Stories.
I will remember you when the best of you has gone
I will remember you when the song you loved is sung
I will remember you when I stand on hills where we once walked
I will remember you and your laughter as we talked
I will remember you and all the kindness that was shown
I will remember you when your tired soul has flown
I will remember you when each new day has a dawn
I will remember you when the last of you has gone
bobby stevenson 2017
To fill a human soul,
Takes strength and smiles,
To fill a human head,
Takes wisdom and time,
To fill a human life,
Takes courage and hope,
But to fill a human heart,
Takes love,
Takes love.
To fill a lifetime lived,
Takes all that we have,
To fill a child with hope,
Take kindness and patience,
To fill a lover’s dreams,
Take selfless devotion,
But to fill a human heart,
Takes everything.
bobby stevenson 2017
wee bobby
There was a man with the large dog who would watch and wait and make the boy run indoors. Then the man would smile, chuckle to himself and walk off. Everyday, that happened. Everyday to a young boy.
Then the boy started going to school and at least he wouldn’t see the man and the dog again. But there were bigger monsters in the school. Those who were scared and unhappy and jealous – were the worst of the bullies, those were the monsters.
When he left to go to college, he thought that his days as a bully’s target were over. But people bully with words rather than their fists. People bully with humour. People bully with silence.
When he moved into his first job, he thought now I am a man, I can stand up for myself. But people bully with power and people bully with money and people bully with favours.
People bully about race and sexuality and disfigurement and illness.
And those who walk a kinder path, those who should know so much better, bully with their gods.
When he retired he thought that would be the end of it, there would be no more bullying, surely they must all be tired by now. But people bully with friendships, in the giving and taking of them. People bully with their time. People bully with loneliness. People bully with the kindest of smiles and the coldest of stares.
Bullying never sleeps.
Never.
bobby stevenson 2017
To all the love
That died unspoken,
To all the hearts
So quietly broken,
To all the tears
That fell unseen,
To all the things
That might have been.
bobby stevenson 2017
Thank you for today,
Not everything was good,
But then not everything was bad,
I woke up sad and somewhere in the sunshine
The day got a little better.
Thank you for today,
For letting me see that
Life is difficult for every heart
And some things, which I find easy, others don’t
And I know the opposite is true
Thank you for today,
And although I am not where I want to be
I realise that I might just get
To where I’m meant to be, one day.
Thank you for today,
For although I never felt like I was a winner
I managed to scrape my way through it all
And learned to hide the disappointments
Thank you for today
Seriously.
bobby stevenson 2017
When it’s time for you to go,
Don’t turn and wave,
Instead,
Consider this,
If there should be a blessed place,
Beyond,
A land of half-forgotten ghosts,
Then I will follow you and
We shall meet once more,
But if this other Eden,
Should prove unformed,
Remember this,
One day, I too will rest among,
The longest sleep,
And you,
Alone, no more.
bobby stevenson 2016
Approval from the main man 🙂
|
Tonight I saw a solar storm,bobby stevenson 2017
This year some people will leave your life
And new ones will enter
This year some dreams will vanish
And others, not thought of, will come out of the sun
This year you’ll make mistakes
And you’ll survive them all
This year you’ll win some things and you’ll lose some things
This year some friends will fail to understand
And some will grow to love you
This year you’ll learn a little more about yourself
Some of it you’ll like and some of it you won’t
This year perhaps you’ll cry alone
But you’ll also laugh at things you won’t explain to others
This year some of your actions will be misunderstood
But you’ll discover that others understand in amazing ways
This year you’ll misjudge hearts and situations
And yet find more caring than you ever thought possible
This year you’ll learn to love yourself just that little bit better
And that will be all you’ll need.
