Earth, Air, Wind, Fire

Nature’s sorrow

Soiled rags freestyle in a murky puddle
Severed from his bony frame
As he crawls in angles; begs for hours
Why, God, put me here? He say

Vain emotion

Inflated pride sits in a balloon
Puffed with honour and rubber thoughts
Yet one tiny pin prick ruins the night
Game of crosses now just noughts

Weather for tomorrow

Across the street
Television blinks behind shop pane
Sky twisting up; in rage long overdue
Dorothy screams again

Fevered notion

Spark and sizzle crackled dance
Burns a metaphoric flame
It opens up the wooden heart
With a scorching kiss of blame

EchoVerse

From one old fisherman to another, describing the previous day’s events.

Yesterday a helpless sole
Soul?
Water-danced with a halibut
But?
They were circled by a hungry shark
Arc?
And hollow, empty was the whale
Wail?
For he’d been busy chasing trout
Out?
But only caught a tadpole
Whole?
That was swimming with a cod
Odd!

Edge Of The World

Just sitting on the edge of the world
Waiting …
Feet dangling
Into the infinite unknown
Comforting a star
With consoling hands
Arguing with the moon.

Just sitting on the edge of the world
Waiting…
Hands dancing
Upon the universe tonight
Seducing a cloud
With silvery smiles
Arguing with the moon.

Just sitting on the edge of the world
Waiting…
Eyes sparkling
Within the mystical twilight
Reading a poem
Written on planets
And arguing,
Arguing with the moon.

Edinburgh Castle

She sits like a queen, mighty and strong
Where volcano once bubbled and blew
A fine view, she has of her city below;
Stretched before ancient eyes and new
She’s lived through rain and harder times
Has watched her people grow.

Her Great Hall astounds, fine armour faces
Weapons boldly in showcase for all
Crown Room, she whispers with treasured delights;
Sceptre and sword defend its walls
She’s heard them fight, seen win and lose
Through many days and nights.

Her proud iron fountain has consumed
A thousand witches within its jaws
And her tiny chapel, like a delicate child;
Has survived destruction’s savage claws
She listened as Mary screamed out
Gave birth to kings and smiled.

One o’clock fire, booming and blessed
It’s the only gun everyone likes
Marching and music are this flower’s nectar;
With tartan glowing warm by floodlight
She gleams with joy, sings for the Brave
Oh beautiful protector.

Empty Shell

An empty shell in a box
They carried you high with experienced hands
Oakwood pressing into their shoulders
Solemn expressions and tall dark hats
They lowered you gently by the chapel stand.

An empty shell in a box
Your family in rows of tearful silence
Grief tearing at their broken hearts
While we watched your flowered coffin
I found that my soul cried with sudden violence

An empty shell in a box
But you’ll stay alive in all our memories
I tell myself as the curtains close
That wasn’t Catherine, that wasn’t Lee
Not our friend who lives inside of you and me

Just an empty shell in a box

Enjoy

Hello
Something tells me
You’ve been here before
Have you felt her skin and been
In this kind of ecstascy before
I think you have
And I love it because
You know what to expect from me
But maybe I’ll surprise you
My love
Or maybe you’ll surprise me
I can’t wait my darling
Take me there now
Do everything to me
In every way that you know how
I will not shy
I will not deny
I will enjoy
Because you are my life and my joy

Ephesus

You and I in Ephesus
That sacred day, that Sacred Way
The hungry sun paddled along heaven’s lake
Garnished us with light; nibbled at our skin
But heat could not affect us
Except to raise our fever
For each other

Clouds seemed to pace the sky

Express Your Anger

What do I want to say to you?
Ah… where should I begin?
Difficult to start my thoughts
Because of anger deep within.

I’ve heard wise words telling me
Rage should be expressed
Not bottled up and stored away
Just like all the rest.

Here goes…

I think that you’re judgemental
Yet you know nothing about me at all.
I feel that you’re not sentimental
Which is maybe why I fall.

That was before…but now I sense
A strength within me hidden
When I return and see your stupid face
I’ll laugh… who are you kidding?

