Heart-Work by Vivi Steels       

A report from the Royal Botanical Gardens from Kew has said an estimated 140,000, or 39.4%, of plants are under threat of disappearing. This is up 21% from 2016.  There are also currently 723 medicinal plants facing extinction.  Harebells, along with other Native species such as Chamomile, Juniper, Pennyroyal and wild asparagus are under threat.  Harebells are one of my and my mother's favourite flowers and I painted them for her under my maiden name , Gath, in 1985.  It w...

Crater Life WW1 

Listen.

Silence.

You know what it’s like when your Mother,

soft as rose petals, stops your aching ears

with warm cotton wool, don’t you?

The world stops talking.

Reverie:

I am lying in Green Ridge Meadow,

grass tickling my head,

staring at cotton wool clouds,

soft as sheep, sauntering by,

time drifting with them.

Bees dr...

Alter Echo (for Gary Moore)

Deep dark stage -

star-lights pinpoint mastery

of fret set with mother of pearl,

silver strings set with genius

reaching decibels of hard rock blues

played at frenetic pace,

soul in harmony with guitar,

voice in harmony with soul.

Face wet, shining livid,

sweat pours down face, down arms

blurring f...

Love is...

Love is putting your best friend to sleep

to end his suffering,

knowing that your suffering

is only just beginning...

Anonymous

Beautiful Mittens Christmas 2015

Pets come into our lives to teach us about love, they depart to teach us about loss.  A new pet never replaces an old pet, it merely expands t...

Don't Leave Me

So this is the reason I am here –

this is what they do.

He was kind to me.

He examined my back legs.

I cried and tried to tell him.

She was holding me

and stroking my face,

tears dripping down onto my fur

like rain from leaves on the trees

in my beloved garden.

She signed a piece of white rustly paper,

then he gave me an injection.

I began to feel warm and fuzzy.

T...

Mittens was the most beautiful, gentle and loving rescue cat. He was always with me, cuddling up to me and purring. I had to have him put to sleep yesterday, 19th December 2019, and the devastation and loss I feel without him is awful. He is buried under the beech hedge at the front of our house where, when he was outside, he loved to curl up in the leaves. He had even made a dent in the ground there. He was such a precious being in this world. I will always love him dearly.

I Woke Up

I woke up.

I looked out at the day

stretching its golden arms

round the sacred garden.

The sun painted tips of light

on all the green-grown plants,

all in exactly the right places

waiting for visits from bees,

wearing pollen leg-warmers.

The clouds bounced white sheep’s-fleece

around blue shores of sky

and I knew the day would end

with silk-sapphire sheets

s...

Languishing

Like the Loch Ness Monster –

much sought after,

subject to speculation,

myth and legend,

scientific investigation;

glimpsed, even photographed

partially above the surface,

but mostly submerged

sunk beneath depths,

crushed by vast weight of water –

health lies languishing

one hundred fathoms deep.

© Vivien Steels

How Wisdom Comes

Alone ~

drenched in water jewels,

emerging from stream cleansed

to face sun, Giver of Fire, Giver of Life,

offering praise unspoken

to the Great Spirit breathing through

greenness of green,

blueness of blue,

rockness of rocks,

inspired to listen ~

all in abeyance

but spirit itself.

Soma

I unfurl vast rolls of black velvet

scattered with silvering stars

shooting across midnight skies.

Soft winds blow music from the spheres

into tired eyes and ears

restoring peace and calm.

Perfume of flowers mist

from clouds of dew,

falling onto quiet earth

while spume of dark rivers

press your hands with softness of foam.

Honey-sweet drips onto your lips

as you sacrifice wakefulness,

seduce...

'Chocolate and The Snow Globe' © Vivien Steels

STORY FIVE

FERNE AND CHOCOLATE AND THE CHRISTMAS KAROL

Chapter 1

I was listening to a programme on the radio about Hypochondria and it reminded me of this poem I wrote called 'Hypochondriacal'.  When I was 28 I had a very nasty virus, which never cleared up and developed in to M.E. I also had severe symtoms of Endometriosis and an underactive thyroid.  I was constantly told by doctors I 'was imagining my symptoms', I was 'perfectly well', I 'looked so well', and was made to feel neurotic and a nuisance, though I knew something was wrong with me.&...

It seems a long, grey Winter with no release into Spring and today it is 9c with a strong wind from the North East with dark, glowering rain clouds and misty drizzle.  I am hoping this poem with bring about a change and that we will see Spring very soon.  Our hundred year old pear tree is not yet in blossom and usually is full of white fragrant flowers on my birthday at the beginning of April.

Spring Wedding

apple trees

shivering...

Winter

Ribbon of white leaves

whips from blanketed bush.

Winter blows last life into garden

where squirrel forages in evergreens,

magpie jumps up and down on deserted greenhouse,

ringed dove sips from mirrored birdbath,

hedge sparrow hops in between bowing plants

chased by belligerent blackbird,

white snow-feather flashing in his tail.

© Vivien Steels

Published in Earth Love – Issue 30 Feb 200...

My Tribute to My Lovely Sister, Alison read by me at her funeral on 24th October 2017

Alison was my lovely big older sister. When we were young she liked to look after me. She was always the well-behaved one & I was the naughty one. She did very well at school. When we moved to Woodthorpe in 1957, we attended Arno Vale Junior School and then Arnold High School where Alison became Head Girl. She also got a Duke of Edinburg...

My Fairy Garden

I have recently made a fairy garden in a wooden plant box, which sits on a window sill in my conservatory.  They are such fun to make. I am hoping to make a bigger one outside in our garden, though we have some very naughty squirrels, who I think would dig it up!!

Bilbo the Lifeguard Dog

I have just read Steve Jamieson's wonderful book ‘Bilbo the Lifeguard Dog’ (published by Pan Macmillan) and I am just recovering from being in floods of tears at the end. I felt so much for Steve, the former Head Lifeguard on Sennen Beach ...

Getting Older is...

caring for those before you,

caring for those after you.

Feeling needed, for meals,

for advice, for money,

so the slow drip of time,

wearing away your face

into that of your mother’s,

eases you onto the path

whereby you wear your skin

like an evening dress –

glittering with experience.

© Vivien Steels

Published in Reflections (Forward Poetry Anthology) ...

I have included this poem I wrote in 2002, because I was watching '50 Years of Gardeners' World Live' at the NEC Birmingham on television and there was a sequence about gardening through the decades, which my poem tried/tries to evoke.  It is illustrated with a picture I painted of a corner of our garden in early summer painted in watercolour, acrylic and pen and ink.