To the ones who care, and they know who they are.............
Images
a cure for dying.......
Phaedrus Press
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Poem
That my candle
should shine for you
across these weary nights
that is my wish
That our caviar
our finest plate
be laid out for us this night
our richest dish
That we build a memory
that we may stare
at a full bodied moon this night
each with a silent kiss.
That is our destiny
to wish for a kiss
to always crave caviar
yet, in the flickering light
end with an empty dish
A Poem
I feel your words
press hard against my heart
and somehow
things aren't quite so plain
because, as long as I had you
things could be planned
for tomorrow
on demand
Thinking all the while
that as long as we had love
anything could be overcome
all wrongs could be undone
and each day
would bring new sun
But now I feel insecure
and just a little cold
the hopes are fewer and fewer
and tomorrow is already old
because, why should I look for tomorrow
when tomorrow never comes?
this poem has been used as the lyrics of the song 'safe and true'
Time
Time the witness gazing on worried beaches
Time the traveller spanning vast reaches
Time the follower chasing lifetimes away
Time the great father to whom we all pray
Time the faithful friend with time to live not waste
Time fragrant an unidentifiable taste
Time the greedy with no time to spare
Time needy for whom no-one cares
Time the living with some truths to give
Time the dead the dust of ages thro' a sieve
Time the myth for which there is no gauge
Time the liar kept in bondage
Time that exists with no reason for this
Time with no bends yet never steps out of line
Forever Changes
Forever changes but little
leaving time enough for love
and as we are here
so the love, my love
Forever changes but little
leaving time to read enough
the poem changes with the reading
and the image with the time
Forever changes but little
leaving time enough for love
and as we are here
so the love, my love
There is little change in forever
love is timeless or so they say
yet forever must mean together
for ever and a day
Forever changes but little
except for perhaps love
but forever is not enough
even for love, my love.
The Ignorant Thinker
I sit here writing, the thoughts come tumbling out,
put down on paper, the bullshit I spout.
A never ending geyser of rhyme and reason,
love stories, ten for each of the seasons.
Poems of boys, poems of girls, some of ancient,
some of modern world,
How many stories of lost loves and lonely nights have
I unfurled?
The reasons for my stories aren't quite plain,
at least not to me, however the fact remains.
I feel the need to put pen to paper,
and fulfil that need, till feelings taper.
Never lost for words, tho' my knowledge is small,
I still don't know why I do this at all.
Perhaps someday, when youth has gone away,
I'll know the answers, and the price I have to pay.
Night after day, with words and reasons I tinker,
what hope is left for an ignorant thinker?
The Dead Of Night
Young girl screams, hollow and clear,
running from a man, face filled with fear,
Knows not where she's going, only fright,
running wild in the dead of night.
Man watches dials, adjusts a gauge,
mind filled with boredom, face with old age,
often his eyes glaze, pretending sight,
clock cards filed, in the dead of night.
Old friends in a circle, some on the floor,
one by one they leave, tho' they'll come for more.
Now two left, the drinks are fine, the roomlights bright,
but conversation mild, in the dead of night.
Sports car in country lane, fast and low,
Young boy in a drunken mistake, fast not slow,
a broken neck in the glare of broken lights,
yesterdays child, in the dead of night.
Song Of The Sea
I walked alone on the beach
while a quietly burning moon
shone on brightly
just out of reach
the waves walked in by choice
one by one they spoke to me
with plaintive voice
"All you people
where have you been?"
I wait here
quiet by day
loud by night
keeping time with the moon
and never come in too soon
Often by chance
you pass me by
without a second glance
or a first try
Your cousins
they forgot their past
believing themselves
free at last
One Mistake Too Many
I see gold in the morning sunrise
chasing the hills with fiery whip
And I labour as I attempt to surmise
about my soon to be attempted trip
For I wonder over this earthly plain
with no-one knowing where I go
Tears from my tired eyes all that remain
and those tears are a constant flow
In mornings I walk from the township
or the forest where I spent the night
passing the villages like a spaceship
barely seen then gone from sight
My travels take youth from me
How can I know if that is bad?
