Roy discover they both liked to put their thoughts onto paper, so it seemed a logical step to combine some of their work and get it into print. This is Richards second publication along similar lines.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBalboa Press AU
    Release dateOct 12, 2012
    ISBN9781452507071
    A World Apart

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      Book preview

      A World Apart - Richard Pearce

      As I see life

      By Richard Pearce

      I imagine I was a child once

      It seems so many years ago

      I may have been a nuisance then

      Running to and fro

      Slowly I saw life a different way

      You cannot grow up in a day.

      I began to enter my teenage years

      With all it’s adolescent fears.

      Found I needed to use my body

      So I shouldn’t let it get too shoddy.

      I saw a difference in the girls

      Not gangly figures, but full of whirls

      Oh! How life’s libido works

      In a teenage body where it lurks.

      With luck it blooms like good fine wine

      But too often it has no time.

      Climb into manhood, fit and strong

      When you feel you can do no wrong.

      Mates and girlfriends come

      and go

      Head and heart pushed to and fro.

      Comes the girl of whom you dreamed

      Children then, so get them weaned

      Middle age, reached there now

      Broken back and furrowed brow

      Offspring gone to pastures new

      Sometimes not a brief a-dieu

      Approaching old age, heads a bald

      Waiting daily, will they have called?

      Will they remember when they are old?

      They should have called,

      without being told

      Twilight years ahead

      Early nights abed

      There to lie and perhaps just wonder

      If you had known when you were younger

      That life is lonely when you are older

      When it’s warm outside but you are colder

      Time itself goes by so fast

      Memories of today do not last.

      Childhood dreams are clear of mind

      To remember this morning is quite a bind.

      Try to understand the ‘why’ of life.

      The trials, tribulations and all the strife.

      You’ve struggled through and kept your head

      The battles fought, the mouths you fed.

      Your day is done, all battles gone.

      Too late now, you’ve sung life’s song.

      Did you win, or have you lost?

      Was it all at some awful cost?

      No one knows till all is past,

      You lay there. Still. At peace at last.

      It’s a Dog’s Life

      By Roy McTaggart

      I had just delivered a sack of saw-dust to the S.P.C.A. and was strolling along the animal pens as I always did to see who was in residence. In the first pen were three young puppies wrestling each other on a piece of sacking. As soon as they saw me, they bounded over to the gate and poked their noses through the mesh. I scratched their muzzles and moved on, leaving them yapping behind me.

      The next pen contained two half-grown dogs which had joined in the cacophony so I scratched their ears and glanced into the next pen.

      There was an older dog there, a sort of a Heinz/bitza cross, his grey muzzle resting on his fore-paws, and his eyes closed but as I passed, he cocked an eye at me and heaved a deep sigh. He didn’t come over to me so I didn’t stop.

      Thank—you—very—much. said a voice behind me.

      I beg your pardon. I said turning round but there was no-one there. Is there someone there? I called, looking about me.

      Well of course there’s someone here. said a testy voice which seemed to come from the bitza’s pen. You’ve just stirred most of them up and got them making all that din just when I was trying to get a bit of shut-eye.

      I looked round suspiciously thinking that someone was practising ventriloquy but I couldn’t see anyone. Then the voice again. Hey! Down here. You might have the courtesy to look at me when I’m speaking to you.

      I looked down into the pen and saw the bitza, sitting up now and glaring at me. Er, what? I asked.

      You two-leggers are all the same. You come in here, get the kids excited thinking they’re going to get something to eat or taken home or something and then you walk blithely away as if you’d just done your good deed for the day. Typical.

      Well, I said, I was just interested to see who was here. You know. I didn’t think . . . . What are you doing in here anyway? You must have done something pretty terrible to be incarcerated in here.

      Oh! Really. Well, if you must know, I got dumped.

      Dumped? I asked. What do you mean?

      I heard my people talking about going to Oz, see. Good-oh, I thought. I’d heard that they’d got a lot of rabbits over there so even an old mutt like me should be able to catch one. Not to eat, you understand. Can’t stand all that fur clogging up my throat, not to mention my bowels.

      I grimaced. Oh! Excuse me! said the bitza. Was that a tad insensitive? Well, anyway, a couple of weeks later, we all went for a bush walk. A place we’d never been to before and it took for ever in the car to get there. Then, while I was sussing out the new smells, I suddenly noticed that I was alone. I thought they’d wandered off the track and got lost so I barked to let them know they’d been missed and where the track was. I barked myself hoarse but they never came back and, when I got back to the car park, the car was gone. I hung around there for three days and I was getting pretty hungry, I tell you, but they never came to look for me so I could only assume I’d been dumped. It wasn’t just the rejection which hurt. It was the cowardly way it was done. I mean, I would’ve laid down my life for those two but as soon as it becomes a bit inconvenient to have me around, ‘dump ’im’. I’d given them a lifetime of devotion and loyalty but have you noticed something about loyalty? It only works one way; from the bottom up and God knows, we dogs are at the bottom.

      "Couldn’t you have caught something to eat? I asked.

      Get real. said Bitza. I’m twelve years old and not as fleet of foot as I once was. And have you tried eating slugs and snails? Yugh! Not only that. We hadn’t been out for a walk for ages and I was packing a bit of weight. Got rid of that, though, didn’t I. Well, then a young family happened along and sat down at a picnic table so I put on my most pathetic look and that didn’t take a lot of acting, believe you me and one of the kids gave me half a jam sandwich out of her picnic box. I would have preferred marmite but I didn’t like to appear ungrateful, you know. The kid asked her dad if they could take me home but he said that they weren’t allowed animals in the house they were renting so they brought me here. I must say they have treated me well here. Good tucker twice a day and plenty of water so my nose is nice and cold again. It’s just those damned teenagers next door who are driving me crazy. I don’t suppose you’ve got a spare kennel at your place, have you? I don’t eat that much these days and that dog roll is quite acceptable if a bit boring.

      Well, I said. I have as a matter of fact although I wasn’t really planning on taking on another dog. And the kennel would need cleaning out and a coat of paint.

      Oh! I wouldn’t want you to go to a lot of trouble. said Bitza. I don’t particularly like clean smells. They play the very devil with my bladder and, at my age, I have more than enough trouble in that department. Oops! Sorry. There I go again. Insensitive old me. So what do you say?

      Well, I don’t know.

      Oh come on! I won’t want to come indoors. Hot stuffy places, indoors. No, I like to stick my nose out in the breeze. I’ll take you walkies and I’ll even chase a stupid stick for a while if you insist. You look a bit doddery yourself so we won’t have to go far.

      Just then, a lady wearing overalls and wellies came out of reception. Hullo, she said. Are you interested in that dog? He’s nice old boy. Quiet and good with children.

      I couldn’t see how she would know he was good with children when he’d only been there a short while and creatures which have been half starved do tend to be fairly quiet but I let that pass. Well, . . . un . . . yes. All right, I replied.

      Oh, good. said Welllies sincerely. "Come into reception, then, will you and I’ll just check with the supervisor. She went into an office and pushed the door to but it didn’t latch and consequently swung ajar again.

      I heard Wellies say "There’s an elderly

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