blue is not only a colour
     but a state of being
darkness is merely
     the absence of light
reality is a figment
     of the imagination
and the universe is as big
     or as small
as the mind that perceives
     it to be

an idea is a seed
        that grows when nurtured
      but does not die when neglected
    living on
  beyond those who conceived it
beyond those who denied its existence
  beyond those that contemplated its demise
    beyond those that wished to control it
      surfacing time
        and time
          again

the subscriber
  you have dialed
     is on the warpath
so enter at your peril

He has slain the Dragon
It lies unmoving before him
The light slowly fading from its emerald eyes

Draped over his weary shoulders
Is the dragon's fiery tongue
Its blistering stranglehold easing as it dies

Dragon blood of the purest blue
Splattered across his scorched chest
His valiant heart still beating at the speed of light

Alongside his sword and scabbard
His heavy shield lies shattered
caught by a single deadly dragontail swipe

Patches of its skin and thorny scales
Have covered his battered arms with scars
A forever present reminder of this epic night

He bows his head in solemn regret
To be standing here victorious
He had to take this magnificent life

Deep inside
   where nothing's fine
      I've lost my mind
   to the poet inside

Mind awash
   with turmoiled thoughts
      I close my eyes
   and begin the slide

Words ripple
   awakening forgotten feelings
      I breathe in poetry
   and finally turn the tide

How do you know that what you have written is original if you haven't read all there is to read out there?

Once you've read all there is to read out there, how can you possibly write anything original ever again?

Needing space, I have to say
   Just a little space today
Just enough space so I can breathe freely
   Without letting go completely
Space to contemplate existence
   Without too much interference
Just enough space to find myself
   Without disturbing the dust on the shelf
Space to push a little at the world out there
   Without it pushing back everywhere

Darkness so resilient
   It's vastness is too great to grasp
Throbbing veins of light, so feint,
   Turn out to be clusters of galaxies,
Each unique, a masterpiece, brilliant

   Black Hole so silent
Slowly slowly swallowing
   Devouring the light
Gathering, trapping, binding,
   Each galaxy's unwavering pilot

Stardust cradled with light
   Nebulae stirring and Supernovas exploding
Worlds colliding and Comets a-flight
   Violent beginnings and violent endings
Each a link in the chain of Life

Cascades
   Cascades of thoughts
Like stars sprinkled on a cloudless night sky
   Emotions clouding me
   Emotions crowding in on me
Like the grayness of a rainy day

The road behind me is winding but clear
The road ahead of me is shrouded in mist
   Walking on because I must
Eyes wide open because I must
Words rippling around
   There must have been a point
   A point to it all

Words strumming the echoing strings of the emotions
How much of me have I lost?

Shadowy shapes in the darkness ahead
Taking form then melting away
Is there more to me than meets the eye or less?

Fragmented
   Chaos
      Space
Whirlwinds of Nothingness
   Time lost
      A white light in the distance
Hope
   A yellow flicker-flicker in the dark
Peace
   Possibilities

Undertaking to puzzle the pieces back together again
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men

Love is the glue
Hope is the catalyst
Light is the way shown ahead

Shadows slowly ebbing
Peace returning
Pieces
Needing to be whole again

“Why? Why? Why?” I shout inside
But on the outside I nod and smile

No peace
Just pieces of me
Shreds of me dangling in the wind

Rambling
I am
Sensing it all
Touching the sides of places not touched in a while

The Poet inside me awakes
Chaos thrashing around
And a smile to me makes
A rippling rebound

Ripples
Ripples with potential
  Potential to upset
Potential to change
Potential to rearrange

Turning the world around
The right way up
The right way round

Rounding off my love affair with myself
Self-judging
Self-repressing
Self-loathing
Self-denying
Se­lf-controlling

So self-satisfied I don’t need you

Self-burying
Deep
Deeper still
Deeper within

I can
I will
I am

A step in the right direction
One step away from chaos
One step closer to the truth
Chaos is just a state of otherness

Ebbs and flows
   Ebbs
And
   Flows

A ripple effect on a still pond
Where ripples meet
Not a sound
Not a breath of movement
Immobile
The eye of the storm

Peace
Less pieces of me
More sanity
Another bad taste in the mouth
Another plane of existence challenged

But more importantly
Opposite ripples meet
While together they are moving in the same direction
With the same goals
With the same plans
With the same dreams

Purpose

I am split inside
Needing to join the apparent contradictions of me
Into a single entity

Whole
At inner peace
At inner strength
At inner me

Rhyming
Reason
Purpose
Peace

Self-doubt
  Always constant
Changing moving
  Movement changes
Chaos order
  Ordering chaos

Up down
Down up
Sideways?
Surely it’s just a state of mind

Rebel
   Peace Maker
One and the same
   Living side by side at opposite sides of being

Waxing prophetical
   Philosophical
      Lyrical
         Satirical

Yet

Inside weaving a web
A soft cushion against the harshness of the world

Surely I have said enough
But not nearly enough at all

Sleep, as the healing within begins
Waking on a different plane

Slowly but surely
   Hope
Peace
   Definitely
      Me

Do I have something to say to the world?
Or merely a need to listen to myself listen to the world?

Dark eyes that peer out in wonder,
   exploring and discovering
      the new world around him-
Deep eyes heavy with silent knowledge
   of a world beyond ours,
      yet to be forgotten.

Shimmering eyes flooded
   with unconditional love
      of the purest kind,
untainted by this bitter life
   and with unwavering trust
      that he is loved back.

