Caution?
I never quite got the hang of that
Never a gambler as such
I have been a creature of impulse and instinct
Of uncertain intent
Unknowing and unmeaning
I have created crackling static
Out of consequence and recrimination
Trying not to hurt anyone
I do right by none
But I cannot change my gypsy way
I have always said and will always say
I won't die wondering
I hope to die laughing
But not today

                                             By Phil Roberts

Tonight, I pray tomorrow
an orchestra brazenly
plays, and hounds

bay in tune, the sun
melts a path in the snow,
blue morning  stars glow;

all, so I can find my
sad and lonely
way.

I am absent from your reality,
Deep into the words
There waiting for myself to reappear.
In other things i imagine myself,
Away travelling in the universe
Of my mind,
Some places that i have never been
Are waiting for me to get there,
The depths of myself.

Im here in these words
In bits and pieces
That wanted me to turn into language
So i could express them,
The trees and the skies and
The world around that does
Bot speak but says more than
Anyone man.

I fall deeply
Away from flesh
And my spirit puts on the words
That the world cannot speak.

I speak not for myself
But that which language was invented
For,
That we might put into words
Such unspeakable beauty.

I have moved to a different drum
With odd and peculiar rhythms
Dancing awkwardly through life
On my two flat clumsy feet
It is not the way I chose
To step on innocent toes
But the wildness of my dance
Has had no easy flow
The blame lies entirely with me
It's a genetic thing, you see
I am no more than this
The son of the gypsy's kiss

                                By Phil Roberts

yonder is a constant
each step brings us closer

what will it be like to meet
the otherside of all this?

of this I am sure
we will recognise each other

and we will know each other
as we are known

When I was very young
Certainly pre-school age
I had a little tricycle which I loved
One day
I decided that I could ride it down steps
I was wrong
"Whaaaaaah! Me 'air 'urts!"
"He's banged his head. You're alright
You're not bleeding so shut up skriking."

A day or two later on the same tricycle
Tearing down the hill opposite our house
In the middle of the road
It was a time when cars were rare on council estates
Indeed, ice-cream men rode push-bikes
With big ice boxes on the front containing his wares
And there was one on the road
Of course, I managed to hit it
"Whaaaaaaaa!!!"
"There there, yer alright, lad. Have a free ice-cream."
"Wha- oh, ok."

My parents kept the front gate closed after that
I wasn't tall enough to reach the latch
They wouldn't let me ride my tricycle
Unless there was an adult present
So now that I was safe
I promptly fell over the dog and banged my head on the gate
"Whaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!"

                                   By Phil Roberts

If insomnia were a bicycle, I’d ride it
As I watch my yawn open eye
Wide awake I’d smell the roses
trace their spikes and wear their lipstick
And pardon me if dreamers can’t smell it
A fever akin to a violin’s soundest
Cutting right through 4AM
with a blade of flicker and undestined dim
I’d ride past the bus stop I walk to everyday
Hang my black coat and never claim it again
Ride past the point where I’d make it to work on time
But my boss to never see my face again
And if the hour hand were any slower
I swear…

I’d finally meet you
And when I do finally see you
our glass cages will then shatter

Out of the wreckage, a new kind of disaster

A happy one
but I’d have to warn you

I don’t have time for greeting cards
There are no lungs in paper
Life is
a box of limbs
And that,
I would open
And you bet!
That, I’d claim
If insomnia were a bicycle, I’d ride it
Straight into the sunset, I’d watch the sunrise

being me comes with repercussions.
I can now laugh at them.
Younger they hurt my heart.
Though the trust is developing in self.
I keep choosing a path that gives me
what I need.
I feel crazy sometimes, though I know
everything is ok.

Sometimes my writing is weak and
my choices bleed.
Recently they've been so cloudy.
I am ready to see clear again.
The distractions of the world are plenty.
I just want to do my work.

I want to get back to this work.
Focus in on the work.
the plants lead the way.
I know I can trust them.
I do not know what just happened
though I trust it was just.
it was a must.
I hold each moment in this embrace.

I wish to race home.
allow my body to relax.
to be healed.
accepting of things.
allowing some time to pass.
valued mostly a healthy home.
my heart continues to moan and
call loud. patience for the time.
moments to know.
I know this soul will feel the bond of One.

I know one will appreciate all of me.
one will lead me through my dark spaces.
hold my hand down the path.
knowing who is within.
feeling the desire to heal.
needing my trail, wanting more than
the idea of me.

all these moments, they prepare me
for the one that my smile gets big again.
when I feel it within, I will be ready to deal
with it then.
ready to step again into the moments that
have yet to come.

I loved you on a quiet day
And I loved you on a stormy night
I loved you through the fog and mist
The sun's scourge burning bright

I loved you like fire does
Drops of water that keep alive
Like wind that breathes on a leaf
Like earth that cradles life

I loved you on a rainbow
When seven colors filled the sky
On feathers of white hope
As wings spanned across to fly

I loved you when waves rested
And when the river was serene
When grass by it wilted yellow
When waters turned shadowed green

I loved you when the sun set
And when the moon was veiled in clouds
When the stars shriveled and hid behind
Despair's dark midnight shroud

I loved you then and I love you now
I loved you all I could
And I'll love you through the beats of time
Just as love should