The recent spate of poetry in Obiter has come to the attention of one of our favourite solicitor poets, Willenhall-based Ian Henery.


We originally featured Mr Henery some years ago with his work 'Marilyn the Mermaid', which began with this intriguing preamble: 'People often ask where the magic has gone in the world. How can Mother Nature give fairies, elves and mer-people when our furnaces belch filth into the sky and we shamelessly tip pollution into the seas killing dolphins and seals? No life, love or happiness could ever survive.'



Anyway, Mr Henery is back and informs us that he has recently applied to be Walsall's first poet laureate - which would be rather nifty and a first for a solicitor, we reckon - with recent achievements including an award to help him with his innovative project to use poetry as a means of helping heroin addicts overcome their addictions. Here, we reproduce a poem he performed last month at the Whitmore Reans Cultural Day awards and presentation evening in Wolverhampton:



You Are



You are

The first blush of a bride's cheek,

The promise of payday next week

You are-



You are

The first fluff on a young man's chin,

The hangover from a bottle of gin

You are-



You are

The knowing smile of first-conceived motherhood

The fire that courses through my blood,

You are-



And when dreams are all around my feet,

Courage fails, heart misses a beat

Drowning, I'm lost in a storm,

Wondering who is keeping my bed warm

You are-



And when the kids are all grown up,

Old, rationed to beer in an egg cup,

Deaf but never to an electric guitar

Wondering who is waiting

You are