bobby stevenson 2017
wee bobby
The last time I was home I gave my mother a kiss,
And somewhere, sometime long ago, she kissed my great-grandmother,
Who kissed her brother just before he set off to fight in World War one,
And although he died a few days before the end of the war,
He had kissed a young French girl in a bar and they said that they would meet someday after the troubles,
And the French girl kissed her father and told him of the Scotsman whom she liked,
And years before her father had kissed the girl’s mother in a little hotel in London,
And that night they had gone to see Charles Dickens as he read from Great Expectations,
And the girl’s mother kissed Dickens and said thank you for the story,
And told him that her boyfriend had just asked her to be his wife,
And after that night’s reading Dickens gave his daughter a goodnight kiss,
And his daughter kissed her pillow and dreamed of her one true love.
bobby stevenson 2017
He said nothing, not a word ever passed his lips,
He just sat in the peace and quiet with a Mona Lisa smile,
One cold day the Angry People passed his way
All shouting about this and that and the other
They stopped and asked the quiet man if he was angry too
He said not a word and the Angry People liked that
“This man is so angry about this and that and the other, he is seething with rage”.
They shook his hand and on they went.
Then one summer’s evening the sad folks were passing by
They looked at the quiet man and then sat beside him
“This man is mourning, this man says nothing but the sadness shows upon his face”.
They wept beside the quiet man then walked on down the road
On an afternoon like any other, a stupid man was walking through as he was lost. He asked the quiet man the way to town and when he didn’t reply
The stupid man smiled and said, “I see you are as stupid as I am. ‘Tis better to say nothing and not look the fool.”
The stupid man wished his stupid brother well and continued to be lost.
Just before the start of autumn, some happy people were running and jumping and came to rest next to the quiet man
“Look here,” one shouted .”This man is so happy that he smiles in his contentment.”
And the people all cheered and carried him shoulder-high down the lane towards the town.
This happened to the quiet man more than he would have liked and once again he had to walk all the way back home.
bobby stevenson 2017
The stand-up and be glorious thing about it is:
You’ll never know when or how it happens,
Never know what effect you’ve had,
Or who you’ve saved.
It might be the smile to a passing stranger,
Who was on their way to shout at someone –
A someone who would have driven home in an anger,
And didn’t see the person they knocked over.
Or a face on a train,
The one who was going to get off at the next lonely station
And jump.
But you helped them with their coat, or hat, or bag,
And they saw a warmth in life again.
Perhaps you held the door open for a soul who then
Held the door open for a stranger, who changed their mind,
About pulling the trigger.
One day, when you least expect it,
You will change the world,
And you will probably never, even know.
bobby stevenson 2017
Don’t cry too long
My little one
The world is waiting on your smile
Don’t listen to the midnight whispers
It is their way
To make things dark
Don’t feel
That other hearts are hardened
Sometimes they need
To take a rest
Don’t wish that you were someone
Other
This life is only meant to test.
Don’t think
That you are somehow chosen
For all the trials in the world
Don’t cry too long
My little urchin
We need your heart to sing
Its song.
bobby stevenson 2016
I know nothing of the rules you use,
Or the gods,
Or stars you live by
All I know is how I’ve done,
How I’ve kept,
My peace within,
I’ve never been the best of men,
And many times I’ve failed in all I was.
But on some quiet smiling day,
I’ve tried to help,
And telling no one,
Leave something,
Better than it’s found.
I know nothing of the buildings that you pray in,
Or the books you live through,
All I know is I try to be kind
To be decent, to understand,
To care.
Sometimes that is not enough,I know.
But I’ll never stop trying.
bobby stevenson 2017
You’ll make it, I know you will,
You’ve come too far and now is not the time.
If only you stopped and thought about it all
The walls you’ve climbed, all the troubles crossed
All the failures faced, all the little victories
Look into the eyes of those beside you
The woman at the table
The man in the street
It’s there, deep-set perhaps – but there all the same,
The very same terror as you
A flicker of recognition in both your eyes, and then you move on.
So if they can live in temporary quiet desperation
Then so can you,
And one day soon you’ll make it across
To where you can start again
I know you will
You’ve come too far, to stop.
bobby stevenson 2017:-)
So you’re not as thin, nor as fat as you wanted to be,
Or as tall, or as short, or with a little more hair,
You’re not as clever or wise as they said that you were,
Or have looks that have people chasing you there.
