The camp fire burned brightly in the cool air
Flames leaping to touch the sky
Our eyes transfixed as we sit entwined
Watching the little sprites dancing around

The yellow glow of phosphorescence
Bathes our faces and gives a strange
But healthy brightness, eyes sparkling
Lips drawn back in a grin, watching

Many times the central flames danced in unison
Then on their own, looking to be the best
The tallest, the most active, the restful
Flicker in the night then streak  upwards

Competing with the stars yet such a new light
An old light, primeval and reliably warm
Protective, dissuasive to wildlife, they too
Enthralled by the crackle of the hot licking flames

Three feet away our toes curl, enjoying the heat
The comfort of the enveloping energy
Every element a paradox of danger  versus cosiness
Gripping our fingers, soaking up the radiated waves

Hands stretched out at arms length, spread fingers
Rubbing together and pushing back the hair in our faces
Cheeks rosy, clothes giving that just ironed smell
Evocative and basic, life-giving and wondrous

Just the two of us
Is enough
Just the two of us
For now and always
Just the two of us
But especially you
And especially me
Just the two of us
Is all we need
To keep our love fresh
Bright and warm
Wrapped up close
Your arms and mine
Just the two of us
Today, tomorrow
Until the end of time...
Just the two of us

Come Glastonbury, demand your suitors
Eliminate the negatives of their days
Show the signs of cheer and promise
Crystal clear and sun bright
The walkways between the tiny shops
Where escaping through to back doors and out
Inside spirits claim your soul
Wrestle your pathetic reliance on consumerism
Your slavish concern for fashion
And your unhelpful TV dinners
There in Glastonbury only truth is spoken
Revealing the weaknesses of our human frame
Our minds that suffer from prejudices and bigotry
Cleanse your soul, become yourself
Give up the senseless living that has dominated
And driven our daily chores and lifestyle
Discard them all and believe that man
Is just a tiny part of this cosmos
A spirit and energy of the completeness
Not the embodiment
Not the utmost but a small part
Perhaps a much lesser being than any other...
Despite everything we are special
You are special in your individual capabilities
Each soul a grain of stardust
Waiting to be reunited in the cosmos
With the rest of the wonderful plethora
Be calm in the knowledge that you
Your heart and soul
Are one and only
Unique
Even today in Glastonbury

Complete idiosyncrasies that have prevented our living
Possible enjoyments have been suspended
Pending, invisible and perceived
Barriers of every day
Give up the waste of time
Stand back from the grind
Give in to your heart and let's run.
Make the most of our togetherness
Enjoy the freedom and stop living a lie
Harness our powerful energy
Hold it within and channel the force
Make it soon not sometime
Step on that magic carpet and let us fly.
We must have our dream
Turned into reality.
You did that for me...
Turned my reality into a dream
My inspiration my love, my life
Let our dream be what we live
.........not someone else's.

Max Hale

Almost ending the day winds down
All reflecting on their simple pleasures
Soulful singing sits within the heart
Making faces at the final hurdle.

How many of us realise
How many of us see
The freedom we are allowed
To live and to enjoy the best things
How many of us take for granted
Each sunrise, each tree, each flower
Often spoken about in essence
In reality, I wonder?

Art or at least my art is cerebral and visionary
I never wanted it to be a quick fix
Timely and considered but flowing and free
Carefully looking, seeing, recording
Not in a photographic way
But my interpreted placement of shapes and brush
Engrossed in a silent world of gathering
Taking the subject feed and channelling it
Through my eyes and round my joyful heart
Stroking my soul and stimulating my whole body
Finally the exit of passion and feelings as placement
Of pigment onto canvas, carefully yet with a flourish
All that time within me
A collection of emotions, moods and cells,
Racing them down through the handle, ferrule and bristles
Then I pour myself out as a painting
Every one a self portrait

Wood smoke carries on the air
The time driven memory
Of ****** basics and soulful
Earthy humankind
Surrounding each personal cell and
Lifting the arm-stretching power
Of fire and the need to feel warmth
The technology of modern man
Is dashed on the rocks of time
As we drift with the stench of our youth
The well worn shoe and the eiderdown
The hot water bottle and the candle
Flickering and holding us with
A knowledge of comforts
And our understanding
We live within this world and feel
The circle of life that smells of
Log fires in the autumn and the sooty
Blackbird song of impending winter
The warble and the peaceful heart of
Everything we love as seasonal
Mists and dancing flames keep us
Wrapped in our primeval lives
Will autumn bring a kind or hard winter
No matter, we have coped with them all

By Max Hale

Life is a blessing from the Cosmos  
We are made from stardust…
Some stars burn brightly for millennia
Others maybe not so long but are just as beautiful.
As we live on earth in our time
Lots of stars are coming to the end of their
Shining and twinkling period
They have given us light and brought
Us out of the earthly darkness
Keeping us safe and lighting our way
The universe is a volatile place
A truly living, breathing space
Full of planets, red dwarfs
Black holes, meteors and galaxies
As in our life on earth, stars must fade
To give birth and make room
For the wondrous cycle that has taken place
Since time began
The disappearance of a star is not the end
It’s just the start…………. of a new life
A new star that will bear different characteristics
It won’t ever replace the old one
But some of that faded star will live on
A new born vibrant and beautiful star.
Your loved one is there
Just transformed to give a different light
New hope and new love
As we come from the stars so we will return
To the Cosmos shining and bright for all time.

Max Hale

Dragon fire come burn me,
Turn my thoughts into carbon.
My purest intentions will extinguish your flame,
Your mythology grants me the wish
To climb the mountains of despair,
To conquer the hills and make love
To the people with my thoughts
Gaining supremacy is not my aim,
Nor is victory by default.
My measure is  to teach,
To hold the universe in my grasp
And shake the evil and the egotistic
Taste the goodness of universal love
Quell the fiery breath of the dragon
To a whisper of man's destructive force
The green scales of his skin slowly falling
Realising his strength is waning.
The knight of the natural world
Has shown how giants and dragons
Can be brought to book
By common sense and love.

By Max Hale