FOOTSTEPS SET IN TIME

The lightness of
your footstep

as you hurried to me

caught in the slowly setting
concrete
you didn’t see

holds your fleeting love
permanently  

your footsteps
greedy for me

paying no attention
to the world whatever

only knowing that
in a few footsteps more

you would be precious
and adored for who you are

your footsteps
still exist

echoing inside my tears

as I put my next step
inside yours

and the snow fills
the other   footsteps        up.

I always find the good in you
Even when I don't want to find you at all

On Christmas Eve, the street was dead
Most folks were home or gone
The buildings all were empty
That is, except for one

Gianni kept the lights on
As he did most every night
To let the people of the street
Know that everything's all right

Gianni's was a haven
A safe house for the street
The residents were welcome
And there was always a free seat

On Christmas Eve, though magic...
would take place inside the back
For each Christmas Eve at midnight
They'd get more than Santa with his sack

Precisely at the hour
When Christmas Day became the date
The house lights dimmed just slightly
As if by magic, or by fate

There on stage with Gianni
Sat the Bluesman and a band
Some only played this concert
It was the best one in the land

Hymns and Christmas carols
Sung like angelic odes of joy
And as always ...there's the Bluesman
Smiling, looking just a little coy

You never knew his secrets
There was always more than he would show
And most folks would pay a fortune
To know just what this man did know

Holy, Holy, Holy,
and songs from years gone by
were mixed with hymns that grabbed your heart
and made most folks there cry

It was invitation only
Just the folks from on the street
The locals didn't post it
It was kept quiet.... indiscreet

He played for near three hours
His little band of odds and sods
Singing songs of Christmas
Singing songs to God

He always had his med-sin
that small flask was by his side
And Gianni, every watchful
made sure it never did go dry

The Bluesman, stopped the concert
the room was quiet, all subdued
And everyone just sat there
I swear, not one person moved

He opened up the window
Pointed to the brightest light
He said "another saviour may be born"
"And it may just be tonight"

It was on a night like this my friends
That Mary did give birth
When Jesus Christ, our saviour
was given life right here on earth

My music sends a message
To all, both near and far
The same message was sent years ago
By one bright shining star

Gianni, led them all outside
And they stared into the sky
Silent Night indeed, Gianni thought
And then the Bluesman bid goodbye

He went back through the kitchen
To where he slept most winter nights
Where Gianni, gave him refuge
You know it's safe....from the bright lights.......

She said yes,
Such a shame
The ring is formed from soot.

HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOUR

Auden & Isherwood
strolling in China

trying to soak up
The War

by the process of
osmosis

staining it
with words

observe
(at first what seems)  

green horses

but turns out to be
only white horses

painted green
for camouflage purposes.

That evening in Canton
also offering them

the futility of two men

trying to put a rat
into a bottle

a woman who lived
in a beehive

pouring water
into a sieve.

War knocks
over the inkwell

spills
into men’s lives

covers the white pages
of their wishes

makes the idea of Hell
...all   too   real.

The spilt ink eating
the words of men

who send letters home
and die in pain

never to return

only in other’s memories
& useless dreams

marble memorials

while green horses
champ the grasses

the bridles & the bits
clanking & glinting

in the hot sun
of Now.

as this last lost evening
dies.

Every year at Christmas
The tree goes by the wall
I drag the **** thing from downstairs
And I tug it down the hall
The lights go up with tinsel
The ornaments and star
Then I go downstairs and knock one back
Behind my little two tap bar

I've done it now for forty years
Each year, the tree and lights
The tinsel and the ornaments
To brighten up the nights
The cards I get go on the wall
No baking do I do
I go downstairs and have a drink
Sometimes I might have two

The kids, not here, they have their lives
I get a call on Christmas Day
It's far to far to come out here
And there's just no room to stay
The boys have hockey, the girls as well
So they won't be coming soon
They play their first game at three
So I get their phone call right at noon

I put my little Cornish hen
In the oven for my meal
I've got some frozen veggies
And a Christmas ******* for the "feel"
I sit alone at Christmas
I watch the telly, have a beer
It's not the same with out you
It's not Christmas, you're not here

Still every year the tree comes out
I put it where you'd say
We'd move it at least fifteen times
Until it found a place to stay
I drag the decorations out
I've not yet bought something new
I'm here alone at Christmas
With my memories spent with you.