New Year Resolutions

What's the point of New Year resolutions?

Experience shows they are to be given up

Within two months

Do we set the bar too high?

Do we set too many goals?

Are they only an expression

Of our wants and desires

Without any realistic check?

Let's be truthful here

We are not going to change

The status quo ,

It might not be perfect

But if it works , why fix it?

It might pinch here and there

But if we are comfortable 

The chances are

We won't bother.

So my friends

Happy New Year

Enjoy all of it

Without any regrets!

Lucette C. Bailliet

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The hunt

Ducks waddling across the paddock

They don't deserve a glance

A group of Roos holding a conference by the gate

They can hold the fort

A pair of rabbits crossing the track

Always busy those ones

The dog oblivious to all the environment 

Is tracking the one and only honourable prey 

The elusive, perfect stone

He sniffs here and there 

Nose to the ground in circles

Until it finds the telling smell

Once spotted it follows its track

It won't loose it, oh no

Indefatigable he runs to its lair

Starts digging frantically around it

Spraying all and sundries with gravel and soil

Until it gets it out, settling to enjoy it

Licking it to a pristine state

Only then it will carry it 

All the way back home

Proudly wagging its tail

What a hunt!

Lucette C. Bailliet

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Merry Christmas

'Twas a grumpy gardener

Pushing around his rusty wheelbarrow 

You couldn't miss its rickety clanging 

Christmas morn came

By the tree stood a cutting-edge wheelbarrow 

'Twas a happy gardener

Tending to his garden beds.

'Twas a night owl kind of a girl

Sleep eluded her completely 

Couldn't get up in the morning

Was dreaming of a new pillow

To rest her sleepy head

Old man Christmas delivered

She had the softest dreams hereafter!

Lucette C. Bailliet 

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Christmas tree

As Christmas has lost its meaning

Reduced to a shopping feast

The one pagan symbol of the tree

Endures and renews its purpose

It always stood for the end of winter

For longer days to shine

The way to the incoming Spring 

For love to follow in its steps

It now seems to pick up a new meaning

That of carrying wishes in the new year

So it's time to deck the tree

Loading it with my best wishes

For your happiness, prosperity 

Health and success!

May the new year bring Peace 

And Reason to mankind

So it can prosper and live

In tune with the Earth.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year! 

Lucette C. Bailliet 

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Aleppo

Doomed is the town 

Inhabited by the Storm God

Along the milleniums 

It has sustained fifteen empires

 Four Kingdoms and Caliphates

Invasions waves succeeded each other

From the Hittites to the Mongols 

Hosted all religions

Each one bringing destruction and killings

As an offering to that sanguinary deity

When it was felt insufficient

An earthquake wiped a quarter of a million lives

It is a very demanding God , Hadad

Do the names of Khalpe, Khalibon,

Beroea, Haram-Zobath, Halam, Halab, 

Alep, Aleppo resonate at all? 

Barely rediscovered from oblivion

The Thundering One 

Required a new donation

Amidst exploding bombs

Children, women and men are killed.

Aleppo will rise once again

From the smoking ruins

To feed this bloodthirsty God

For as long as mankind exists

It will follow the red hazed folly.

Lucette C. Bailliet

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Santa Lucia

No phone call 

No celebratory card

No candle lit

No cake baked

No songs

No cheers

'Twas my name day 

No one remembered

Santa Lucia who is revered

From Italy to Finland

Never made it on our shores

What a sad day!

Lucette C. Bailliet

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December moon

Like the queen in Snow White checking her mirror,

The moon refreshed by her monthly beauty sleep

Comes to town to check Christmas decorations

As every year she's the ultimate judge,

For December is the dangerous month for

Which town will challenge her own brilliance

She hovers low in the dusk sky

Surrounded by the creatures of the night

Taking their evening flight , 

Noting every detail

Nothing escapes her

This year the town has put on a good show

She has to admit

But nothing approaches her serene luminescence

And she rises in the night sky undisturbed 

To continue on her imperious way.

Lucette C. Bailliet

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Philosophy of the real estate agent

At the auction in the town club

Nice place, says I

I simply love this place, says he

My best friends married here , adds he

How nice! Reply I 

Of course they bought their first house,

With us here too

How convenient! Thought I

When their brood grew, 

Bought a bigger house, 

Still with us, in this place , declares he

How lovely! So many memories! Opine I 

When they divorced 

We sold their house 

Always here, this is life! 

Isn't it? Philosophises he

This is so true, answer I.

Such is the philosophy of the real estate agent!

Lucette C. Bailliet

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Forest walk

In the hustle of life

The forest is a retreat

The sandy path gently leads

To a harbour of peace

Between the tall trees

Even the sunset is muted

Birds are slowly settling down

Not a leaf is stirring 

Not a kangaroo to be seen

Everything is in a harmonious stasis

My steps are crunching the peace

Leave your worries there

Breath and heal your soul

Feel the blissful instant

No demands, no challenges

Exist simply in the moment

Following the path.

Lucette C. Bailliet 

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Summery haiku

Bottom in the mud

Clogs flying up in the air

Summery games.

Black cloud

A black cloud shades me 

Faithfully wherever I go 

Imprinted firmly in my head 

As the storm rages 

Playing with the howling whirlwind 

The silver lining of it all

What beautiful rainbows it creates

High above the roof a double arch

Protecting the house and its people

Spreads itself against its blackness 

Bringing a ray of hope

The rain so long awaited

Does not bring relief

Times are black, it will get better

The night might be long and hard

The sun will still shine in the morning.

Lucette C. Bailliet 

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New meaning

 Hello pain my old companion

Came to visit me again

For old times sakes,

It's a waiting game now.

I knew I was in trouble

When next to the magazines

There stood the holy bible,

When the poster in the examining room

Ends up by saying

"Live like it was your last day"

Some motivational messages!

Someone has an agenda 

Prying on vulnerable gens

Pain and fear are best paired

To get souls back to the church cradle

Missionary work has gained 

A new meaning by recruiting in surgeries.

Lucette C. Bailliet 

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Off kelter

Off kelter

My world is off kelter

Take my room for instance

I'm running out of space 

It's either shrinking

Or the bed is expanding!

The pets are no better

The dog eats banana

Licks and carries rocks

Cries to be brushed

When the cat shakes the chimney pot

It's time to bring the ladder

To let her climb it down 

For the roof is her domain 

My world is off kelter!

Lucette C. Bailliet 

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Merry Christmas

It feels weird, it feels strange for me to say so

It's disgusting, it's horrifying 

It's disappointing to say the least

Two thousand years and more have passed

And we humans have learnt nothing

If we go by the story in the good book

A refugee family in need is turned away

One among many

Once a year Christians all over the world,

Celebrate the birth of a babe in a manger, 

Talk about compassion, love and peace

The rest of the year happily

They demonise reality

What's the point of following a creed

If no one puts in action its principles?

Merry Christmas to all!

Lucette C. Bailliet

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