Tuesday, December 31, 2013

SORAYA AVENUE

Your mere presence made my broken heart race,
With throbs at once exquisite and forlorn,
But each moment we were in the same place
Convinced me I had no more cause to mourn.
You were just as I had remembered you;
Your eyes flashed like onyx set in diamonds,
Your skin was velvet gold – exotic hue -
Your jet black hair swung loose in silky fronds.
Your voice fluttered and flew with sweet laughter –
Another clue that this vision was really you –
You even had to meet someone after,
Waiting there on Soraya Avenue.
I woke and promptly damned my delusion;
I was betrayed, duped in my seclusion.



Saturday, December 28, 2013

PICTURE



Loose tresses make you look like a toy doll
But your dark eyes are full of so much life;
Caramel skin makes porcelain seem dull
And your curved lips could lure me into strife.
I pray that you are longing for me still
Across the skies and high beyond the sea;
But not beyond the grasp of my strong will,
Nor the stretch of my curiosity.
I adore your comeliness from afar
But time will come when distance will recede
And we will reach together for our star
Then kiss as lovers by fate’s chance decreed.
Until then I’m bound to wait and ponder,
And as I wonder my heart grows fonder.


Thursday, December 26, 2013

TEST CRICKET

Ground knitted green with barely a missed stitch
Smoothed by curators’ love and care and hope
But all eyes drift to the sunbaked bald pitch –
Can bowlers clinch or will the batsmen cope?
The home team fields in baggy greens and creams.
The catching men fidget and sneer and sledge,
Hardened by their rise to reach boyhood dreams
They’ve never wavered from their starstruck pledge.
Lusty blows race away and spread the field
To deep midwicket and backward square leg.
Chin music plays to bid the batsmen yield,
Good-length balls swing to dislodge offside’s peg.
Thousands watch on as if they’re in a trance
And there’s five days more of this gritty dance.


Monday, December 23, 2013

CHRISTMAS



That old cliché of hope in a new birth
Was His choice in this supreme miracle.
This failed world scorns it with disdainful mirth
And kneels instead for scams empirical.
Yet this sublime event returns like stars
And shoots across the skies of Babylon,
Making eyes brighten behind hellish bars
That keep us captive ‘til the eschaton.
So look to the heavens and see the child
Wrapped tightly in His mother’s agape.
Marvel at magi trekking through the wild
And the shepherds awed by the meek display.
Rid your heart of all your cynicism,
Present it as your grateful gift to Him.


Saturday, December 21, 2013

IMPOSTERS

I strolled through valleys full of imposters
When I should have climbed scree to look for stars
For life is up to chance and not rosters
And easy choices bring us mostly scars.
So the record can only condemn me
For all judgements and errors of neglect
But there’s a field where I hope to be free
Of this world’s spiteful resolve to reject.
To kiss your lips is my last ambition
Because your eyes have set my heart on fire
And my blood pumps me into position
For my love’s task: your pleasure to inspire.
And this is my view from the utmost top
Above contours where all others will stop.


Thursday, December 19, 2013

DEATH MASK

My own death mask has surely been prepared.
It waits upon a hook of natural time
And it is labelled never to be shared.
Unique, it fits no other face but mine.
I have no sense of what I was before
I found myself in this world’s brutal thrall.
There are no reminiscences of lore.
So what can there be after to appall?
Perhaps there is absence of chronic pain.
Could there be swift release from all regret
And freedom from quests to profit and gain?
None will condemn if I simply forget.
Donning my mask should bring to me no dread
For life’s sorrows can’t hurt me when I’m dead.


Wednesday, December 18, 2013

BROKEN IN EXILE

The sunniest of days can still declare
Downsides of lonely times spent pondering.
Blue skies don’t always mask cruellest despair
And soft breezes can’t stop tears wandering.
If you were here I’d be up for laughter
And I’d set my soul to your enjoyment.
Then we’d climb to kisses and much after
Upon the summits of love’s employment.
But I can touch you only with my heart
In dreams where sweet romance survives time’s tests
And desires fuse and never ever part.
Yet hope was slain when you were laid to rest,
Not coming home but in bitter sojourn,
Exiled, broken, and never to return.


Thursday, December 12, 2013

ETERNAL FLOWER

My prize at day’s end never ever wilts
I see your face and hear your voice’s pitch
And I retreat beneath my warming quilts
To think of you before sleep turns the switch.
I toss and turn and stir and yearn and blaze.
An eternal flower flames my nightly stage
To light my bleakest corners and amaze
Just as you did before the mullahs’ rage.
I can never believe I left your side
Although your path seemed so well fixed and paved.
But now I know what pains you sought to hide
And how my pride meant you were never saved.
So rest in peace and know I’ve love for you
When next we meet to kiss and start anew.