Till This Day: Poetry Collection

By Gavin Varley

This collection of poems spans a time of my late teenage struggles in the world of a new millennium. With parents both suffering cancer at the same time and a new girlfriend (now wife) having her own massive health struggles but also adding support to a very tumultuous time in my life. I don’t know if these poems help understand the meaning of life at all but they certainly were a therapeutic way to take out the emotional garbage that bombarded me. In reflection reading them back it eats at my absolute being how much I have persevered through and still have time to laugh, love and have fun with my kids and wonderful wife now.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Jun 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9798369491188

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Copyright © 2023 by Gavin Varley.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 04/26/2023

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CONTENTS

Foreword

The Lamb

The Story Begins

Today Is A New Day

11Th September 2001

Sad Day

Waiting For The Bus

THE FUTURE SONNETS

Close The Wind

Chop And Tango

Fee Is Payable

Still Sorry

Love Is?

Flashpoint

Fresh Ocean

Breathing Without A Spine

Stolen Picture

Dwell

Anti-Clockwise

Far

Echo Quake

Equilibrium

Liberty

Stereotypical

Mutiny

Warmsense

Means To An End

6 Months

A Little Bit Of Craziness

Recipe For Disaster

A Conversation

Humanising

A Rose For You

Valentines Day

Feel The Same Way

The Sound

Only One

One Violin

Aftermath

Take Me Home

Ancient City

The Sun On Monday

Finish On A High

Have I Stopped

Filling The Gaps

Caged

Answer Too Late

Black Roses

Decline

Be The Same

Take Me

Moments Silence

Shimmer Of Hope

Life After Tradegy

Not Sure

Drifting Passer

Scenic Route

I Am Nothing But Human

See The Sights

Night In Disturbance

Till Death Do We Part

Train Tracks

One Last Freedom

Daily News

Electronic Empire

Connections

Violet Honesty

No Questions, Only Answers

Force Feed

Raw

Bloody Wool

Confusion

Giggles

Love You Now

Better Than Perfect

Never Let Go

My Promise

The Safe

Faster Than The Speed Of Light

Dedicated

to Ineke, Sijbren and Kurt.

FOREWORD

So, sometimes things in life are easy.

I am not sure what those things are but what I can say that decades of stress, anxiety, dealing with health problems in the family, losing loved ones have been both the burden and the reason for pushing so hard in life.

When I read back on these poems, I wrote 23 years ago, I see a young man who is madly in love with his now wife, Ineke who has been by my side forever and I am very grateful for that and her continued support.

That young man is obviously myself --- but I must admit that looking back it feels like a different person, impacted by watching the September 11 attacks on the world trade centre on the TV, it is also hard to realise that those images are still horrific today, but I can also see my personal struggles with mental health, lack of functional family life, lots of pain and really exhausted from everything!

I dearly miss my mum, grandparents and it is sad that cancer can eat away your parent’s health, extended family’s health too and make them suffer severely, it is awful that they both had to endure it at the same time. It is even worse that one had to pass away and the other one scarred emotionally and physically, I felt lonely in these formative years of schooling and some of this poetry I considered taking out the emotional garbage!

Yet excuses do not work if it’s just life