website designed by Paul
hosted by Link-2

Below The Weeping Willow

Down by the water's edge, below the weeping willow
There stands a single flower of red, white and yellow
She sits in the morning stillness, without a breeze
Minute crystal dewdrop balls resting on her leaves
They glisten and reflect all the rainbow colours
A sequined garment worn, her beauty it uncovers
As, in the pale morn, her petals glow with vibrant life
And she becomes an even more compelling site.

Down her velvet stem, into a pool, tiny dewdrops flow
Their journey smooth, for she is not thorned like the rose
She is the most resplendent by far beside the river
Brighter than any flower as yet opened or since withered
Until she closes she will be queen of all the land
Or until she is plucked by some thoughtless, dirty hand
That comes to where the willow cries in jealousy
To snap the velvet stem and lose beauty for eternity.

[Return to the Top]

Mathematical Love

No matter how much I wish it to be less
I always find my one plus your one is two
I wish instead I was a square root sign
Put in place, so as to square root you
So then together, our reaction would be
The ultimate answer to my aspirations
You and me, combined in unity as one
In my mathematical love equations

[Return to the Top]

He Came To Me

Through the crowd He came to me, picked up my limp hand from my side
He put His trust in me, and me in Him, as He led me on as my faithful guide
He set upon a path both straight and true, but as narrow as a needle's eye
He swept back the peoples that surrounded us, moving them as a mighty tide
They put up their arms to strike us, but they cowered from His mightier hands
So our path was revealed before us, and He led me into the Promised Land
Together, we travelled up the grassy green height of a holy mount
And there at the summit there bubbled down a clear and pure found
He knelt at my feet and brought forth a golden cup from beneath His cape
With His left hand He dipped it in, let the water edify around its shape
He brought His other hand down hard upon a rock; His life blood spilt out
Whereupon He plunged His torn and bloodied hand into the crystal fount
The stream began to flow in the blood-red colour of His sacrifice
And His cup was given to me - to save my soul, to save my life

[Return to the Top]

Everywhere Is Nowhere

I know a man who lives in a shanty town
On the outskirts of Johannesburg
A heap of scrap metal and cardboard
On a dirt street with no curb
He has beer cans for his garden
Newspapers for his clothes
Mud inside for his carpet
Mud outside for his road
And he asked me, "Is there someone out there, someone who cares?"
And I said "I don't know friend... everywhere is nowhere"

I took a plane back to England
Returned to my middle-class home
I tried my neighbours door-to-door
And I tried my friends on the phone
But not a penny of aid could they raise
To send to my South African friend
So I sent him fifty pounds
That was just my own in the end
Because I had asked my friends, "Are you the ones who care"
And they said, "We do mate... but, everywhere is nowhere"

Too wrapped up in their own lives to notice
"We're recession hit, and so very poor"
But I at least could not forget him
And of that very fact I was sure
I took his plight to the government
And asked them to use their powers
But they said, "He lives in another country,
He's no concern of ours"
In that plush office I pleaded with them there
But all they could tell me was "Everywhere is nowhere"

So, I took his case to the United Nations
To the bearers of justice and peace
I had hoped they would give me some money
Or just even a hearing at least
But they told me they were too busy
I told them of the house made of card
I shouted about my friend's poverty
The conditions that make his life hard
But they shouted back, "Hey look, haven't you learnt somewhere
That in this world of ours... everywhere is nowhere".

[Return to the Top]

Little Bird

Oh little bird, little bird
So dainty and so small
Sitting on your fence post
Feathers ruffled in the cold
Go south for the winter
Stay there the summer too
For this is a bleak world
With nothing to offer you

Oh little bird, little bird
For what reasons do you stay?
Your food is so scarce
You're hungry all the day
Why do you simply sit
Grow cold on your wooden fence?
What promise keeps you here
To be sufficient recompense?

Oh little bird, little bird
You should not suffer anymore
For you will perish surely
If you persistently ignore
Your option to escape
And leave this coldness behind
Does this not make sense to you
Inside your feathered mind?

