the summer’s great lizard hides
under a rock,

the summer sings of ending days, of
lonely horizons and crystal seas,

we smoulder in the sunshine
where the clouds flow in their

drifting streams, their ridges like
colossal ledges on the mountains

of the world.

we live in shadow-
lands, our minds
moss avenues,
cradled like a child,

i wonder where the air
draws her breath,
hair wind-blown with gazing
at a far-flowing sea,

eyes duskier than a rose
in the unsettled night,

whisper me your dreams
that i may find you again
boy of love,

whisper me something sweet
for the hate in this
world tears me apart,

the quiet night
scatters the seeds
of the dark,

scatters us to this
north wind
that plays in the
dry-grass ruins
of my heart,

dream of a white
rose, lying near
me on this
windy path,
that leads to the
sea, damp
with wet sand,

i thought i'd
see you, but
all i saw were
the shadow-
lands.

i.

branches of black night
the rain taps on the roof
everything is unguarded
a bird breaking open the sky like
a dark tear.

ii.

our love, rooted to
the earth, scattering
bright oceans
tender as a star.


iii.

dance of love
limbs wild and joyful
lull of a kiss.

iv.

ocean breaking, each wave,
flowing back to its watery song,
flooding and flowing,
flooding and flowing.

the stream is a breeze of
blue stars, layered in sweet
melancholy, layered in
sadness and love.

the world revolves like
a wheel, burgeons like
a flower, weeps like a
sorrowful cloud.

i yearn for you, down
misty lanes and dreams of
dark seas, fall until
i can no longer fall,

fall until our love blossoms
and our hearts cry out.

the night frosted in silver,
shadows and moons,
iron ghosts stretching
into the darkness,
unravelling the song
of the tide.

requited love

the heart pounds
its engines and its seas -
mend and free.


unrequited love

in the wild and
desolate sea we drown
our hearts full
of sorrow.

enchantment waits above the castle towers,
the midnight gleam unholy, she is lost
to darkling clouds and battlements of frost,
and enigmatic night shows all her powers.
bewitched by ages white as lily flowers,
the ivy creeps upon the broken walls,
a kingdom for the prince, high ceilinged halls,
fall, fall to dust and long the starry hours.
great knights in armour, restless for a fight
on thundering horses storm into the night,
with swords unsheathed towards their deathly foe,
and love is lost with nowhere left to go,
the mighty fall, their army silver bright,
beneath a slumbered moon the south winds blow.

clouds of pink on the cherry sigh,
sweet, whispering flowers fall and fall,

they lie upon the mossy wall,
clouds falling from a pink-sea sky,


flowers of the wind, confetti, rice,
papery stream like a pressed dry rose,

blossom song, the tireless breezes blow,
bewitching bower of cherry-flower ice.


a stream of melancholy green,
dances through the shades of the trees

the pink blooms sweep the river's breeze,
dry on stones, cherry-petal scenes....

the forests of sun
lift their branches to the sky -
a stone fountain's tears.

i loved you the way
i believed summer
would melt,
fell into your arms
the way i could only
ever fall with you.

sweet chloe have you tamed that pretty bird,
as light as southern breezes on your arm?
how many hours have you beguiled and heard
your sparrow sing for you with graceful charm?
my poet's pen falls restless to the ground,
my fevered mind can find no peace today,
for all you do is praise his lilting sound
and pay no heed to anything i say.
great neptune throws his trident in despair,
apollo breathes, his tresses filled with fire
and i am left with solitary care
for jove cannot bring comfort with his lyre.
i do not wait forever at your door,
the burdened ocean storming to the shore.

moon of mist
and blue-edged
cloud,

bends to the floor,

as if the skies
dreamt
of slumbering streams.

i.

at the edge of a dark sky,
where the framed door
lies closed and the
rain’s smooth octaves
gather the last lonesome
heart-beat of the summer in
its mists that tap the door,

ii.

the grey air,
cloud-drawn, straps
its satchel to its back
its stones the silvers
of a silent moon,

iii.

its stones sombre and smoky,
the dead of night,
a crimson king
a blossoming flower,

iv.

