Friday, October 31, 2014

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.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

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.

Monday, October 27, 2014

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.


Tuesday, October 21, 2014

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.


Sunday, October 19, 2014

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.


Wednesday, October 15, 2014

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.