In preparation for an invasion
A military force makes sorties
To their opponent’s barriers
And prods to spark response

In the responses
Defensive elements are exposed
Defenders are never sure
What constitutes a ****
Or the tsunami of attack

When the big push comes
There are shocks and surprises
There is resolve and bravery
There is fear
There is capitulation
There is desolation and loss

These shadows play similarly for us
The world prods us into middle age
Leaves us unsure with each surprise
Is this one just a little challenge
Is this the thin edge of the wedge of catastrophe

We, our weaknesses exposed
We, our defences to redouble
We, oh joyous recipients of a moment’s respite
Can regroup and recite unto ourselves
Henry’s Saint Crispin’s day speech
Before another sun rises

Yes, others shall think themselves accursed
That they were not here in my shoes
To have overcome that hellish Tuesday traffic
To have resolved the late-night call from elderly parents
To have dried the hard-fought tears
Of a beleaguered friend
Who found their last
and final reserves
were too thin
too little
too depleted
to cope.

April paints green
Across the grey and brown
Of winter trees.

As if from the dead
The swell
The tufts
The rhythm of life
A resonance subatomic
And gargantuan.

It's all about the timing
Like the sun versus the wind fable
Life's harmony
Awaits the gentle coaxing
For its big debut
And emerges
To move with the beat.

We're all really just alone
When you come right down to it.
Setting aside the biology
And l'amourology
And all the pooling of resources
It's just all about this biped
Standing on a rocky orb
Asking it to gravitationally hold me
Just a little bit longer.

the lethargy
seeping like some primordial liquid
through the walls of my rocky cave
into my morning
into my enthusiasm
into my productivity

the discomfort
descends a familiar blanket
coarse wet fibrous
to fall from above and wrap 
my shoulders
my torso 
my legs

so common
so disinterested in the individual me
this cold 
it moves in
indifferent
to ride my rapidly waning energy
like a broken horse
to its next host

The feet should descend towards the ground gently
But not quite touch
A few millimetres above will do nicely
Proceed thus through these parts in the darkness.

Here among the short grass blades,
Among the busy beetles
And the briefly alighting bees,
The sensitivities bleat.

Souls wounded, but still hanging on
At once in repose and contemplative
Rising soon, again, I'm sure,
To coalesce into corporeal beings
And to rage again toward the hills
Where all manner of adventures await.

Come, walk with me.
Unknown to each other now
But destined to merge downstream.
Like the fresh and salty waters,
As a quick silent river  
Is enveloped in the arms
Of the roaring ocean tides.

Come, my arm awaits,
Crook'd by my side,
You to weave a hand
Gently thru' along forearm
Warmth for your cold fingers
My breath-filled cage
Presses softly against
The back of your hand.

What is it that you let
Seep into me with a touch,
That inflates me so much
And lightens then my gait?
You placed it there so gently
It expanded within me so curiously
But I dare not ask the how, or why
Nor look too closely
Upon its magic.

Come walk with me in silence,
As we together watch the moment
From strange to intimate pass.
This quiet connection
Together we feel our feet
Lift up and away
Like so many bubbles
Above the sand and pebbles
And away,
Out to sea.

Like an arm across a cluttered table
Like a glacier upon the mountains
Like a silent unfathomable wave through the harbour

It was a look
A glance
Without seeing or caring
And the scars across the bedrock
Are visible for a million years