You are the streak of sunshine
   that breaks through the clouds on high
You are the ripple of laughter
   from happy childhood days gone by

   Without your caring smile
I would be a hollow shell
   with nothing left to give
 
You are the glimmer of moonlight
   serenading a lovers' embrace
You are the murmur of forgotten dreams
   ricocheting into outer space

   Without your unwavering support
I would be adrift
   in the ocean of life

You are the flicker of flames
   dancing on paintings on an ancient cave wall
You are the echo of drums
   beating to the rhythm of the heart inside us all
  
   Without your unselfish love
I would remain alien,
   heart beating, only just alive

The sun rises over the red horizon,
and sets again as the red clouds roll in;
The moon which had once shone so bright
can hardly be seen through the smokey night;
No more do the stars shine as they had before,
and the smokey red sky seems easier to ignore;
Red tinted buildings crowd around the one place
which seems (for now) unaffected by the waste
of the threatening endless sea of dry red sand
and the harsh hot wind that burns the dying land;

Hidden behind the stone walls of that red city
sits an old man, huddled in a chair, mumbling: "Pity ...
Oh, the pity of it all ..." and talks of things that used to be
To tired dusty children perched around his knee;

He watches their intense delight as he tells his tales
of a different world (not too long ago) without hot gales,
of how that world used to flourish in lushous green
- a colour which has never since on this earth been seen -
of how that land was covered by the most beautiful flowers,
and of how he, as a child, used to while away the hours
in fragrant fields of green grass and tall trees spread about;
He told of animals which not too long ago had roamed about;
He told takes of soft white rabbits, of ferocious lions and tigers;
He told tales of history,  of adventure and deadly dangers;

And then he'd fall quiet and smile at the children sadly
as they looked up at him expectantly;
Then he tells them in his own special way
of how such a beautiful world became what it was today:
"Oh, the pity of it all ... We had it all those yesterdays,
but we were selfish so we threw it all away!"
Then the story-teller of yesterdays would sigh in despair,
snuggle up comfortably, and doze off in his rocking- chair ...

If only
   We could close our eyes
And click a switch
   And wake up in another world

A world where happiness is the only currency
   And hope is as abundant as the air we breathe

A world where a good word is precious as gold
   And a smile is worth a thousand words

A world without senseless suffering
   Where life is a precious commodity
      And all life is in sync

Obviously
   A world far
      Far away
         From this one

But dreams are dreams
   And wishes are wishes
      So I'll just let them be

I'll close my eyes
   just one more time
And click the switch
   And one day there I'll be...

There is a song in my heart
     A lightness in my step
Serenity in my being
     The cracks in my life are healing
Hope is shining through

Softly, softly, on tip-toe she treads
     Happiness creeping in
Balance winning over chaos
     Sunshine melting the darkness
Hope has won the day

A smattering of stars
     Strewn across the sky
Little pinpricks of light
     Blinking in the soft night air

Planets and Moons
     Suns and Stars
Constellations and Galaxies
     Clustering together
Against the darkness between them

Light from far-off worlds
     Light visible to us
          Light visible to each other
     Light the language of the universe
Light the conversation in the multiverse

And yet we stand here
     Human Beings on this our planet Earth
Contemplating in the soft night air

Feeling large and powerful and in charge
     Our hand is larger than those pinpricks of light
We hold up our hands and block out the light
     And darkness swallows the night

Feeling small and insignificant and adrift
     We are programmed to seek the light
And in this seeking we come ever closer
     To understanding the true nature
          Of the conversation of the multiverse

Life is full of twists and turns

     Happiness / Sadness
          Anger / Joy  
      Passion / Indifference
           Love / Hate

Opposites at first glance,
     each necessary in their own time,
    each with a purpose.

Like the swing of a pendulum,
     each tick-tock is inevitable,
each turn in the road purposeful,
     showing us something
         we need to learn from.

If we do not learn,
     it passes us by,
          and it will pass us by again,
     and again,
          and again,
until we learn the lesson
     life intends us to learn,
          then it will move on.

Tick-tock, tick-tock,
     swing left, swing right,
higher, lower,
    until we reach equilibrium,
then tick-tock,
     tick-tock
           all over again.

Live, learn, love...
     Live, learn, love...
          LIVE, LEARN, LOVE!

Balance is the Key.
     And Love!
     And Life!

And to take each day as it arrives
     and make the most of each opportunity,
each smile, glower, crisis and peace in its stride,
     and at the end of the day
          to be able to say:
I have LIVED this day!

One day at a time
   One foot in front of the other
      One Heart
   One Head
One Soul
Sometimes pulling in different directions
   But always making us whole

The sky is an artist
painting beauty for all the world to see
all you need to see this beauty
is to look up at the sky
at just the right moment
and appreciate the spectacular array
splashes of burning oranges and reds
placed perfectly on the backdrop of blue
fading and blending to purples and greys
the wind swirls the clouds
and the sun provides the light
but it takes an artist like the sky
to make a masterpiece
as the last rays of light hit the horizon
the sky absorbs them
and holds onto them
for as long as she can
and she uses them
to make the most beautiful sunset images
just for you and me to see

Wondering in the corridors of my mind
     I came across a different time
It was so familiar I felt at home
     At the same time it was so bizarre
          It entangled my imagination
Up was down and down was around
A field of mirrors reflecting sounds
     Like fire flies in the moonlight
I drank in the sight
     and it tasted of long forgotten memories
I touched my fingertips to the sound
     And a symphony echoed in my heart
I breathed in the feeling
     And nostalgia filled my taste buds
I heard the aroma of lavender fields
     Celebrating the first rays of the sun
I tasted the echo of drops of music
     Painting to the rhythm of far-away drums
          And in the middle of it all
               I met my soul
          Why are we here, I whispered
     Because we are here, boomed the reply