But the driving force of a memory
drives me on ... and still I am sad
From time to time I settle down
in a place seeming homelike to me
but fairly soon I turn around
in answer to a self-sung plea
A Poem
You can bring your flowers
to my outpost in these lanes
till my head is full of promises
of a new and better day
the towers reek of age
of times sad searching call
in light and shadow they wait
then dress for their own fall
now the signs all point the way
to show which stoppage to avoid
and buildings are slanting down
proving that I'm paranoid
I'll go and join the early queue
where they hand out free details
of a duly worked existence
and all that can entail
and I have no new tomorrow's
that I think that I can see
this city is lost in nowhere
from now to eternity
so the poor take up each test
of every evenings vast surprise
and the lights of a molten city
are burning swiftly past my eyes
A Poem
It's funny how my friends grow old
while I remain the eternal youth
and that they can hear all the lies
while I can hear only truth
Is it possible that I am mad?
Have I side-stepped the pretence
of existing in a world gone bad
and have I lost all sense ?
And what if I am mad
Does it make me richer or poorer?
Do the dreams I have mark my days
or leave me fewer and fewer?
Do I straddle that dividing line
separating the mad from the sane
that reaches into your past and mine
to haunt us time and again
Am I truly here at all
or do I run down a tunnel in time
If I reach the end, then time will stall .....
and if so, will it be bad or fine?
A Poem
Don't blanket love as a secret
it's canals run cold and straight
love is a waiting sign
that lives in your street and mine
And I am a normal person
trapped in this
a most ordinary situation
that of a man
bound with the responsibility of love
If you feel our time is over
that when you look I won't be there
or you'll find a note that bids adieu
look again
I'll be with you
so don't worry if you shed some tears
class them as souvenirs
of a short but fruitful love.
and you will call me Abraham
bringing a perfect truth
inflame me lady
the candle burns low for me
and my wick is shrinking in
impale me lady
on a purified shaft of ice
cleanse me in the night.
Face On The Wall
You raise your face like a painted plate,
wanting devotion from the cavalcade,
your eyes are orbs of frosted slate,
viewing the world through a tint of jade.
No hope of reformation for you,
the captain's course is waged,
the song and the deeds all through,
and the terminal performance staged.
A Poem
All men can be broken
by the weight of the stones
they build their castles with;
that lay as leaves
in a tarnished book
that once forsook
cannot be written again
And all men are stained
with the blood of an age
we murdered in our sleep
without a thought of our children
who all must live
with the realities they keep
So who will shout
when a life is lost
in useless toil
or the spoils of war
in a store of second-hand lives
with cartons stacked
high with homeless men..........
who will shed a tear
for their once loved wives?
Then the train of thought
that's not bought or bartered
leaves them free again
to taste the pain
of an individual cross
that must be borne
while a witness is sworn
to silence forever.
Bringing back a wife
To share the meadow
And his life ...
Now are three in the meadow
Pain is left behind
The hills only echo laughter
Bouncing between the pines ...
Trees grow old in the meadow
Seasons wax and wane
Hunter looks for child
But child is lost for life
And only two remain ...
Now it's raining in the meadow
The sun has lost its shine
Two look out the window
And think of better times
The earth is washed of sorrow
But the cabin inside is dry
No thoughts for tomorrow
Only asking why ......
And still the land will cry
Of all the unborn years
But hunter holds his tears
Fondling time-warn souvenirs ...
Now it's snowing in the meadow
Falling quickly past cabin lights
Hunter sits in shadow
Gazing out at night
Into dark he peers
But seeing nothing, can only hope
And wish ...
For better years ......
A Poem
It won't matter to me
if you find me again
for if time exists
it passes slowly in my brain
I've been around
waiting for you to come
I've been lost and found
losing and gaining some
if you come back one day
the day I call tomorrow
I'll surely have words to say
and a little time to borrow
why should I care?
if you've been gone so long
even though you are there
you'll be back where you belong
tomorrow you'll be here
ending a holy war
and my desperation will disappear
as it did before
when you are here, loneliness gone
I'll have no feeling of relief
for when tomorrow comes
there's no feeling of defeat
and when you come I'll forget
your absence this long while
and I'll sing these years of regret
so sad it will make you smile.
This Night
Come to me lady
your night is aflame
as the jewels on some courtesan
that, off hand - you call by name
Hear the song cherie
of the whistling wind at night
that you beckon with a finger
and eyes shining bright
And dance for me
that I may remember when I'm old
then I'll relive this night
when all my nights fall cold
20th Century Scheme
The last man on earth
can wander aimlessly around
searching a place to berth
but his ship may never ground
The fire of a lost generation, burns inside
and tho' he doesn't need it, he seeks a place to hide
The last bomb fell two years ago
leaving a barren waste encircling the world
there was no pain, most people didn't know
their mummies lie twisted and curled
Most people fight for survival
tho' really anything else was always a dream
these the actions of the puppets arrival
on the stage of the 20th century scheme.
