Anti-Social Media

Picture perfect,

It may well look

But the cover won’t reveal the book.

Smiling faces,

A snapshot in time

All create the illusion online.

Apply a filter,

Live video stream

Could slightly boost your self-esteem.

Sugar-coated,

Triumphs only

Prove to the world you’re not lonely.

How many likes?

How many friends?

Follow life through a warped lens.

Broadcast perfection,

Don’t look too close

Careful not to overdose.

Screen shot of

Inspirational quote

Did you see what she wrote?

Keyboard warrior,

Cyber troll

Try not to really show your soul.

Mundane chores,

Everyday reality

They’re not things you’re going to see.

Turn off the computer,

Put down the phone

Or you may well find you’re all alone.

 Copyright  © Sophie Harrington (2017)

Diamonds

Like unmined diamonds
Their feelings lay buried.
Their dazzling beauty, concealed.
Suppressed but perfectly preserved.
Unchartered, undisturbed.
Unexplored.

And it would take an explosion
To erupt their true exquisiteness,
The enchantment of these jewels
Would be unsurpassed, unparalleled;
But neither held the catalyst.
Neither would light the touch paper.

So there the rough diamonds lay.
Pure and magnificent.
Unhandled by human touch.
Unscrutinised, they held their enduring beauty.
Unfathomable enigma.
For all eternity.

Copyright  © Sophie Harrington 

A poem from an old teenage years notebook.

Seize the Day

Cherish every opportunity
And tell them how you feel
Regrets are such bitter torment
Punishment if you don’t make
Each chance count.

Don’t let another day go by
Impermanency demands you live
Every day as if it’s your last.
Mortality is our reality.

Copyright  © Sophie Harrington (2017)

Need to savour life? Also read Slow Down.

 

 

Time (Read it, then read it from the bottom up)

Time goes by too quickly

If you believe

You cannot

Enjoy the little things

You realise you

Get older

Can’t ever imagine you’ll

Last forever

You believe you must

Make the most of it

Frequently

Feels like a month

Passing one day

Often think

You must

Rush

You must not

Find time to play

Always

Busy

Making sure you are

Enjoying every second

For the moment

You live easily

To fill a day

For you

It seems like an age

Since you are a child

(Now read from the bottom up)

Copyright  © Sophie Harrington (2016)

Like this poem? Try Slow Down

Slow Down

I originally posted Slow Down in 2015

Birth of a Naturalist

No amount of scrubbing

Will clean these grubby nails.

These small hands keep scrabbling

At rocks, all kinds of shale.

 

Tiny digits seeking out

Any kind of critter.

Lifting up the stones to scout

Before they reconsider.

 

They scatter as light invades

Their community disturbed.

Futile efforts to barricade

Are nearly always curbed.

 

He deftly scoops the woodlice

As they start to flee.

Tweezer fingers so precise

When he wants them to be.

 

If he could handle a pencil

With such dexterity

There wouldn’t be the immense hill

He seeks for scholastic clarity.

 

If this could be his classroom

How happy he would be.

We count the flowers in bloom

And use chalk rocks for literacy.

 

Your gentle love of nature

And wonder at the earth

Makes you my personal teacher

And reminds me of all it’s worth.

 

So let’s explore the garden,

And play amongst the leaves,

Because as you grow, you’ll harden

To all a five-year-old perceives.

 

Copyright  © Sophie Harrington (2016)

Try Sophie Harrington poems for parents? – Read Slow Down or Little Boys or Little Girls

Slow Down

Slow down, it’s not too late

Leave the dishes, they can wait

He’s asking you if you want to play

Don’t say no and turn away.

I must cook your tea now little one

I have to finish cleaning now I have begun.

He walks away, you carry on

He’ll soon stop asking, he’ll soon be grown.

He pulls your trousers and says please play

But you’re trying to put his things away

I can’t right now, my precious one

Just wait a while and I will be done.

But later comes and it’s time for tea

Bath time next and bed you see

You must learn that he won’t stay 

This little for long and want you to play.

Put down the saucepan and run outside

You can count while he tries to hide.

He’ll remember this and so will you

These precious moments are oh, so few.

Copyright  © Sophie Harrington (2015)

More of my poems for parents: Back to School and Birth of a Naturalist

My poem was also published on Netmums website http://www.netmums.com/children/slow-down-a-poem-for-parents

It had a great reaction on Netmums’ Facebook page, with almost 1,400 likes and 545 shares on that site alone!

April

Green buds of hope unfurled from seasoned branches in the radiant glare.

Their tender fingers opening with naive certainty,

Oblivious the clear, cloudless sky would bring a view of sparkling infinity in hours.

The insulating security blanket had rolled back to reveal

The infant leaves’ first glimpse of the starry night sky.

A marvel of hypnotic celestial clarity

And the gnawing bite of bitter frost.

Sophie Harrington 2018

Live in the moment

 

In a world of distractions

Of virtual interactions

It’s easy to squander the now.

 

To fret of the future 

Of how life will treat you

Wastes the precious now.

 

Reliving past blunders

Distracts today’s wonders

And takes the focus off now.

 

So savour the present

Ignore petty discontent

Live in the moment – now. 

 

Copyright  © Sophie Harrington

Haiku ;)

Haiku seems pointless

You’re just getting to the point

When it comes to an…

Memories

Sentimentality

Keeps messing with my head,

It takes a  pleasing moment

And makes it magnificent instead.

 

Nostalgia paints it golden

Makes it altogether pure:

A rose-tinted  yearning

Is what I wistfully endure.

 

I long for a future

Where I’m not dissatisfied.

I want to find a place

Dreams and reality can collide.

 

Copyright © Sophie Harrington (2017)

One Life

This is it.

There’s no practice run

No waiting game

For anyone.

 

This is it.

Make it good

Live for now

As you said you would.

 

This is it.

Enjoy this day

Make memories

And time to play.

 

This is it.

You can’t restart

Learn from mistakes

Be true to your heart.

 

Copyright © Sophie Harrington (2017)

Black and White

I saw the world in black and white
And everything seemed clear
Assured of what was right and wrong
Of all that was loved and dear.

But as I grew, the grey seeped in
And with it my uncertainty.
I saw that decisions made
Were not fuelled by perversity.

Life is much too complicated
To always get things right.
You can’t judge someone’s choices
Unless you truly know their plight.

To utterly understand decisions
To see the world’s vast views
You have to do the impossible:
You’d have to walk in their shoes.

Copyright  © Sophie Harrington (2017)

BMX Brother

Bombing down the leafy snicket
Clinging to my brother’s back. 
He was late back from cricket
Now he’s cycling like a maniac.

Mum asked him to take me
To the Brownie hut.
He quickly gulped down tea
And a jammy doughnut.

I’m balanced on the BMX stunt pegs
He saved up for his back wheels. 
My dress bunched between my legs
So it won’t catch sending me head over heels.

The sun is winking through the trees
As we zoom down the alley.
I can feel the spring breeze
While he pedals madly.

My calves keep catching on the tyre
But I don’t make a noise.
Even though it feels like fire
I want to be one of the boys.

I won’t be a cry-baby
I ignore the no cycling sign.
As we whizz past a lady
I’m on cloud nine.

I love having a big brother
Who can do this.
He’s not like any other
And I’m his little sis.

Copyright  © Sophie Harrington (2017)