MATERIAL OMISSIONS

Love is never ever anyone’s principal focus -
Always we see mostly the material world
Through tinted water-marked man-made lens,
Showing us we should never take a loss of any kind:
Diversified across the spare parts spectrum -
Not even half a hope and no chance of gain or glee -
Ever driven but never going anywhere much,
As the lights flash red and green and stick on pause.

Thus set, we briefly soar in short blank bursts until we flop,
And a chosen few acquire by cunning all of our dreams and plans,
While our children climb towards the same dreadful heights;
Until the wobbly world shifts and we turn back to love too late.

EXTREMISTS

How can I sleep? My heart’s so full of you:
Bright smiles, dark eyes, smooth skin, sweet voice, kind touch –
Set stark against blue backdrops where we walked
As I wooed you and you gave me so much.

There were dolphins diving, sea birds swooping;
Low sun streaked lean in its autumnal guise,
And you walked wise and took my seeking hand.
We watched wet stars that burst to drench our eyes.

Each day was new: coming so clear and crisp.
Your warm, perfect body curled up near me –
Guarded by night’s garments and not much more –
Teeming moments - extreme in ecstasy.

TOO MUCH SUN WILL BURN

The rain tonight
Is like bleeding in my thumping heart.
It pounds down so hard and fast
Reminding me that we are so far apart.

The sky tonight
Is grey like every yesterday’s defeat.
It reflects nothing of any value
But it somehow makes my solitude complete.

The air tonight
Is rank with moisture and hints of sweat.
It feels as though I have died
With only glimpses of your charms to regret.

The sounds tonight
Are washed white with watery cascades
Crashing on concrete receptacles
That throw drenched drops back up in spades.

The smell of tonight
Is fresh with the rain it freely dispenses.
But my nostrils are not distracted in any way,
Because the scent of you lingers in my senses.

The taste of tonight
Is rich with expensive ways of dulling pretences –
Spirits and froth fill me up with numbness –
Anything to take my mind off your stubborn defences.

But back to my old heart,
Which you have made young enough to flutter anew.
You know my quest has not changed and it never will –
Tonight’s sweet rain is as wet as my love for you is true.

PERSIA'S KISSES

As I waited alone
I was aware of a low late summer sun
Pushing shapeless shadows
Towards the shifting shoreline;
And the waves shunted
Watery white foam in response,
Crashing and withdrawing
With a faultless sense of rhythm.

There were shrills
From shouting children
In the shimmering surf
And seagulls called and glided,
Gorged on cheery chips
And beery batter.
An endless stream of cars
Rolled drunkenly
Through the roundabout
And glasses of diners and drinkers
Stood frosty and dripping wet
On clammy cardboard coasters.

A figure
Made from the softest, smoothest clay
God had reserved for women
Came into my view
And smiled behind a shield
Of designer Dior shade;
With hips swinging and swathed
In scrubbed blue denim stretched taut,
And breasts swaying just a little
As if flirtingly free
Of any unnecessary restraint.

So I grinned too
And advanced my shaking hand
In grateful greeting,
While my heart leaped
And found a fast backbeat
To the cymbals of surging surf.
Then we kissed –
Or, rather I kissed both your silky cheeks,
In my fumbling way –
And I was sure
That Persia’s kind kisses of friendship
Would never be enough.

When the sunglasses were thrown back
Above your fringed forehead,
The spell of sparkling eyes
Burst irresistible
And wholly sweet for me –
Dark and dancing –
I was bewitched, charmed, and terrorised
All in one efficient swoop –
And so it began,
And so it goes on
And on.

DIVINE WISDOM

In His wisdom
God has made us men of clay
In such a way
That we divine a thrill of sorts
From each new woman
Whom we encounter.

Whether it be sourced
In dark, come hither eyes,
Or a rounded pout
That emits a laughing voice,
Or locks of many colors
Caressing a beguiling face,
Or curves and shapes
That bounce and flounce,
Or wit that moves us
To wonder about our world.
All these marvels
Can call that thrill
To come and make us
Slaves to wants and needs.

And yet it seems so odd
That, once in a while,
One woman comes along
Who presents us with
That pleasing prod
And puzzling power
That makes more thrills
Than we can handle.
One woman – not perfect –
But lit by her own bright candle
And holding the keys –
Not to paradise –
But to a garden
Just beside its gates.
And, as we revel in its shade,
Then rest in its soft cool breeze,
We come to know
That God is truly wise.

ANOTHER COUNTRY

The past might well be another country
But the future has no map.
All we have to unravel its righteous riddle
Are answers to questions we once asked
In some previous steady state of mind
That has long become mere mist and dismal drizzle.

Still we set our faces to some Jerusalem
And travel on towards its wailing wall
Where we expect our sea of reeds to part.
We push on as if we were immortal
Eyes straight ahead and blinkered blind
To betrayals that can truly break our heart.

At some point the end rises up to claim
All of our friendly facts and fond imaginings
Before we can mend what has splintered disjoint.
By then we have only echoes of past epochs left –
In a flooded foreign land where we majored in mistakes -
Wet with watery memories that disperse and disappoint.

FLIRT

And so you flashed up from far away,
Stinging my tear-seared eyes,
Flinging an implicit promise
I might never ever inherit.

Then you flirted so fabulously
Like a champion of the chase -
Almost like her with her hunger -
But so different in your sweet way.

And so we proceeded -
Smiling all the while -
Never really knowing,
And never pausing to understand.

Just when it all seemed wrong,
A mutual tease of ego
Ignited a fiery glow -
So we connected in a fancy future.

And I experienced all the old thrills
While I stayed here stunned,
Wondering how to aspire to new peaks,
Worried about becoming a fool again.

And yet your face filled my dreams:
Those eyes danced dark
Across a floor of fractured fantasy,
As your lips moistened my mouth.

And I knew I might never ever see
What was in your pretty mind,
Because you seemed to belong to another:
Your heart clasped in complicated claws.

Yet knowing your warmth and kindness
Is a great reward for one like me -
Could I ever have glimpsed any part of you
But for those few brief words we chanced to channel?

And so I will sleep again tonight
With your face projected on my dreamy screen,
So that my moments of waking in hot harsh light
Surely will be briefly happy beyond explaining.