Our Healthy Connections Clinic in Chermside is home to many talented individuals, including Ron, a resident wordsmith whose creativity continues to inspire those around him.

Ron has been busy writing poems and limericks that capture life's special moments, treasured memories and heartfelt reflections. We're proud to showcase his work in a special display titled "Ron's Writing on the Wall," where visitors can stop, read and enjoy his latest creations.

His newest poems explore two themes that resonate deeply with many of us: the enduring bonds of friendship and the lasting power of love.

A Last Reunion
A salute to enduring mateship

Now in our seventies and eighties our ranks are thinning out.
Sadly, not every old companion can come for one last bout
Of swapping tales of bygone days when we were young and game;
Fleeting time has caught us up and things are not the same.

There are tight meanders in the stretching rivers of our lives,
And in these traps of memory something lingers and still thrives,
For here lie old events and faces we seek through reminiscing,
Locked forever in our memories and well beyond dismissing.

We indulge our self-awareness, but that can't be all bad;
Recollections paint mind pictures, not all of which are sad,
Of roaring days when things were rough and yet others that were fun,
When good mates stood beside us in the mad things we had done.

Some of those mates have moved to a place beyond our knowing,
At mention of each name a hushed regret comes gently flowing,
For we miss these old companions who no longer tread the Earth
And recall with great affection their friendship and their mirth.

We embrace many values that we gleaned when in our prime,
Like the deepest truth of mateship - that it's constant for all time.

Old soldiers, from any generation, full know what this has meant,
And they prize its timeless comforts until they too, strike their tent.

A Jot In Time
A contented rhyme

Written for his wife Joan on the occasion of their 63rd wedding anniversary.

Wed 63 years? - Just "a jot in time"!
True, but surely it's worth a fleeting rhyme -
I must pen one now, ere the story ends,
And so preserve the music it sends.

I am one among those fortunate men,
With a splendid wife who scores a full ten,
For all these years we've been best friends,
And that's how we travel life's twists and bends.

Years seem to have passed at a rapid rate,
Since it all began in a twist of fate -
Separate we went to a high school dance,
Whence youthful zest gave love its chance.

The things we've done and the places we've gone,
In overcast days and when the sun shone,
Make memories that fill my heart with a love
As real and clear as the bright moon above.

Many joys come spilling down the years,
Some so profound they coax glad tears,
Among them are our greatest treasures -
Our kids and grandkids bring many pleasures.

Whatever wonders are yet to come,
They will just add to a happy sum.
With gladness close my joyful rhyme,
About how we filled "a jot in time".

Thank you, Ron, for keeping us smiling and filling our clinic with creativity, wit and a whole lot of personality.

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