Umdiminished

When clear, cold moons rise

On landscapes locked in rigor mortis
Forgive me if I shall not stir awhile yet
Not when it is so cold outside
And all is hushed like a morgue
A world silent and laid out bare
For the scalpel and saw of frost
But very soon I will awake again
When the warmth and song returns
And nectar flows down yellow trumpets
As all about life gasps and rises up
From the melancholy slab of winter
Then I will wake from my hibernation
And capture the temperate airs
To rejoin the world undiminished

Mother

Today I will think of you
More than all the other days
Silver flowers and dreams
Memories of gold and green
For not all that is gone is loss
When a clear moon wanes
So sweet a morning comes
And it seems fitting
To remember you now
As life wells up in the world
And from out its frosty teeth
Comes the winds of spring
To dry the grey drops of longing
Upon my cheeks of regret
They are empty, wasted tears
For you never really left
And that you were right
Life is a wonderful thing
If we don’t weep too much
Before we at last meet again

Torch

Like a geisha dimming lights

Silver shadows behind paper
The moon is spent and retires
And it is now that I rise
Awake early to see the dawn
Watch the glow crest the hill
Set light to a new morning
While the bird's sleep on
Indolent upon twiggy nests
Day is arriving
One more day wrote in celestial fire
It breaches the east
The torch of dawn is lit
And carried aloft by spring
The birds awake
And the day is filled with song

Pearl

Sitting within a wooded bowl

This glittering drop of freshwater
Like a pearl set in green shell
So far from the mothering sea
For year I have walked its wonder
And again today I circle the silver
This natural bath of clarity
A giant's tear formed from civic duty
Now a calming balm for restless souls
Ever larger does this lake grow
As time and feet wear away it edges
But it shields me from the madness
It is the closest peace I know to home
And for every day that remains
I'll scramble this horizontal stair
And the only regret I'll harbour
Is the wish that you were there?

Reflect

Reflections are but the peace of the earth's soul that nature has set upon glassless water

Bafta's

To see the national debt in couture
The Bafta's was a spectacle for sure
Where the adored meet adulation
And money and art engage in copulation
But all we can remember now folk
Is that funny between friends joke
And so irony claimed the biggest prize
Humour lost on easily the affronted wise
False outrage is now the award of choice
Given to those with a successful voice
A vomited self interest disguised in guile
When Twitter explodes with furious bile
And it may seem better we say nothing at all
Lest on the sword of ersatz offence we fall

Scribe

Upon the best time to write for you and me

The body and the clock may disagree
I rise in the night with creative prick
There is no instance to creativities tick
Words roll out from a sleepy mind
Perception is blurred as thoughts unwind
To rest or write are the only choice
So I arise and scribe down my voice
And though tomorrow I will sleep through day
The world will know what I had to say

Mist

 

 

 

 

Titania

Titania will walk this way

Upon the grass at light of day
We place upon the curving wheat
Beads of dew to cool her feet
By star and moon we slowly toil
To dab the drops we cleanse and boil

Swim

I fly upon the gossamer wing

In a green, green, world
Where the bluebirds sing
On softest moss I lightly sleep
While the mortal world's sun
Across a new day does creep
I make my life within the night
Among ferny bowers and forest
I soar under silvered starlight
Of humankind I do rarely see
Unless they are open to wonder
And they truly believe in me
So come at dusk when skies do dim
To join me in my enchanted world
And within its elfin magic; swim

Elfin

She takes to airs at evenings close

With gossamer wing and jewelled hose
Her steed is fearsome in its waspish garb
But it has no sting with which to barb
She surveys the world atop her drone
Now the last of her kind; completely alone
She sits high and regal astride his furry back
Silver princess upon yellow and black
And what a sight for us mortals to see
An elfin fairy riding upon a bumblebee

Inviolate

 

And nothing shall break us. We are inviolate and it is the world that has made us so. For it has taken we blocks of stone and chipped away till we are made irreversibly into its design. And now we are free of shaping let us not abjure this intent. Artistry and chance have shaped us, and so, who are we to gainsay such divine fate. It cannot now be undone, so let us explore the world from this plinth we are put upon. Remember we have become art and whether we are of value only the long reach of time will attest. For now let us be content to intertwine one marble arm within another and be in awe of the world that made us.



 

Wayoh Reservoir

 

 

Bright Lichens and Trees

 

  

 

 

 

Witches Brooms upon a Birch

Occassion

And as celebrations pause and still

So is born a new infant to time
And we have named it 2016
Though time names it otherwise
What it may grow to become is hidden
For nothing is revealed to us
Not weather, nor tides, nor war
But what will develop is instance
A new time that shatters the old
As thoughts and warm pulses spark
Swarm among interconnects and chaos
And tis the sweetness of existence,
                [that we truly know it
We are crystal spirits shaping a universe
With unique, irreplaceable fragments
For every second we may harvest
Is a gift of the universe
We may make of what we will
Mould and shape its presence
And after we have left
Though we shall never see it
We shall have changed it forever
By being these children of occasion

Angels

And day still crashes into night

Black velvet muffles creativity
And so we go to sleep
Arrest demise of light in dreams
Like bees that quiet at dusk
Drowsing angels on coffers of gold
We hum in false concern
Upon all this despoiled comb
And dreams wither on waking
For we dare not remember
We are fading towards ruin

An Early Start

 

Nature does not build in straight lines, but someone hasn't told this mole digging in a local field about that yet.

