Breathe in -  aspire
breathe out -  expire
my aspiration knows no expiration.

With each sunset  
there be -  sunrise awaits
and therein lies my expiation.

And here, a dowry stay
a muse forlorn, receive
what could, no longer can.

Here in a downy refuge lay,
this germinant resolve:
what I was I no longer am.

in the aftermath 
echoes of silence 
rise above this mushroom cloud - 

there is no more of you 
than there is of me

Is it not a foe who taunts —
that in itself could be borne
Is it not an enemy's tirades—
from them one could hide
Instead, an arrogant intimacy—
life's equal, companion & friend.

What close companionship
now scattered in the chill
of uncaring autumn winds
from familiar paths once  
walked together in gardens
of fond affection and glee.

The lindens are lining the promenade
how we wish we were seventeen again
their branches arching ever skyward
framing Vincent's starry manifold
swallowing every thought and sound
each caveat, each dolce far niente
now fading and then pulsing with the
rising and ebbing of rhythmic tides
how serious this business of life is;
our limbs intertwine as we scramble
shaking sand from between our toes
we sit on wicker recliners and imbibe
beverages that splash down so loudly
with the crashing of frolicking waves

quiet rain-kissed bed
dewy blooms of verse caress
tempest shatters peace

poet on the run
pulls a Bachman manoeuvre
forgets all, save self

dawn's early light breaks
ever silently reveals
hope of reunion

it's inevitable ultimately
to lose every blame game

(each & every flamin' galah
***** & squawks itself silly)

for it is always ourselves
that we blame in the end

from misty stupor
faceless sentinels are roused
absinthian rev'ries

sea shells
she sells
salty Susie
on the seashore
her sure shalls
storm spells
such will be’s
shan’t be seen
on shifting sands