FLAGS

The first franchise of love is honesty -
Questions answered and strict respect of space,
Solemn granting of life before this time
And tales of pasts unknown sketched in a face.
We've passed those tests and flown our coloured flags
Atop poles we'd not seen against old skies
That held our stare as we reached for the air
In worlds apart before we seized our prize.
Now I pray I'm the man you chose to love
And I will make your plan my favourite task
Because I know you seek to be to me
More than I could have ever dared to ask.

SMALL LIFE

I live a small life now,
Squashed by profligacies
I would never have imagined
When I was young and big.
Broken stars tormented me then
But now I'm teased by dark clouds
That bask on every horizon
And block the sun
Although it screams heat,
Still shining on the bastards
Who try to blind its light.

FORGET

Sometimes I forget
It was your unique beauty
That first attracted me.
Your face flickering
Like a screen
Of abundant expressions -
One moment a clown
And the next a coquet -
Eyes blazing but restful
With the lustre of stars
In the warm sky
Of a hot summer night,
Your mouth the mount
Of a million smiles,
And your hair black and silky,
Begging to be touched.
I remember your body coiled,
Curved as if you were wired
For every knowable pleasure.
How I longed to caress you
And feel the heat of you,
Brown and burning bright.
But now I know your heart
And I can explore your mind,
So I am forever aroused
By the splendours of your soul.

SAD SHAPES

Looking ahead I can make out sad shapes -

Demented potters’ mud-mould mockery,

Tumbling into darkness’ unbounded time,

Edgy and sharp like shattered crockery.

I see them best when my heart breaks open

And bleeds along the lines of knifepoint scars.

It is as if the blood that fuels my sight

Surges and bids me gaze on sleaze bazaars.

There were years when the lights I saw ahead

Dazzled and shone with love and faith and hope;

Now not even the greatest of these three

Safeguards my soul from sickness’ deathly slope.

And so I stare wide-eyed and tread the scree,

Feeling my feet slide out from under me.

GOUGH

I remember that day in black and white -

For the world was drained dry of colours

By the men of money-worries and limitations,

Backed by the looters of imaginations.

Over a thousand sleeps before

We celebrated a beginning

That only you could invent.

From day one the changes rang

And our country joined the nations.

So many forces were riled and irate

That the progress was clearly good.

In the following years of crash through

We learned the meaning of reform.

You led us into new avenues

And you smashed the dreary norm.

The headlines railed against you

And your own undermined you;

But we still have the prizes –

Nobody dismantled the best of you.

On the day of betrayal

I stood on the triangle’s lawns

Utterly astonished by your dignity.

I still hoped summer was about to begin

But instead dreaded winter was inducted.

Today the traitorous mongrel praises you

In his infinite hypocrisy.

On that day he murdered you

And would have killed us all

In order to steal your power.

Your grace and serenity saved us.

The election was a farce,

Hip-pockets jangling with cadence

And ignorance paraded as prudence.

Again you stood tall and placid,

Though replaced by a fool

With a mind so flaccid

That he could only gloat,

Pouring acid on aspiration –

Fear mongering -

Promising manacles and meanness.

Now, today, we mourn a great man.

EXPLANATIONS

How can I explain

When my thoughts are jumping

All around the page

And my heart is thumping

Despite my goodly age?

It goes beyond the laughter

And the warmth of an embrace –

Something to do with love ever after

And the peace of unexpected grace.

Perhaps it is simply a surprise

To find my affection returned –

Compensation for tears and lies

And for all the years I burned.

My hope is that you feel

Half of the joy I know

And you trust my pledge is real –

Beyond this page of tell and show.

FOR JACK AND JOHN

So pour the salt upon my wounds and laugh
Then lift your glass and toast your false fortune
And tell yourself you've earned all that you stole -
The air of we who breathe our last too soon.
I saw delights like those that succour you -
Almost tasted the sweet amongst the tart -
But now I crave only what my soul needs
And all I have feeds me and salves my heart.
While dupes and fools still strut and strive for jewels
I stroll and roam a world you fail to see;
I fly above rainbows and pots of gold -
Places where markets' slaves could never be.
Cheap frauds like you will always be around
But your history will never make a sound.