Leaving
The eyes of the hillside are opening soon,
leaving the lovers to take the blame,
flirting wives, casting their thoughts to the moon,
leave a child in the city with hardly a name.
And all the lonely and unwanted cry,
leaving the twelve hills to circle around,
and the empty corridors echo the lies,
leaving bare walls in the silence that lays aground.
The morning takes you away from reality,
leaving the early talk to the friend in trouble,
and the more you talk, the more you can cry,
leaving you alone in the night with your double.
I can see by your face it must be trying,
leaving, always leaving, a place you need to be,
slowly your islands are painfully dying,
leaving you no longer able to see.
Excuse Me
I had a frog that shined in the dark
I saw him every day in the park
He'd jump and leap and bound with joy
just to see his friend the boy
He didn't stay luminous for very long
he just sits there, the light is gone
Why did I have to paint him?
Far Stars
Let our children hope
let their hopes live
they are the morning flowers
the earth their garden
no tomorrow's and tomorrow never comes
never seems too soon or too late or at all
the facts we are gleaning are the true meanings
one day we'll know all the facts
and our seeds will scatter the stars
The far stars where our future hopes lie
with no corner caffs or drunk pubs
or swank clubs or caged breasts
or caged men or men perhaps better caged
or futile rage or a turned page in time
or lines of men needing help
The far stars our rainbows end
the long reads and for the laughing mammal
we'll outlive the camel and horse
he'll destroy them of course one day
and Elves shall play having abolished pay
and other prostitution of mans dignity
and will signify the highest order of humanity
having been ridden of insanity
morality fear and profanity
of the simple facts that makes life good
for all the beings of time and distance
and the only laws the natural laws
the only codes the codes of appreciation
and the only barrier the lack of knowledge.
It Is Day
I came here to rest in peace,
and just can't find a place to lay,
the visions cycling, never cease,
I must take my leave now, for it is day.
Hyde Park - 1st June 1975
Snow is falling
it is indeed June
wind is calling
to my girded loins
snow is here
it is indeed summer
and my frosted glass of beer
can foam and then lie flat
Man is falling
it is indeed June
wind is calling
it tears at my groin
the bomb is here
its radiant cloud
hangs as if some frozen tear
wished to weep over London
and indeed the snow is red.....
five million are dead.
In The Year 2032
Visions Of A New World
I am 91
I first came into this world
in the summer of 41
and for all my years
what can I look back upon
The world has changed
as I knew it would
but it has been rearranged
and to my disgust
Christian man was blamed
All those young soldiers
left stranded that warm July
they thought they were heroes
in that short but bloody war
indeed they were
their graves carry the medals
as if they are advertising
the failure of man
No-one will touch those medals
theft has been bred out
and if you have any doubt
look around you
a forest of visi spies
you won't see one tree
that is..........
if you've heard of trees
They do say
that Ireland is still free
though the country was swept
they also live in trees
there is nothing else left
We eat in common rooms
the silence is oppressive
we rest in common rooms
the time is subjective
we work in common rooms
our labours are I suppose effective
we queue in small common rooms
for our calorie tokens
The evenings bring the gloom
and the mornings
a brighter type of gloom.............................,
this week we forget the moon
We pray to the state
new gods for old they say
and love
we lost it somewhere along the way
I tell this to you that you may know your fate
WE SHOUT OUR SUPPORT OF THIS NEW STATE
EACH WITH EQUALLY LOUD VOICE
Oh and yes; we're happy..........
We have no other choice............
A Poem
I could see you
as an ornamental china doll
whose robes can flow and shine
yet grace my china cabinet
in the front of any line
You remind me
of the small ballerina
who pops up, dancing
when I open the lid
on this music box
I could see you as an artiste
whose clothes explode from her
like a wind blown rose.....
was there ever
in the world
such a beautiful stalk?
I could see you
on a golden throne
by an ancient Nile
with a carpet of slaves
unrolled before you
mile after mile
to feast your presence
and worship your royal smile
And I could see you today
encased in ice
for any passer-by to see...
are you then eternal?
could you wear that crown?
sail the Nile
up and down?
the difference
between now and then
is only a few thousand years...........................
