when i look at life
in all its complexity
i see a river
making its sinuous way
from the high snowcapped mountains
to the currents, waves and tides
of the eternal ocean
and there to evaporate
rising up in silver clouds
above the towering peaks
to rain and snow upon them
and flow down again

i cry in the night
with no one to share my grief
just the moon and stars
my tears stream down unnoticed
now that I have lost it all
and my past and my future
blur to distant horizons
and my life seems a mirage
yet somewhere deep inside me
there is a tiny glimmer
that refuses to be snuffed
defiant, ever hopeful
reaching for the sun

the wealth of your life
is in the love that you sow
and gently nurture

in this cluttered life
flooded with empty data
we are all drowning

seize everything
that is precious to me
and steal it away
yet I will still be rich
for you can never take
the love within my heart
that will always be there
as long as I live

lemon yellow sun
through the cool white morning mist
on the woodland lake
bird song like flowers bursts out
above the mutter of ducks
whiffs of breakfast and coffee
come from the crackling campfire
and I feel one with it all
as the day begins afresh
with dawn's absolution
bright and full of hope

every set - back
is an opportunity
seize it and grow

fear is a monster
it destroys the intellect
and crushes the heart
it is the parent of hate
together they bring chaos
and mindless cruelty

let love rule your life
and peace fill your heart and mind
reject fear and hate
and you will be wealthier
than you will ever need be
and you will be happier
than your wildest dreams

vaults, crypts and tombstones
marble, sandstone and granite
broken and cracked cement graves
golden stubble surrounding
beneath dark oak and pine trees
waving wildly in the wind
a small child runs through afraid
of hands reaching from their pits
to pull him into the dark
crows perching above taunt him
pushing him to run harder
till he reaches the safety
of his grandfather

the herd pusues life
across the plains of being
death picks up after

death is so sweet
that sooner or later your
your teeth fall out

opulence and taste
in layers of mud and clay
broken porcelain

watching, witnessing
life is full of simple truths
that fill me with awe

when you are alive
it seems like forever
but when you are dead
it's like no time at all

deep in the blackwood
beside yellow skunk cabbage
a jagged spectre
stands astrde a tiny stream
twixt ferns and huckleberries
its twisted thorn covered limbs
looking cruel and alien
they gesture menacingly
and they win the argument
so i make a wide detour
and think how appropriate
that this bizarre armored plant
be called devil's club

a worm on a hook
or a fish in the barrel
there is no escape
and that is when I realized
that the only way forward
was to throw open our hearts
and surrender completely
making love not war

pretty little bird
flitting around the garden
please don't fly away
there is no other sunshine
on this grey and lonely day
your swiftness and bright colours
they light up my broken heart
that's all that i really need
please stay a little longer
so i can watch, smile and
begin to forget

within and among
the dark deep velvet heavens
in dream and without
floating drifting through the vast
all sewn with stars like raisins
part cloak and part crown of thorns
i spin there quite untethered
wending the giant smallness
of my bare humanity
a partial somnambulist
peering from one squinting eye
at realities cold light
afraid of mortal blindness
and trying to dream

cedar wood and fire
sweat and aromatic heat
ladles spilled on rocks
heated through unto the core
then getting up and leaving
and rolling naked in the snow
with a painful ecstasy
followed by relaxation
a deep sense of well being
and very pink skin

Roses at sunrise
dew covered and succulent
welcoming the sun
warming from its honeyed touch
their nectar's strong scent rising
luring bees and butterflies
to land upon their petals
and taste their rich sweet pollen
in the clear dawn light

in spring i inhale
and float away through summer
autumn i exhale
and sink back down through winter
a seasonal procession
a cyclic pranayama
my annual kundalini
it fills me with the desire
to live and to love

an urban morning
garbage trucks and sirens
shake me from my sleep

i would give my life
to heal you and make you whole
i love you that much

across the boardwalk
a large bronze beetle scrambles
through herds of flip-flops

sparrow in the hedge
upside down watching tables
crumbs are falling up

bright coloured jewels
racing through bulrushes on
cellophane rainbows

on the cross town bus
met a holy man laughing
singularities

gulls with crows fly high
cicadas rasp deafening
wasps and flying ants
forage over the parched ground
neath blue sky and ragged clouds
among the twisted oak trees
that dot the parched field of gold
by the sea by the graveyard
on the point on the foreshore
in the heat in the west wind
i walk staring out to sea
breathing the salty air
dreaming and alone

