with undying gratitude to everyone working at Blenheim
It should have been a day of celebration
When VMBooks became The Real Thing
Instead, the party cancelled, voices silenced
As Covid reared its head and took a swing
At all the public interest and then some
At every dancing plan that we had laid
And so I walked alone in dawning Blenheim
Gritting my teeth and hoping that the trade
Would somehow wake to find us fully blossomed
Miraculous and published like the best
Seeing a Heron perching by the lakeside
Knowing my dreams had floundered, that my quest
Stood in sheer awful peril of extinction
A waste of time and effort, money spent,
Word upon word a total squalid nonsense
Thrown in the slush of sheer incompetence
And yet. And yet. As dawn broke over Blenheim
My heart pumped pride and even wild joy
Ambition of my lifetime had been realised
The books were out, their clarity no toy.
I reached the Blenheim bridge and stood alone there
With wash of sky and waters still and grey
I thanked my dear companions and their workload
Who’d toiled alongside me, and blessed that day.
No other soul in sight except a seagull
Who flew and perched, who checked me up and down
Who squawked and cackled, flapping with his wingspan
And told me I was not some silly clown.
Up and away he flew to tell the others
That birth in Blenheim happened. As the sun
Emerged to dazzle lake and all its waters
And told me Yes. Move on. Your day has come.
with very special gratitude to my designer, Paul Downes
10 June 2026
Blenheim’s marvellous wild life blossoms and flourishes
on its famous lakes. This Great Blue Heron’s cousin was
the first to congratulate me as VMBooks that morning …