I am in the background Of the photograph Near the sea rails Looking in the general direction Of Ramsgate Ignore the pier As it does not exist In anything but your imagination

Before the Storm For a while I walked the paths So merry during the sinful months But now they are deserted And like me await the storm Which is drawing near   XYZ Cold wind Bright light The violence of this day Appals me   Fragments The fading warmth of the November sun Scorches the…

The Spanish Nun Far from your homeland but near You are spending eternity beneath this foreign soil There was no greater sacrifice than yours Sister Teresalina   The Dead of Europe The trees are almost bare Their golden leaves are silent Everything is illuminated The autumn is aware of its own mortality   The Green…

Kite Hovering Oh timid bird Do find the courage To settle with me   Julie Florida Julie Florida stood in an autumn field Watching the leaves fall from the central trees A bleak flat west wind chilled her visit So she began to collect flints and gave them to the migrating birds As she waited…

The brilliance of the light dazzled the sandy beach Every shadow exposed the underworld of the town People were swimming in the sea in October And sunbathing on the sea steps A cast iron man of about my height Was perched on some outlying rocks Near the gallery of art He was awaiting the invasion…

At Reading Railway Station on Platform 15 there is a small waiting room In is plain and functional and I use it when waiting for trains I often contemplate the universe from this small room

We seek the new day And await the fading clouds Dark mornings will glow

Splendid horizons The morning is full of light Sharp shadows witnessed

Misty spires shadow The golden suns fine display Gentle creatures sleep

The stickiness of the blood is identical No matter the army The supple earth has never disguised its disgust All men die as heroes I weep at the ugliness of it all     Richard Simms (1942)