It seems yesterday
she lay four eggs by me
but didn't come to stay
she was soon a memory.

Her plume yellow green
eyes dark as sea
a short time she had been
then gone hastily.

She was not by my side
nor in the nesting ***
my heart was pierced wide
she was all I got.

Seeing me glum and hurt
they brought a bluish plume
I shunned her at the start
my heart was still in gloom.

Before long I fell for her
she preened me soft and sweet
helped me heal the scar
get back lost heartbeat.

Back to happy mood
I worked up one new nest
loved her best I could
putting the past to rest.

Rolled by fast the weeks
good times leave in haste
past few eggs and chicks
death laid her to rest.

Like this they came and went
seasons of joy and grief
the ones my love I lent
stayed but for too brief.

Now stalks me the claw of age
my plume are shedding fast
all I have is a cage
to ruminate loves of past.

A cashew-nut
she pressed between my lips

slumberous awestruck
I chewed it

groping for her hands in the dark
if she really was there
or I was dream living

why should a woman
in the middle of night
press a cashew-nut
moist and warm
between my lips

was she hungry herself
hypoglycemic
picking them in despair
popping one betwixt my lips

or is it the one
I popped through hers
last evening
misdirected
without my knowing it
found the vertical lip
betwixt her swells
till she felt the *****
when loosened her robes
and it stirred in her
a long forgotten spark
so she came back
in the middle of night
for me to chew
the re-popped cashew-nut

slumberous awestruck!

like poetry she's giving me bad habits

*whenever she eats
her fingers would scoop a morsel or two
and pierce my hungry lips

it makes me wait keen like ***
when the night is nine o'clock
it makes me slave of Pavlov's reflex
for her hands in my liplock

i crave not much for one morsel
yearn more for her hand
it makes me feel lovingly well
to see her closely stand

one morsel or at most two
when she pushes in my mouth
that says to me her love is true
she loves me out and out.

Relations are hard to maintain often with the best you do
still do spare even a stranger sweet words one or two
there is no levy on sweet dealings no price heavy to pay
when you greet the unfamiliar you only make your day.

There's no meekness in being good
all strangers we are at this place
blessed are those who wish they could
make each face manifest happiness.

You may have seen rise of many a wall
gaping void in seeming closeness
you would do well not to turn cynical
but try to make the world a better place.

Even your best efforts would not ensure
no blood leaves a stain on your hand
but if you can bring even one ache a cure
you justify your place on this land.

I lost my way
The day I was taught to grab and not share
I was filled with knowledge
That brought no wisdom
But only pride devoid humility
I was given a religion by birth
I had a God Almighty and was told
It was the only true God!
I lost my way
The day I was sent to an institution
To cram a structured knowledge
Endless information was heaped on me
To make me clever and ready for life
A knowledge that taught me to mind my worth
Only in terms of material success
Drove me in pursuit of an elusive happiness!
I lost my way
The day I learnt alphabets
And poured on volumes of books
That shaped a mind of rigid dogmas
But no tolerance for others' thoughts
I was given an education
That taught me to be patriotic
And wall the world with boundaries!

On one of city’s endless wires
Above spits venom guttural swears
When the sun tinges an orange red
The lone bird cries a dirge for dead!

The dead footsteps that left the shore
Walked million miles could walk no more
Their joys and pains on earth foothold
Silenced now deep buried in cold!

The bird it knows the stories untold
Hurtful sighs of hearts of gold
Silent fall of molten pain
Left for good here won’t be again!

The lone bird knows how hard it hits
The ones still here forlorn heartbeats
When death maims bonds breaks love’s pairs
Moonless eyes wake through nightmares!

When at roadside stands
I see a little mag of poetry
can't help mutter two words

lapis lazuli

Must have brought it a poet like him
lover of letters dealer of dreams
drunk in the elixir of emotion
added a drop more to the spilling ocean!

In the vastness grew in one nook
bearded youth with poetic look
his words tattered on the canvas a rag
bringing this world one little mag!

There wasn't a reader an eye to see
the poet's journal sold for free
he carried them bagful if could find
ears willing a discerning mind!

