It’s almost nine weeks since I came home
Unending days bleeding seamlessly together
A sadness of leaving you as lockdown ends
Quarantine paradise as together time flies

It’s almost nineteen years since I went away
Unending flight memories bleeding together
A sadness of absence as the lockdown ends
Quarantine paradise in absence slow time

Forty years gone in the blink of an eye
Moments passed dimly remembered
Children born now adults now flying high
Good bosses, bad companies, stock losses
Simply an enabler of life – not life itself

Our million memories merge at ruby - crystal
Clear that we were made for each other
Together our hearts beat in slow harmony
Apart - the same hearts grow fonder - so that
We are growing younger together every year

How can you
Experience the
Pain of now when
You are not living
In the moment?

How can you
Claim that your feet
Are on the ground
When your head is
In the clouds?

How can you
Tell everyone that
You have the answer
When your love is
No longer with you?

The air electric with nervous anticipation
She has a chaperone for a civilized coffee
His smile breaks the ice with “ciao” now
Spanish steps descent in nervous chatter

Ascent with butterflies and a sublime kiss
Bedroom explorations as two become one
“Will we” devil battles with “we won't” angel
Their eyes tell of bold Cupid’s lovers spell

Breakfast chocolate kisses in romantic Rome
Tosca may have jumped but they fell in love
Checking out cannot mask their parting pain
How long will it be until we meet again?

Wanting, waiting,
Wishing the words
That touched her soul
Would answer the question

Is it right? Is it wrong?

Who cares if this is love?

Did she believe that this
Passion, perchance love
Could lead to such
Waves of pleasure
That has her drowning
In a desperation of doubt

Sail away with me today my love
And make love under the stars
Mid-winter Nordic dawn becomes
A Flam frozen train to paradise

Sail away with me tonight my love
And make love under the stars
Mid-winter Nordic dawn becomes
A fjord of fog bound waterfalls

Sail away with me tomorrow my love
And make love under the stars
Mid-winter Nordic dawn becomes
A slip-sliding memory of closeness

Smiling lovers’ eyes dilate in magnetic attraction
Warm bodies embrace the electric charge of desire
Tingling lips licked kiss a “missed you” message
Soft hands explore through summer thin clothes
Fluttering feeling in passion the butterflies fly free
As skin-close lovers assuage each other’s absence

We touch, we think, we listen, we love

Sometimes close, can be so far away
Sometimes apart, can be closer than skin
Sometimes love, can be the reason to live
Sometimes life, can be an empty shell

We touch, we think, we listen, we love

Sometimes dreams, can be almost enough
Sometimes touch, can be just that we need
Sometimes listening, can be all that it takes
Sometimes together, can be the best of all

Loneliness is an empty democracy
With everything you can choose
But nobody to share it with
So everyone can see that
Life is a passing opportunity

Living is the sticky moments
Between birth and death, if you
Blink and you might miss them
And would be a shame to leave
Life with no ripples in the pond

Love is a desperate tyranny
But every moment is forever
Blink and the picture remains
A forever memory of moments
Life with a legacy of no regrets

Listening to David Bowie’s
“The Man who sold the World”
While reading Philip K. ****'s
"The Man in the High Castle"
As I was flying between
Vienna and Lisbon
I was struck by how hard
It is to execute strategy
Because we stick in the
Now - that we know.

Looking back at all the
Companies, now all closed
That I have worked in
Who did not transform
To meet the transition
From "was" to "when",
I see clearly how
To help you see, “how”
To escape, from the
Now - that you know.

Conversation watching cricket flows
Between corporate strangers who
Work together but know nothing of
The others’ lives outside the office
Where work-life balance is a myth
The bowlers bowl and the batsmen bat.

Not much happens between innings
On the field, but the action is in the
Stands, as wickets fall, the barriers
Between spectators vanish, and new
Understandings develop, all because
The bowlers bowl and the batsmen bat.

Wine that universal lubricant, moves
From polite engagement to introspective
Intent to solve all our corporate problems
The laser-like focus as new friends grow
Closer than that 22 yards seem as the
The bowlers bowl and the batsmen bat.

Why are you looking at me?
When all I said was “hello”
Don’t you know who I am?

Looking at you looking at me
Makes me worried about you
Why are you looking at me?

So I say “HELLO” to your silence
Like you want to be invisible
Don’t you know who I am?

Like a car crash waiting to happen
You stare transfixed as I stand up
Why are you looking at me?

Thinking you must be deaf
Standing close I shout “HELLO”
Don’t you know who I am?