A Poem
My wine has survived
one more season
in an uncertain cellar
my vintage grows rarer still...
I gather dust
from the winds of time...
Shadows dance in my fire
they become the warriors
who waltz thro' the gates of hell
and dance on the coals
as if chased by all the dogs in dreams
I feel that I am dressed for the night
being the most conventional of spys
for I am the eternal voyeur.....
like these dark dead rocks
that silently wait
at the end of time
A Poem
I walked back into a desert
A blistering sun in my mind
Whose ashes congeal
To reveal you blazing behind
And I tell myself
You are too young for love
A child of love no doubt
Still the sun burns above
You are my tenth substance
On this form of Lenten fast
Cresting the dune ahead is Rome
Must I follow its dreadful cast
You are everything
Every person I've ever been
Every crisis I've ever been
All the deeds I've ever been
All the wars I've ever been
In this dust you are all things
The heat distorts my mind
Ahead I see once again
The footsteps I've left behind
And with a maddening kind of pain
I see that life is what you find
Life is a glass of water
Served by a waiter in white
Praise that good water
Raise his salary
for this my Calvary
And life is so very sweet
This heat changes my mind
From vision of you
To visions of you
The visions go round and round
The whirlpool of life drags me down
I who was once a clown.
So run to me
And slake my choking thirst
Stop this endless dream
Of a gushing stream
That from the ground has burst
My virgil in this sand is over the thought of you
The time I touched your hand
In the cottage where we were grew
I know you are a child
But in my love I know
I am at times sad or wild
But I'll wait for you to grow
Bring me water
The burning water of life
Give me water
Mirrored in the pool of life
Take me from these rocks
That persistently stalk my trail
Take me into age
I promise I'll die before I'm frail
Take me from this endless cage
Whose walls recede from sight
Take me to your bed
So cool and moist
That offers the perfect night
And I'll give you the perfect day
If you wish once in a while
Only you must promise no dismay
Even of my dreams and smile
So fair yet take care
Not to lose control
Of all these weeks and endless miles
This last time I beg of you again
Come for me and bring with you, rain.
Memories
Is it wrong - I live
As I do on memories?
That my mind
Prefers soft fields
And green trees
To the way I am now!!!
As I sit here I realise
That in time I'll dry
The wetness of my eyes
Going on down through the years
The last and first
Of my line
Still I'll look back in time
On the reminders and souvenirs
On the best times with the worst
Of the people I have known
And faces I've seen
Chances I've blown
And places I've been
2am in the morning
on a night of unfinished love
when the restaurants lights
had blurred our sights...
or was it the evening air?
that carried your head
to my shoulder at last
only to talk of recent cut hair
or swift summer months just past
and how fine to be newly wed
still it was a night of golden moments
in between wanting the right thing to do
so we lay together with our guilt
I with the guilt of wanting to...
you with the guilt of wanting to...
till a fall of sleep ....
washed a summer of guilt's away...
yet none of these indecision's
really matter at all
in the pleasure of today
A Very English War
time goes but slowly by
as I wait behind this barricade
waiting for the enemy to come;
how much I am afraid
these fields are all friends to me
now that I've lost house and friends
man shoots his brother down
it is England they contend
day after day I lie in this hedge
how many months since normality?
this war is neither civil nor war
only death an infinity
a man crawls past me
saying is Saturday
once the days had meaning
now, what can we say?
and as I wait here
the enormity is realised
that no-one wins in civil war
even with the truth before their eyes
the bodies in the village gloom
lay around black and white
as some grotesque chess set
brushed away in the night
the abandoned transport
the silent and empty roads
the lines of desperate people
pushing their precious loads
the burnt and gutted houses
where once rested people lay
the torn and windswept gardens
with only birds at play
nights end comes at last
the morning lit with flame
what is to come has past
for the dead man of no name
the sky lights the morning grass
'till I see a craters gaping maw
the clouds form a strange tapestry
a picture of children at war
I feel the presence of the dead
their voices speak to me
in whispers of a different time
flowing bloody to the sea.
Saigon - March 1975
How can people say that I am wrong?
When all around the truth can be seen
Where people walk past me
Or through me ...
