We sit in the still
and through tiny buffeted windows
watch the stubborn shore arrest the fierce sea.

An old clock tocks as slow as winters
as we recall the beach of crowded summers

The cold wind whispers along the scurrying dunes
to throw the sand in abstract arcs
against the ice blue sky

In large coats, billowed scarves
and stout boots
we trudge against the bickering wind
blustering in its niggling argument
far into the sea.

I never thought our steps
could be this close
as we huddle and cower
against the wind

and in a tiny distance
the gale rips up our prints
as if no foot had ever trod.

Yet behind our watering eyes
We know that once two footsteps touched
Our shoes kissed
in the wild wet and wintry night

There will be warmth
in the accordion blessed bar
with pipe smoke leering to the rafters
and yellow light from candled glasses
casting tall shadows
of the shawled women
waiting for the long lost sailors’ return.

Shall I be a sailor then
to board the narrow boat of your body
in all the crash and yaw
the swell and deep
the thunder and breech
the pounding and clamour
until in the safe soundings
in the harbours of morning
we drift like flotsam
on the shoreline of sheets.

And driving home on a damp Sunday
will we marvel at the twisting rain
and how the tiny ship of our footsteps
survives the howling gales
and the all wild wide oceans of our watery ways

wish you were here
in the void between stars
slowly floating in spaces
left between fingers and the night sky
away from hot splashes
of bitter sun

wish you were here
keeping me company on a long winding road
where tree shadows hold each others hands
till the end of nothingness
where birds forget their nests
and are forever lost in blissful amnesia

wish you were here
draped in colours of autumn
fragrances of spring and gusts of rain
in silent chills of winter whiff
hunting like an arctic fox
the no good prey of meekness

wish you were here
on the attic walking on a crazy rainbow
shamelessly fragile
like the love of a baby for a new toy
so pure, honest...  yet so
insubstantial

stuck in a fishbowl
ensnared by smiles of the moon
alluring me with chants of professed freedom
life throws darts on a balloon heart
wish you were here
to rid me of fears and lies i tell myself
and you

in times when diamonds doubt their worth
boundaries of satisfaction orphaned by loneliness
wish you were here
with a wingspan of monsoon clouds
to soar over and flood the parched earth
preceded by rhythms of thunder

but here you are
hiding in pillars of laughter
swaying to music of freshness
meant for my hazy eyes to seek
and I dare not dance on orange flower-beds
left behind in your footprints
etched on my imagination

I dare not lead this dance
I will not change the music
and let delirium echo in air surrounding us
for too much of a dream bewitches the sleep

but somewhere in the spaces
left between my fingers and the night sky
draped in colours of autumn
carrying smile of a baby who found his toy
with footprints on which spring grows
just for tonight...

could you walk my rainbow

I watch you breathe
as you sleep.
I'm afraid of what
you could mean
to me.

I study the stripes
on your shirt.
I think of all the
ways we'll flirt
and all the ways
we'll cry and I'll choke
with your hands
around my throat,
and Malboro Black
cigarette smoke
pouring down my
esophagus--
I wish I wasn't
so fond of us.

Love is for tin birds
in a flame cage.