Then they shrunk the hopes high soared
wings broken the bard was floored
in the desert sands lay dried poetry
dying unprized lapis lazuli!

No question asked nor rose a frown
a wasted poet was the known verdict
he put his pen forever down
till breathed his last a drug addict!

Leaving the papyrus for me
she leaves for the river.

Don't follow me
she says
instead
pick up my pages
unread

and with that

she goes with the river wind.

the papyrus
scattered on her trail
before I could pick them all
fly with her

to the river!

I'm sorry if my poems don't bring you happiness
thrills of joys and cheers
to liven up your day.

when that happens
give me my failure's blame
for my mind couldn't tame
the sad-istic urge
to clothe them and dress
the figures in distress
on the bylanes and streets
trodden inglorious
for a poet to regret
he couldn't make his poems the way
they made your day!

Cuts the midday heat’s eerie lull
the knife cutter’s call...

from his pedaled wheels
rise dust haze

his own life a walk on ledge

gives your knife the razor edge!

The house seemed to live on its own
In the silence of a monster waiting prey
Skin peeled off mossed abandoned
In a gloom quite untouched by the day!

It was the house standing last in the lane
Hidden in its dark ominous nook
Locked in closed door windowpane
Holding secret of a never opened book!

Not one sign of some life did it show
Bar a glassed shadow in the candlelight
Flickering for a while and then go
Like a passing phantom of the night!

Never go anywhere near that door
Cautioned us the elders in childhood
It was said weren’t seen anymore
Those ventured had disappeared for good!

We found in that lane a peaceful space
For a winter afternoon’s cricket match
Bowling and batting in low pace
When the ball was in air shouting catch!

It happened one day jumped the fence
A bounce took the ball past the wall
The children were worried and tense
Who would go to fetch it make a call!

None was ready to give the door a knock
Having heard about the house its weirdness
What would reveal once the **** was unlocked
Peeped from it the most macabre face!

They left as I stood there alone
With terror creeping to my core
When the wood creaked with a groan
Stood a woman on the opened door!

On her face shone a smile’s beaming star
As she held out the ball for my reach
While I wondered what made them call her
A ***** and child slaying witch!

There's a poem on your window
one on the door
another in the wind's blow
welling up more.

There's a poem in your heartbreak
one on your tears
another on a long trek
walking for years.

There's a poem on the girl's eye
one on her skin
another in her silent cry
wearing out thin.

There's a poem in the hope's hue
one in your whim
another on the morning dew
waiting light's gleam.

There's a poem in the mirrored face
one in the season
another in your happiness
without a reason.

Loyalty is fleeting
Fragile to the touch
I’m scared of being
Trusted too much!

For I too am tempted
To seek new pasture
I’m not exempted
From greeding luster!

Old brew is fine
But thirsts this lip
To taste new wine
A forbidden sip!

So I ventured
As secretly willed
Tried adventure
On greener field!

But lo I returned
A hole in my heart
All fingers burned
Soul ripped apart!

Can’t hide from her
She knows it true
Healing my scar
Needs her old brew!

In the star spangled darkness
There is a hint of a beginning,
The night's permeating silence
Testifies a temporary lull
Before the earth delivers…
Another rebirth!

The teddy pair lies in the sun,
They scooped the dirt out
And abandoned them here.
Once hugged in the sweetest *****
Fondled by the cutest little hands
Taken to bed for happy dreams,
They seemed inseparables
And not just stuffed toys.
Made as inanimate,
By the magic touch of love,
They turned humans,
Yearning for love, company,
growing hearts in them.
Then as happens to all,
Their fluffs wore out
Colors faded
They were no more attractive.
Stale outdated outcast
To be thrown away out of sight.
As I passed by the garbage vat
For a moment it seemed
Their eyes were moist
With the pain of betrayal.
I prayed,
‘before they turn to cinder,
let them be picked up
by shabby little hands
of some child of lesser god
and given back the love they lost’.
I hope it will be answered.

