Sunday, June 29, 2014

COLLATERAL


I feel like a casualty.
Did I step on a mine
Marked for martyrs?
Perhaps I lost only a limb
Or forfeited my brain.
So why do I seem so lost
And what is this boundless pain?
All that I hear is tuneless
Like the grating of dry chalk.
All that I see is formless
Like portraits by clowns and fools.
All that I smell is putrid
Like remnants of a flood.
All that I taste is bitter
Like soup stirred up by ghouls.
All that I touch is damned
Like the black soul within me.


RAMADAN'S HERALD

Here on the edge of this great southern land
The new moon takes a goblet’s stemless shapes
And not the crescent of prophecies grand
That gilds the flags of faraway landscapes.
Perhaps it mirrors a tumbler for scotch
Or bowls for the sweet fruit of our lush groves.
Yet it is a highlight of dark night’s watch
And bids the stars sparkle in glistening roves.
Above tiered layers of cerise sunsets
Our satellite seems oddly proximate -
Early human musings must have feared threats
From such a strangely changing astral state.
Tonight it rose above the winter air.
I could not fight the urge to stop and stare.


Tuesday, June 24, 2014

MOCK THE SUN

When the winds from snowy mountains roll through
River valleys and rumble to shorelines
Shivering skies turn seas a deeper blue
And mock the sun although it boldly shines.

Wet sand won’t dry as frigid chill factors
Dive to an icy low that snap freezes
The skin of surfers and other actors
Pretending to bask in balmy breezes.

Clouds rush to flee the western sky’s expanse
Before sunset’s rays can singe their extremes,
As if the roaring squall set up their chance
To search for beaches warmed by kinder streams.

Then dark falls crisp and heavy like a blow
Of midwinter air fresh from peaks of snow.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

GLASS TURQUOISE

Sky looks like glass
There are gemstones in the clouds
Even our sweet love survives
This is a wondrous place
This is a masterpiece
Why do so few see it that way?

Eyes like yours shine
And light the dreary years
Making my old heart beat faster
You were a marvel
You’re this man’s delight
Break death’s chains and come back to me.

Sea turns turquoise
When the sun is streaming right
Only takes a minute to see
But they can’t stop
And they won’t pause
Waste their lives accumulating.

You are the end
Of a journey ‘cross the years
Can’t believe you’re no longer here
But I’ll find you
And I’ll love you
Where there is no right and no wrong.


Thursday, June 12, 2014

LAUGHINGSTOCK


So carve my heart from the depths of my chest,
Slice it into pieces fit for your maw,
Then eat it while you feel so bloody blessed
And revel in the joy of your flawed law.
If then you have more taste for true regret
You only have to stand up tall and roar;
As long as dupes prefer to just forget
The baying crowd will open every door.
But fools who know they are not merely fools
Are surely the most cursed of all the clowns.
The day will come when your disgusting tools
Will make you the laughingstock of loose crowns.
So I hold up my lacerated head
Knowing I am a man untimely bled.


DERISION

Tears come when they decide you’ve tried enough
To make a way ahead despite the cost
And all around tell you that it’s too tough
Or more to the point you’ve just played and lost.
As if you could sow a field of delight
And harvest spaces to let others think;
Mere you, who comes from places bleak with blight
Where hearts are dead and spirits are extinct.
Yet there is hope always even in tears
That break across your wrinkled face in streams
And wash anxiety out of your fears
Sprinkling the greenest shoots amongst your dreams.
Derision never ever survived time.
How many did it kill before their climb?

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

LA PETITE MORT

After it was over
You just had to shower.
I preferred
To linger
In the aftermath
Of intimacy
Just a little longer.
I tarried,
Enveloped,
By the musky smell of you;
With the pleasant stickiness
Of our union
Still on my skin
And the evidence
Of your maidenhood
Still on the sheets.
And so I drifted
Into the little death -
That dreamy paradise -
With the fragrance
Of your perfume
And the sweet smell
Of your body
Still there
On my bedclothes.
When you kissed me
I awoke to another paradise;
Of your soft clean skin;
And I held you
Tight again.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

EXQUISITE

Your passion was exquisite
And quite unlike
Anything I had
Ever encountered.
Without a word
You made it clear -
You wanted me.
Surely I was in no doubt.
Then you gave yourself to me.
So I responded
In the only way possible.
And yet I was nervous -
Because I loved you so much.
Indeed, it seems now,
That I was almost as nervous as you.
But you had more reasons.
I mistook your fervour
For experience
But, of course, I was wrong -
As wrong about this
As I could possibly be.
But then I understood.
So I comforted you
With gentle kisses
On your face and neck.
Then you relaxed again
And pushed against me.
Now that you were a woman,
I was in awe of you.
And I longed
To give you pleasure.
You had granted me
A wondrous privilege.
But it was you
Who rejoiced in your heart.
You welcomed my groans
With deep kisses
And just one thought -
You had made your choice.
Oh, how I wish,
I could have helped you
With the harder choices
That followed our desire.