With every “hello” I will make
The world a better place for all
Why are you looking at me?
Don’t you know who I am?

Excuses excuses excuses is all I have
For putting you in the wrong BOX of
WORK and LIFE, work is so big that
Life is clipped 5 minute conversations
Between the garbage and rocks, that
Fill up my WORK box making you
An invisible corporate accessory

B
U
T

LIFE is not a rehearsal, and you have
Limits, so today when I came home
The BOX with you in it was empty

A
N
D

I am staring at wall in an empty
Room in and empty house, of the
BOX I had put you in thinking that if

O
N
L
Y

I had listened to my heart which made
Me feel so bad abandoning you to a
Priority that will be a forgotten tomorrow

If in doubt
Knock ‘em out
According to the
NYC epitaph of
Big Vinny

Hearts - beating faster
Temperatures - rising
Eyes - shining bright


Because


Anticipation - almost too much
Closeness - never too much
Happiness - just being together

Doing pointless things
In a far from perfect world
Is the reason we know
We are human

Doing pointless things
In a far from perfect life
Is a way of knowing
We are not machines

Doing pointless things
In a far from loving world
Is the reason we connect
With others in need

Doing pointless things
In a far from loving life
Is the way others know
We are human

I am thinking now of moments
We were together in brightest
Darkness where the light of
Passion illuminated our lives
With the sharpest contrast
Between our lives apart and
The heights we climb together.

I am thinking now of the moments
We are apart as an unending grey
Darkness where the light of
Passion is absent from our lives
With the blunted emptiness
Between our lives together and
The lows we feel in absence.

Thinking is a dangerous sport
Not risky like BASE jumping
With a mortality rate of one in sixty
More a consequential activity
Whereby one separates from
The herd and becomes visible
In a world where dull conformity
Of Daily Mail readers lascivious
Appetites are fulfilled with the
Literary ***** for the masses.

Thinking builds character and
Worse still "notions" where the
Shackles of convention are
Smashed and freedom to fly
In mind, as the body becomes
Unbound with an evolving
Revolutionary vision, which
Is a justifiable reaction to
A convention-less world.

Thinking breeds discontent
And spirited resistance that
Is essential to jump the ship and
Become a terrorist shepherd
In a sheep filled world where
Convention is a state of being and
Conviction makes for an extremists
Collaboration that is only contained
By technology which monitors
Every discordant utterance.

In my mind I see you clothed
A beautiful vision of anticipation

In my mind I see you waiting
A beautiful vision of desire

In my mind I see you wanting
A beautiful vision of lust

In my mind is see you naked
A beautiful vision of promise

In my mind I see you with me
A beautiful vision of lovers

In my mind I see you come
A beautiful vision of closeness

In my mind I see you sleeping
A beautiful vision of passion

On a given day
Something can come along
That steals our hearts away,
Beyond our control. It can be any
Old thing, a song that was playing
When we first made out with the
Woman who sleeps beside us
After all these years. It could
Be a child eating ice cream
Who reminds us of when
We were their age, the
Faded black and white
Photograph of when
Our parents were
Still in love with
Each other, but
This miscellany
With no home
Fades and soon
Disappears, and
Returns to those
Dark places, that
We had hidden
Them before
And

We know
That there are
Deep wells, dug in
Our hearts, where
Birds fly, calling
Us again

We are told that
Nothing trumps Trump's
Misogyny but truth will out
When his sexist shtick is a
Gift that keeps giving for
His Republican rivals,
Whose
Lips are sealed, but by
Their deeds their hands are unclean.
We know that Bush did not beat about the bush
When he said of women on welfare that “They should
Be able to get their life Together and find a husband"
We know that Walker repealed Wisconsin's only
Equal pay law and supported anti-choice
Invasive intrusion of a woman's right
To choose.  We know that Mike H
Has mused that he thinks women
Who cannot control their “Libido"  
Should not “curse” and Jay Z is really
A “****" seems to be exploiting Beyoncé.
We know that Rubio opposed re-authorizing the
Violence against Women Act, even though he knew
What it meant when he opposed the Paycheck Fairness
Act. We know Rand P was rightly Republican in similarly
Voting against the Paycheck Act, and in his college secret
Society promoted Anita B's views that oral *** was a sin.
Perhaps they all need to look in the mirror and adhere to
The Biblical adage that "He       who is without sin should
Cast the first stone" But              what is sin anyway?