You think you own the world my colleague
Wouldn’t like to call you friend
My real companions stay objective
They don’t try to offend

I used to value your opinion
How funny… was that true?
Now I see only fake subjective
When I look at you

You talk a tall story with your friends
Yet when your wife arrives
You change your tune to one so sweet
Two-faced and full of lies

Why did I once respect your view?
I really do not know
I see now the so subtle bully
Interrupting my sweet flow

But don’t think you can edge me out
Because I will not satisfy
Your twisted illusions of my fate
Which you cannot justify

So carry on in your pathetic world
Convince yourself you’re strong
But when it comes right down to it
Just where do you belong…

Dedicated to the unspeakable
Vermin I detest
No love, no soul, no heart within
With shallowness you’re best

I used to care!
How laughable – now you’re in my view
I won’t waste another second
Thinking about you.

Fabricated Tales

They were unexpected: your fabricated tales
from outworn centuries. I wondered how
long it would be. Eventually I heard screeching,
like needles dragged inside a guilty ear.
What happened to the days of joyous squander?
Only a dry mind can recollect the tears.
Often, I thought of your chilled paint strokes
that interposed with melodic splashes.
You would gladly hatch a plot,
rebuilt in damaged steps. I know
you deliberately try to remember the smiles,
many smiles, that graced your innocent veneer.
What shallow company you kept, those who
buckle without elegance, narrow of mind
with painful effect. Touching the marrow
that cushions delicate bones, you came home.
Exhausting me with your fabricated tales
from outworn centuries.

Fall

Camoflage colours everywhere
A fitting scene with which to start
Barbed wire and I knew my heart

Picking daisies I was aware
Of God and every simple thing
I sat in grass and started to sing

White leave patterns on furniture
Headboards grey and sturdy then
Everything so simple then

High heels, want to be a woman
Telling lies at every opportunity
Rabbit holes and creativity

Jumping games with my little brother
Brown and white the comfort zone
I don’t remember feeling alone

Climbing frames are painted blue
Once I was stuck and scared to fall
Invitations, no, none at all

Active imagination was my start
Reading books and lost in flames
Throwing stones in skipping games

Wanted so much to be the best
Even then I knew what was in my heart
Even then I knew the best way not to fall apart

Farmers

I sought meaning in simplicity
Misunderstood its beauty
Then I saw the farmer
Who performs his daily duty
Through the gentle wink of sunshine
In the early days of spring
And the fullest glare of summer
That brings light to everything
The autumn leaves of russet
To the white of winter snow
The farmer works in harmony
As seasons come and go
See the earth run through his fingers
It’s the greatest friend he has
And he never yearns for status

Fatima

Windows to her soul
Double glazed
Triple locked without a key
Muffle sound, she found
On the twenty-first storey
Fatima scratches
Long red nails like those
Hammered through
The palm of Christ
Onto her harrowed face
Blood alone
Nothing they can trace
She bites her tongue
Until it hurts, hurts, hurts
One more shiny step
Until it’s undone
She’ll be remembered
As the first
To leap into the arms
Of the after-life
With not a rag on her body
(Body like a rag doll)
The pavement is getting closer
Now she’s gone

Fault

If someone took the trouble to ask me:
When did you feel most alive
In your whole life
I would answer as follows

That day I realised I wasn’t scared
I thought I’ll really love it here
And something inside my soul arose
Happiness seeped in my bones

In many hostile days and nights
I’ve tried to find that feeling since
But it never comes, it doesn’t surface
When daylight comes it comes on purpose

Have you tried, oh God I’ve tried
And yet it always comes down to this
Always my end thought arrives right here
Within my dream and inside my fear

I hate the light inside this town
It’s artificial, and it brings me down

Where does all this stem from?
Why do I feel the way I do?
Why does it always come to a halt?

