Poems of Mystery

By Charles Wylie

This third book of my poems ranges widely over subjects as far apart as peace and war, the art of Haiku (like some Japanese experts I'm still learning), honour, excellence, imagination, mourning, et alia.
In the other eight eBooks of the series you will find the themes of Love, Friends, Nature, Parting and Grief, Faith and Family, Fun, Heroes and Indignation, and The Sea.
Part of my motivation in finally succumbing to years of friendly pressure from family and friends to publish is to encourage those who say "I could never write poetry." It doesn't have to be so. It wouldn't be too difficult to improve on what you find here. Go on! Have a go!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charles Wylie
• Release date: Dec 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781311032591

Charles Wylie

Charles Wylie is a professional British seaman and an amateur dinghy and yacht sailor. He is the luckiest man on the planet, being husband to Jean, father of four, grandfather to nine and godfather to ten. Poetry is a hobby, together with sailing, chess, Scottish Country Dancing, languages, and a variety of other pursuits. He is tickled pink to have been headhunted at the age of 78. As a seaman he had visited all the continents in ships by the age of 21 at over 50 ports and had survived his destroyer being bombed in the Korean War when only just 17 years old. He attributes a reasonable command of the English language to his education at Taunton's Grammar School in Southampton, which set him up for life in four short years. He is particularly grateful to the Royal Navy for its having been a father figure and a source of immense pride for over 65 years. The navy promoted him 10 times, but because he started as a Boy Seaman that means he achieved only the modest rank of Commander (happy with that.) His naval friends (to whom he pays equal respect) range from Able Seamen to Admirals.He is an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights, a Freeman of the City of London and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.His poetry was written for himself (and occasionally for family or friends) and is published now after many years of friendly badgering by dear ones. Self-publishing through Smashwords was chosen because he is confident that no modern publisher would want to publish his generally old-fashioned rhyming and scanning verses.Charles is a happy man, much blessed.

Book preview

Sailor/Poet Series One

LOVE (23 poems)

Sailor/Poet Series Two

FRIENDS (44 poems)

MYSTERY (56 poems)

NATURE (29 poems)

PARTING AND GRIEF (29 poems)

Sailor/Poet Series Three

FAITH & FAMILY (56 poems)

FUN (40 poems)

HEROES & INDIGNATION

THE SEA (36 poems)

Memoires

First Words, Last Words (to be published in 2014)

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT 'POEMS OF MYSTERY'

You really should publish your poems.

-Many chums. (All my friends are kindly.)

There's should be a comma at the end of the seventh line…

-A helpful nit-picker.

Not bad.

-My wife. (Well, she would, wouldn't she?)

Please send your own comments to:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

eBooksByCharlesWylie

What others are saying about 'Poems of Mystery'

Introduction

Poems of Mystery

SixtyOneAndCounting

ThrivingDriving

OzymandiasAtChelsea

A Pattern Puzzle

Xanadu Revisited

Haiku - A Pebble Tossed Into A Pond

On A Seaman's Youth And Age

Haiku - Reflection On His First Command

Haiku - Terremoto

Haiku - Submarine

Drinks And Nibbles Party

Imagination

Haiku - Naoko

Night Musings At Giza

Prayer To Prayer At Luxor

Haiku - Hone Tuwhare

Haiku - Twinkling Reflections

Dalmation Peace And War

Croatian Saga

Home Again

Retirement

Enigmatic Honour

Time

Haiku - Twinkling Reflections 2 Years On

Basic Physics

Excellence

Prayer For A Positive Attitude Of Mind

The Glastonbury Thorn

Hope, In The Deep Midwinter

A Poem And A Walnut Whip

Doggerel On Self-Discipline

Playful Thoughts On Carpe Diem

How Lovely To Be Only Fifty

Courts Of Human Rights

Is Nothing Good Any More

Another Friend Gone

March Twins

Forgiveness

The Bestest Gift

Make Life Easier

Brits And The Sea

The Plea Of The Moby J

Baywatch On The Beach

This Is It!

Mallotus Villosus

Julian's Shedfield Daisy

I Heard An Egret Say 'Carpe Diem'

Mystery In Our Garden

Musings On Old Age

Le Coquelicot Normand Solitaire

An Englishman On Utah Beach

Let's Have A Fun Day

Nursing Home

For the Honour Of The Games

Kindle, Kindle, Burning Bright

On Reading The Poet Laureate's 12 Poems For Christmas In The Times

About the author

Acknowledgements

A Word From The Author About You

Warning

eBooks By Charles Wylie

INTRODUCTION:

Have you tried writing poetry? It's great fun, and if I can do it, anyone can. With any luck, these verses of mine will get you going. If you want to see what an ordinary mortal can do, then read on. You don't have to be anyone special to be able to put your thoughts down in poetry. I've collected mine in categories of LOVE, FRIENDS, MYSTERY, NATURE, PARTING & GRIEF, FAITH & FAMILY, FUN, HEROES & INDIGNATION, and THE SEA (I'm a sailor/poet.

By the way, nearly all of them rhyme and scan in the good old-fashioned style.

This book by Charles Wylie holds some of over 240 poems published in 9 books in three series (1, 2 and 3). Series 1 contains just one free book (of LOVE poems) to whet your appetite. The other two series contain over 150 and 170 poems respectively. Some poems appear in more than one category. See the list of other books at the end.

The author (click on ‘About the author’ in the Table of Contents) makes no claim to literary excellence, but wrote all the poems for his own satisfaction. Charles claims that some of them have merit, but all have been included (warts and all) for the sake of completeness, at the request of family and friends. Unusually, most of the poems have a short introductory note to widen the reader’s experience. All the poems are in chronological order of composition, with the date in the 'By' line.

Here we go, then; just turn the page.

POEMS OF MYSTERY

(Most of my poems are preceded by notes intended to enhance the reader's understanding and enjoyment of the verses.)

Note. It’s a long time since I was a mere stripling of sixty one, but in those days I was beginning to think I was getting on a bit: what nonsense!

SIXTY ONE AND COUNTING

by Charles Wylie 4 May 1995

Sixty One and counting; how many years remain

With this reasonably healthy body, and, as yet, unaddled brain?

It makes you count your blessings when approaching Middle Age.

But there are many years to go, yet, ere I become a sage.

*:*:*:*:*

Note. I guess I’m as much at fault as the next man in saying "Why can’t you lot cut down on your use of cars? No peeping at the last lines until you’ve read down to them

THRIVING DRIVING

By