Dark Memory

I have seen the lengths darkness will go to,

Its height, too low for comfort, and its breadth

So narrow it is closing in it seems.

There are those who’ve measured it with their lives,

Precisely calibrated increments

Of sweat.

Hope rises in cages loaded

With cutting jokes brighter than lamps,

Or weighted with spent banter winding up

From where once the darkness was hewn, kibbled

And hurried towards the sun.

I have stood

Between trapdoors and listened to darkness

Flooding the galleries, feeling that light

Has to be taken with a pinch of snuff.

 

                                                                                                                                    Dave Alton

Energy

 

 

A scientist was pondering,

Could he possibly learn

Which is the best source of energy,

By asking each one in turn?

 

The coal-fired power station first

Was where he went to inquire.

But coal there complained, “I hate it,

I keep getting set on fire!”

 

Next, an oil-fired power station

Was what he went on to see.

“I don’t like it,” sighed oil, “because

They insist on burning me.”

 

A nuclear power station

Thought it was badly treated,

“I get bombarded with atoms,

Becoming overheated.”

 

Lastly, he went to a wind farm

And asked his question again.

“Actually,” said the wind turbine,

I really am a huge fan.”

 

                          Dave Alton