I just want someone to tell me:
It’s not your fault
It’s not your fault

February

Thou hast my heart in the gleam of thine eye
Where cherubs play harp strings of diamond tears
Singing thy loneliness throughout the years
Secrets and shadows thou silently cry.
Dost thou believe my soul craves a goodbye?
My love for thou has long been unspoken
Passion asleep, yet it thou hast woken
In petals of red that fall from the sky.
Look up, thou will see my shape in the clouds
Raining each heartbeat upon thine sweet head
Tender embraces to thou I have vowed.
Hush, thou dost not lie alone in thine bed;
My spirit is with thou, gentle and proud
Desiring the day when we will be wed.

Feeling Diluted

Feeling diluted, adrift on your thoughts
Like a castaway on an unsettled sea
A life of flooding, a tangle of weeds
A spatter of teardrops where dewdrops should be

So sit by the river, draw stars in the sand
Listen carefully to the stream as it flows
Absorb the trickle, the rustle of reeds
And move like the water – adapt as you go

Feelings

I’m out of sorts, not quite myself
My feelings papered to a shelf
I know I don’t need more tonight
But I’m aching very sore inside

I wish I held the secret key
The one to cut these ribbons free
But I only know the ruins left
By the laughing demons in my head

FLW

Black, her dress, darting in the gale
Like a wind-whipped raven; hair tugged
By gusts, people say her auburn curls
Are rust, through years of self-neglect.
Despite the tempest that lashes
Her clothes, she is

Motionless

And what she thinks
No-one knows.

Staring out across the sea,
Like a stone cold statue for buried hearts,
A figure of legend, an ocean apart.

You can’t see her face, but if you could
You’d be taken aback; feel
That you should
Not have trespassed,
Such is the tragedy in her eyes.
She is real,
Nothing is hidden, nothing is masked,
Nothing disguised.

Her sorrow spills over, even though
She doesn’t spill a tear.
He went away, she’s waiting for him
Waited many years.
We call her whore, for she doesn’t care
About any wedding ring
She stands alone as always
Not interested in anything.

Black, her eyes, with welcome and rejection
Like a dream-dipped widow; mouth stretched
By pain, people say her suffering brings
The rain, which never seems to end.
Despite the fire surrounding
Her soul, she is

Water-logged

And what she thinks
No-one knows.

For Love

Another message
Another reason for me to hide my feelings
And another problem for me to solve
Please stop doing this to me, because I cannot
Tell you the extent of everything I think
It would be damaging to you and to me
For I am attached and I am committed
And so are you
Don’t do this to me

It doesn’t matter what you say to me
Or the feelings you envoke
Because it is irrelevant, although I hate to hear
Myself say this, because it is not my heart
But it is reality
So we must face it, for love
For love is not always what it seems to be
Sometimes we must hide it
If we love someone else in a different way
We must conceal it
Or destroy another person’s life
And that is not what I want to do
And I know that neither do you
So leave it
Please
For Love

Freedom

I am not looking for the kind of love that makes you weep
At every given opportunity.
I am not searching for the kind of love that makes you laugh
Regardless of the words spoken.
I am not looking for the kind of love that makes you angry
Every time you disagree.
I am not searching for the kind of love that makes you hurt
Whenever you are apart.

I want the love that knows no bounds
The desire that will not obey
Any given rule or restriction, norm or expected reaction
Maybe if I am angry, I will laugh
Perhaps if I am happy, I will cry
Maybe if I am sad, I will smile
Perhaps if I am hurt, I will heal naturally

But if I want to show anger or happiness or sadness or hurt
And I feel it in my heart
This I also desire – to express honestly
Every second that I feel completely

I don’t want guidelines, expectations or faked romance
I just want the love I feel regardless of consequence
And then to deal with each emotion as it comes along
If life is for living, here in truth is where I belong.

Frozen Bubble

Frozen bubble
I’m in trouble
I never saw you coming
Kept running
Into my frozen bubble
I’m never one to cause trouble
But I hide away inside
And I’ve cried
Inside my frozen bubble
There is nothing
Else to do but sit and wait
And sing into
My frozen bubble
It’s a cold cold day

Frustrated

Feeling frustrated
Not elated
In fact I’m kind of congregated
Not impressed
I cannot rest
From the constant traffic in my head
Feeling disrespected
Not resurrected
I wish that I was unaffected
But I’m

Feeling rage
We’re not on the same…
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