Her feet dancing on the white sands
Her hairs toyed with by the breeze
Waving in joy her sea-drenched hands
Her olive skin forgot their crease.
How ageless she became under mid-noon sky
Turning feverishly playful and wild
Matching the seagull in its hunting cry
Turning once again into a child!
Not someone’s mother somebody’s wife
A pretty little girl she was once again
Unshackled from a mundane life
Gushing out like a revived fountain!
I didn’t want these magical moments to rush
Became a part of her romantic whims
Found once more a long forgotten crush
Dreamt lost yet timeless dreams!

I told her
But she wouldn’t believe
She would for life not believe.

I can’t stay back dear
I don’t belong here anymore
They know it
And they’re waiting
They too had a day like this.

And then I started to cry
Burying my head in her breast
Holding her tight

But I don’t want to go there
I can’t for your love
Leave this place
This house
This garden
These birds
These cats
The dogs...

I clung to her

Please do something
Tell me I’m dreaming
There aren’t none waiting
Your touch is true
My hugs are real
We stand here
Together
Bound in a fate
Nothing can separate

Time up they said
The more you stay
The more you suffer

She was weeping
I too

*Only she didn't see!

I met that man in a coastal town
over his face beards flowed wild
his eyes they knew only to look down
his years didn’t count he was a child!

He smelled of bile feces and phlegm
his skin was a thick layer of tar
from his **** hung loose his shame
they said he was a castaway who came from far!

Sun and rain found him a barren rock
a sculpture that birds could err to perch
standing unmindful of the passing flock
as if he was lost in a deep search!

He just stood there holding his ground
eyes cast down on the paved road
none had heard him utter a sound
muttered neath breath even one word!

To the townsfolk he was a statue on the square
that losing his way hovered on the brink
but I had a feel within him somewhere
was a man looking for a long lost link!

the rooks glare at him
his pawns are all dead
on his neck roars the queen
crown trembles on his head!

smells his fall the neighing knight
hangs on thread his fate
crown would go and so his might
war over the bishops trumpet!

his army of pawns are nowhere seen
the king feels so alone
his chosen war he failed to win
about time he leaves the throne!

victory at last the pieces sing
we have the king checkmate
behind the new face the same old king
readies to wear the crown’s weight!

By his side, the devout chant God's glory
in a life so brittle and fragile
yet not lacking in strength to navigate
on the river of chaotic turbulence.

Some are tearlessly silent,
a few are about to embrace a cry
and there is one whose wails
reverberate and pound the walls.

The ascent to the greater kingdom
is adorned with white lotus
and incense that smell of heaven.

Filled with the finality
there is no point denying,
the atheist sleeps on peacefully.

On my selling on a day in the blazing May
I was looking for a small place for a light bite
when I noticed through my heat dazed eyes
the signboard "Snack Bite".

Inside was the peaceful coolness of a suburb bylane
and I would have pretty soon dozed off
but for the strong smoke of spice, garlic and onion
that shut out every senses except hunger.

No menu card, sir, the waiter cut the silence,
on our menu at this hour is only fish fingers,
all else sold out.

No problem I said, I have been here for a light bite.
How many pieces come with a plate?

Ten, sir, superbly fried.

By ten minutes the steaming thing was before me
ten red crispy slices of fish fingers
and I immediately got into business
remembering what my ma used to say,
To a hungry mouth every food tastes fine
and so neat and fine the pieces looked
so artfully arranged on the plate like human fingers
I reflected on the pause having finished the fifth.

Human fingers? I froze in terror,
why didn't I notice
leftovers of crunched bones and nails
on my plate?

The only other man at the table, I heard
was ordering for another plate.

come here beckoned the sea
though I have receded beyond *******
come awhile to be with me
low tide has taken me far.*

my eyes pierced the haze saw beyond her crown
glinted in the tidal greed narrowed in longing frown
the heart pumped and the feet itched it is not that far
her kiss and the saline hug veiled behind *******.

what if it's just a dream and much more is at stake
going there for her embrace gathering wispy flakes
may seem unworthy on waves the wishes' ride
she would reveal none or little she would only hide.

what if it's a trap her feigned bait alluring
the hovering mirage before touch would fly away on wings
the shining buzz of the haloed night drowsily winking stars
they all know I mustn't yield to travel beyond *******.