where the night’s slated
roof listens to the rains
urgent rushings, silver
and shaded like a storm,

words of the air
sinking back like the
desolate waves that hush
the sands as they drown
their sorrows in baskets
conjured out of the breath
of the grey-eyed night.

v.

you kiss me and i start to
swoon, i swoon like a garden
rose that climbed once to
the sky, a garden overgrown  
with the quiet of apple-coloured
leaves, the summer with its vines,
its leaves the bright rain drops,
its leaves the visions of the air.

i.

wildness of white,
uncanny strangeness,
calm sea...melting
moon of mahogany.

ii.

silver dish of the sky,
lost kingdoms,
the lonely isles of
the sky...

iii.

the moon like
monet-marble,

see the moon rise
like a secret flower
of summer buds.

iv.

as if the sky mirrored
the reflection of the
lake, full to the brim
until each falls into
the other, sky of lake,
lake of sky, gathered.

leaves
arch and fall like
a river of gold sun,

what breaks
and what comes to life,
the pit of my stomach
a scaffolding of
dark fear

i kiss your lips
and your love
drowns me in
moroccan silk,

my heart caves in
my legs cave in

everything is you,
everything is
longing,

a ghost wrapped in
honey,
sweet night where
the stained red maple leaves
melt near the window.

you are jealous,
you are jealous,
you are jealous....

gorgeous star,
gorgeous sea,
wind wild in my hair,

you are so jealous.

sea, darkness and rose buds,
running to the shore,

i hear the sharp flutes of
the waves gathering the
widening summer

(see how she draws in her
breath before
the wind….)

the sky drinks deep,
makes lanes out of
the dark where we
run to stay free, the starlight
trembles, blinks and
nods with its
silver ghosts,

those silver ghosts
of a wandering sea,
of rose-wood and darkness,

as the sea melts....

the moon glows brightly
her corners smudged
at the edges,

night drinks from a holy well,
a cavernous black sinks
into the dark lakes of the skies,

sinks further and further
autumn is awakening
loosening her hair
that falls in a golden net,

the first leaves crackle
in smokey knots,

sink beneath
the honeys of an
autumn sky,

lost in the woods
that start to trickle in a
stream of fiery gold
from branch to floor,
where the stars
still sing of the last spells
of summer.

the whiteness of ghosts,
winter flowers,

songs of the night
falling through
the leaves,

the old dark ache
of the skies,

our love
naked in its seas.

i.

my nettles sting,
my mind dreams
of ghosts,
nothing seems
to settle
under that hovering
sky of wire.

ii.

lost to a broken civilization
in a sky of sighs
caves filled with
ice.

iii.

further than the sky,
further than the sea.

iv.

dreams like drowning
pools

the waving wind
the castles of the mind.


v.

shadows
unwinding
the slow pulse of
the earth,
like the battling
waves,
like the far, far
dream of a star.

i.

impressions
shapes
and sounds,
the shady-lane
trees,

the yellow
balloons
of the skies
icy arctics,
the pink
feathers of
the soil.

ii.

surreal as the
shifting day,
turquoise and
angular, bright
sky drowned
in the cold, brisk
air, language
of love and air,
base note of love.

iii.

love, impressions of
light and dark,
soft brush stroke
of sea-blue, air
the colour of
lips.

iv.

witching night,
darkling clouds
pressed to the sky,

love, settling like
a mist.

v.

sweet lips
sipped,
incredible
sky of our
dreams,
drawn close
like the
pillowy clouds.

i.

spring's grey moons
everything is still
the hush of the skies.


ii.

first new buds
white cloud of hawthorn
morning's broken ghosts.

iii.

strengthening sun,
iron and feathers sky,
bird like a speck.

iv.

blue edge of sky
sunlight on flashy wings
empty world.

v.

clouds of drowning white
blowsy sweetened breeze
tall grasses sway.

vi.

last winter gust,
shadow on the earth
song of the rain.

vii.

surreal morning tide
hurrying wave
kiss for my love.

viii.

sea-spray hits a sail
anchor lowered down
ropes thrown to shore.

sweet bird of budding april's pretty wing,
sat in the willow where the catkins grow,

enchanting like the river's winding flow,
small chatterbox that always loves to sing,

the blossoms kiss the sky whose wandering
finds vast crusades where fleeting warriors go,

true to their loves e'en in the bleakest snow,
or some princess who finds a sapphire ring.