Oh little bird, little bird
Spread your wings and fly
Fast away from here
Beat them hard against the sky
Go up above the wilderness
And travel where the air is warm
To where bare icy fields
Are instead filled with corn

Oh little bird, little bird
Fly fast away from me

[Return to the Top]

Beneath An Oak
(in loving memory of my grandfather)

Out of the warm darkness I came
And journeyed until I found a grassy plain
There I hesitated with recognition
Of a place that I used to live in
I slid down the muddy slope of years
As the sound of your laughter reached my ears
I passed through mires and through bogs
Over a stile, over a bridge made of logs
I trod a pathway through the months of grass
Made my way to your voice fast
I ran through the days of trees
The minutes of twigs, the seconds of leaves
Until I burst into a clearing for your last joke
But I saw you lying still beneath an oak
Your name, an inscription, on the tree was set
I sat down, cried and wept

[Return to the Top]

The Lady Of The Lake

I went wondered in copséd wood
At a time when new spring growth
Held promise of better things to come
And there I fell upon a dark pool
Flanked by hard rock and bushy reed
It was there she lay for all to see
The Lady of the Lake

So quiet and still I feared her dead
And was about to turn away
When single sunbeam pierced the dark
And shone down upon her face
To make her golden crown like halo seem
And I saw her not to be in death but dream
The Lady of the Lake

As gazéd I at her white robed form
Girdled in gold about her waist
I perceived in her there to be a life
That I had not seen in any else
Surely, I thought, an angel she must be
So heavenly did she then appear to me
The Lady of the Lake

I did not wish to frighten her
Or her beautiful tranquility disturb
That so softly did I speak across the water
It was scarcely heard above the breeze
And so captive was her peace within my gaze
That loathed was I for my voice to raise
To the Lady of the Lake

But when the currents worked in such a way
That her head turned as to look at me
And I saw not a flicker cross her face
My heart began to grow anxious for her
To take my hand, forsake her aqueous bed
Lest the dream end in tragedy dead
For the Lady of the Lake

"Awake!" cry I, "Seize my outstretched hand
And leave your watery rest and solitude
For although this is a scene of beauty
Truly, it is not a place for any man."
But she still sleeps on in loud oblivion
And I can only wait in quiet delirium
"Oh, Lady of the Lake - Awake!"

[Return to the Top]

Fountain

Cold
Initially
Bubbling up
Above freezing
Subterranean fresh
I follow a lure of purity

As you descend Sinai's height
I am forced to sprint fast besides
While I hold no wish to be left behind
As you carelessly run the way you choose
Graciously following a path of least resistance

Hemmed in by gravity alone you reach the river plain
There you do not run so fast as you journey through the bed
But still your charms are not lost upon me, as you lead me further
Enticing me as a Siren, I become entwined in your gentle meanderings

Intimately we stumble on towards the estuary, where I taste you for the first time
I note the bitterness of your salty breath; spot the gulls which circle above as vultures
But still I am blind, lost to the sense of your touch as you gently, repeatedly lap at my skin

Nevertheless, as we reach the land's end still I scramble out to stand there upon the rocky crags above
For though I admit no greater desire than to loose myself in your depths, to surrender completely to your touch

One thing keeps my feet where they always must remain, and even forces my back upon you. I know I cannot swim

[Return to the Top]

If She Be

If she be a nightingale
I would lend my ear
And listen to her song

If she be a summer rose
I would test her scent
For every day long

If she be a mountain stream
I would stoop to drink
And wet my lips

If she be made of silk
I would not let her
Leave my fingertips

And if she be a star or moon
Or other celestial form
Then each night I would dream
That she'd be come morn

[Return to the Top]

Right Words

I've been looking for the Right Words
But they seem to have been mislaid
I've been looking for the Right Words
But they seem to have gone astray
I've been to see Shelley, Shakespeare and Keats
But even they don't have the words that I seek
So, it's in some frustration that I am left to wonder
What is the profit for which words can be plundered?

