James Osben Mindfulness and Poetry

14/02/2026

To mark Valentine’s Day, here is what is believed to be the world’s oldest surviving love poem, written 1.5 million years ago by one of our earliest ancestors, homo unrequitus.

15/01/2026

Aunty Alice

She came to us on wheels and wind,
A home that wandered, bright and brave,
With children, stories, firelight songs,
And love she gave and gave and gave.

Not bound by blood, yet bound by heart,
She stitched herself into our days,
A neighbour first, then something more,
A constant in our childhood ways.

She sang as though the world were kind,
And danced as if the stars looked on,
In colours loud and jewellery bold,
A laugh that lingered long when gone.

When grief arrived without a map,
And time stood still in quiet shock,
She stood beside us, steady, soft,
A hand upon the breaking rock.

She knew how pain and joy could sit
Together round the same warm fire,
Where food was shared and stories rose
Like sparks that climbed and never tired.

She fed us hope with open hands,
With kindness worn like second skin,
A beauty not of passing things
But how she lived and let us in.

And now a book, a Christmas past,
Her words still waiting, clear and true,
A gift that travelled all these years
To say: I’m still right here with you.

So fly now, Alice, free and wide,
Beyond the roads, beyond the flame,
Still singing somewhere in the dark,
Still dancing, still the same.

You were not ours by name or claim,
Yet ours in every way that’s real.
Aunty Alice, one of a kind,
Forever loved.
Forever felt.

Poem by James Osben

———————

We heard the sad news of Alice’s passing yesterday. I don’t have a photo to hand but I generated an artistic image that captures my memory of her from when I was young. It’s not an exact likeness but I think it embodies her essence. She was with us when we got the call that my dad had died and I am thankful that she was. I was 12 at the time. She bought me one of my favourite books which I have been reading to the girls.

09/01/2026

🌙✨ A Proclamation to All Players, Dreamers, and Merry Fools ✨🌙

O hark! O hark! Beneath the moonlit sky,
Where ancient stone and whispered rivers lie,
Dartmouth’s proud Castle waits, its walls aglow,
For sprites and lovers yet their tales to show.

If thou hast fire within thy beating breast,
A voice to speak, a limb that longs for jest;
If laughter quickens thee, or passion stirs,
Come test thy mettle where enchantment purrs.

For midsummer’s night draws close with fairy tread,
With Oberon crowned and Titania misled;
Where asses speak and lovers lose their way,
And moon-born madness rules the breaking day.

On January’s eighteenth and five-and-twenty too,
When morning bells strike eleven true,
Till three o’clock hath spent the sun’s bright span,
We seek each fairy, fool, lover and royal.

At Bridgetown Hall in Totnes fair,
Bring heart, bring hope, bring bold repair.
No scholar’s tongue nor laurels won we ask,
Only a soul that dares the actor’s task.

Send word by quill (or gentler modern art)
To theinntheatrecompany@gmail.com impart;
An audition pack shall wing its way,
To guide thee toward the forest’s play.

So come, good friends, and chase the dream,
Where nothing’s quite the thing it seems.
For all the world’s a stage, we swear,
And midsummer waits for thee… be there. 🌿🎭✨

Poem by James Osben

🌙🌿 STEP INTO THE DREAM… 🌿🌙

The woods are alive with magic, mischief and moonlight, and YOU could be part of it.
The Inn Theatre Company is casting for our 2026 open-air production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the breathtaking Dartmouth Castle ✨🏰

This is Shakespeare as it should be:
🧚 fairies at dusk
😂 riotous comedy
💛 romance, chaos and joy
🌌 performed beneath the open sky

Whether you’re an experienced actor, a lapsed performer, or someone who’s always wanted to give Shakespeare a go, now is your chance. No prior experience required, just imagination, commitment and a love of storytelling.

🎭 AUDITIONS
📅 Sunday 18th & Sunday 25th January
⏰ 11:00am – 3:00pm
📍 Bridgetown Community Hall, Totnes

📧 Request an audition pack: theinntheatrecompany@gmail.com

✨ “If we shadows have offended…”
…we promise to make it up to you with an unforgettable summer.

Tag your fellow dreamers, share the magic, and come play with us. 🎭✨

31/12/2025

Under the Single Light

He lifts his face
to where the dark thins,
as if hope were a ceiling
and light a question asked only once.

The world below him
has fallen silent,
names, noise, the weight of days
dissolve into shadow.

What remains
is bone and breath,
the honest geometry of a man
meeting himself without disguise.

The light does not save him.
It does not judge.
It simply arrives,
touching beard, cheek, eye,
saying this is enough to be seen.

And in that narrow mercy,
between black and knowing,
he stands unfinished,
still looking up.

Poem by James Osben

14/11/2025

Before the Quiet Comes

Before the quiet comes,
the mind stirs like wind tossed water
thoughts rushing, tumbling,
foam tipped and frantic,
all urgency and echo.

Unfinished moments from yesterday
creep back in the dark,
sitting heavy in corners,
growing shadows on the walls
where rest should be.
They fester, whisper,
stretch themselves larger than truth,
feeding the early hour silence
with their fevered chatter.

I lie awake in the thin light
before dawn remembers its name,
feeling the weight of what is unresolved,
how it presses on mood,
on breath,
on the soft animal of the heart.

