No News Is Good News

 

 

No news is good news,

Have you ever heard the saying?

Yet we always fear the worst

When no news we are hearing.

 

She left ever since evening

And now it is late into the night

And having heard no news

You fear a terrible plight.

 

He went out with the car

And said would he be back shortly,

That was quite a while ago

And you fear an emergency.

 

You say you’re not going to worry

For no news is good news

But you’re wondering all the time,

About what you should do.

 

“But, why doesn’t she call me

And let me know that all is well?

She’ll be home as soon as she can

But right now, she cannot tell.”

 

But you are generations apart,

That’s not a young people’s thing

Hence, you cannot be expecting

That the phone will ring.

 

Even that you are afraid of-

I mean the ringing of the phone,

It will most likely be bad news-

And you’ll have to leave home.

 

 

Yet, no news is good news

You have been known to declare

But that’s when it’s another’s problem;

Not when it’s your affair.

 

That talk is cheap

Is another saying you have heard

It is only when the shoe pinches

That you are forced to concur.

 

No news is good news?

No, that saying is not true

For when information is lacking

That is not our view.

 

We can pretend all we like

That no news is good news

But until we actually find out for sure,

Bad news is our view.

 

Everything points that way

The longer that loved one stays out

And with the minutes ticking away

There is even more doubt.

 

No news is good news

If you don’t anticipate bad news

But when the brain goes a roving

The mind goes a roving too.

 

Stewart Russell © June 10, 2023

 

Do the Right Thing

 

 

Do the right thing

Come what may,

Don’t let anyone influence you

Any other way.

 

Sell your products

And sell your skills

But never sell yourself

For the devil’s pill.

 

His cure for all

Is a deadening pill,

That makes his patient numb

And insensitive.

 

It affects the eye

The brain and heart

And your power to reason

Just falls apart.

 

Do not be bought

But do the right thing,

Don’t sacrifice your integrity

For a fleeting fling.

 

Be a sore thumb

If it comes to that

But do not sell your soul

And be entrapped.

 

Do the right thing

Come what may,

Don’t let anyone influence you

Any other way.

 

Stewart Russell © February 28, 2025

 

Please Be More Talkative

 

 

Some say I talk too much,

Too much for my good

But I came across a recent note

Advising at my age I should.

 

You see, I am a senior citizen

And it is important that I talk

And I don’t intend to let anyone

Bring my talking to a halt.

 

So senior citizens be more talkative

And I will stress, “Please!”

Talking is very beneficial to us

And it brings much ease.

 

It is natural for seniors to talk,

After all, they have much to say,

And they deserve to be heard

The more in their later years.

 

They have worked very hard

And they have given us very much

So, why should they be confined

To being dummies now as such?

 

Therefore, let us talk all we want

Whether we make sense or not,

You don’t know what you will become,

We don’t choose our lot.

 

 

And besides, doctors say it’s good,

That it brings us many benefits

So, having reached my seventieth,

I will not break this habit.

 

In fact, I will talk even more,

And I will lucidly express myself,

I will not be putting my mouthpiece

On any forgotten shelf.

 

Talking activates our brain

And enhances our memory,

It releases the burdensome stress

In the absence of agility.

 

It activates our facial muscles

And makes us look younger longer

And even if we are not, in reality,

It makes us feel much stronger.

 

Talking exercises our throat

And increases our lung capacity,

It staves off the dreaded Alzheimer’s

Once known as senility.

 

So, let the old people talk

And that includes yours truly,

It makes for good quality old age

Before we are dead and buried.

 

Isn’t it any wonder

The ones that are usually gagged?

The very young and the old

Are the ones that are flagged.

 

In the former

Their brains are accelerating

While in the latter

Our minds are degenerating.

 

Both are considered as risks,

They may say the wrong thing

So, stop them in their prattling tracks

Before they begin to sing.

 

 

So, my dear senior citizens,

Please be more talkative

For in so doing, doctors assure us,

Old age would be less oppressive.

 

Stewart Russell © January 29, 2023

 

Brain Alacrity and Body Lethargy

 

 

As a man thinks so he is

But his body may disagree,

Check Proverbs chapter 23 verse 7

And this you will almost see.

 

Please note the difference

That I shall mention,

Heart and brain are not the same

To this you must pay attention.

 

“For as a man thinks in his heart

That is the character he be,

Eat and drink says he

But his heart is not with thee.

 

So one gets the impression

There be two with which we think,

We think in the heart it seems to me

And with the brain there is a link.

 

 

Check out the heart

When dealing with the emotional

But consult the brain

If the matter appears intellectual.

 

My focus I must submit

Targets the brain and not the heart,

Body alacrity and brain lethargy:

That’s the point at which I start.

 

No doubt you are wondering

What I am talking about,

This idea came to me this morning

When I gave my neighbour a shout.

