Poems of Michael Harrington

By Greg Tuck

The fictional character from Between the Wars series Michael Harrington began writing poetry when he first met Mary Evans, a teenage girl he met in the 1930's at a joint school dance In Melbourne, Australia. Very quiet and unassuming, he used his poetry to profess his love of her and to reflect on his young life that was about to have a massive upheaval as the Second World War approached.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Greg Tuck
• Release date: Jan 26, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463059463

Greg Tuck

I am a former primary teacher and principal, landscape designer and gardener and now a full time author living in Gippsland in the state of Victoria in Australia. Although I write mainly fictional novels, I regularly contribute to political blogs and have letters regularly published in local and Victorian newspapers. I write parodies of songs and am in the process of writing music for the large number of poems that I have written.

Book preview

Poems of

Michael Harrington

By Greg Tuck

© 2019

Amazing

Not long ago

Happiness was just an illusion

Nurtured by a fiction

As I strove for a nirvana

That was totally unattainable

But now when

I hear the sound of her voice

Sense the touch of her fingers

Hear the soft whisper from her lips

And stare into the sparkling depths of her eyes

I wonder why

So long ago

How I could have got it so wrong.

Wonder

By chance you saw the sign

Leading to a fortress long forgot

And strode past the paths of disappointment

Persisting when so many had not

You navigated through the labyrinth

Past rockfalls and dead ends

Ignored the discarded memories

Of forgotten would be friends

You stood as few others had

When there blocking your way

Was an old and battered door

But you did not turn away

Instead you knocked so gently

And from the peephole in the door

I saw this thing of beauty

Spreading charm like none before

I took away all the locks

So that you could come and go at whim

For a beautiful free spirit

Should not be trapped within

But then you took the door from its hinges

And it crumbled and fell apart

In its place a shining gateway

An open gateway to my heart

Time

When a minute seems a life time

Has the world turned upside down?

When two weeks seems an eternity

Has the world stopped spinning round?

When a kiss by contrast’s fleeting

As you turn and walk away

When I feel I’ve known you all my life

Yet it's just been days

Time is out of kilter

Time is out of whack

But I’ll count off every second

Until you do come back.

Beautiful

You stood before me

I knew not why

Should I peep?

Should I pry?

So naked before me

I was amazed

No fear no bravado

Completely unphased

You stood before

Your soul laid bare

I was so humbled

You trusted my care

So naked before me

Simple pure honesty

So, I’ll try every day

To repay your faith in me

Dreams

Are the emotions in dreams always real?

Should we tell others just what we feel?

Or as the dawn shares its morning light

Should we retain our thoughts from the night?

With nightmares I truly understand

The outcomes may not go just as planned

But if the dream is serene and calm

Would sharing those thoughts cause any harm?

I dream of my love every night

And somehow it seems perfectly right

To express to her the joy I feel

And how my love for her is real

Honesty

What can I say? What do you need?

Tell me the words that you want me to speak.

I offer you my heart and I give my word

But I’m not really sure that you have heard.

I worry that it will all be over too soon

So, give me the words and I’ll shoot for the moon

To earn your trust, I’ll hold nothing back

But I’ll never lie or put on an act

That is a path I cannot follow

To speak words cold and hollow

That’s something I cannot do

I long to say I love you.

Loneliness

There’s a difference between loneliness

And just being alone

One can be a blessing

One chills me to the bone

One can happen even in a crowd

One is sought for relief

One can make you so miserable

One offers inner peace

Perhaps in some far off future time

If we should ever part

I’ll carry a little piece of you

Treasured within my heart

I really want you to understand

Just this one simple truth

Although I would now be all alone

I’m not lonely having met you

Contentment

The world awakens.

It begins with the sleepy chorus of birds.

The hum of traffic on a nearby main road increases.

The neighbour’s dog, as is its wont, barks at nothing at all.

The 6:52 train clatters its way down the valley.

Lights come on in nearby houses.

Doors open and then close as people join the throng heading to work.

The coughing chug