Then, gently,
I recognise the swirl.
Not fighting,
not falling,
just noticing.
Awareness enters like a lantern,
steady handed,
a quiet friend arriving
to sit beside the storm.

I breathe.
Slow.
Deep.
Present.
Watching thoughts roll through
like weather I no longer fear.
Clouds pass when given sky.

And in this mindful settling,
the mind softens,
the waters clear,
the pulse steadies.

What felt endless
is already loosening its grip.
What felt permanent
is already changing shape.

This will pass,
as all storms do,
and in its leaving
I remember
that calm was never gone,
only waiting
to be noticed again.

By James Osben

11/11/2025

True story.

09/11/2025

Acceptance

Acceptance is not surrender,
nor drifting with the tide,
it’s the soft and steady turning
toward the life that waits inside.

It’s noticing the quiet whispers
of “not this” beneath the skin,
the thoughts that fight the moment,
the breath held tight within.

But when I pause and soften,
something subtle starts to shift,
the need to fix or flee dissolves,
the heart begins to lift.

The breath returns to centre,
warm and spacious in its flow;
emotions pass like weather,
arriving fast, then letting go.

Acceptance doesn’t cure the pain,
but eases what surrounds,
it lays a path of gentleness
across uncertain ground.

And in that space of kindness,
I find courage taking root:
to welcome what is happening,
to meet it resolute.

So here I stand, in presence,
not forcing life to bend;
each moment held with tenderness,
each breath a quiet friend.

Poem by James Osben

03/11/2025

👀👇 I’m in the wonderful production.

03/11/2025

Autumn Morning Drive

Along the A380 I glide,
Where drizzle veils the morning tide,
And silver threads of rain descend,
To meet the road that twists and bends.

The sky wears grey, soft, quiet, wide,
Yet autumn flames on either side;
Gold whispers through the hedgerows’ hair,
And scarlet sings in cool, still air.

The M5 hums its steady tune,
Beneath a shy, reluctant moon;
Then onward to North Devon’s way,
Through fields that dream of yesterday.

The rolling hills in emerald rest,
Their shoulders cloaked in nature’s vest,
While every leaf, a fleeting spark,
Defies the sky’s unyielding dark.

And in this motion, heart and rain,
I find the peace I can’t explain;
No grand design, no need to strive,
Just this, I’m here, I’m warm, alive.

Grateful breath, a whispered prayer,
For every road that leads me there.

Poem by James Osben

04/10/2025

🕊️ ❤️ In My Heart, Always ❤️ 🕊️

I remember the first time we met,
Paired in PE, a moment I won’t forget.
I was anxious, unsure, and a little shy,
But then you held my hand, and the fear passed by.

From that day on, we were quite the pair,
Through every laugh and every care.
Your wicked humor, your brilliant grin,
Made the world brighter, where to begin?

You shaped who I am, from the very start,
Now with you gone, a piece of my heart
Is missing, but you’re never far away,
I hear your laugh with me every day.

Kind, caring, funny, and true,
The best of humanity shone through you.
Though you’re gone, I feel you near,
In memories cherished, you still appear.

Gone but never forgotten, my dear friend,
In my heart, you’ll never end.
Happy heavenly birthday, I miss you so,
I love you always, more than you know.

Poem James Osben (for my best friend Davina)

20/09/2025

Just be

No past to chase, no future to fear,
Only this breath, now crystal clear.
The tick of time, a fading sound,
Replaced by stillness all around.

The mind, once wild, now gently sways
Like trees that yield to sunlit haze.
No need to fix, no need to flee,
Just be the sky, the cloud, the sea.

A teacup warm within your hand,
The feel of earth, the grains of sand.
A sparrow’s call, a rustling leaf,
These moments hold the world’s relief.

No anxious scripts, no inner war,
No tally kept of less or more.
The breath comes in, the breath goes out,
What once was fear now fades to doubt.

And in its place, a subtle grace,
A quiet smile upon your face.
You see anew, without the race,
That life is here, not some far place.

This is the gift, the sacred art,
To feel each beat within your heart.
No grasping, striving, heavy load,
Just walking gently on the road.

Just breathing in, just breathing out,
The world no longer cast in doubt.
No need to run, no need to roam,
Each breath, each step, already home.

Poem by James Osben

19/09/2025

“The Quiet Abundance”

Abundance is not always gold,
Nor riches stacked in towers bold.
It’s in the breath we did not earn,
The sun that rises in return.

It’s in the morning’s softened light,
A robin’s song at edge of night,
The laughter shared, the love that stays,
The peace in long-forgotten days.

It’s in the kindness freely given,
The second chance, the grace, forgiven.
A steaming cup, a warm embrace,
A moment held in still, sweet space.

It’s in the hands that reach, not take,
The hearts that bend but never break.
In nature’s bloom, the ocean’s roar,
In open arms, in unlocked doors.

We are not poor, though coins be few,
When skies are vast and dreams are true.
When stories dance in fireside glow,
And children teach us what we know.

So pause and see, the world is wide,
With miracles we hold inside.
To live, to love, to simply be,
Is wealth beyond what eyes can see.

Abundance hums in wind and rain,
In joy, in tears, in loss, in gain.
Let gratitude become your song,
You’ve had the truth within all along.

Poem by James Osben