And you’re not that great person with so many friends,
Or as famous or rich as you dreamed life would bring,
But the dust of the stars was moulded and shaped
Into the soul that is you,
By someone
Or something.
You’re not as graceful or talented as you hoped you would be,
Or have a family and home that was always packed full,
But you’re loved and unique, and somebody cares,
How could you be anything other than beautiful?
bobby stevenson 2017
Don’t think that all of this will last,
As the darkness wears your heart away,
One day,
Someday,
When you least expect it,
The lanterns,
Will bring the light to stay.
Don’t cry at the moon when no one sees you,
For each of us is made to pay,
One day,
Someday,
When your hope is dying,
The lanterns,
Will light another way.
bobby stevenson 2017
wee bobby
I guess you never really know when your own will start but in hindsight I know his began on February the 11th at 10.23pm.
86,400
Ronnie was 19 and clever. He had worked hard to get to college and study a subject he loved – chemistry. Now I know what some of you may be thinking but that was what set Ronnie’s pulse racing. It was the movement of electrons and the swish of the molecules that set his heart on fire; none of us are the same, we just do what we do.
85,230
The university was one of the old Scottish traditional types situated on a hill and established five hundred long years before. Going here had made his family proud. Not only was their son going to a good university, but he was going to be a chemist.
83,172
Ronnie was one of those lucky ones, always in the top percentile of a class, happy, smiling and always popular. It’s a gift that not many of us taste.
75,344
It was called Higher Ordinary, the class. It was second year for those that had survived the trench warfare of the year before. In their first year lectures were mobbed and seats were filled, five hundred in the morning and another five hundred in the afternoon. This was a long time ago when science was popular and before everyone wanted to be on television. Now in the second year things were quieter and although there were still several hundred students, everyone knew everyone else.
59,010
The week always finished with a Friday afternoon of laboratory work which some found exciting and just as many thought of as a chore. Ronnie loved this class, it meant he was either going home to the South West to see his family, or he was staying at college to enjoy a weekend of work and socialising.
45,981
Although Saint Valentine’s day was on the following Monday, the college were holding a dance in the Men’s union on the night of Saturday the 12th. Ronnie was determined he was going to go to that, it was a party and half the chemistry class would be there.
32,222
The Chemistry mob had their own social club called the Alchemists. It was fun in the later years, but for the new starts with their wide eyes and innocence it was a club to be looked down upon and derided. A behaviour that was perpetuated by those who been spurned in their initial year. They took their revenge from the dizzy heights of second and third years.
17,771
Many of the Alchemist Society were going to the dance and so it seemed stupid for young Ronnie not to go. He wore the only real suit he had, one he would hope to use for interviews when his course was over. He really should have been studying that weekend but he was very clever and fast in the take up and he would get by.He always did.
12,000
Although he was popular, he was always a boy who liked his own independence, so he never arranged to meet anyone there – the chances are, he always did. He would travel to the dances on his own and depending on his luck, he would either walk home alone or with a friend.
9,231
He got ready for the dance early that Saturday night as he’d stayed in the evening before to save money, meaning he could enjoy himself without the usual guilt. It was still light when he headed over by the Cross and into University Avenue and as was always the way of things, he met a couple of the guys from class, me included.
8,580
Eight pm and we entered the bar at the Men’s union. In those days the University had a ‘men only’ bar and a ‘men only’ union. The girls had their own union but apart from certain rooms, theirs tended to be mixed.
4,980
Nine pm and we all headed upstairs to the dance hall (that’s what we called it back then) and the place was beginning to get busy with the St. Valentine’s crowd.
1,380
Ten pm and Ronnie decided he wanted to get back and do some work, we had a large exam coming up the following Tuesday. We said goodbye and Ronnie walked up over University Avenue.
1,200
As he was crossing the road, he was bumped by a man coming the other way.
1,080
The man had broken into a butcher’s shop a little way up the street and stolen a knife.
780
He stabbed the first person he met, this happened to be Ronnie.
