Who is there?
Oh, it's Winter on the pyre!
Who are groaning?
Oh, Frost, Fog and Snow
Are on the galloping gallows!
He would bounce back I know,
But I don't care about Phoenix.
Everyone is glad for the golden days.
Let us go out to sip this beauty!
Don't you see the day is delicious!
See! See! See!
Earth is wearing gleaming-grass;
Daffodils are unfolding
Their golden-yellow cheeks;
Bluebells and daisies are dancing in joys.
Hear! Hear! Hear!
Swallows are fluting their rhymes;
And cuckoos are playing their sweet tunes.
Now I pine for taking
Purple hyacinths from those
Whose hearts are pricked
By my thorny words.
Let us dole out
Snowdrops, lilies and poppies to everyone;
And to you I will give tulips.

Let us cheer
Like the cheering cherry blossoms!

I have a fresh rose in my pockets,
But I still smell you, my darling!

I wish she were on my mind,
But she's not. She's in it,
And has full possession.

I've lost my mind;
I'm beside myself;
I'm next to an idiot!

She has my mind in her hands,
And I have time on mine.

She takes all mine. My time.
But I don't mind spending time,
And gladly giving all of mine,
If she would only mind me.
Mine me.

(There is treasure to be had)

Throttled through time on the
tip of a whip I am hurdled
into existence.

In a flash of lightning and
sound that vibrated the strings
of reality I became an echo.

In darkness I am the breath of
light that brings you to life.

In light I am the void that
devours all thing’s.

I am also a seed ready to be
hydrated and fed so I can become
a blooming beauty.

The idea of me is purpose.

To be!

©️ 2023 By Amanda Shelton

My life, she said, is so akin
To a twisted, knotted piece of yarn
Tied around an unknown object
Hanging from a broken limb
Blown by whirling, dusty wind
That never ever makes a sound.
                           ljm

She stands before the bathroom mirror
Creating several different faces
Tryng to find the one that doesn’t
Make her look so tired and old.

Some of them make her look ill
A couple more look silly.
The one she finally settles on:
A wan and disappointed smile -

Accepted as least ugly of the bunch
It’s not the face she’d hoped to wear
In this the Autumn of her life.
She expected some small trace
Of former beauty to remain.

She tried to make a little sparkle
To liven up her somber eyes
And find the muscle in her cheek
That lifts her lips into a grin.

A sorry rictus of despair
Was all that effort brought her
So she gave up and threw the switch
And slipped away in darkness
ljm

Customs. Blind beliefs and fears.
Pride and rage. False idols.
Beating drums. Grand parades.
Sisyphus and Midas.

Ideologies abound
Left and right, north and south
Day to day the sun will rise
Moonlight shines through passing clouds
Rain and rainbows pause, delay
'What' and 'Why' are cast about

'Why' and 'When' and 'Where'
- I know not - nor do you
Who prevails today, and then,
Tomorrow, what falls through

If souls live on, past reaper's call
Or must abide by Earthly bounds
One answer, only, may be known
- 'How' you go about it counts!

So many things happened
So many years ago.
You hitch-hiked to have tea with Mammy;
But not me.

You scaled the Mount to succeed;
Without me.

We slid the Fiat into a Rambler,
Before your big night.
The front got bent out of shape,
But we still went,
Drinking whiskey from the bottle.
Nothing stopped us. We couldn't bother.

We stayed at Sean's,
Or various friends,
At Inns, or canvas tents;
All were means to our ends.

It was fifty years ago...
Half a century of years;
Decades of joyous laughter,
With many unanswered tears.