As if I were but a shadow on the clouds
Can't they let me know
That somewhere, once or twice
They've been hurt
And having been hurt ...
Take their pain in pleasure
I can't shake my head at them
To make them disappear
Along with their fear
For they have come
And are full grown
And unlike children
We can't kiss better the hurt
Even though they stretch out their hands
When I'm faced with their troubles
I see my camouflage has worn thin
And must run or hide
Or rest beside them awhile ...
To share the suffering
Of these lonely people
In the darkness of their hearts
Who am I to change them?
I am no artist
Who shows life as he wants it
So I live in disarray
Filled with mourning
With no-one to help me ...
Still unworthy to help them ...
I'm helpless in a world
And that's all I know
Time And Place
I am in an aubergine scene
Staring at people
As they pluck and preen
I once spent time
In another place ...
Time and place
Must they go together
Forever ...
I am in a roundabout spout
Looking back
Through a tunnel
Where large eyes pout
Pointing at me ...
Must eyes point
Out of joint ...
But the aubergine scene
Awakes all my dreams
Where time is disjointed
And plaice is just another fish
Staring back at me ...
A Poem
When dreams say more to me than words
While stories are better than truths I've heard
The laser bright lamp on the wall
Can play upon my written forlorn call
And yet, I'm here
Do I have the right to deny existence
I've walked your dusty roads for miles
Finding only desert sands
Or grinning skulls on broken tiles
Lying windswept on abject command
And yet ... I'm here
To live my life in the shadow of fire
Soon walking in the dark will quench my desire
To end my dreams on shining guillotine
And relaxed once again, whispering "liar"
Shall mount my horse in search of a hypnotic queen
And yet ... I'm here
To what end ...
I can never know.
A Poem
Oh God, look at my life!
I'm twenty-four
It seems much more
It gives me the notion
I'm in slow motion
I'm going down the drain
and everyone's the same
God, look at my life!
I'm twenty-four
everyone's at war
except me
I alone am free
or so it seems
in the width of my dreams
Look at my life
I'm twenty-four
and back on the floor
the hopes I've thrown
have turned to stone
ground to dust
then gathered as rust
on tinfoil flowers
that all the hours
have eroded away
while I have played
Look at me
I'm twenty-four
I thought I was free
but I'm just a bore............
I make my raids
where people are displayed
frozen where they stand
with love in their hand
Oh God, look at me !
I'm twenty-four
but it feels much more.........
because where was I
when Jesus died
I hid in the woods
so misunderstood
that I hid my shame
from their evil games
I - am - twenty-four
and constantly at war
with the world outside
all my walls of pride
I reach out my hand
but they don't understand
I'm just alone
and I look for a home
So I found a perch
away from the search
I've side-tracked earth
found a different berth
Hey, you people back in time!
I hope your tears are all fine
If you see an old friend of mine
whose name could be time
then tell him I'm here
but I'm still no free-er
Look at me!
I'm twenty-four
I've locked the door
I've found my home
but ..........................
I'm still on my own.
A Poem
I am in an unsullied gully
Trying to reach
Over the edge
Of reality ...
But my eyes are watering
Or is it the mist
Whose breath has kissed
My face ...
I am upside down
In a vortex of sound
Wondering why I am here
Can only fear
Exist for me
Or will I in time
Find my place
Or must I search
Forever .........................
One Of Three
All the dubious stories come to me
The prophecies of a strange time
Of a journey to another time
Of the man like me out of time
And I can but pretend to see
That healing my wounds is fine
Or crying out in darkness so fine
Of the man like me, honed fine
Who am I to know what I must be
What explosive actions I must prime
In the wake of that objective prime
of the man failed in his prime
And which is better of the three?
To lose control whom life's in it's prime
To be shaped by other's so whispering fine
All left lying in nothing, of man out of time.
Poem For Heinlien
Come tear these walls apart!
Give me peace from this sickening trauma
For I wait here with winter in my heart
Looking for the door into summer
Reclining in the warm fire's glow
On these long winter's nights
With buckets of coal all in a row
moon-shadowed by neon lights
The only way I make my peace
Is to dream upon better times
But the nightmares never cease
Along with the songs of the vines
The drink can only clear my head
Of bad times better forgotten
Of things I've done, things I've said
Of shared possessions begotten
Still the Catherine wheels must start
Inside the crystal starlit runner
While I wait here with winter in my heart
Searching the door into summer.
