AlanP

Gosh, Sandra, you posted your verdict at 4 am! I hope you’re catching up on sleep today. Thanks for an excellent comp theme, which elicited a host of cracking entries.

Congrats to Kate on a worthy win, and to John and Seagreen for their honourable mentions.

Fine with me, Sandra. Do you want to provide bank details for a transfer (by way of PM) or would you prefer a cheque?

Bringing a gun into a house changes it.

Atoms shift and reconfigure to make space
for this alien instrument
and what it might wreak.

It’s not the way, she pleads.
Violence begets violence
and can’t be undone.

Pushed back by forceful hands,
she quakes in the corner,
bible clutched to heart.

He sits rigid, jaw clenched, hairs on end,
the wei…[Read more]

Congrats, Sandra! A great accomplishment to get it in print after eight long years. Friends who know I write can’t understand why I’m still at it after five. I, too, would love a signed copy, and assume you reap more of the profit (!) if purchased direct rather than via Blurb? Could do a bank transfer.

And a catch-up is definitely due! x

Thanks, everyone. Bit of a relief, back on track now. It’s the context that makes all the difference. The song is about seeking adventure now, because it’s later than you think. Eg:
Hitchhike down to Mexico,
Drive to Kathmandu,
Better do it now, my friend,
Time catches up with you.

Thanks again, everyone.

I interpret this directly as: don’t ever put yourself in the position where you might regret the things you didn’t do,
which leads me indirectly to: don’t hold back from doing the things you could have done because you’re likely to regret it later.

The word adventure didn’t spring to mind when I read your post (though I get what you mean).…[Read more]

Ah yes. The previous line makes all the difference. I think it works fine.

Thanks Jane. The previous line, which I’m still working on, is something like:
Go now, go now, don’t hesitate, your only master’s you,
Don’t ever let yourself regret the things you didn’t do.

I think in that context it’s clearer. No?

Hmm. It was intended to mean if you seek adventure now it will not be necessary to later regret not having done so, but it does seem to imply the opposite.
Good line but in the wrong song!
Jonathan, I sing like a cat with its tail in a mangle, but maybe someone else might want to sing it. My interest is in the music and words.
Thanks, both of you.

Crossed with you, Jonathan.

At face value, John, to me it means the opposite. “Never regret not taking the adventurous decisions.”
The things you didn’t do? Maybe they were missed opportunities, but maybe not. Maybe they were best left alone. It’s all water under the bridge now, so there’s no point in spending time and effort on regretting what might have been.

To mean…[Read more]