 

 

 

He is quite a way up in age

But his brain is still thinking alacrity

And the speed at which it says to move

Conflicts with his body’s lethargy.

 

A stumble or a stump is the oft result

Whenever these two conflict,

When his brain says to “Go!”

At the same time his body says, “Quit!”

 

Often times then what a man thinks

He really is not,

The brain might be ready to go

But the body’s age says stop.

 

So as a man thinks in his brain

He very often is not

For depending on his age

He may be rooted to the spot.

 

 

This is no conflict with the Bible

For to the heart Solomon spoke,

I am thinking with my brain’s alacrity

But my body says, “Must be a joke.”

 

Consider your age my body dictates

“You are not as young as before.”

And before you step with alacrity

Contemplate body lethargy a bit more.

 

A word to the wise is sufficient

And by now you know I’m not that wise:

Brain alacrity and Body lethargy

Only precedes old people’s demise.

 

The young will never experience it

That is if they die before they get old,

Brain alacrity and body lethargy

Is for senior citizens only, I am told.

 

Stewart Russell © February 2019

 

Surefooted or Dim-witted

 

 

Be careful what you say

When dealing with your wife,

You may regret it later

Maybe for the rest of your life.

 

Surefooted or dim-witted?

That is the question I ask myself

Since I incurred this injury

That put me on the shelf.

 

I had a feeling about my feet,

I thought I was surefooted

But while having a conversation

My wife came up with dim-witted.

 

 

That is how I feel sometimes

When on my injury I reflect,

I felt I was surely surefooted

Hence, the fall I did not expect.

 

When you get around my age

The brain and the body disagree,

There are somethings you want to do

And the body says, “No, not me.”

 

At times brain doesn’t understand

What the body is trying to say

So brain urges on the body

But the body falls by the way.

 

 

Surefooted was a present delusion

 Though a past reality of long ago,

The body understands that well

The brain doesn’t seem to know.

 

That makes the brain dim-witted

And hence, that person too,

To ascertain whether this is you

Here is what you can do.

 

When next you attempt

To do something without thinking,

That is being dim-witted

Like a man that has been drinking.

 

A drunk is never surefooted

Just watch the way he walks,

He is dim-witted without a doubt

Listen to the folly that he talks.

 

 

Like any young person could

I felt that I could still run,

That was dim-witted in abundance

But surefooted-ness: none.

 

My recent history bears out that point

And consequently, my injury too,

Surefooted-ness: that is false

Dim-witted-ness: definitely true.

 

Stewart Russell © September 2019

 

Irresistible Sleep

 

I didn’t want to go to sleep

There was something I had to finish

But the more I thought about it

The more my senses diminished.

I looked up toward the clock

It was close to the end of the day,

I would put sleep off if I only could

But it appears I had no say.

My eyelids began to close

I literally tried to prize them open

But all I tried I just could not

It seemed a higher voice had spoken.

O how I wished I could finish

This task I had set myself

But wishing never got things done

Didn’t matter how sincere the pledge.

The truth of the matter really is

I could have accomplished this task

But when it was light I did otherwise

Now a few minutes more is all I ask.

Pen in my hand I struggled to write

As the words started coming to me,

They flowed from my brain

But my eyes now closed I could not see.

With one last resolve I tried again

If only I could open my eyes

But the lids clamped tight as in a vice

One, two, three, four tries.

The brain counted; the thoughts flowed

The fingers refused to write,

Slumber came and overpowered me

It was just about midnight.

Twenty-four hours in a given day

With lots of time to complete

But so many things vie for that time

For that time they all compete.

  

A feeble effort at prioritising

One that wasn’t near its best,

A frantic effort to fit tasks within

No wonder I failed time’s test.

An order I juggled and rearranged

As demands upon me pressed,

A wish at intervals throughout the day

To take a well deserved rest.

A little time for the mundane stuff

Well, more than a little in fact,

Caught up in a movie, two hours or so

Or listened to music track after track.

More time than planned

Spent old talking with a friend

From one topic to another

And just could not find the end.

A lunch hour that simply became two

More like two and a half to three,

A while to reflect on the little done

Like simply gazing out to sea.

Oh but I must be up and doing

Suddenly the realization strikes home

But alas most of the day is already spent

Now the problem is full blown.

So little time we are apt to complain

But is that really the case?

Wasted time is gone forever

And that time can never be replaced.

And now the day is far spent

Daylight has long gone its way,

One more task I wished I had done

But today was just not my day.

An unfinished task, maybe two or three

Confront me at the end of the day,

Remorse it seems as sleep engulfs

But a repeat is inevitably on the way.

Such is the case of our daily lives

Though opportunity beckons each day

But time will run out for each of us

If the Lord tarries we should say.

No next day to complete a task

This sleep will be different from the rest,

No efforts at opening up the eyes

‘Twill be the end of life and all its zest.

Stewart Russell © October 2017