Pen stained pockets
rusted mechanical sockets
rockets rockets rockets,
disappearing dockets
poisoned arrows
chains and sprockets
dead doves deadly sparrows
the fluke of the pharaohs
a poets word and carol,
one quill recovers the file
eclectic eagles
blood bone and marrow.

My legs lead,
My feet stone.
I walk this path alone.

My head mischievous,
My heart gullible.
I push on with my trouble.

My heart broken,
My pride lost.
Fighting through life—at what cost?

My pride shattered,  
My hope thin.  
Fighting battles I can’t win.  

My head tired,
My pride gone.
I often struggled on.

My days heavy,
My nights long.
Nowhere felt like I belong.

My hands empty,
My chest tight.
I lost my will to fight.

My legs lead,
My feet stone.
I walked this path alone.

Then came you,
Steady and bright,
Pulling me back, giving me fight.

Your voice steady,
Your touch kind.
You pulled me from my troubled mind.

My steps lighter,
My heart strong.
With you, I’ve found where I belong.

Now with you,
Hand in hand,
Alone, I no longer stand.

My legs steady,
My feet free.
All because you walk with me.

I thought I'd die
so I cried
the grass grew
flowers bloomed
animals grazed
and insects zoomed
what a revelation
cloudy days was over
and the sky became blue.

We once danced like the glowing Lampyridae

Bathing in the molten heat of a new fire

While walking hand in hand
Down loves panoramic highways

Flames of belonging and such sensuous fire

Lit and consumed our aura's

But when the winter of our love season arrived

With the familiar sound of jingle bells

Announcing our Oak wedding anniversary

On that particular sunrise
On December the fifth

That mesmerising spell broke like the mythical Sword of Elendil

And my world
Shattered

So blue is my new season watching the midnight Lampyridae dance

Alone
In the silvery moonlight

Like a young Gene Kelly and Rita Hayworth
As we once did

While my life slowly drifts
South

After I lost you
My world and the only thing that once mattered

Wandering lost in my mind's so many labyrinths filled with our hieroglyphs

As I stand alone on
Death's high cliff

When I remember that first time we met

On that beautiful night  
When our souls were ordained by God's light

(C)
Copyright John Duffy


(Lampyridae: Firefly)

(A lone voice whispers)

As a lost soul-searching for their loved one,
As I still grieve

After ten years

Who crossed the Silver Pond
My question always is

Do people still believe,
there is life beyond

God's
Great Beyond?

(C)
Copyright John Duffy