{"id":4456,"date":"2019-02-28T07:54:31","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T07:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/?p=4456"},"modified":"2019-02-23T08:06:39","modified_gmt":"2019-02-23T08:06:39","slug":"connections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/connections\/","title":{"rendered":"Connections"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>For the late John Ratcliffe, to help give peace and comfort to David Ratcliffe, freinds and family. A rambling verse written as it flowed, I hope its OK&#8230; As can probably be guessed the connections theme plays on the internet, and how it connects those of us who otherwise never would know each other, and the positives that brings&#8230; The Blackwater Poetry Group on Facebook is from where I know his father David and his writings&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justgiving.com\/fundraising\/johnratcliffelr?fbclid=IwAR0svZH7CTZQ1yal6ZCmlkpAWwfYsFxE-lqhExTX8xPs-EPUERgCXhp8XqM&amp;utm_campaign=pfp-share&amp;utm_content=JOHNRATCLIFFELR&amp;utm_medium=fundraisingpage&amp;utm_source=Facebook&amp;utm_term=E8gR2rKEK\">A donations page to MIND in his memory, with a summary of his life story to be celebrated his on his cousins JustGiving page <\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<figure style=\"width: 770px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/images.jg-cdn.com\/image\/40c2f6c1-6b4e-42b4-9132-6898c9211291.jpg?template=FundraisingPageHeroImageM\" alt=\"The late John Ratcliffe\" width=\"770\" height=\"433\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>The late John Ratcliffe<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The spider weave from leave to branch<br \/>\nThat links to branch via trunk of tree<br \/>\nThat links to earth through roots to soil<br \/>\nThat through our feet links you and me&#8230;<br \/>\nWe walk on unaware<br \/>\nThat each step we take, as our feet fall<br \/>\nSends a message to other feet to root to trunk<br \/>\nTo leaf, to web, to spider from us all.<br \/>\nWe say we don&#8217;t talk to spiders&#8230;<br \/>\nWhy should we, what would we say?<br \/>\nWhat have you seen there hanging around<br \/>\nWhat sort of fly did you eat today?<br \/>\nThe spider speaks not to us<br \/>\nA giant shadow on the paths below<br \/>\nWhose business it could not comprehend<br \/>\nFor whom necessary indifference it seems to show&#8230;<br \/>\nUntil it glides down,<br \/>\nFloating on silk,lands on our hair&#8230;<br \/>\nWalks with is the path of life<br \/>\nUs all knowing , being unaware&#8230;<br \/>\nWe walked with a spider today<br \/>\nAs we went shopping in the mall<br \/>\nIn the pub we went for a pint with our pals<br \/>\nSomewhere, somehow parted company in the fall<br \/>\nOf the spider from our jacket it crawled down<br \/>\nMaybe intentional, maybe accidental, incidents of chance event<br \/>\nSentient beings both in our own world<br \/>\nWhich we go separate fates content<br \/>\nThe world itself and people too<br \/>\nBeing like the person and the fly<br \/>\nLinked by vibrations of our lives<br \/>\nThrough roots to leaves that wave in the sky<br \/>\nBlown by the passing breeze<br \/>\nThat sends the chill over our faces<br \/>\nThat we pull scarves across to keep warm<br \/>\nAs we must do in these wintry places&#8230;<br \/>\nThis binary web that links us all<br \/>\nWho otherwise never would meet<br \/>\nLinks our hands, through keyboards and fingers<br \/>\nTo our hearts, as we walk down the street<br \/>\nAbout our own business in the modern world<br \/>\nYet we feel each others joy and pain,<br \/>\nWe feel their loss, sometimes comfort give<br \/>\nYet, reality with is shall remain&#8230;<br \/>\nLet us be glad of the connections<br \/>\nThrough wire strands and fingers between ye and I<br \/>\nNot forgetting the connections with the earth<br \/>\nThrough the tree, to leaf, so spider eating his fly<br \/>\nFor breakfast, who wonders why<br \/>\nIn verses like here he is forgot<br \/>\nThe connection with spider celebrated&#8230;<br \/>\nHe too is nature, is he not?<br \/>\nThe answer to that I cannot give<br \/>\nI know not all, I am put a poet who writes<br \/>\nThe spider an animal who kills to live<br \/>\nThe fly who to live fights&#8230;<br \/>\nI have more things on my mind today<br \/>\nThan connections to spider and flies through trunks of trees<br \/>\nAs rambling verse seeks comfort to give<br \/>\nTo a distant parent who for his son grieves,<br \/>\nThe tears that fall to earth<br \/>\nJoin the waters in the soil<br \/>\nThat join the rivers, falls and pools<br \/>\nThe oceans that stretch beyond the sight of eye<br \/>\nThat evaporate under searing sun<br \/>\nMaking clouds, and winds that blow on our face<br \/>\nRustling leaves, blowing spiders as we walk beneath trees<br \/>\nMyriad of connections in this place<br \/>\nThis rock that we call home for a while<br \/>\nShould heaven prove true for you and me<br \/>\nWe shall meet each other, and the loved ones we have lost<br \/>\nTogether for eternity<br \/>\nLet us be now like the fisherman<br \/>\nWhose catch in his net are our good times in life<br \/>\nBe happy for the haul that came ashore<br \/>\nRue not the shoal swam away to spite the strife<br \/>\nOf casting the net:<br \/>\nTo do so it is to breath<br \/>\nThat&#8217;s life itself, unknown connections&#8230;<br \/>\nIt can be both kind and cruel indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; For the late John Ratcliffe, to help give peace and comfort to David Ratcliffe, freinds and family. A rambling verse written as it flowed, I hope its OK&#8230; As can probably be guessed the connections theme plays on the internet, and how it connects those of us who otherwise &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[155,308],"tags":[4180,157,2354,156,65,1874,493,313,4181],"class_list":["post-4456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-death","category-obituaries","tag-addiction","tag-bereavement","tag-death","tag-family","tag-life-2","tag-memorial","tag-memories","tag-obituary","tag-son","column","twocol"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7EI4f-19S","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2500,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/memories-of-your-mother\/","url_meta":{"origin":4456,"position":0},"title":"Memories