starters.”
So off went the fox and the mole
To start their bank-robbing life.
Living it up, the law they defied,
Rivalling even Bonny and Clyde.
Smile
I walked in time
In a summer rhyme
I stopped to tell
Every passer-by
The secret in my secret smile
They stopped and stared
At my summer guise
That shied away
But I knew inside
The secret he had shared
How he looked within
To my inner mind
My eyes he opened new
So sharing himself
Though he left untouched
Hope
The optimistic side of me
Likes to dream
That rainbows follow rain.
There’s a little girl
I used to know,
Fair-haired and wide-eyed,
Imagining elves and giants,
Ghosts and goblins,
Chasing the wind unseen,
Her whole life unlived –
Does she still wander freely
In her dreams?
Footsteps in the rain
She walked into the path of oncoming traffic
Lights flashing her blind in the pitch dark
Heading her way, they swerved to the side
Horns high-screeching like cats, radios blaring
The night ached a thousand lived memories
She walked barefoot, her feet cut but soundless
Like a dreamer who had long ceased to dream
The stars glistened high above like fairy lights
Dazzling in the night sky, so quiet their beauty
Unravished by life, uncorrupted, so pure, fine
Her eyes she squinted to improve their clarity
Shining so brilliantly, like ice against black
She had wandered far, not knowing the distance
Far, far, a long way from home and her people
Seated around a wooden table, food cooking
Amid warm smells of crisp, burning wintry heat
She could imagine them laughing and grinning
Their teeth glinting in candlelight as they spoke
Blood dripping off their plates, their eyes red
Clawed fingernails gripping the edges so taut
Their wild hair flicking as they wailed and groaned...
Enough! This she did not miss, could never miss
So now her escape was final, desolation dismissed
The blood could stay chilled and frozen like ice
Away from her, hidden in those dark, darkest eyes
Closing her eyelids, she forced away the memory
The road felt cold and the rain was starting again
Tap, tap, tap, the lights danced in the water
Her toes flicked little glistening drips into the air
And she grinned at such a simple, honest thing
Memories of a life forgotten, once lived before
In the time long ago, in a time she lived once
The horns continued to sound, sigh-pitched wines
Too high, shattering the quiet of this still night
She turned her head to scowl, unseen in the dark
Determined, she walked on, oblivious to the cold
Heading into the noisy, bustling flow of cars
She had no fear of them or their terrifying roar
They sounded their horns but they could not see her
Blinded as they were to the dead thing walking.
Sigh
I could not stop in the waking rain
Lest the world stop beside me
Ceasing its endless ticking clock
Ending this life I see before me
I could not wake in the morning air
Lest my hands cease to find me;
Stark sunlight through a window blasts
Lights the hope I have before me
Blow
If I forget, remind me
To blow out the light
When the singer ends
His song
A candle flickers out
‘Gainst the windowpane
Shimmering yellow to
The last
Sing the longest song
That will never die
Or seek to shiver to
A stop
Wax slowly melts
Forever renewed in
The red-hot heat of
Regret
Blow out the light
Lest it remembers
To cast chaos in
My dreams
Little boy leaps
Sand-speckled feet
Shimmer in these waters,
Flickers of light
Paint a blue escape
Cold waves call,
Restless in the distance
The blue eternal
Circles, renewing
He splashes oblivious
While shadows dance
In the yellow flight
Of palest light
Echoes of children play
Far across the beach
But here he plays alone
At one with the sea
Myriad colours beckon
Inviting him to swim,
Swift waves surge and stride
Pulling against the tide
Struggling to be free
On this blissful summer day
He jumps and laughs again
Leaps in the shimmering
Gossamer
A tiny butterfly
Flits its life away
On the windowpane
Seeing movement
Beyond the glass
That is everything
Heading my way?
Travelling free on the whims of the tide
You’ve come a long way to reach this town
Winding the free roads, heading nowhere
Where do you really wander to?
So young and careless with your dreams
An empty suitcase of sometime smiles
Where do you go when the chill wind blows?
Summer skies and lazy days beckon
Yet they will only take you so far
Where do you go when the rains run dry?
Carrying your beaten suitcase like a magic star
Across the highways neon lights blur
Into a single streak of sparkling iridescence
Why did you leave, where are you headed,
Do you remember where you came from?
Empty windows stare from these desolate hotels
Unkempt figures shelter in the dark shadows
Still, silent spaces contain no answers
Enigmatic in your silence in this darkness
The moon is but your one muted companion
The empty, dust-strewn road stretches forth
As you follow, free loaded with your dreams
November
November chills me with its breath
It shocks me out of this limbo
With its icy fingers and numb breaks
Night begins to creep in early
Crisp steps it takes across this land
As the sky sinks down ever nearer
Trees reach skyward for past blossoms
Carried away on the back of the wind
I yearn to bury myself away in warmth
To hibernate like a sleeping hedgehog
In a small box of paper, hidden away
Nestled alone with my memories
Wake me in the warm glow of spring
As I’m sure I will not miss a thing
This slow slide into winter unnerves me
Season of change, death and seclusion
Bring me sunshine on a silver platter
With roses tinted pink in summer’s scent
The smell of green brought by the rain –
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Smile away the despair of the darkest day
Lost and found
Let me have this pure thing
With no questions asked of me
No demands or small print hidden
Nothing fades like hope lost
Give me back the thing you stole
Don’t pretend that you’ve forgotten
When this was once the key to all
Nothing fades like trust broken
If time really heals all wounds
Why is this memory still so clear?
Played out like a moving picture book
Nothing fades like bruises given
Let me have this promised peace
Of a spirit that heals unbroken
With an openness to the good in things
Nothing fades like an empty gift
Nightmares
If I scream
Will it drown everything
That frightens me
In the silent dark?
Amputated limbs
Red scrawls of blood
Eight-legged freaks
Impenetrable mists
Running into infinity
With darkness chasing
Fast behind me, it
Comes closer, enveloping
Feet lose their grip
Creaking bridges give way
Falling in slow motion
To where monsters roar
My mind goes blank
Sinking through the air
The ground draws near
And so I wake
Sea shells
making waves
she tries the sound
listening to nothing
in the motion
of moving
crashing waves
the dead of the sea
swishing still
inside her ear
the cold shell
curves echoing
the murmur
of distant
waves flowing
from the shores
so long lost
in time spent
sinking
into
bliss
Horror
The unknown stands behind me
Raging above in a bright
Inferno – let it fall,
Drown me in this sea
Of wrath, draining
In screams of muteness
Red blood dancing in streams
Smother me in this warmth
A passion that knows no end
But in the blackness of the dark
Words are silent
Faith
Paint me a new day
Breathe in these colours
Maintain the purest sky
The chill of white lace cuts
In silken touches of snow
Red stains black as it dies
An open box that smiles deep
Cuts the Earth in two
Borrowing sorrow’s eyes
To see again, rest a while;
The summer will stay
To shine for you.
The pack
echoes in the dark –
cries of the lost
wolves running
in the still night
beneath the stars
glistening high
on their forest run
eyes glinting
ears pricked
feet soundless
chasing sounds
heard but unseen
the moon glows,
sheds its white
misted half-light
on their trail,
weaving a path
long travelled
anew but