When do star-shaped smiles
and firework eyes
stop sparking flames
while everybody spies

Aching, madly
we chase victory
in a fool's battle
of attention,

attraction strikes fast
in the flustering heat

Shiver
when the cold ignites,

attacking discomfort
with chilling nights
so we long even more

Summer keeps us gazing
        inside our minds and out
  It hurts

      we are all blind,
            lying ******
on star littered ground
because the truth is
      pupils fire bullets

Shrills and shrieks of joyful children,
early in the morning
Sun shines through rippling curtains,
golden and gracious in soft light
Sandal tanlines, eating icecreams
on the heated pavement
And we know: Summer is here

Homemade apple pie from trees
in the blessed blooming garden,
where colours thrive and dance
like kites in the sky

Craving shade through humid walks,
shadows of winter left behind
in the cold
Icy water refreshes, revives us
And we know: Summer is here

Late night sounds of the church bells
rich as the air drifts swiftly in,
sweet and new as the day
which quickly dawns

But our smiling eyes are heavy,
with tired laughs and scents
of smoke
as the barbeque cooks
the last meal
of the long, long day
And we know: Summer is here

Faded memories of smells and sights,
Hot, dry land and precious laughter
filling humid air like smoke
I breathe and I remember
     the beauty of that other world
Markets of meat and strange food
Neighbours who knew me but I’ve not a clue
Who they are or how they know
      the beauty of this other world

Where next?
Across the world again we go
      another place I cease to know
Unknown air I used to breathe
Heavy feet in the snow
Bakeries and small cafes
Icy air and chilling days
A speck of dust in a city so large
I was lost in the beauty
       the beauty of this other world

Sweet like a rose you are

             I imagine

Eyes like the sky or sea

             I suppose

Laugh like the breeze

             I swear I’ll listen

Even when I wish to speak most

     I’m sorry

if my mind

     creates you so faded,

face unclear

      like the clouds in the sky

I float with you in my dreams so daily

      Often wonder

how you’d look by the eye

     or sound by the ear

                      When reality returns

without flowery pretension

              Where will we be then?

My mind is a rattling cage,
Spitting fire toward empty furnaces.
Nothing grows in this barren land,
No fruit, no soul, no thriving bloom of spectacular imagery
Can I not think? Have I lost my mind?
My dreams as hopeless and dry as a rusted desolate home,
craving to have use.
I see beauty, I feel it in my bones. I hear it in the voices of the wind
and the sky.
      It shrills through the dust, lifting stories to the wind.
But I cannot paint it. I cannot sing it. I cannot write it,
      for the appetite of my meaning
I am lost.

I've seen the beauty
of the trees

the way the sun glistens
through tangled leaves

In the chaos
of this eyeless world

I can't even try
to believe
It's nothing at all

Why is love so hard?
Its bites you with its piercing sting
It tames you with its frightening claws
Far beyond your power, once caged within

It hurts, when they hurt
you cry, when they cry
bleed when they bleed
and crumble when you try
to help them

because it makes you weak to empathise

Yet
with the force of a gale,
it stands
      firm against the wind

You have no choice,
no choice
     but to give in

It hurts the place in your heart,
             where theirs
    is cradled, safe

So you try to be soft
when they rage
Try to be sweet
when they're bitter

because you know they'd do the same for you
and to maintain balance,
for yourself

But
  this is the sacrifice we make,
                      the risk we take

and that's why love is beautiful.