I could hear the deafening voices coming from shore behind
they chorused *be alert of pitfalls of a tempted drunken mind
too long cocooned in comfort zone can no more go that far
come back pick up the broken pieces this side of *******.

The cold moon breaks through the crevices
and where do I hide?
there's nothing to haunt my mind
but only the guilts inside.

Told not to venture into the night
I braved in the power of moonlight
where every shadow was a ghost
every dark nook a lost coast.

If I had someone with me
it wouldn't be all that scary
but I left them on the way
thinking I wouldn't need them anyday.

The loves I betrayed
the souls I traded
descended behind the tree
like the waning moon.

Before long the dark would devour me
knowing, I moved down with the moon
with none but the sighs on my side..

The derelict offered no place to hide.

Tell me words simple
that on my heart
when softly land
I understand,
and when they depart
leave me a smile's dimple.

Dusted off a yellow scrap
From the depth of time,
A line scribbled,
Each letter dipped in raw blood,
That's when I was mad.
Infatuation, they call it,
Feelings that pass of
When maturity beheads emotions,
Foolishness of youth
Flies away on wings of calculations!
After caressing the parchment,
I put it back to its own time,
Because it doesn't belong to now,
The first flutter of heart,
A flimsy fragile impractical thing,
A wound I still carry,
Falling and failing in first love!

Monday I swam out of cavern
Tuesday I grew my wing
Wednesday entrenched in tavern
I was jolly perfectly going.
Thursday saw my graying head
My knees weren’t that strong
Lights in my eyes did fade
When Friday came along.
I started missing the bygone
Took refuge in my past
Felt deserted all alone
Friday didn’t long last.
Saturday came clothed in curse
My senses dimmed voice hushed
Sunday arrived on a flowered hearse
Knew not when the week passed.

Not hear my words but read my eyes
For words can fail eyes can’t disguise
That in my heart in silence speaks
Love’s fantasies and magic tricks!

Not hear my words but read my eyes
For words are stale holds no surprise
Can’t show the streams of love that flow
Sparkly diamonds in secret glow!

Not hear my words but read my eyes
Words are vain and crudely wise
Can’t paint the sun that shines for you
Rolls down as tears with the morning dew!

Not hear my words but read my eyes
Words can’t ever make it truly nice
Just waste the years leaving it overdue
To let you know how much I love you!

The beggar quenches his thirst
The clerk fill his bottle must
From its spout pouring water’s gush

Don’t ask one belongs to which class!

In the conglomerate of disparity
It stands a symbol of equity
At everyone’s beck and call

Flowing for one and all!

It’s like for all one stop
Pause here a thief and a cop
Throats parched in summer heat

Get cooled in its reviving treat!

An oasis on any sun-burnt day
Its sparkling drops seem to jovially say
Come friend get cooled in my gush

*I’ll never ask you your class!

In the falling light of day
I read the old man a book.

Stories of love, enmity, deceit
Jealousy, betrayal, sacrifice
All from one author’s mind
One penning hand
Some very short some too long
But nowhere do I find
He has taken a stand
On virtue and vice
Right and wrong
Belief faith
Destiny fates
Nowhere asserts
If he is theist atheist agnostic
Nor invokes god
Praise or curse him.

I read and the old man nods

in the falling light of his day!

From my pal whiskey a peg I borrow
To drown therein my load of sorrow
It takes no time for the peg to be gone
But my darned sorrow not leaves me alone!

I plead with whiskey to lend one more
As my empty glass is quite an eyesore
A ****** liberal he pours me more
Still not gone sorrow when pegs are four!

My cheeks are flushed red and hot
One on one he pours me shot
Can’t stop me though a *****’s son
My sorrow still flows in plenty gallon!

The more he pours more get me dumbed
My brain takes leave thinking is numbed
From the empty glass sorrow winks a smile
I hear it say *won’t leave you a while!

He wore himself out in her dream.

Saw her from a distance
That made her alluring
Hid what were not,

He crooned to draw her closer.

She remained no more aloof.

Proximity revealed the intricacies
When they started living under same roof.

Each bone of you I know

She does this charming rebuke
Such bone warming words
Making no bones about it!