 

 

 

 

Daffodils, Rhubarb and Elderberry growth in the first week of February...they must think it is April. never seen these growing outside so early in my part of the north UK without help before.

Continuum

From the continuum of destiny

All that is of real value to us
Flows only from our next moments
How will you use this gift?
Before instance takes it away
And it is become worthless
For once it passes unused
Riding the waves of time
Like a ship of grey ghosts
It will never return
Save as longing memories
Lost dawn mists rising,
Sighing upon the aether,
Like bittersweet chiding
Fate we make for ourselves
It is our sibling of destiny

Leviathan

By piercing hook and explosive harpoon

We hunted them all by sun and moon
With propeller and radar we gave no rest
And now all the briny giants fail our test
Far away from the ocean's reach
Sees now antiquities greatness beach
Another leviathan is cast to the shore
Its song lost from the world evermore
And is all this sadness truly our fault?
A fatal effect of despoiling the salt
Where plastic swims more prolific than fish
In saving the world we failed in our wish
And very soon when all the seas still
Subdued in the end by our exploitative will
We may look upon the waves and cry
Why did we let all the noble whales die?

Veil

On the great scions of wisdom

That slowly grows about us
We reach for the low hanging fruit
But high upon its oldest boughs
Are the sweetest prizes
A sparse crop of harsh fruits
Slow to grow and yield
They ripen all too leisurely
Yet of what I have picked
Or smelt of its perfumed tang
And flavoured on its bitter flesh
I learn now without prejudice
We may only eat such bitter fruit
If we can digest its nourishment
That you do not yet pluck insight
Draw it down to purge away madness
Then this I will take it as a good sign
You have not yet understood
And I would not need explain
This dark veil of hope we name not
Is best left upon the tree of life

Linger

I do not fear death
Only that I might linger
A sorrowed, wounded prey
Life assaults senses
Bitter is harsh  
Sweet saccharine bliss
But time has no taste
Till it chokes us
And we fall sated
Replete in our consequences
Without ever knowing
What we consumed
In turn slowly devoured us

Stain

And cast me out into the gloom

Like a stained enlightenment
Yet all light is but a reflection
Nuanced illumination highlighting difference
The illusive contrast of lost shadows
A grey splendour of unrequited desire
In a mirror spread before us by existence
Without form or grace we cannot truly see
Or be swathed in the footlights of splendour
But still I would be aflame once more
See clear anew these years awash in gold
If you would let me sit by your brightness
Lift this caul of night and let me see the day
Lest instead I may come to worship darkness

February

A new light is rising
February is here
Though clear and cold still
It radiates days brighter
Time's crystal windows flood
In a new light stained in colour
Spring begins tremulously
In green shoots and yellow tails
Though nothing else yet stirs
But the heart it quickens
A whisper adrift among bare trees
The cold is close yet
But the warmth creeps closer
Blinking sunbeams lie upon frost
The world shall grow again
And we to grow with it
And I…
Coloured by Africa's shores
Am ready for the summer

The Lady

And she is become a dowager

The lady of vanity and poise breaks
Bowed and bent she hugs the ground
But she has wondrous glamour still
A swan upon a pavement shuffling
The last steps of a glorious journey
Nothing escapes her steely gaze
Or a mind still sharp to thread steady wit
She may bend but never to break
She may not see your face now
So she will learn to read your feet

Myth

And into myth rides a desire

A murmur of want not quieted
Nor stilled within the hurts of day
Yet still I would take again a sip
Of the hopefulness of youth
That gave way to this older man
And quench these fires of regret
That burns still a bright flame
For all time took piece by piece

Dreams

We cannot follow our dreams

They do not belong to us
These children of awful chance
We birthed them in instance
Then watched them fly away
As desperate siblings of hope
Disconnected and complete
And then all we may do is wait
Linger in our glorious vanity
That one may return full grown
To blaze again new trails
Into our fading, twilight fires
When all our dreams are spent

Fury

And night comes like a promise

The sweet flowers awaken
And all the creatures of night come
To fury upon their sweetness
Engorge without care or fear
Till swollen they are made replete
In the sweet explosion of nectar
That we name simply desire
For they must rage till dawn
Until the world again stills
And the moon sinks west
For these flowers dread the day

Colossus

The colossus of harmony founder upon sand
Their greatness thrown upon shoreline
The heavenly musk of great leviathans is lost
No more ambergris washes upon the long shores
No more sweet vomit of vast watery paradises
To prime our brackish colognes of the deep
Now the seas are hushing in a deathly calm
And maybe whales could have turned the tide
If we let them swim their ancient routes in peace

