The rain fell
In the wood I know well.
I could say it’s sound
Was very profound
And the forest rang with birdsong.
All of this is true.
But I was wet through
And wanted home
And hot tea!
The rain fell
In the wood I know well.
I could say it’s sound
Was very profound
And the forest rang with birdsong.
All of this is true.
But I was wet through
And wanted home
And hot tea!
The scent of cheap perfume
Pervades an overheated room.
She in her mini skirt
And too high heels.
He in t-shirt and jeans.
They play their scenes.
She loses skirt and heels
And feels
The threadbare carpet under her feet.
She wants to sleep …
Sometimes she weeps,
But not in front of them.
He sighs.
His fun is done.
Occasionally he cries,
Though not when they can see.
The same dance
Of no romance
Over and over again
To hide his pain.
She has a child to feed
Or perhaps some other need.
Sometimes he wonders about them.
But they are free
As is he …
To choose …
I passed by
Where you once lived
And remembered how you gazed at the stars
So far away.
It is cold today
But you are lost to frost and sunshine.
You denied the divine
Yet loved the starry sky.
No telescope can see where you are gone.
Yet I think you would agree with me
That we came from stardust
And must go
Beyond where the telescope can see
In early January
My shadow goes in front of me.
The sun shines
But my hands are cold.
One day I know
My shadow will no longer go.
Though perhaps in rhyme
I will leave something behind
And people may see
Something of me.
For poets make shadows
Through their poetry
Should I shed a tear
For the dying year?
I survived a brain abscess
And lived to see the tree undress
In autumn.
My hair has longed turned white.
I can not fight
The passage of time.
Yet take delight
In this brief rhyme
Of life.
All things pass.
Yet my glass
Is at least half full.
The weather is dull
But I still hear the steady tick tock
Of the clock
On the wall
And relish these fallen leaves
For I, as they
Must pass away.
My stream of consciousness runs
As the clock ticks.
The night is dark.
My heart is part dark.
I hear the TV
In the other room.
I imagine a girl’s perfume
But it is just I
Alone, unable to call.
Yet I may fall again
When I return to the capital city.
I can be witty
And I have desired pretty
Girls. I still do so,
But know
The night is cold
And I grow old
As the clock ticks the hours away.
In May
Girls dance around the pole.
I desire women and wine,
But time is short
And what I ought
To do
Is …
But to kiss
A girl’s soft lips
And for it to be meaningful
Would kill
This itch of mine
For women and wine.
Or perhaps I lie
To myself.
It is a truism
That wealth can not buy
Happiness.
Yet I
Continue to lie …
With the dark
And the light
In my heart
I make art.
I play a part.
The stage light
Illumines the night.
For a while
I smile
Then comes the dark.
The clock ticks another year towards its close.
Winter’s clothes will soon replace autumn’s leaf-strewn face.
Spring lies well concealed in the wings
And summertime is a half remembered rhyme
In the ageing poet’s mind
Where everything repeats
And time defeats.
Until all as leaves fall.
The wall clock ticks.
We have reached the Winter Solstice.
The ache in my shoulder
Says, I grow older.
But, after tonight
The evenings will slowly turn bright
And bare trees
Bring forth leaves.
The longest day will come.
The winter solstice
Will return once more.
But the great see
Must, one day
Sweep all this away
Leaving nothing behind.
Yet we still dance
A shadow in the bathroom glass.
What I see
Is the public me.
And when I pass
There will be
No me to see
Merely soulless glass.
Yet reflected back
In the verse I leave behind
Some may find
In my rhyme
The black
And white we call art.
Now in the mirror I see
The surface me.
And not my heart.