Is
For
Skiing in
Winter and
Hillwalking in
Summer, but for
Having fun anytime
  Like a nearly impossible
Challenge on the six minute
Planpratz ski-lift requiring you
And your best friend to shed your
Gear and join the mile high club while
Claiming she had the best 30 seconds of
Her life
Or so
I am
Reliably informed.

Regret is the consequential disappointment
That the thrilling transgressive frisson your
Online ****** therapist offered for a number.

On the web no one knows if you are a dog
But the Daily Mail knows if you are a love rat
Their readers will wallow in your misfortune.

Millions have had web fantasies exposed
Sharp onomatopoeic cheating thrills have
Become a fear of secret lives found out.

Their private diversions now public lead
Nervous executives newly emasculated
To realise life is short, shorter than desire.

You regret?
You smile
You sigh
You look
You love
You wish
You want
You believe
You breathe
You remember

The magic with no regrets.

The verbal diarrhoea of a politician’s promises
Flows over a broken roof of dripping umbrellas
Hustings heckling hastening onset of pneumonia
Voters need every candidate to be seen and heard.

Un-hygienic kissing of babies and pressing the flesh
Flash avoiding fixed smile like toothpaste commercial
Thinks - one man one vote a bad idea by Election Day
I wonder does every candidate vote for themselves?

Tense wait as political pundits make newsless news
Oscar like performances as the winners are announced
Four-more-years in The Slough of Despond for the loser
The Olympian heights of triumph for the winner.

Quarter-end game of chocolate-dark negotiations
More important than ***, more brittle than bone
Adrenalin rush of alcohol-fuelled entertainment
Bitter sweet commitments for need-it-now order
Sales smooze soothes power-crazed customers.

The truth can make you jump for joy or weep
The truth can be riches gained or total loss
The truth can be your master or your slave
The truth can make life impossible or easy
The truth can convict you or set you free
The truth can eat you up or spit you out
The truth can be your pain or  fantasy




The truth can be the love of your life

La vengeance est un plat qui se mange froid
La vengeance n'est jamais une ligne droite
Elle est comme une forêt, où il est facile de s'égarer

Une mort, une ennemie, la haine mange l'âme
La rémission l'alimente, une vie un amour

A bad day can catch you by surprise as
You wade through the sticky air of a slow day
Today I woke to a message that my flight would
Be almost a minute year late as AA922 arrived
In La Paz three hundred and sixty four minutes
Behind schedule and my day became endless
Slow seconds as time seemed to stop.

Being 50 you
should be glad
100 would be
twice as bad.

Fingers tracing crazy patterns on your skin
Indelible memories of love lasting long after
Those skin-close moments have become
A smile I savor in my private moments
In the emptiness of our endless days apart.

Fingers touching me while touching you
Impossible closeness unforgettable after
Those magic-time memories have become
A smile you savor in your private moments
In the loneliness of our endless days apart.

Fingers tingling in delicious afterglow of the
Incredible heights of perfect passion after
Those laser-sharp memories have become
A smile we savor in our private moments
In the closeness of our endless days apart.

Kid
Kidney
Necessary
Not a problem
Quite surprising
Question priorities
Think I am overthinking
Thanks for using it wisely
Want to say something but
Wish it was simpler than telling

I am proud of you

Love not absence makes the heart grow fonder
Today we have no doubt that this distant closeness
Between a Southside girl and a Northside boy, though
Scattered by the winds in our banking crisis, that
Brought them closer, though far away showed
Us all that they were made for each other.

Love not distance in those three thousand miles
Brought us together in the city that never sleeps
You my Southside girl and I your Northside boy
Together our challenge is an opportunity for life
That shows nothing will ever do us any harm
And that we were made for each other.

Love not closeness won my candlelight bid
For your hand in marriage today as our hearts
Were the willing victims of bold Cupid’s arrows
So I am proud to say we stand as one, proclaiming
What our families and friends already know that
You were made for me and I was made for you.

We have lost so much
What if we can’t make it?

We have made so much
What if we can’t live it?

We have lived so much
What if we can’t love it?

We have loved so much
What if we can’t take it?

We have taken so much
What if we can’t give it?

We have given so much
What if we can’t lose it?

Thirty five years gone
But unforgotten

Momentous moment
But unbelievable

The evidence of living
But unstoppable

A collection of pride
But unconstrained

Things accumulated
But unimportant

Living love grows
But unregretted

The love
The lack
The leash
The lesson


A way
A wish
A waste
A welcome


I drink
I dream
I decide
I die

Of
Green
Was how I
Felt as I watched
50 Shades with Chinese
Subtitles and thinking that
This is the “Least ****** Movie”

I have seen

Sultry looks but no hearts beating
Faster, or “Here to Eternity”
Moment, just moving
Wallpaper, a waste
Methinks of my
St. Patrick's
Day .