660
No one noticed Ronnie lying on the street at first. He just looked like another drunk, in a city of drunks.
540
When the passerby saw the amount of blood coming from under Ronnie’s arm, he ran to the nearest telephone and called an ambulance.
480
A woman came over and held his head. She noted that all he did was moan.
240
Ronnie’s breathing became more erratic.
120
The ambulance arrived and the paramedics checked for life signs. Ronnie’s pulse was weakening.
60
Ronnie stopped breathing.
0
There are 86,400 seconds in a day.
This is a true story.
bobby stevenson 2016
I am so proud of you,
In so many ways,
Proud of every sinew in your strained body,
Proud, that even with a fractured heart,
You can still stand and smile,
Still look the world
Straight in the face.
I am so proud of you,
For although you ached for love yourself,
You gave your away to those who needed it,
Proud that when it took everything inside
Just to get to midday,
You got there and you survived,
And still you remembered and still you cared.
I am so proud of you,
That while you drag all that darkness with you,
You can still make it to the end of the day –
Whatever
Is at the finish of all this,
(Perhaps we’ll knock on that final door,
And no one will be there),
Just please, please remember this,
With all your heart,
I am so proud of you.
bobby stevenson 2017
I
Still love you
Though
It’s been a
Long time, it’s been a
Lifetime of
Living without you.
Our secret moments scar the
Visions I have of anyone
Else.
You were everything – a
Once chance meeting in this lonely
Universe.
bobby stevenson 2017
Wrap up your soul from the north winds,
Turn your sweet head,
Facing the sun,
I know that those dark clouds will scare you,
But believe me,
The best is to come.
Let slip those stories they told you,
Just remember that you are the one,
Don’t let their sadness get weary,
For I tell you,
The best is to come.
Smile even ‘though it is hard work,
Cleanse weary eyes with some bright fun,
For these dark days
Will lift soon my darling
And I promise,
The best is to come.
Take strength in the ways of the old times,
When your laughter and hope can return,
Don’t stumble and fall,
Take my hand love,
For you know that the best
Is to come.
bobby stevenson 2017
Don’t think you are never seen, dear friend,
You leave a trace wherever you wander –
A smile, a laugh, a hope.
Don’t think you are never heard, my pal
There is always someone listening –
A song, a word, a joke.
Don’t think you are ever forgotten, old friend,
For when we passed each other
In that briefest of time,
You left a piece of you with me
That I’ll carry wherever I go.
bobby stevenson 2016
Painting: http://www.davidpott.co.uk/blog/2009/11/finished-painting-whitby-sunset-two-friends/
wee bobby
1.Just ‘Cause You’re Breathing
Just ‘cause you’re breathing,
Doesn’t mean you’re alive,
Just ‘cause you’re clever,
Doesn’t mean that you’re wise,
Just ‘cause you’ve faith,
Doesn’t mean that you’re kind,
Because you can see,
Doesn’t mean you’re not blind.
Just ‘cause you’re loving,
Doesn’t mean you know love,
And by sitting in church,
You don’t speak for Above,
Just ‘cause you’re hurting,
Doesn’t make you unique,
And because you feel down,
Doesn’t mean that you’re weak,
Just ‘cause you’re thinking,
Doesn’t mean you don’t strive,
Just ‘cause you’re breathing,
Doesn’t mean you’re alive.
2. Love and Hope
You asked me, my young one, as we sat by the sea
What life had brought to my heart.
“Was it joy, was it sadness,
Was it laughter and tears?
The kindness of lovers?
The friendship through years?
Or the dreams of a life
In a heaven above?”
“It was none of these things,
It was hope,
It was love.”
3.We Need Your Heart To Sing It’s Song
Don’t cry too long
My little one
The world is waiting on your smile
Don’t listen to the midnight whispers
It is their way
To make things dark
Don’t feel
That other hearts are hardened
Sometimes they need
To take a rest
Don’t wish that you were someone
Other
This life is only meant to test.
Don’t think
That you are somehow chosen
For all the trials in the world
Don’t cry too long
My little urchin
We need your heart to sing
Its song.
