Richard William McBride: 1928-2012

Dick McBride died peacefully at his home in Colwall, Herefordshire on Tuesday 28^th August 2012.

Grass

As grass grows
So ceases sorrow
Madness welcomes sanity
Anger burns out
Hearts open again
Like roses rising in
The ashes of memory
So ceases sorrow
As the rubber of the sun
Erases the blackboard fog
Of desperate blindness
So ceases sorrow
Iron hands
Tied in knots of
Bound joy
Released as
The grass grows again
After the noise
Of hungry blades
Swift clocks brightening
Smiles of daisies in
Recently mown lawns
Softening the claws
In soft paws
Of sleep
Wounds heal
So ceases the
Sorrow of muddy rain
Erupting like glue
On palm-tree sands
And yet the grass grows again
Still the sun shines
As tall, green blades
Surgically remove doors
Of halls and
Cupboards hiding old taboos
As the grass grows
So ceases sorrow
And the grass grows again

From Remembered America: Poems by Dick McBride (Rue Bella, 2004)