of Your Mother","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"30th January 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"For Liam O' Roirdan of the Blackwater Poetry Group on the passing of his mother. The group does a day of verse on the passing of a members loved one, and these are all too common. Nice to be able to give a bit of comfort to another through our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Obituaries&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Obituaries","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/obituaries\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Galway Cathederal at dawn: the dusk of life that is death, is the dawn of the life beyond the veil...","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Galway-Cathederal.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Galway-Cathederal.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Galway-Cathederal.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Galway-Cathederal.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Galway-Cathederal.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3311,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/some-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":4456,"position":1},"title":"Some Man","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"5th December 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Your some man\" ~ Joe \"Your some man!\", that was his phrase A catch all that could mean anything: Be it that you are, or maybe are a fool!!! To the mind his memory that phrase'll bring... A character, the truth be told Always with a quip and story to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Death&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Death","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/death\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The late Joe T - a life fully lived... that was some Clyde Navigation as he would say himself!!!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Some-Clyde-Navigator-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":197,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/what-we-leave-behind-r-i-p-sarah-lundberg-of-seven-towers\/","url_meta":{"origin":4456,"position":2},"title":"&#8220;What We Leave Behind&#8221; &#8212; R.I.P. Sarah Lundberg of Seven Towers","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"27th July 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Just heard of the passing of the Dublin writer and publisher Sarah Lundberg. She ran the Seven Towers publishing house and ran the Last Wednesday reading night in Dublin. Sarah Lundberg R.I.P. \"What We Leave Behind\" We never think of life as passing, Tomorrow shall always be, So we think\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Death&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Death","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/death\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sarah Lundberg R.I.P.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Sarah-Lundberg-RIP.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3417,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/he-bore-witness-to-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":4456,"position":3},"title":"He Bore Witness To The World","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"12th December 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Bears witness through written word, Records it line by line: The song of the earth: its painful cry, Behind smiling face that says its fine. Such duty it is the poets lot Who in verse writing peace does seek Cause wars of their own known to theirs alone Artistic temperment\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Obituaries&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Obituaries","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/obituaries\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The late John Montague ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/images-300x160.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1040,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/breaching-the-veil\/","url_meta":{"origin":4456,"position":4},"title":"Breaching the Veil","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"3rd October 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Death creeps like a shadow and darkens our lives... In time the truth we see The shadow is cast by the unseen light Of the soul that now is free On our passing, we through the darkness will pass One again, once again, we will be. This poem was published\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Books&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3814,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/december-8th-2011\/","url_meta":{"origin":4456,"position":5},"title":"December 8th 2011","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"8th December 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Cold wet soil of winter Is now her bed, darkness Eternal, wooden case embraces The body now still, but she Feels not the coldness of the earth Her spirit flown, at peace we hope As she seeks oneness with God On this her first birthday away from us We hope\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Death&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Death","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/death\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Their last photo together in good health","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Mam-and-Dad.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Mam-and-Dad.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Mam-and-Dad.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Mam-and-Dad.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4456"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4457,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4456\/revisions\/4457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}