4. Today Is Going To Be A Great Day
When he stood on the hill-top and bathed in the sun’s rays, he wanted to celebrate his being alive. So he tapped his toe to the sound of the wind beating on the trees and he smiled.
Then a tune swept inside his head, one from before he could remember – one that his grandmother or great-aunt had sung to him as a baby and he tapped his foot.
But his other foot felt it wanted to join in too and so he hummed a tune out loud, one that had made him happy as a boy.
Now he was dancing a little jig at the top of that hill and laughing and laughing and laughing still.
Then he saw his friend, his pal, someone he had known from the start of his life, make his way to the top of the hill and his friend stood beside him and faced the sun.
And his pal started humming a tune that he knew as a boy and they both danced a jig and both laughed and cried for all they had seen and all they had heard in their lives.
When the townsfolk heard the commotion from the hilltop, they ran to see what all the noise was about.
Then they too started to dance and laugh and celebrate all that was good about life.
All of the townsfolk and all of their friends sang the same glorious song to the sky.
And each of them realised that with their friends by their sides, singing and dancing, they were the luckiest people alive.
One day, my friend, we’ll soar,
Far, high above these streets of darkened hearts,
We’ll tilt our wings to freedom,
And scrape the highest of the skies.
One day, my friend, we’ll soar,
Up there, all wrapped in splendid sunlight,
Riding azure blue jet streams,
Breathless with that rush of life and air.
One day, my friend, we’ll soar,
So let me take your broken body upon my back,
And both of us shall climb in painless flight,
I’ll let you rest up there, but promise I’ll be back.
7. Dancing To The Music of Your Heart
I never picked a proper tune to dance to
And I never got in step with any soul
And in all those dancing years
I spent wishing I could hear
That melody which drove another’s goal
I guess it’s too late now to ever
Try to change things
As I’m nearing my own moment to depart
So I’ll quietly spend the time
That’s been allocated mine
Dancing to the music of my heart.
Be who you are,
Be magnificent,
Be strong,
And except to those who cared too much,
The one who never quite belonged.
Be who you are,
Stand tall, unique
Be grand
The one who smiled at little jokes,
That no one else could understand.
Be who you are,
Let laughter roll the same as tears
Take pleasure in the here and now,
Not in the days or months or years.
Be who you are,
Be loved
And loving everything,
Don’t back away from chance nor dare,
You too will have your song to sing.
Be who you are,
Let happiness and joy
Break through,
The universe was wise enough
To only make the one of you.
bobby stevenson 2016
You’ll make it, I know you will,
You’ve come too far and now is not the time.
If only you stopped and thought about it all
The walls you’ve climbed, all the troubles crossed
All the failures faced, all the little victories
Look into the eyes of those beside you
The woman at the table
The man in the street
It’s there, deep-set perhaps – but there all the same,
The very same terror as you
A flicker of recognition in both your eyes and then you move on
So if they can live in temporary quiet desperation
Then so can you
And one day soon you’ll make it across
To where you can start again
I know you will
You’ve come too far, to stop.
bobby stevenson 2016
100 years from now, nothing of this life will be remembered,
Not you, nor I, nor once that we were here,
We only stayed long enough to scratch the sand upon the beach before the
Tide took back its own.
100 years from now, no one will know my name, nor care
That here I stood and lived a life with all those
Other nameless souls,
Yet we knew each other by the joy and sorrow
Trapped inside our eyes
And each of us took that remembrance to our graves.
bobby stevenson 2017
dinosaur footprint Texas University.
I remember that day we said goodbye,
The day I asked you if there were any regrets,
You said, you wished you had realised sooner
That everyone matters.
The thing is, I didn’t know what you meant then –
But I do now.
Who has any idea how much oxygen a person brings to your life
Or how much you bring to theirs?
