Sweat beads on well ploughed thoughts
Locked hair sighs gentle as a sopping crown
And we,
We lie together.

Tell truths, tell stories
Of beggars like millionaires
And you and I concurr
With the slapping of skin.

Whilst inky pools of prowling giants
Tread canyons in the world around
And worries scuttle
Along the dust and wooden floorboards, cool to the touch

Whilst fever hands us telescopes
To see the only cooling hand is you
I sweat and turn
To stamp your cheek with my smile.

These lips have lost their purpose
Have shed their puckered sheen
And the time spent without her
Has left them bare and clean

These lips have had their moment
Their dew has up and left
And cracked the red the evening has
To leave the smile bereft

And though her flower perfume
Still clouds about this cheek
I don't know what lips can be
Without her name to speak

For all is lost without her
Mere smoke from flames within
My lips have lost their meaning
And now are cold and thin.

Skies stretch sparks to light the damp ground
And I watch, chuckling by the lambs
Lapping the waves that smack tastily at their feet
And bring in the harvest for the day.

The sun bows its head
And sea makes its sleep
For it to hide amongst the bubbles
Until the Night claps it awake.

Footprints stretch up the beach made
Of arrowheads and other cobbled things
You're there, you're there
Pulling me to your place.

Warm, shivering houses, of
Wooden overcoats and salty lashings
Made wind by fervent tides
Desperate to huddle in and hear stories

Of your uncle, your father, your brother's ruddy cheeks,
But you have eyes with me
And we lend them together to the fire
To hear of orcs, of brochs and angry kings, far away.

The howling streets meet no one,
And pirates prowl their decks to see
A glimpse of my island girl
As she holds my arm cased in wool

Blond hair crying to the floor.

For I am a story, you see, I know what I have when I have it
And salt, quiet lamp-lit salty living
Make ancient ages while keeping,
The mainland for themselves.

Good thing I have her,
So I can share in what she calls home
So I can lie in the lavender in Summer
And cry with the Winter rain when she's gone.

I worried when I saw him,
Alone with no fresh air
His rosy cheeks stained red with tears
And wet his sweat soaked hair.
I watched as he stared- aimless-
Into the late night sky,
His blue eyes frightened, innocent,
And then they met with mine.
So I smiled, reluctantly,
For I shook, red with rage
His ginger hair, his cold arms bare,
Only two years of age?
He gawked around, the traffic lights
distracted him a while,
Till in a daze he stared right back
And offered me his smile.
Then I waved and thought it wrong
That he should be alone,
He giggled then- the sweetest laugh
That I have ever known.
The minutes passed, my worry grew,
The drug store door ajar,
I kept his eyes open on mine,
As I watched him in the car.
An eternity had come and gone
And I found myself quite shocked
To see his mother return to him;
She left the doors unlocked.
She turned to him, worried I think
Though I'm still not certain why.
I drove away, with several more,
And waved this boy goodbye.

Shoulds
Have horns
And ram reindeer with
Thistle bush antlers

I grow
From the seeds of others
Leaf green
As lilac winter tells me.

And the advice of others
Protects
Culpability from
The mouth of a sweet whisper.

Shoulds
Grow fangs
And live in dark forests
I know this to be their opinion.

I live
Longer longings
I rise
With every new day

And they, are still there
Dressed in soft leather,
Stirring teas and
Ready to tell me paths ahead

Predicting the worst weather
Without knowing the storm
They condone.
Advice.

What's a palm
Sweating in panic
Or a stomach
Whining as the whistle of alert
To someone like you?

What's a voice
Too clenched,
Or a word
Misplaced
To you?

What's a sentence
Repeated
Or a song
Sung drunker than a foul man,
To yourself, long-lashes?

Flutter-hair.
Architected smile.
Ancient-Greek eyebrow,
Curved
In a musing love.

You found a little else,
Didn't you, a
Little chick to
Perch with you?

Let's jump and find our wings
Let's take feathers for what they're worth
And leave those flightless birds
To the foxes,
With a taste
For emus.

It's no one's fault really
Just slavery
And I'm free when I know you
Popping like sparks onto my knockout vision.