SCAFFOLD

My first blunder was to believe the lie.

Then I put my faith in false promises

And acted as though I was insane,

Doing the same things over and over again

And expecting their forecasts to comply.

I pushed and pulled and lifted and strained,

My heart and head and shoulders stooped

And my focus so singleminded

That I could be seen as blinded,

So I did not know that I was chained.

The blood that I gave was spilled with good will

And that makes me even more bitter.

When they wanted someone to blame

I did not expect the wave of shame

As they lumped me with the corporate swill.

My efforts and dedication made people rich

Yet I did not feel exploited by them.

I always thought my rewards would come

And trusted too much in those who were scum

For none tried to rescue me from Satan’s ditch.

Almost four decades without a blemish or error,

Utmost application and diligence.

But I missed one criminal’s scheme,

Though I never joined his larcenous team,

And then the pretenders unleashed the terror.

The gallows to which I am nailed have me baffled,

Dissembled rather than assembled by the fears

Of those who never make their own mistakes

And never rise beyond the status of fakes.

Only death can save me from my scaffold.

PHUKET

Blue sky days brimmed full of sights

Burning bright like the torches

That lit the temple porches.
Together we travelled the island

To and fro,
Climbed hills and stood still
Enough to see the sea’s azure dapples
And dazzling flares of flower petals

Amongst the scenery’s greenery.
We gave some time to gentle faith,
Bowing to Buddha

And somehow winning merit.
Tamed but also troubled by his teaching -
Wisdom from a man revered
And apparently not to be feared.

Too quickly the days that amazed
Began to prepare us for rest.
The sun slipped into the Andaman Sea
Without spilling a drop but sizzling hot.
Tropical dark fell fast like a pantomime curtain.
But the air stayed heat-ridden and steamy,
Wet with wetness from rain that never came.
The lights of bars blocked out the stars
And unlocked passion pits of pleasures paraded,
Frail youth and gender masqueraded
And innocence frayed and faded.
The seedy preyed upon the needy
In a paradise that surely deserved better.
Unless it was the other way round,
As sometimes it seemed to be.

ROTTEN FRUIT

There is no crime in a pretty green world

Victims deserve their plight as if it's fate
And hearts broken by monsters' evil minds
Can be ignored or urged to wipe the slate.

It seems we lurched from black and white and truth

To mind moving pictures and blurred visions,

Traded our righteous rage for urbane doubts
And took ourselves out of all decisions.

The certain few are bound to call our bluff,

Powered by prophets of fruit gone rotten,
As we die in our hapless lack of trust,
Severed heads symbolise faith forgotten.

SHADOWS OF SATURDAY

The shade of a late afternoon always

Takes me back to Saturdays and football -

Long shapes stretched across an oval’s spaces

Moving ahead like waves to a sea wall.

Then I recall the odor of damp grass

And pungent mud from winter’s rainy days.

There’s also the sweet smell of woody fires -

Smoke drifts across the sunlight in a haze.

The crowd was always restless and full voiced

As the home team ran out of time to win,

Three deep they'd bend as players crossed sidelines,

Corrugating like an old roof of tin.

Soon came the final bell’s stoic applause,

Shadows vanished to find another cause.

THE SPELL OF TIME

And there were no more leagues to leave behind

When I first saw the spell of time subside

In the rough rush of happy crowds and touts.

Then you immersed me in your rising tide.

Arrived, we dived into the warm waters

Where mermaids scaled shimmering sunlight’s shafts,

And shellfish shined in pastel pearl parades,

While we conversed in secret codes and laughs.

The days flew by like sea birds seeking feasts,

Sweet nights almost wasted and dogged by dreams,

And yet our hours could be lazy phases,

Each minute stretched and stitchless at its seams.

Now I pray months of wait and hope contract

And ages pass so future leaps to fact.