You have no idea why a person is in this life or yours,
And so what you don’t do, is make judgements,
Treat everyone as though they have the potential to be
Anything or everything,
Love and smile,
You are not God.
bobby stevenson 2016
wee bobby
Just ‘cause you’re breathing,
Doesn’t mean you’re alive,
Just ‘cause you’re clever,
Doesn’t mean that you’re wise,
Just ‘cause you’ve faith,
Doesn’t mean that you’re kind,
Because you can see,
Doesn’t mean you’re not blind.
Just ‘cause you’re loving,
Doesn’t mean you know love,
And by sitting in church,
You don’t speak for Above,
Just ‘cause you’re hurting,
Doesn’t make you unique,
And because you feel down,
Doesn’t mean that you’re weak,
Just ‘cause you’re thinking,
Doesn’t mean you don’t strive,
Just ‘cause you’re breathing,
Doesn’t mean you’re alive.
bobby stevenson 2016 (alive, just)
wee bobby
We live in twilight,
We do,
All of us who stay silent about these things,
All of us who never speak up and say it’s wrong,
So another one of us is taken from the river of life,
And we thank the heavens that it wasn’t our turn,
Not today, at least,
Not this time,
But someday soon, because we never spoke up,
It will be our turn,
And as the hook silently spears our mouths,
We’ll forever wish
That fish could scream.
bobby stevenson 2016
wee bobby
Bruises
You knew all this,
You even let it become a part of you,
“Who me? A bully? I don’t think so, friend. Not I.”
But yet, you knew it all the same,
That words don’t ever leave bruises,
And that is what you’ve counted on,
All your life.
Choking On Your Word
When they found him,
His face, it wore a perfect smile,
No troubles etched upon his brow.
The cause of death,
Was hard to say,
He’d smiled just once,
Just once he’d smiled
And then his eye-shine and soul
Went on their way.
They cut him up to find the cause,
And there they were,
In stomach, blood,
And in his brain,
He’d choked on all the words inside
All the words he’d tried to hide.
He kept each one –
Instead of spitting all them out,
They killed him in the end.
bobby stevenson 2016
PLEASE WATCH:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnj3cR-AOeI&feature=youtu.be
“I know all of this is crazy
Every last crazy second of it
And I know that there have been bad times
And good times, and times that it hurts so bad that
You feel as if your heart has stopped.
But there has been laughter too, and friendship
And all the silent victories.
And love, most importantly, love.
No matter what form it has taken.
So yeh, I know it’s crazy,
What with all of this going on
And no reason for any of it,
Yet I’m going give it a try for another day
Just to see what happens.”
bobby stevenson 2016
If all of this were up to me,
My gifts would be of other things,
The son to spend an afternoon
With a father long since gone,
The granddad seeing his offspring grow,
As his life goes on and on,
The children gone before their time,
Would come back home and ring the chime,
And chances lost would be our choice,
To try just one more time,
The girl whose births would fill a home,
A brother not a day alone,
The friend who’d never know the pain,
Of all that cancer brings,
If all of this were up to me,
Then these would be my things.
bobby stevenson 2015 photo: Me collecting tadpoles
Bruises
You knew all this,
You even let it become a part of you,
“Who me? A bully? I don’t think so, friend. Not I.”
But yet, you knew it all the same,
That words don’t ever leave bruises,
And that is what you’ve counted on,
All your life.
Choking On Your Words
When they found him,
His face, it wore a perfect smile,
No troubles etched upon his brow.
The cause of death,
Was hard to say,
He’d smiled just once,
Just once he smiled
And then his eye-shine and soul
Went on their way.
They cut him up to find the cause,
And there they were,
In stomach, blood,
And in his brain,
He’d choked on all the words inside
All the words he’d tried to hide.
He kept each one –
Instead of spitting all them out,
They killed him in the end.
bobby stevenson 2016
wee bobby
No one will stand by your grave and weep
Nor will they talk of long-lost friends
No one will raise a drink nor wish you well
For all the years you spent near by
You were not asked nor were you wanted here
Be sure you have not won the war
This battle has only just begun
We will not rest, nor disappear
Until the day a child asks:
“Please tell me, what was cancer?”
bobby stevenson 2016
For family and friends.
