The Unfulfilled, Departing

Quiet steps fade into a gentle abyss of dissolution,
Leaving a last look, a tender kiss
To linger among the phantoms of a coal black night.
They would never meet again.

Star crisp clarity, an eternal impassive curtain of life
Drawing across his theatre of sorrows,
Closing down a short incandescent episode
That pierced the daily dross.

Own breath taints the frigid air; moist, pointless exhalation.
Life left laden with loss.
Last warmth, last smile, last light touch burns within.
Within, a cramped circle of self-doubt.

A car door crashes against an all too natural silence.
He felt eyes and minds upon him;
The emotion hungry, trawled up disembodied dead
Crowding a cold lonely wood.

An old man will dreamwalk a bright stage with no audience,
Embrace a girl girded with gentle grace-
To fall back, crawl back upon
The cross of reality, nail driven to an orthopaedic chair.

The Waif’s End in the City

What had he said?
Damp duvet drags
Upon a bed for the dead;
New morning for hags.

Outside, the clean-
Scurrying on
Past her, the unseen
Fallen swan.

A warm cigarette,
(‘Smoking Kills’
But, no threat
To fish denied gills.)

A cold cafe;
***** dope for money,
Bright colors from grey.
(Dying seemed funny.)

Can’t live
With no respect.
He won’t forgive
A life wrecked.

Canary yellow,
Parasols in play.
Elsewhere is mellow,
Hyde Park is clay.

A Little Match Girl
In a ladies’ toilet;
Abandoned pearl
With a cold sweat.

I saw a new grave.
I heard a man phone.
Green men couldn’t save
An eighteen year old crone.

A small crowd gathered:
They spoke of shame,
Of sullied blood,
Of a girl with no name.

Words stained with pity
Are all that remain.
Her tomb a cold city,
Its voice her last pain.

The White Rose of Winter

Into the cold, dark night of despair
you were born.
In the teeth of winter’s rage
You unfurled for me.

This morning I first see you.,
Child of light and grace.
In your face of petals
I see the pure pulse of peace.

The world couldn’t keep you from me.
What bliss is this,
That in the dying season
you bring me summer’s beauty?

What’s it like?
I want to leave him, I do.
I think about a peaceful home,
A quiet place of the ordinary.
I want to know what it is to be able to,
I want to know who I am.

What is it like to be you?
What is it like not to pretend?
Do I deserve what you have?
What is it like to live without fear?
Is it easy to be free?

Please go, he will be back soon.
He cannot see I have a friend.
I will ring you tomorrow, I promise.
I have to get ready for him,
Upstairs.

Why Do You Search with Your eyes?

Why do you search with your eyes
When our loved one lies motionless, cold?
What do you seek in my eyes
As the long wakeful night unfolds?

Do you suspect that I loved him less
Than a man who derided his tears?
Do you suppose his last gasped word was ‘dad’
When to death he  surrendered his fears?

You wont see me cry, sob or wail
When all I have left, all I sense-
Is the crushing silence of  perpetual loss
And the heartache of no recompense.

So, husband dear, you held her
When the end of tomorrows came this morn.
And you can ask yourself why you weren’t there,
As fading imagery was born.

Yes, he is here

I could not see him;
Light so intense, one looks away,
hand over eyes.

Then, the silence of a cave;
***** faces, calloused hands.
In the shadows a baby cries.

Normal people, working people,
Fearful and unsure of me_
Could it be truly this?

There’s nothing unusual here,
Only poor, ordinary ones.
Could he choose to be one of these?

Love cannot be reduced,
But it can be shared among friends;
He is first among equals.

He is us.

You Shall Fall Asleep in My Arms


My love let’s steal away,
Leave this sterile room, their disinfected halls.
Unwind emotional swaddling
Wrapped about you by frowning folk
Populating your world;
They peer into the hourglass windows of your eyes
And watch in silence the sand’s last flow.

Let’s abscond,
Tear up an ancient script
And rewrite the last scene.
Reach in and hold your grains,
Then slip them through your fingers
At your rate.

Let’s reclaim
Your imagination, images, thoughts, life-
Soft, now, peace returns from exile.
Undress,slip off the garments of sorrow they gave you.
Step off the care pathway,
Let their world fall at your feet.
And one last time
You shall fall asleep in my arms.