enchanted lands, the bird sings in the tree,
so long forgotten once found near and far,
where streams wind yonder where the bluebirds play,

on honey branches by the windswept sea,
as if they whispered underneath a star
of princely gold the beauty of the day.

the night’s unfamiliar
shiver of last leaves
from trees silent
as frost.
the world is gold
and bronze.
the shadows melt,
flame, bend, unwind
discover still currents
of dark earth
where the sleepy
stream murmurs
that the moon
is a ghost of
water,
that her midnight
streams are
the strangest of
strangest
songs.

it is morning and
love hides in the bed
linen where
still-sleepy arms
and legs start to awake.

the scent of rose
on the pillow,
the scent of love
blossoming with
a kiss beneath the sheets,
honey limbs
roused in the sunshine.

late november and
the leaves fall,
spiralling to the
floor, browns and
golds, sinking,
earth bound
in the crisp morning
air.


sunshine
pouring through
the window,
a thin sun
stretches out,
the grey-eyed winter
waits like our
kisses, sweet as
cherry, sweet as our
yearning lips.

summer became a blue
pool, the sky swept away
all its dark streams,
the tide wept at our happiness
and we could not bear to be apart.

above the naked sea,
the wind’s blue
castles
raise their
drawbridges
of air.

the wind whispers
to the shore
of blue grasses
and falling waves.
i love you so much
that i can’t wait to be with you,
to touch your hair,
to cover you in kisses
and drown in all your beautiful love,
know only the fierce fires,
the sweet, sweet, blowing tides
of your burning heart.

a white lily
light as a leaf
on the dancing water...

a honey moon
drifting slowly across
the dark arch of the sky...

a bright penny
dropped in a well and
a wish to find true love...

the darkness broods,
shadows thicken,

clouds drift into the
darkest recesses of night,  

their blue-black inks
singing of lonely shores

and watery streams.

it starts to grow cold
night unwraps stars
and amber moons,
the stream sings
with its silver-throated joys
and dreams of the skies
with their beautiful
dark
sorrows.

tonight i can't write poetry,
a star is just a star.

i.

in the wild, drumming rain
blossoms sink, confetti pinks,
riotous whites, collapse
in spring’s paper mache pools.

ii.

on a hot tin roof
the rain plays her wind
guitars and percussion
while the sea recharges
her engines with the
thunder of the waves.

iii.

the sound of the rain, chiming,
a crazy singer on the forlorn
lawn, stretching like an
accordion, wild in her
wilderness,  crashing
like the waves
drawing me closer to you.

iv.


you kiss me and
my heart skips a beat,
flutters with excitement.

i long for summer with her
gold sun, warm, rushing
streams and bottle-blue sea...

lily of passion,
bloom of the
dreaming pond,

blue lights,
dark golds,
in ponds of velvet
green the fire
of hidden deeps,

summer's light
wrapping the opal-like
water into flame,

blossom of cool rose,

tide of dream,
monet-sweet
flower of the water,

love, with its
magical spell
of summer.

you are unbearable
sweetness, raindrops
falling from a cloud,

the dreams of the night
as they sing, desolate
as a lonely star, beautiful
as a glistening sea,

you are the sweetest
fire that burns full of
love,

everything of me
cannot exist without you,
boy of love.

i stare to sea where autumn's night-winds tease
and sea waves crash and run with all their fire,
i feel a sense of rest that doesn't tire,
caught up in sea-rose reds and heady breeze
and like the fiery waves and sea-blown trees
this love of flames that once burnt with desire
now nothing seems, all fallen though once higher
than love's sweet dream that waking quickly flees!
oh, love's sweet dream! the metronome-like waves
beat like a pulse, a love of moon and tide,
the whispered song has faded, bitter-sweet
and drowsy as the water near my feet,
magnolia now blooms near these old graves
and i no longer yearn to be his bride.

i loved you under a wandering star,
i loved you in the night,
love that would never fade,
love more gentle than all the stars,
love more gentle than the night.