i  am but a web
immersed in a liquid
full of messengers

when i was a boy
adults seemed caricatures
they still often do

clear cloudless morning
salmon pink and yellow skies
wrapped in nighttimes chill
i wait for my morning coffee
poking embers in the fire
chipped enamel *** ontop
from within the wood a song
clear and bright and strident sung
a robin greeting the day
brightens my expectations
pushes away the cobwebs
as the whiskey jacks arrive
wondering what's for breakfast
trout and eggs today my friends
take what you can steal

i saw a strange sight
at the bus station last night
an old white ten speed blender
waiting in line for the bus
sitting there on the pavement
it seemed passive and patient
in that mad rush-hour lineup
and it was the only one
that remained unplugged

you are delightful
that is what i think of you
when i think of you

so many wounded
hiding their deformity
they stagger along
ravaged by childhood abuse
lurching through lifetime's journey
from one crisis to the next
lonely and feeling unloved
angry and so full of fear
ashamed and in denial
unable to truly bond
with anyone else

all along the fence
small pink roses were blooming
dry oak leaves and twigs
covered the cracked gray asphalt
of the twisted country road
where it turned sharply and passed
the tall narrow old farm house
now covered in blackberries
its broken windows staring
from beneath the thorny veil
front door open and gaping
and the stairs now fallen down
i slowed as i was passing
and thought of all the stories
happy, sad and beautiful
that had been lived within it
this creaking old derelect
now just home to the dry wind
and forgotten dreams

i thread the needle
an ant among fellow ants
on the hot pavement
between the glinting towers
traffic and voices collide
as the sun burns relentless
and green turns to red again
castaway on a curb now
i watch a crippled pigeon
tapping morse code as it limps
a jagged circle round me
the light turns to green and i
am an ant again

hello bluebottle
sitting atop my canvas
shifting all around
what do your two red eyes spy
can you see me staring back
and what are you waiting for
all alone high above me
fidgeting and impatient
but of course you are quite right
to be so very careful
for that is a newspaper
rolled up in my hand

deep within the shade
among the leaves and branches
cool comfortable
too lazy to face the heat
lying back and gazing out
the gamelan of rigging
softly tinkling from the docks
filling me with peacefulness
as yachts and sailboats slip past
the entrance to the inlet
and i calmly drift down the
stream of conciousness

the fire has not died
it still burns deep inside me
and i rake those coals
raising clouds of hot sparks from
embers full of memories
so painfully beautiful
that i cry and scream in pain
wishing that i could return to
the blazing red inferno
of our torrid love

the sickness of greed
where more never satisfies
a cold empty heart

shadows deepening
snow topped indigo mountains
flamingo pink skies
camped by a glacial lake
watching the end of the day
a single ****** swims past
its wake a thin silver line
then a loon calls from far off
and my heart disentangles
as the universe floods in
and washes away my pain
in a deep ocean of stars
bliss incandescent

a gentle murmur
ripples reflecting ice blue
the taste of ginger
in the shadows by the brook
under the swaying willows
bird song echoing above
a chainsaw in the distance
my eyelids flutter and close
lazy afternoon

i still remember
the stars that shone out on me
sparkles from your eyes
as you held me close and tight
and i wanted forever
but that never was to be
and now i stand looking back
to what seems a far off dream
a lost world full of magic
now forsaken, gone

sailboats at anchor
rocking slowly to and thro
small dogs barking high
frisking down the seawall
passing nannies and strollers
till i chase them back again
ringing my bicycle's bell
swooping around the corner
laughing in the wind

with wild abandon
the flowers of the garden
spill over the verge
rich colours and sweet perfume
a dew covered paradise
full of  birds and butterflies
underneath the morning sun
by the empty house

near the whitewashed wall
a splash of geraniums
blazed a rich blood red
in the golden glance
of daylights final dazzle
i stopped and i enjoyed it
a house finch warbled nearby
shadows deepened all around
and drowned the final glow
gold to blue then starry night
filled with the songs of crickets
and my thoughts of you

you know i love you
cause i always tell you so
i don't play no games
with a sweet lover like you
come on down to the river
i got a bottle of wine
we'll laugh away the sunset
and make love until the dawn
you know i love you

nothing is perfect
and we are lucky for that
because otherwise
we would not exist at all
so remember that this life
is a gift and a challenge
every last one of us
is a pilgrim in this world
and it is important that
we listen to our fellows
respecting their opinions
and showing them that we do
acting with true compassion
ready to cooperate
always demanding the same
making our own decisions
looking below the surface
to seek out all the details
and how they fit together
with an unpejudiced eye
and then we will be worthy
of being called civilized
and intelligent

life's complexity
is spellbinding to behold
a fractal splendour
that will never fit into
a pedantic pigeon hole
for when it is studied close
it generates more questions
than it does primal answers
instead it is wonderful
a universe without end
full of beauty abundant
a shining celebration
of entropy's spawn