Union

Men illuminate days in warmth and light

But women make of night a magical calm.
And there is no greater union than this
One rising on top and the one below
It is the embrace of a new rising moon
A Queen ascendant ranging upon night
Shimmering silver within dusk's ochre haze
Exulting the sun to a flushed countenance
As he sinks into west with all passion spent
She is replete with soft post-coital kisses of day
And she may have the night alone in reflection
Till again she is caught eager and expectant
In orange tendrils of flame we name morning

Intent

While bestriding the final sea

Ankles lapping maturities waters
If wisdom alone comes with time
It is perhaps come too late
For though my ardour flames
It is brief like a winter sun
And too soon clouds return
And then as fast as intent doth arise
It fails and sinks broken again
And we rightly guess
Life yet wreaks a humour
To quieten these ardent winds
That would blow till we stilled
If we could but let them

Blossom

White blossom in wavering sky

This orbiting lunar grace
A talisman of good fortune
And truly, if it is not this,
Then what else could be?
Could match such celestial elegance?
And so the full moon rises
A pale queen glistening in pearl
She looks down in her totality
Image mirrored upon the winter ice
And in truth she sees us not
We are but a consequence
Or though if she could
Perhaps she might mock us
Silver wit deriding our grey dreams
But all she sees is her lover Earth
And as he sleeps she observes
While humanity still talks
With the affection of children
Of a 'man in the moon'

First Post

The first post of the year

Should be of good cheer
So let me make it clear
I'd like to keep you here
But as I am not a seer
Just know you are all dear
Whether far away or near
And if you left I'd shed a tear

Course

Yet we the fighting pacifists

Struggle for calm in the swell
It is the way we are defined
We did not make the world
Nor induce sadness upon it
Sleep now and wonder no more
To where the river may flow
We will sail its fluid course
Sail along the gentler in hope
For see how it slows in force
The mountains are long behind us
Gone the swift streams
Waterfall tumbling to memories
And only the sea awaits us now
But ere we go to its briny vastness
Let us feel sun upon us once again
This is not yet our time to sloth
We must gaze all about us
See sunrise ascend behind us
Follow its path over blue skies
And then sink into night
For the lady of the heavens comes
And we remember everything
As we unfold along this fluid way
And we were not misled
For hope is the salve of man
And see the solace of New Year
That comes like fresh rain
To water our self-belief
And make a better river
For those to come after

Increase

Our days rise again

The clock of instance slips forward
We ascend a time of increase
While the southern globe dims
And as their days fade like spent insight
Our famine of brightness ends
Above the equator
It is a globe of two half's
One rises; one falls
Symmetry in opposition
It is perfection
And we call it a chaos
And if this is chance
I would not wager
Upon its odds
When green flames
Spring out kindling
Thinking it is spring

Shapes

And then there were none

But their shadows linger
Dance upon the corona
Of the depthless greyness  
Whispers of troubled instance
Empty souls without form
Lost to resonance and sight
But they walk among us again
Reanimate as ghastly shapes
Supernatural marching soldiers
Across the plains of existence
Searching for forgiveness
Or new battles with destiny
They come as unwelcome guests
To disturb dogs* and sleep
They watch us for weakness
From the shadowed corners
And they come only in winter
When the dark holds sway

* I wrote this last night because the dog came running upstairs, jumped on the bed and after waking me up began staring into a corner of the room whimpering. It was all a bit unsettling so I picked up my pad and jotted down my thoughts whilst calming the dog. Perhaps dogs sense things we cannot, but in the end I went downstairs and let him out. Because to a dog a call of nature is more important than any ghost. I swear if he became any cleverer he would install a bell and ring it for me to come.

Flood

We are breached; undone by abundant time

And we live so briefly we are apt to forget
Nothing pulls us back from significance
From our science we belittle point of nuance
Upon the noxious produce of our endeavours
The ice was freed from its polar servitude
It now warms its vapours with disdain
And we still call it elemental aberration
This water unleashed quenching the fire of man
But if mother earth sheds but even one tear
We are besieged for a hundred years
In soft, fluid eulogies of chance made real
And all waters drain and run to the sea
And still this is not yet accounted disaster
For this is no great flood we see here yet
Tis but hypothesis that dared speak its name
That our mother earth is no puppet in man's show
If this is chance who would wager now on its odds

Christmas

Holly wreathes and smokey fires

Carillons ring from sleeping spires
Santa's stand upon every square
Turkeys roast with meat to spare
Ivy garlands drape every wall
Mistletoe hangs within the hall  
Santa wakes and takes his sleigh
Makes the whole night bright as day
Reindeers fly upon the nights chill
While chimneys cool and houses still
Candles at windows at close of day
Everybody waits for Christmas day
For now there is a joy upon the air
Soon is Christmas; a hope we share