Red sentinels stood in the valley lands
This timeless place parched by baking sun
These soldiers weathered in wearing strands
They'd resisted the climes  endless run
This battle a monument to being so brave
Holding the line in such a stoic posture
Of the quarter they'd guard unto the grave
No lasting winds changing their composure
From dawn to dusk these feisty sandstone troops
Have taken on the climate's daily strikes
To attest the triumph of lasting hoops
Which have defied the assaulting spikes
They've shown heroics in this their fight
Waging it with an enduring might

Wondrous whirling worlds of words
Wander away.
Smooth musical tunes from the Muses melt my mind
And make my heart go boom.

Sunny sylvan scenes ****** my soul.
In a simmering silence
Broken only
By birdsong.

It starts with simple wordplay,
Toying with those letters
Until some magic kicks in.

Visions of versified viewscapes
Mess with my head.
Eureka moments marching across the mountains
Of my brain like screaming Banshees.

So thus a poem is born
From seemingly idle play.
Those words are worked again
And posted here
To brighten the reader’s day.

Paul Butters

the lure
of the full moon’s light
in a frosty December night
is almost irresistible

it beckons to you
its pale radiance
   casts deep shadows
   full of unknown possibilities
that grow by the moment
and struggle to turn into words
   trying to grasp the cosmos
   the mystery of life

   amazing how the mere reflection
   of the sun’s brilliance
   can affect one so

it seems to ask you
to set a cool-hearted deed
make definite decisions
explore the blueprint of the universe
turn into a werewolf
dance with the dead

you look at the glimmering stars
   dotting the darkness
   left by the moon

delayed messengers
always too late

even with the speed of light
they only make us
   see the past
   mistake it for the present
   and build our future on it

the thoughts of a man staring at the sky
   in a frosty December night

deciding
to love on

* *

making love
suspends gravity
   and time
seconds expand
   into eternity
we are
   on top of the universe

floating
   in the fourth dimension
feeling  
   the birth of a new solar system
      amidst convulsive explosions
   whose brilliance
      light years into the future
   may be observed
   by keen astronomers

we do not mind

our system
radiates and shines
in its time

nothing else matters

when I look up
   into a clear night sky
and feel
   the vastness of the universe
   touching me
it calls up
all the words
humankind has constructed
throughout millennia
so as to face the skies
   with dignity
and not go insane
   instantly
with this vague
   but almost overpowering
sense of helpless awe

neither
the most sophisticated machines
   we send to the edges
   of our solar system
nor the most complex theories
can calm me
when I look up
into a clear night sky