A Poem
Where are you now?
You young wild men
Once I knew you well
and ran beside you
now and then
And all you girls
are you still the same
or do you spin other worlds
apart from ours
with love ingrained
And all those sixteen's
their hopes
of lives and loves prize
are they realised?
All of our memories
what are they worth?
do they have meaning
or are they just souvenirs
pinned to a facade of years.
I've been meaning to phone you
and I didn't get around
to writing a letter....
even though I really wanted to
chances are I'm absent minded.............
and now I am here
not expecting you to phone
and anyway
it's been disconnected
along with my thoughts
about you.........
A Poem
I give no reasons or excuses
for being what I am
Even a drifter has his uses
as part of some higher plan
I take no heed of authority
of self-righteous men of power
They plan some kind of insanity
growing stronger hour by hour
Still I walk to meet my maker
as one of a growing throng
Some are givers, some are takers
Wherever did we all go wrong?
Each Other
I have found
a world filled with sound
that takes me away
in the cool of the night
when storms are mustering
in the sky .............
nestling in the stars
but I blink ..............
and it's only an illusion
The SHE comes
to turn my head
with easy hand
and delicate eye .........
till by and by
we love together
in heather and green
till a certain smile .........
comes into my eyes again
We had discovered a flaw
or two
in each other
that we had thought unlikely
or impossible
in each other
but then ...
we were always unlucky
you and I
A Poem
I love with many women
the complaint is always the same
as I stamp this training ground
playing my favourite game
I love with one
she bites my arm
she is wild and explosive
but never does me harm
I love with one
who helps me when I'm down
but when she turns to me in time
she finds I'm not around
I love with one
who wants not what I am
but what I can be
the original puppetman
I love with one
never asking why
she takes my love
or says goodbye
I love with one
who is delicately brown
but I am too destructive
and, in passing shoot her down
I love with many women
and still I search the end
where women aren't only lovers
but can also be my friend.
A Poem
You come to me
holding out your hand
wanting my adulation
and my blessing
in heart shaped breaths
you come to me
to braid your hair in mine
you come to me
raising my manhood
like a smile
on a painted plate
now you lay with me
our skin on skin that is not our own
to lift us up
to a lavender lined throne
now you lay with me
your hair spread out
like wind blown leaves...
and you come to me.
Cleanse Me In The Night
Transport me lady
to some far flung isle
where the nights are short
and I may call you Ophelia
when you take me to your crown
you may call me your destiny
come to pull you down
qualify my passions
with me half afraid
in a polychromatic smile
tell me of mistakes
that dreadful, I've made
to hurt you for a while
simplify me lady
shade me in your sunset
in hues of bought and sold
elevate me lady
on a background of velvet
quick, before I grow old
and I will call you Persiphone
come to steal my youth
For I am truly
the king of the dead
My world is that of flame
A Letter To A Friend
I write this in thought of you
who has shared hours and silence
on a clear summers night
when, tucked out of sight
we become children again
but more than children
for we have touched the sun
when we lay as one
Though my time of you
is but a few hours old
I call you friend
while the thoughts that I send
are empathically yours
and though I may go
and not see you again
I'll think of us not as children
but as friends
Now our love can but wander
we reach for the future
still, while we both bear memories marks
we can always remember...
It's a long way home
from the seaside to childhood
and memories mark the road.
The Sound Of A Touch
The sound of a voice
can bring a hand to a face
as if to feel the message
that is concealed...
for all that is spoken
in a fresco of words
is sometimes ignored
or just not heard
Yet a touch is pleasant
even to the point of ecstasy
from one who is in love
is then a touch the only truth?
can words signify any less?
or does a word spoken in youth
mean the same as a lover's caress.
Pain
It reaches out to me in sleep
that I can hardly ascertain
and as I fumble for consciousness
reveals itself as pain
Just a breath upon my brow
barely noticed at first
but builds momentousley - rapidly
to a wild and pounding thirst
Coursing thro' my mind
even fingers feel that pain
till I open the curtains beside my bed
and watch the dawn again
Come join the celebration
of my friend the night and I
we have much to say
And all our dedication
will be applied - as we try
once again to hold back the day.
A Poem
I see the tins
stacked full of vitamins
on a coffin-maker's shelf
one marked death
the other marked glory
which one for himself?
