only a someday can compare to now
on a good day with the best
of company

knocked on my door you did at dawn
needing consolance and reasurring words
and I most happy to  abjure
on how we are all alone

must deal with things we forage up
said no worries dear
we all scream alone

it didn't make  you smile
nor did I intend it to
I will lie
for nobody

not the brightest smile or a play be
it Shakespeare even
no Juliet can make me
injure my conscience

I tell the truth even sure of
my lies or reasons no more
in the presence of the saddest eyes

it is the hardest thing
my dear

I came out of the north-west
Staggering from the storm
The surgeons had repaired my body
And my mind hung by one hinge
So I headed for the coast of Wales
To assume the healing rhythm of the sea
And breathe the briny air
Where no-one knew me
Nor called my worn out name
Sweet freedom in isolation

And so, in smiling solitude
I walked and smoked too much
Staring at the moody ocean
As we all inevitably do
As though it holds answers
And indeed it does
The answer is "being"

One hot but breezy day
I followed the coast from north to south
Not too far but far enough
Until I came upon a harbour
Tiny and insignificant
But a harbour nonetheless
With a clutch of small boats
Bobbing and swaying lazily
On the backwater slack water tide
And somewhere close by
A nautical bell tolled the rhythm
Of an endless heedless movement
And an oddly comfortable melancholy
Rocked me in it's arms
Lost and found
Beginning and end

In as much as everything matters
Though nothing matters much
This place was nothing to me
No more than countless others
But that harbour bell
So patient and so constant
Touched something deeper than knowledge
Perhaps it was the state of my health
Or the glowing heat of the day
But some vulnerable receptor
Vibrated to that gentle toll
I've been in many places in my life
And seen wondrous famous sights
All seared into my minds eye
But their memories will last no longer
Than the haunting harbour bell

                                                By Phil Roberts

I love that song "sing even though your heart is breaking"

poets sing even though your muse has forsaken you

sing even though all seems lost

poets look up from your desolate heart, a new muse is waiting.

its best to cry on your own shoulder
be able to pick yourself up

but this will take a lot of self education (gleaned from experience)
and much spiritual reading

a willingness to learn
and a complete acceptance of your fragility.

I wear the poetical road well
at times-
drink too much wine, smoke far more than is necessary

Ah yes, but I am not a martyr to the ink
to the muses whim

No, all I ever wanted was to write
and sometimes to get a little out my head.

We saw a light
I swear it
Something bright and crisp
And mother-clean
Or so it seemed to us
All those years ago
But we were so young then
Such noble fools
We believed
Oh, how we believed

Affection swells
And memory seduces
It is easy to love nostalgia
The children we were
Looking so new
Open-mouthed and wonderful
Delighted  and startled
Pointing yearning fingers
At the future
And there it was
And here it is
It's only a light
Really
I swear it
It's just a light

                             By Phil Roberts

There are sweet dreams which sometimes lead
To sadness and pain which sometimes bleed
Into a strange and eerie beauty
Causing the heart and soul to swell
Hovering between heaven and hell
And the deepest shade of blue
Rolls over the infinite truth
Of the sensitivity of being

                                       By Phil Roberts