Love could be the sad fling of an old dog
Who could be brought to his senses
With a rolled up newspaper.

Love could be the expression of a lifelong love
Of two who became one many years ago, who
Grow together in perfect moments in time.

How do you know how do you tell?
Is our love the real thing?
A fulfilling passion
Or just a foolishness
In our old age?

This frustration can make an imbalance in our lives

Because

Love is not just another choice on the menu.

Came
Looking for JR
Found a long drive to
The car rental lot for start.
Was hungry after ten hour gig
Not disappointed by Bob Old Time
Steakhouse with a don't **** with the meat

Attitude

Stonebridge signature sandwich in a bar
Pandering particularly to the over
Enthusiastic soon-to-be stars
Who are anonymous
Examples of an
Unforgiving
World.

Eat drink and be merry
For tomorrow ye die
Is a curious maxim
In a world where
Slim is beauty
And fat is not.
Staying slim
Is a vocation
To abstemiousness.
Being comfortably cuddly
Has the advantage that I can
Avoid the misery of dedicated
Jogging too, and live life as God
Intended, enjoying the good
Things in moderation with
Sympathy for starving
Stick insects.

It's a wonder to me why
Those most passionate
About good and evil
Have no compunction
About the ****** of
Innocents in the pursuit
Of their goals.

&

Become more evil
Than the evil
They aim to fight.

Institutional religion makes good people better
But rarely makes bad people good because
Their religious extremism makes the
Good and the bad, far worse due to
Their fanaticism for adhering to
Simple solutions in an
Increasingly
Complex
World.

The curious belief which drives
A man to **** so many for
The reward in martyrdom of
Seventy two black eyed virgins
Has an ironic twist in the
Disappointment that a belief
So carefully nurtured, if
Houri are hur, and the error
In translation is a paradise
Of white raisins instead.

In the middle of the night
I wake to the fear of the night
I am left thinking about my dreams
Not waking dreams of life and love
But these darker dreams of the night
Are crystal clear, tenuous memories
That connect bits of a day now past
With a reality that cannot be but
Seems so logical as I drift into
My dream-world madness
In the middle of the night

God of love
A child of the
Night after Chaos
Spawned of the
Night and Darkness.

His glittering
Golden wings
Swift as the
Whirlwinds of
The tempest.

He mated
In the deep Abyss
With Chaos to hatch
A fourth race which
Saw the light
To become
Human.

Everything eventually ends
No matter what we want
Last chapter of a book
Last day of summer
Last day in school
Last day in a job
Last day on earth

Everything eventually ends
Despite dislike it’s over
You close the book
You watch leaves fall
You start to understand
You start a new adventure
You live before you die

Everything
Eventually
Ends
Embrace
Change
Anticipate
The new
Begin living

When you go past the end
Of your comfort zone the
Experience will be electric
In a surreal world where all
Certainties vanish and the
Strangest things happen.

When fear is mixed with passion
Hope is combined with opportunity
Love becomes a bedfellow with hate
Complexity is a companion of challenge
On this light-speed rollercoaster where
Desire drives you over the edge
To where you start to live your
Monochrome life in Technicolor.

Balance in chaos
Calm in desire
Discourse in energy
Escape in freedom
Frailty in greatness
Grief in hell
Hope in isolation
Interest in justice
Joy in knowing
Killing in love
Living in melancholy
****** in nothing
Night in omens
Openness in pain
Pulse in quiet
Quest in running
Rapture in song
Sadness in time
Temptation in urges
Unction in vain
Victory in wishing.

The night is so dark and the road ahead is a
Thin white line leading to who knows where.

Always, always away from you and home
My escape from the meaningless things
That build our love that is at the heart
Of our life and gives me the strength to
Survive in this downtown wasteland.

You might say I should be used to this
After years and years as a travelling man.

But this **** just get harder every day
A part of life apart from you, wishing
I was with you now watching from
The side-lines as our life rushes by but
I know what I know that I love you.

You are my sunrise after my night.

Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend
But at the cost my dear, at the cost
Of never boring them, you are their
Entertainment, they are your love.

Diamonds if they could talk would tell
A causatory tale of distance and dirt
You, a perfect diamond, a pure light
In the compressed dirt of their lives.

Diamonds reflect the compression
Which is the brevity of our lives
What remains forever of a passing
Love that would be forever distant.