Its easy to dance through
when the hole has broken whole,
I'm shiny holding a fish's tank
nothing rusty but winding the crank.
I can't be the cracked whole of you,
bad enough a demon sold his soul,
I wish for a warmth of fiery coal
but his number is upon my coat
and his grips are throttling throat.
It so easy to be so dizzy so soon
when I feel the thunder upon noon.
Upon the sleep, no-one to weep,
but how many trip wires to sweep,
as the combatants shall creep......
In the ocean, surprising my fleet.

Down in sludgy footprints
ants built their colonies
once mud has hardened
& cracks go further
in the ground like
explorers in lost caves.
There's mystery
under-ground
deepest seas.....
turbulent waves
will prevent
the findings
of ancient
cities,
like the tunnels
well truly
buried
under our feet.

The blue....
lagoon specters
and the lonely clue.
Mystery fire-works
lust in shadowy sin
by the pool side,
leaves the water bled
table side wine
impeccable glasses
fine drops of attraction.

With half the world ablaze
And the other half under water
                 I gaze at a beautiful sunset
                 And wonder why I am so lucky.

With half of the world now starving
And the other half made newly homeless
                 I sit in my comfy two-story
                 And wonder why I should deserve it.

With half the world hating each other
And the other half crying for peace
                 I sit with my pen and blank paper
                 Hoping somehow to fix it with verse.

I’ll write for the fires to burn themselves out.
I’ll write for the floods to abate.
                I’ll write for the hungry a banquet.
                Write refugees a new home.

I must write an end to the hatred.
  I must write a way to find peace.
   I must write to solve all the problems
    That bleed endless ink to my pen.

It wants to compose lines of beauty
  Not pity for those so abused.
    It wants to paint scenes of agreement
      Outlining tallies of evil.

It wants to share themes that enrich us
  Written in Poetry’s creative blood.
    Will this moment arrive in my lifetime -
      My subscription to miracles sadly expired
                    ljm

I found her in the vapor of a summer dream
She was standing in the door to Paradise
When I asked if I could see her in the sunlight
Her laughter matched the sparkle in her eyes.

Her smile was like a sunlit pond at twilight.
Her eyes resembled sapphires at high noon.
Her hair was like a swirling touch of midnight.
Her voice as sweet as birdsong heard in June.

Her appearance gave me cause to stop and wonder
If who I saw was really standing there
Or was it just my wild imagination
Creating loveliness from smokey Summer air.

I crept a careful step or two towards her
My pulse was pounding madly in my throat
She frowned at me then edged a little backwards-
And suddenly between us was a moat.

There was no bridge or any walkway over.
She was securely on the other side.
It seemed as though she couldn't let me join her
She made that clear no matter what I tried.

I wrote a note of love on parchment paper
And sailed it to her in a little boat
She reached down to fetch it from the water
And read while lumps were forming in my throat

She tucked the folded note into her *****
And wiped a forming teardrop from her eye
She smiled and then she sadly whispered to me
The only word I feared - it was Goodbye.

The moat became a little stream of water
The doorway, two tall Jacaranda trees
The paradise that somehow she had come from
Transformed to smoke, soon taken by the breeze.

And I was left alone to stand and wonder
If everything I’d seen was truly there
Or was this just a middle-aged delusion
Providing me a thrilling tale to share.
ljm

I'm sorry about the thorns
I hope that these horns
will one day be left to burn

I've danced to my past mistakes
and now the real me is about to wake,
there's no simmering beauty of a lake
that's full of pollution and waste,
I need to forgive and live the human race

I've come to realize my infliction
is based on my bruising afflictions,
and my life needs special attention
as I've burned and axed the bridges,
No-one deserves my own decree