For they pretend that they have the sense to convey
Every single thing that I would like them to say
But too soon I find their masquerade broken
When the volume available is but a mere token
And then there are the times when they get me in trouble
Like when speaking with you and they get in a muddle
And they don't seem to flow from this pen as I write
And they leave me dumbfounded when you catch my sight

But I know they'll be a time when find them I must
To show my hand in love's game - boom or bust
But at this time I don't know where they could be
So i'll just have to wait and hope they find me

So don't be surprised if the next time we meet
You don't hear a sound when I try to speak
That means i'm still searching for words that are true
And can say of my heart, "I think I love you"

[Return to the Top]

Poverty Is

Poverty is a pair of feet, blistered and sore
It's the soup of the day and not a drop more
It's having fingers too tired and numb to feed
It's the prospect of dying from a nosebleed
It's having no doctor there to stem the blood
It's a roofless house with walls shaped in mud
It's the same dirt for carpet as for the roads
It's a back bowed by decades of heavy loads
It's water not fit enough to drink at best
It's having to work more and more for less and less
It's nakedness, so starkly apparent to our eyes
And yet we cannot even bring ourselves to cry

Poverty is a disease that sickens the soul
When we care to stop and think of it all
And how it could be cured if not for greed
For our wanting of things we think we need
As we face the world for ourselves alone
With clay hearts that have become hard stone
If not so tragic, it would be irony to say
Poorest are we when bound up this way

[Return to the Top]

How To Go Back?

How to go back to the familiar i'm really not sure
But how can it go back to how it was before?
How can I live to meet more than my every need
When such desperation and poverty i've seen?
How can I go out to have a good time?
How can I have a meal with a bottle of wine?
How can I even eat when some can't choose to?
How can I continue to do as I do?

Some would say we have to make the most of our lot
And that's the excuse I need to care little or not
Yet there is evidence enough to give that notion scorn
Such as the family with nothing who gave me their corn
Greed is an easy trap when you already have so much
And it's not hard to ignore needs of some such-and-such
But after what i've seen how do I live in the West?
Is it really enough not to live to excess?

How to go back to the familiar i'm really not sure
But one thing I know, it can't be as before
And the acid test will be how long this resolve lasts
How many days will I be able to materially fast?
Will it be forever, or year, or month or week
Before consumerism again sweeps me off my feet?
A siren come to enchant and entreat me to buy
While compassion ebbs away as my heart is bled dry

[Return to the Top]

Twice Now

Twice now, I've chosen this path
Drawn there by the melody of light
That dances through the twiggy staves
To a hopeful arrangement on the earth

There too, on that same road
Autumn's gold long dimmed and gone
Past that lies as a beggar does
Down trodden, trodden down
Clinging, imploring to be revived
Outstretching, fighting for some life
Yet with none I wish to give back
It sticks to my soles in death throes

There too the leaves of early spring
That press as a crowd to line the way
Present brushing against my face
My cheeks under a caressing stroke
Fingers touching as the gentle breeze
That softly stirs the forest to life
Into a motion again outstretching
To enfold me with budding promise

And the sight of a house you well know
As defined, but clear of definition
To me, perceived but beyond perception
Remaining unfocused, yet not in vision
Yea, twice now, I've chosen this road
But still only make out a figure waiting
Looming, maybe lurking by your door
Future knocking to ask if you'd care
To come, listen to the music of the wood

Twice now, I've chosen this path
Drawn there by the melody of light
That dances through the twiggy staves
To a hopeful arrangement on the earth
And I will choose this path again
A third, a fourth, who knows when
It will in time be short enough to find
Me walking up your garden path

[Return to the Top]

Before Trinity Gate

Before Trinity Gate she's often found with the crocii
Communing with them though not many know why
What can possibly these petals so tender and frail
Know to disclose and with wisdom exhale
How peculiar to many that there she would seek
Oracular insight from eyes of those so meek
But I know why, I have seen and understood
I have perceived how their giving is only good
Yearly they whisper hope, coming forth to life
An annual reminder that calms our time's strife
A fresh season of possibilities of ways to grow
These are the words which they regularly sow
They inspire as they come up from the ground
For her to take stock and cast her eye around

This is a spring time tale each of us knows well
But listening harder they've another story to tell
There is deeper wisdom that they have to share
Naturally spoken as sure as they are rooted there
That time is cyclical; it repeats and repeats
For their promise with the spring they always keep
Their message is one of past going over again
And in communion she is drawn back with them
To times before when she knew of no cares
With no decisions to make of what or where
To flowered fields in which sits a little girl
Happy, untouched by the concerns of the world
For this I'd join her on the path to Trinity Gate
And listen for time to repeat before it's too late

[Return to the Top]

