{"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_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"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_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7EI4f-19S","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":976,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/all-sorts-of-accents-at-accents-cafe\/","url_meta":{"origin":4456,"position":0},"title":"All Sorts of Accents at Accents Caf\u00e9","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"27th October 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"As per invitation, we arrived at Accents Caf\u00e9 on Lower Stephens Street for seven-ish. OK, for once, I was actually early, arriving at the cafe dubbed Dublin's friendliest business in 2013, and was shown to the downstairs room which was full and abuzz with Irish, Slavic and Latin accents, to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"David Hynes - this time he kept his pants ON","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/David-Hynes-this-time-he-kept-his-pants-ON.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3146,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/kings-of-the-sun-of-sacred-bloodline\/","url_meta":{"origin":4456,"position":1},"title":"Kings of the Sun of Sacred Bloodline","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"16th May 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A work in progress reflecting on the death of the Sun King, its relationship to the modern Sangreal legends, and the connections of the French royal family with most others in Europe, and a lot of commoners as well!!!! Families such as Lynch and Drake in Ireland, through the Normans\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Holy Land&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Holy Land","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/holy-land\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Engraving: \"Day of 21 January 1793 the death of Louis Capet on the Place de la R\u00e9volution\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Day-of-21-January-1793-the-death-of-Louis-Capet-on-the-Place-de-la-Revolution.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Day-of-21-January-1793-the-death-of-Louis-Capet-on-the-Place-de-la-Revolution.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Day-of-21-January-1793-the-death-of-Louis-Capet-on-the-Place-de-la-Revolution.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Day-of-21-January-1793-the-death-of-Louis-Capet-on-the-Place-de-la-Revolution.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Day-of-21-January-1793-the-death-of-Louis-Capet-on-the-Place-de-la-Revolution.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3443,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/let-death-not-sneak-in-our-door\/","url_meta":{"origin":4456,"position":2},"title":"Let Death Not Sneak In Our Door","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"1st January 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In the days gone by during the War On the family farm in old Lislea My mother but a child she was The family set down to pray As families did in those times To give thanks for the little that they had Though times were tough to have little\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Family Stories&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Family Stories","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/family-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Parlour in old Lislea - always kept for the important visitors as per Irish tradition...","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/The-Parlour-in-old-Lislea.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/The-Parlour-in-old-Lislea.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/The-Parlour-in-old-Lislea.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/The-Parlour-in-old-Lislea.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2410,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/king-billy-and-the-pope\/","url_meta":{"origin":4456,"position":3},"title":"King Billy and The Pope","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"26th September 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The touring Orangemen in Stormont, To see the picture came, The victor of the Boyne, Who banished Popery to shame, But when they came upon it, The asked how could it be: For the pope blessing King Billy Was what they all could see. An outrage and an insult: With\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Current Affairs in Ireland&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Current Affairs in Ireland","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/ireland\/current-affairs-in-ireland\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fantompowa.net\/Flame\/king.billy.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":88,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/irish-family-funerals\/","url_meta":{"origin":4456,"position":4},"title":"Irish Family Funerals","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"18th March 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Patricks Day, everyone else went to the parade dressed in green. Not us. We are Cartys We are from Longford. We are just a little bit different... we dressed in black. and went to a funeral! R.I.P. Tiernan! We meet at funerals, and weddings, well others do. Us, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Death&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Death","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/death\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":217,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/saved-by-the-buttonhole\/","url_meta":{"origin":4456,"position":5},"title":"Saved by the Buttonhole","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"19th June 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\"They are buttonhole relations, when the buttonhole breaks, they are nothing\" ~ North Longford saying The flames of war streaked the sky Death reaped her bounty of those who died The order was out-slaughter without mercy Take no prisoners from the losing side. The sword was wielded, harbinger of death\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Family Stories&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Family Stories","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/family-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The arms of the Drake family of Drakesrath in Meath, also the arms of Drake of Ashe","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/drake-meath.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_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}]}}