'Because I am mad about women
I am mad about the hills,'
Said that wild old wicked man
Who travels where God wills.
'Not to die on the straw at home.
Those hands to close these eyes,
That is all I ask, my dear,
From the old man in the skies.'
                Daybreak and a candle-end.

'Kind are all your words, my dear,
Do not the rest withhold.
Who can know the year, my dear,
when an old man's blood grows cold? '
I have what no young man can have
Because he loves too much.
Words I have that can pierce the heart,
But what can he do but touch?'
                Daybreak and a candle-end.

Then said she to that wild old man,
His stout stick under his hand,
'Love to give or to withhold
Is not at my command.
I gave it all to an older man:
That old man in the skies.
Hands that are busy with His beads
Can never close those eyes.'
                Daybreak and a candle-end.

'Go your ways, O go your ways,
I choose another mark,
Girls down on the seashore
Who understand the dark;
***** talk for the fishermen;
A dance for the fisher-lads;
When dark hangs upon the water
They turn down their beds.'
                Daybreak and a candle-end.

'A young man in the dark am I,
But a wild old man in the light,
That can make a cat laugh, or
Can touch by mother wit
Things hid in their marrow-bones
From time long passed away,
Hid from all those warty lads
That by their bodies lay.'
                Daybreak and a candle-end.

'All men live in suffering,
I know as few can know,
Whether they take the upper road
Or stay content on the low,
Rower bent in his row-boat
Or weaver bent at his loom,
Horseman ***** upon horseback
Or child hid in the womb.'
                Daybreak and a candle-end.

'That some stream of lightning
From the old man in the skies
Can burn out that suffering
No right-taught man denies.
But a coarse old man am I,
I choose the second-best,
I forget it all awhile
Upon a woman's breast.'
                Daybreak and a candle-end.

W B Yeats

'Because I am mad about women
I am mad about the hills,'
Said that wild old wicked man
Who travels where God wills.
'Not to die on the straw at home.
Those hands to close these eyes,
That is all I ask, my dear,
From the old man in the skies.'
                Daybreak and a candle-end.

'Kind are all your words, my dear,
Do not the rest withhold.
Who can know the year, my dear,
when an old man's blood grows cold? '
I have what no young man can have
Because he loves too much.
Words I have that can pierce the heart,
But what can he do but touch?'
                Daybreak and a candle-end.

Then said she to that wild old man,
His stout stick under his hand,
'Love to give or to withhold
Is not at my command.
I gave it all to an older man:
That old man in the skies.
Hands that are busy with His beads
Can never close those eyes.'
                Daybreak and a candle-end.

'Go your ways, O go your ways,
I choose another mark,
Girls down on the seashore
Who understand the dark;
***** talk for the fishermen;
A dance for the fisher-lads;
When dark hangs upon the water
They turn down their beds.'
                Daybreak and a candle-end.

'A young man in the dark am I,
But a wild old man in the light,
That can make a cat laugh, or
Can touch by mother wit
Things hid in their marrow-bones
From time long passed away,
Hid from all those warty lads
That by their bodies lay.'
                Daybreak and a candle-end.

'All men live in suffering,
I know as few can know,
Whether they take the upper road
Or stay content on the low,
Rower bent in his row-boat
Or weaver bent at his loom,
Horseman ***** upon horseback
Or child hid in the womb.'
                Daybreak and a candle-end.

'That some stream of lightning
From the old man in the skies
Can burn out that suffering
No right-taught man denies.
But a coarse old man am I,
I choose the second-best,
I forget it all awhile
Upon a woman's breast.'
                Daybreak and a candle-end.
W B Yeats

Come, my love, we've no time to waste,
the clock is showing half past seven:
just enough time to get one more taste
of Eros' essence -  the Elixir of Heaven

Love in Autumn is no less sublime
than when Spring's first love sustains.
See the hourglass inverted - its time
to outrun those fast-falling grains

Love is calling from a distance,
Now she sheds her glorious veils
Lest she think we offer resistance,
Seize all the joy her voice entails.

Autumn's last buds will soon depart,
As frosty breezes nip at the vine;
let nothing fail to stir this eager heart –
come love, come song, come vintage wine.

Time is fleeting pointing a finger,
The sun is setting – it cannot wait
No longer at leisure can we linger,
Come now, my love – embrace our fate.

Time has distilled to purity the love we share.
Free from realms of dreams there are no flaws.
Love thrives with a certainty we could never dare
nightly, daily  - ever ordered by joy's eternal laws.

Tobias

Picture a candlelit bathroom:
I was deep in a hot bath  of
scents  and oil - reading
a book of lyrical  poetry.
Nothing out of the ordinary.

You were reading too:
I  rested my head on
your foamy *******.
Looking up at you
I saw love in your eyes

You kissed my forehead.
We both went back
to  reading poetry.
Such sweet repose.
Nothing out of the ordinary.

TOBIAS

Past: I loved you yesterday,
in all the days before then,
way back to when I first
met you.

Present: I love you today,
more than I can ever say.

Future: tomorrow I will love
you. From here on, come
what may, our love will lead
us into and through every day.

Tobias

Be kindly, gentle, with the hoary toad,
help it whenever to cross the road.
Confused quite often with the frog,
that smooth amphibian can leap a log.

In meadows strolling, keep in mind
mound-maker mole created blind.
Another creature, it’s called a vole
please do not disturb it in its hole.

Field mice have exquisite charm.
to they and dormice do no harm.
Over fields of clover vetch and rye
take delight in fluttering butterfly.

Just think, such creatures, two by two,
in Noah's Ark, it is written, came through
the biblical Deluge and so survive
so long as we allow them all to thrive.

Life would be bleak - Nature bare
if some day we deigned  to stare
and to our dismay became aware
of precious species no longer there.

Tobias

To envisage You,
body, mind, soul,
in moods of longing
when all words fail
and language is lost
in the translation,
I lay down my pen.
Then trace your heart
in outline on my
canvas  of dreams.

Tobias