The Eclipse

The times we meet are few, sweet moon
But, though few, I live for those junctures
Where for a moment, time's curse relents
And my desolation is no longer empty
Our paths cross and we're drawn together
Fanning a fervour in me on each occasion

And I would gush with my heart's overflow
Set my own corona upon your fair crown
But for reasons two that lead me to delay
The one, that in your presence I am eclipsed
Not in size, for in that we appear compatible
But in other ways our meet seems ill-measured

I may divide time off into dependable days
But you do it in months with mysterious wisdom
For your course is to the eye one full of grace
And my ways are simple in comparison
You have an enchanting peace and beauty
But I burn the gaze of all who see my face

Unworthy, I could not bear to be your shadow
Mask your goodness from all who would look
And I am caught, ensnared in indecision
Held in suspension between love and loveable
Until the second reason comes to the fore
And time ticking, we march on in separate ways

[Return to the Top]

Ashdown Dancing

I loved those brisk autumnal days on Ashdown
With defeated leaves dancing to the ground
When I could join in their jazzy tumbles
Cavorting about as catches turned to fumbles
Though my hands would be cupped and ready
The wind would not let their path be steady
And they would slip past my laid out target
Joining their kin on a growing golden carpet

And if fortune did not soon bring one to rest within my grip
I too would drag my feet, then send them skywards with a kick
But if, my mother said, I had fortune enough to make one mine
I could wish for anything and it would come true in time

[Return to the Top]

A Ride In A Car

The sky looked like spring, though it was autumn outside
The perfect time, I thought, to go with you for a drive
I knew just the place for us to get away somewhere
So, I pulled out my map so that we might find our way there

A quick polish, started her up and then took the top down
And drove her to your place on the other side of town
I picked up your coat and bag and grabbed your hand
Not stopping to ask if you had anything else planned

Somewhere along the road, I must've taken a wrong way
So gave you the map, to find where we'd gone astray
But when you finally said that the journey had ended
I found we weren't anywhere near where I'd intended

I was so slow to realise you'd led me on a merry dance
Had disregarded my intents as soon you had the chance
And that hurt me so, to be treated that way by you
After the care I took to choose my plans for us two

As for my dreams and me you had shown so little regard
That, as I left, I made sure to slam the car door hard
I turned my back on you as I stood and thumbed for a ride
And never saw how, as you watched me leave, you cried and cried

One after another, I found drivers who would take me
Each ride short, for none were going where I aimed to be
And they didn't like having you pursuing them behind
Following after me in the hope I'd change my mind

But I'd wouldn't. I'd made no mistake I knew without a doubt
Until the last ride stole everything of mine and kicked me out
Only then did I look back and do some thinking through
Wondering if I would ever be able to begin forgiving you

But while you had taken my dreams and my vivacity
He had taken not just cash and cards, but my identity
Despite this loss, I was still so slow to appreciate
That it's me who needs forgiving for my pride and my mistakes

I see now you know where to go far better than me
You've travelled everywhere, seen all there is to see
I've been slow to realise I get sick when reading the map
And that I'm much the better off travelling in the back

[Return to the Top]

The Wedding Dawn

The world does not change under the blanket of the night
Winds still blow, seas still flow in the absence of the light
Only perspective changes when I am granted my full sight

At dawn's first hint, all nature peacefully, stilly anticipates
Daytime hues, breaking through as darkness dissipates
And all know there's now not much longer it has to wait

For then, over the horizon, appear the first reddish rays
That fire of love, reflected above, in those crimson shades
That assure of life to the soul throughout the coming day

And, suddenly, there sounds colour's flooding, rushing roar
All is bright, in a wave of light not bounded by the shore
The whole world now teeming more with life than it did before

Not long and the illuminating sun begins to show its face
No more unseen, a golden gleam, spring forth with haste
Growing stronger and brighter as it climbs, moving on apace

To its station above the skyline, a giant lantern hanging low
That's sympathetic, soft and delicate and yet changes all I know
As it bathes all before it in a warm, gloriously loving glow

And this dawn's beauty speaks promise of what the noon will bring
A growing heat, ‘til the sun peaks and shines fully on everything
And so I seal this day for now and for not yet, with the giving of a ring

[Return to the Top]