Patience

I always knew you could see inside me

Look upon the darkest corners of a soul
Yet still find within you; empathy and love
Even if; I could not see it there myself
But what patience may secrete in guile
Our impetuous notions unravel in haste
Days may rise like spectres of ugly chance
But no ghost shadows this mirror of vision
That is emptied of reflected opportunity
Silvery and silent as water at a still dawn
Where peace hides in dread of awakening
I should find it and let it seize the day
No discontent is worth an unclaimed life
This precious liquid of life must flow free
A New Year is upon us; let it not leach away

Graceful

When the head moves so gracefully

Inclined in its outlook of soft concern
It reveals nothing of its battle for calm
For entombed within a raging sprite seethes
Conflict and peace battle for high ground
But ever the war is won inside your certainty
I envy you the tranquil retreat of reason
For it does not exist in me; nor could it
Unless be it be the false peace of the fool
The hairsbreadth of desire that ensnares vanity
A torch ignites and I shall no more, know peace
Ah, but I remember your poise; it is forever serene
And that will hold a soul in hope till the end
What I may not have; shall be your abundant joy

Goodness

What makes someone significant?

And how may I judge
For goodness is not born or instinctive
Nor is it learned in disappointment
It comes without announcement
Though you do not ever sense it
But you possess it in abundance
Even if you do not know it
Excellence is the aura of your soul
It sifts teardrops into sunbeams
Walks gently beside me at dusk
Holds my hand through the winter
Weeps in joy at shooting stars
And more important than all this
Has never understood why

Christmas

A message of opportunity and consideration

A promissory note of a better world to come
It is the whisper of a new year
It is the deep reflection of the soul
It is faith and love and honour in all 
 
Of everything that we hold true;
Christmas is held ever the tightest
We know the fragility of intention
Yet we honour its message
For it seems good, to dare to hope

So it rains

So it rains in the heart when the night comes

Of the compassion let-out I seek no redress
Save the clown smile that seeks an approval
Or the bat at dusk that flies one last sortie
It is the benevolent nun who gave me bread
The ducks on the water that chase mayflies
It is more than the sum of the new question
It is calculation of a lifetime lived in wonder
So it rains in the heart when the night comes
But it serves me; washes away all the questions
So I can begin at the new dawn tomorrow reborn

Platitudes

But what spurs this false sycophancy

This want of need to enshrine tribute
I posted a picture someone else made
It was no more perfect than others
Yet status covers over a clumsy ego
Lifeless dreams that haunt the reality
Platitudes are perhaps superior flattery
But none the less still imitation of fact
That a thousand miles away a thought
Takes shape in the mind of another
That a connection has been made
Tenuous and fragile, though it be
But understand that I do this for myself
Technology just brings you closer to mine
Our words are the cipher to our souls

Unrequited

Merry, merry England and all her kin are wont to make light of winter

So gnaw on wonder till it eschews guilt; but do not ask for forgiveness
Not till a cockscomb swells red and stands up proudly, throbbing on the head
Not till maidens giggle and blush at very mention of dangling wattles
That would decorate any throat most assuredly; even where a jewel fails
May even temper loose tongued winds from resonating chambers of envy
That crow away unremarked though the dawn still comes heralded by night
And the sweet desperation of unrequited dreams never made a day look so fair

Sonorous

With sonorous intent of concern

Take what is left of the dark
Seize the lesser part of sunrise
Before the waxing light reveals 
Your sweet desperation of night
Of all things to feel the truth of
It is this; your unremarked liaison
It bit passion but did not swallow calm
Without love there is no lasting dawn
So leave mistakes to hide in sated bliss
But for me still asleep in the arms of joy
Unaware the new world has already left
Never did a day to come ever look so fair

The Twelve Days of Christmas

If only.......

On the first day of Christmas

My true love sent to me
The world renewed in fraternity

On the second day of Christmas

My true love sent to me
Two polar ice caps not melting
And the world renewed in fraternity

On the third day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
Three superpowers at peace
Two polar ice caps not melting
And the world renewed in fraternity

On the fourth day of Christmas

My true love sent to me
Four corners of the globe smiling
Three superpowers at peace
Two polar ice caps not melting
And the world renewed in fraternity
 
On the fifth day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
Five continents co-operating
Four corners of the globe smiling
Three superpowers at peace
Two polar ice caps not melting
And the world renewed in fraternity
 
On the sixth day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Six religions agreeing 
Five continents co-operating
Four corners of the globe smiling
Three superpowers at peace
Two polar ice caps not melting
And the world renewed in fraternity
 
On the seventh day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Seven fair ways of employing
Six religions agreeing 
Five continents co-operating
Four corners of the globe smiling
Three superpowers at peace
Two polar ice caps not melting
And the world renewed in fraternity
 
On the eighth day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Eight rainforests regenerating
Seven fair ways of employing
Six religions agreeing 
Five continents co-operating
Four corners of the globe smiling
Three superpowers at peace
Two polar ice caps not melting
And the world renewed in fraternity
 
On the ninth day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Nine nuclear reactors closing 
Eight rainforests regenerating
Seven fair ways of employing
Six religions agreeing 
Five continents co-operating
Four corners of the globe smiling
Three superpowers at peace
Two polar ice caps not melting
And the world renewed in fraternity

On the tenth day of Christmas,

My true love sent to me
Ten seas with levels falling
Nine nuclear reactors closing 
Eight rainforests regenerating
Seven fair ways of employing
Six religions agreeing 
Five continents co-operating
Four corners of the globe smiling
Three superpowers at peace
Two polar ice caps not melting
And the world renewed in fraternity
 
