Mykonos, 1969*

I met you on a tourist island
bright beneath the sun.
I met you back when we were both
in love with being young.
I danced with you in an empty bar
and looked into your eyes,
for that only moment you get in life,
I gazed into paradise.
We wandered on together.
We knew it wouldn't last.
Our lives were much too different,
no one escapes their past.
I walked with you on the sand dunes,
I walked with you in the rain,
I walked with you in that instant
before life dissolves into pain.
Where are all those bright days gone,
those days beside the sea,
when the mystery of your freckles
was mystery enough for me.
That was nearly fifty years ago,
but you know I love you still,
for your innocence and your courage,
at a distance, I always will.
You taught me love and beauty,
in a lovely, beautiful land,
I've never quite let go of that,
never quite let go of your hand.

She loosens on tiptoe
the latch of her window,

slides upward the sash
and the shine of the moon

pours over the sill,
like it's rushing downhill

like a silver stream,
flooding her room.

When this skin
was young and ironed,
well it fit,
like new things do;

that was then
but now I find
the cracks within
are showing through.

I have never seen
A more comfortable
Place to be.

No need to leap.
Just come
Look with me .

I too, am afraid
Of closing my eyes
And confronting
What I can already see.

(Gerry Aldridge © 2017)

Not Lost But Free.

I miss you-
Why shouldn´t I?
I either had to let you go,
Or watch you die.

So, now I feign pleasure
As you soar in the sky.
She is happier there
You'll hear my lies sigh.

But she comes back,
Says hello.
Trusts me. for
In a cage she is not.

We steal time together,
Lock ourselves away even.
To be together,
Close our eyes and find heaven.

With open eyes
We face the world
Once closed
We are the whole universe.

(Gerry Aldridge 2017)