Jean
I remember, now and then
a woman I knew
who would paint
children and flowers
not as they are
but as they should be ..........
She, in her way, was free...........
Painting happy not sad
colour not drab
So how can you tell me?
you givers of hate
that she was bad.
Time And Patience
My hand reaches out to touch your face
While I bathe in your love-swept aura
And I, in dreams neither young or chaste
Happen along your path of sun and flora
Long though I wait for love's sweet rain
This vortex of life does keep us apart
And through the deluge of despair I remain
In the timeless land of broken hearts
Though if I must wait here till death plays out my fate
I wait for you, who in thought, speaks my name
Even a kindling hope has vanished of late
Where only time and patience remain.
Calling down the moon
drawing down the moon
showing the soon
growing the soon
finding the how
minding the how
drawing down the now
going down the now ........... now the moon
a cure for dying.......
The Western Wall
Jerusalem 1992
My hand brushed the rough dark rock
to feel the cold of the centuries there
the moment lasted half a year
and the darkness fell away..........
wailing, swaying, falling, away as dust
from the rock and it's patient wind of time...
they stand and weep, - they do.......
swaying in a prayer that survived
the waltz through the gates of hell
they looked at me as if I were
the ultimate voyeur .........
playing mind games with their emotion
they chastise with their eyes, - they do.....
I become a shadow in their fire
dust in their funeral pyre
swaying higher and higher
I am stardust in the winds of time - I am........
a wisp of smoke that holds the House of David
till the small paper messages
crack the rock .....
that quietly waits ......
in the desert
for the end of time.........
Virtual Reality
one day you may walk
into a crowded room
and you want to believe
it was good for you...
is it virtual reality
or is it the virtual now
do we rape a sacred secret
or milk the sacred cow
once upon a time
on planet earth
they took my head apart
without putting it back quite right...................
yet for what it's worth
the virtual now
with it's sacred cows
makes you want to believe
there was someone there
after all
in that empty room.....................
so was it real for you?
The Infidel
Close your eyes, tell me soon if you can see the moon
Has your heart been taken apart to the depths of your soul
You learn to hate, its the system thats great,
but the tears are still falling
Make us want that our children should live, yet also give
Many children have learned that to be different is to live
That to play the part we must let the others live
It is only the beginning.
We take the chance, we learn to understand
We take the time to greet the morning
Its a beginning, it's a start
We take whatever comes from the heart
We take the pain, the loss, the gains
We give it all without a thought
We're in a prison with no escape
We built a house with no finish date
We learn that hate means more than love
We can't rely on help from above
We learn to cry a million tears
We are the children of Jerusalem
Yet still we are the children of Mohammed
We are the children of the universe
We are the children who carry man's curse
We build the house, we bear the pain
We build the house, it’s knocked down again
We take the spirit of Mohammed home
We use Jesus to protect our home
We hope for life but relax in death
It makes me hate unto my dying breath
I wish I knew what makes the sun go down
They tell me it is a good day to die
But I cry and prefer to sigh
It is a good day to live not die
The house I built is now on the ground
Don't let me hope, I can't stand the hope
We need to share the pain before we grow
We need to retaliate in romance
We want to learn to dance a dance
Yet in the middle of our old home town
We see the spirit that doesn't get you down
Despite the fact that we've lost our soul
We learn to live with the infidel
They cut the tree down, they made me cry
They made me hate until the day I die
They give me nothing not even hope
Yet still the hope makes me dream of hope
The chance our lives aren't wasted
They make me believe that it can be created
We just want a chance to be human
When the price of not having peace
Is more than the price of peace
Then the circle of violence will be broken
You are the light of my life
I want you to know how much I love you
To be there at the end of day
The wind can touch but cannot affect
The sadness that tears betray
(your look as tears are wiped away)
You know I'll still be there when I'm gone
How could I leave you far behind
How can you know, which way to go
Youll make mistakes like us all in time
When your grown, your on your own
It's like staying in an old hotel
Full of good and bad in life
The truth is, time alone will tell
The world is still so complex
Grains of sand - lines on hand
Sea on rocks - a bird that mocks
Love that's said - love in the head
A pebbaled beach - just out of reach
The sun at dawn - a child that's born
The touch of stone - time on the phone
What comes unknown - time on your own
And the ocean that rolls on still
Each day may start at the end of night
Days may come and the years may go
Your with me still through endless night
You are the light of my life