fascinated i draw in my breath,
little murmur of content, i am life
and i am death, what is there
to prepare, what to unravel,
what happenstance to know?
how does the tide, desiring only
to rise and fall, to sweep the shore
and then drawback like a warrior lunging
with a sword, the death-cry obliterating
the sky, then pulling his arm swiftly back
the same fire in her heart, unremorseful,
unrelenting, bring me such rest?
i’ll forget all my loves except
for you, die like a warrior for love
because my heart is a rugged shore and
it carries the crashing waves and the
clamour of gulls because it believes in
freedom, and needs to hear the brashness
of the wind and the far distances of the stars.

the road to the sun
weeps to fall in the shadows,
sweet breath of the sky.

left behind, beside
shadow lands and winter roads,
the lonely heart grieves.

the sea sang out
to the crazy stars,
dust beneath her feet,
flowers in her hair,

ivy pinned to a
black cave,
where the waves swept
past with their
engines of steel,

the clouds threw
their heads
back,
pretty swing
boats of
the whitest paint,

pressed against  a
surreal sky, above the
dust and the flowers,
the ghosts of the
moon.

'where night is....
an iron bench painted green.'

opal light

love burning,
narrow roads,
roadhouse blues,

flame of moon
city garden
cider roses
petals falling like
little red tides,
curling edges,
spells of flowers,

magic in the swinging
pub signs and the
avenues, the
cobbled streets
running forever,
little vacant space,
love in arms
thrown together,
clicking stilhettos
chips with wooden forks,

here the moon
runs with the clouds
carries in an empty
basket the fruit
of the day eaten
up, wild and high,

our love, where night
is a tide of black ink,
resting after a heavy
day, our love, sad
tonight, beseiged
by strong armies, almost
forsaken and
yet somehow survived,
a delicate kiss on
the landscape,
content at last,
reduced down
to street blues
a wish to wander,
the laughter of a pub.

only your love
burying me in the
tides of autumn,
conjuring lips
and steel,
singing the deep
emotional blue of our hearts.

a moon-song
soft and delicate

a summer pond
and a thirsty flame

my jealousy of you
flowing like wine

the weeping stars
melting in the sea

a stormy night
sweeping out, sweeping out...

a kiss in the dark
as if the night blossomed

the pouring of a water jug,
the scattering of the dark...

carrying the sky
on lilting wings,

our love, melting
like a candle,
yearning to
be set free,

the grey dome
of the sky
promising rain,
whispering to
the cardboard
streets where
the gold leaves sink,
flavoured by the
colours of autumn,
that love is a
wondrous bird of
the skies,
is all of our morrows,
is the happiness in
our lives.

a grey sky,
my lips pressed
to your lips,
unfastened hair,

in a moment
i am drawn
to you,
in love with
your legs and
your smile,

grey dissidence
of the approaching
storm,
thunder caught
up in the hills,

the roses start
to wilt in the vase,

the roses of the sky
have silent wings,
time knotted
like a handkerchief
against my skin,

i am hollow, my
legs desiring yours,
love the swift sea,
the amber forest,

blowsy silk,
the clouds,
drawn of water,

and i sink
jealous of your love
and your legs,

wanting all of
you to fall in
love with me,

lips pressed
together,
love, my love,
the ghosts
of the storm.

dreams billowing
like breezes on a sail
flowing rivers
blue flowers
mysteries of the moon.

"where the sun smoothes the dust-dry earth"  

the summer is not poetic,  
what is there in the gold
of the sun to write about?
just the heat and the stones
washed flat.  
the signs say you can't swim.
everything has stopped.  
there is no music in the air,
the mornings shrill and hum,
the afternoons drowse with beer.
is the ocean going to wake for me?
will it dance like a flower?  
along the dust black roads
the tarmac starts to sweat.  
torn open the thundering roads,
there is no poetry in them either.  
everywhere there are green leaves
and little drops of peace in the shade.

i.

dark curves, branches of
a tree caught in a valley wind
of tangling breath.


ii

everything unwinds
summer pools into corners
weeps for
forgotten love.

iii.

this is a dark valley
no ocean, no sky of song.

iv.

night intercedes
lets its other-worldly nectars
dissolve, unclasps me from these
breaking seas.

morning star carved
out of thin white mist in a
sky that sings
of pale blues
and autumn’s
soft sighs, the
beautiful layering
cloud, silhouettes
of light breeze.