On the eleventh day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Eleven politicians not lying 
Ten seas with levels falling
Nine nuclear reactors closing 
Eight rainforests regenerating
Seven fair ways of employing
Six religions agreeing 
Five continents co-operating
Four corners of the globe smiling
Three superpowers at peace
Two polar ice caps not melting
And the world renewed in fraternity
 
On the twelfth day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Twelve wars finally ending 
Eleven politicians not lying 
Ten seas with levels falling
Nine nuclear reactors closing 
Eight rainforests regenerating
Seven fair ways of employing
Six religions agreeing 
Five continents co-operating
Four corners of the globe smiling
Three superpowers at peace
Two polar ice caps not melting
And the world renewed in fraternity

Cedars

Stare not back at me words

From this half written page
You do not propagate
But hang impotent and incomplete
More do not rise within me;
The tide of swelling literacy fails
I may gaze out a window
Over the cedars of Lebanon
They watch back, outside time
Will not grant me muse or inspiration
To rest a heart into the bloom of calm
Nothing I see will aid my quest for insight
The cipher of enlightenment is the soul
Yet I cannot empathise on its intent
Blank space; empty white page; mock
I fragile and unsure of my immediacy quail
Then at my lowest ebb of nothingness
Word flow again like anointed spring rain

Stars

The night breathes exhaling cosmic starlight

And celestial air chimes in reverenced music
I shall lie down to watch over the heavens
Shall commit each star to memory for all time
I shall ponder of which one I originated from
Always my heart is warm though the night chills
But it cannot shrivel a thought that takes shape
Oh! To have a plan to fly a soul to heaven by
One that comes from the very universe itself
But truth comes slow like dawn over frosty hills
Witless I wither reason in the icy domain of night
For the route is within each and every one of us
Written in every star forged atom that makes us
It is the want of a life to return to the stars
Though it takes billion of years to revisit there
I shall lie down to watch out over the heavens
For one day I will make the long journey home

Sobriety

Lest sobriety fails to unleash its planned intent           

Ensure that humour does not abandon purpose
Yet even so, tis but only game, played in haste
And we play the parts set us, till the crow calls
The world, (our world,) is soon to again restored
For we have just the spark of aptitude to complete
All of its harsh levels of trial till we are remade
Then sobriety and its temperate watchword ‘denial’
Shall never have seemed so sweet a thing to dream of

Ache

A dull ache low in my back

Serves to remind me I am older
But there is also its adversary
The capricious, lightness of heart
Filled with love’s flowing fuel
That trickles ever so beautifully
Into a honeyed labyrinth of memories
And I remember them all every day
For each one is of the sweetest things

Non-combatant

Comb and pollen on ancient wax

Overflowing with summer’s grace
Means there is enough honey for all.
We must keep all the drones alive
Why should winters hoary breath
Take away the brothers of sisterhood?
When they may hum and burr united
In a non-combatant hive droning sleep

Primordial

Half a crescent may lie in state overhead

But what of the lost joy curtailed by night
That does not trouble a strong heart to sleep
Primordial is as primordial does, or is wont
Save lesser extents of undiminished virtue
Hear the song dipping below audibility’s ken
Moving in tune with your elemental breath
Trace its notes to the resonance of the world
It is the music of the night played out of day
Whale song for minds; an ocean of musicality
So that half a crescent may wane and slide west
And a new day is come; but we remember
Night from the ashes of day brings a solace
In the unending tranquillity of ancient song

Patina

Travail recedes into the deepening distance

A narrowing field of view, almost lost now  
Yet the world still shimmers with possibility
Save the rusty patina of coinage is nowhere
The meagre savings of old are depleted
And no dragons hoard can be chanced
What cannot be gained in haste or ardour
 Cannot be spent; cannot multiply or help
The world thus in misfortune closes about
Smothers any declining dream of chance
Black ice sits atop slender silvered linings
And yet the enveloping calm is indefatigable
It sits in the still night and whispers awake
For what money cannot buy love provides

Philanthropy

Time never slows or takes prisoners

Dogs of commerce are unleashed
To bark on hairy quests of worth
Nothing of augmented lifestyles
Sits below immorality’s applause
Life greases the wheel of ill gain
It turns on me; it turns upon you
To crush us down; deep into dirt
So any time rising in the sun; is honey
But so we can never walk with guilt
We walk across the backs of others
Disallow them to rise, while we are at ease
Never did philanthropy look so bleak

Freedom

For the one last chance

Has gone forever
Time flows around its purpose
Subsumes its intent
Every bridge is burned
Every scenario is spent
What we shape in life
Hands of chance may aid
No hope was without sacrifice
No freedom without pain
But the long dream of liberty
A nation wholly came to gain

Bridge

Every bridge burned

Every scenario spent
Time flows over purpose
Subsumes its intent

Into the lost sunset

That fades in the west
Over a wanting heart
That never knew best

The leftover dreams

That never came to gain
I cannot give up hope
So now I seize the pain

Time counts its daily beat

Delivers one last chance
It rises up in the dawn
And partners one last dance

Vapours

The writ of time is laid bare in essence

But a head in the clouds sees nothing
Save constant vapours that rise and fall
The wont of the gaze is to see the plan
So Exodus is then denuded of any surprise
Yet when a heart feels only its sum of pain
All is to live for; but nothing is to gain