This is her warm assurance
Her ways of bonhomie
That the bond, gelled, *****,
Is now bone-a-fide!

So whenever she says

I know each bone of you*

I bask in the pleasure
Bathe in the sunshine
Sit back and reap fully

The bone-nanza

Of an ever rewarding bone-d-age!

Over the years I stop at that point
only to board a vessel
to the other side of the river
for further journey to the sea
but for the brief period of waiting
I keep pondering about the name of the place

Harwood Point.

Who was this Harwood?
what was he doing here?
what good deed made him deserving
to name the place after him?

I am still baffled
after a quarter of a century.

Googling throws up many Harwoods
dead and distinguished
but there's no clue to connect any of them with
Harwood Point.

I imagine he was one of the administrators
who left the shore of England
to be stationed at this place a century or two ago
then a tract of almost inaccessible jungle
for surveying the prospects of trade
for the East India Company
but that leads me to further questions.

Was he a noble soul that loved the place
and came to like the people there
so much so that the natives after his departure
made his name permanently etched there?

Or was he among those typical British Officers
who vented their wrath for having been interned
to a god forsaken mangrove wilderness
treated the natives with extreme disdain
proving himself worthy of his position
and duly rewarded by his masters
by making him a part of history
ironically undefined and unrecorded.

I love to think though
on a night when the moon
made the tide rebellious
he walked into the river
and was lost for good
and to this day none knows for sure
what happened to Mr. Harwood.

They come to haunt on an evening as this
when thunders roar fall endless rains
windowpanes moan in frosted kiss
awaken within long lost pains!

They don’t bear me a name or a face
the massless aches ***** like thorn
oozing out from what hidden place
on an evening as this they’re born!

In the blowing gust rain’s beelike drones
shatter my heart’s all gathered peace
mess the mind feed upon bones
leave me broken on an evening as this!

The pains don’t bear me a name or a face
don’t tell what hurts for what I miss
but ***** out all gathered happiness
rain my eyes on an evening as this!

I haven’t seen your face
Across the seven seas
Yet you have made in my heart a place
I’m drunk in your poetry.

Truth said doesn’t matter your face
If your eyes are black or brown
In your poetry’s grace
I so blissfully drown.

Don’t know if your name is real or pen
Your skin is fair or dark
Knowing your poetry is enough gain
You have made in my heart your mark.

I know this and only this much
You from across the seven seas
Have always let me feel your touch
Made my living days worthy!

Under the canopy of trees
Spots of sunlight,
Figures cuddling like bees
A surrealistic sight!
An apparition like reality enacting a mime
As if they would be there and not move with time
I have been through it like forever
Holding onto it, scared to lose it ever
This winter morning I’m part of their game
Happy to be there frozen in the frame!

She swam in her delirium in an unfamiliar semi-darkness
Around her an ocean in slow motion engulfed her dizzy senses
Voices from a faraway space echoed garbled in her straining ears
She flew past all horizons wings spanning across many light years.

The flight was such thrilling she wished it had never ended
But she was slowing down on an emptiness she descended
Seeing and hearing nothing she fell inside senseless gravity
Lay silent in anaesthesia the patient in Bed 223.

The wind hissed in a queer pitch,
Waves broke with a thunderous roar,
The rapturously melancholic strains
Howled the entire length of land.
You might think I was on seashore
Caught in the swirl of saline winds.
Nay I was dreaming of the sea,
Pausing beneath a sky-etched casuarina!

I know* she says what you aspire,
if I go earlier
not long will you wait
To find a new mate.

Surely not dear I reply
I too will die
and if not,
in that unbearable pain
will go insane.

I know better.

This morn only
saw my male budgie
cosying easily
to his new companion.

Can’t bear to be long

Forlorn!

Not a thought that me haunts,
A smell,
That in fiery times me lends
Respite from hell.
It’s no fragrance wafted in air
No sweet scent,
It I feel right there
As healer of torment.
I smelled it first
From my time in her cavern
It was to begin my thirst
For the love of a woman.

I bow down before you God
Not because I'm servile
Or seek your favour,
It's not an unquestioning surrender.
I bow down before you God
Not because I sense
That before your omnipotence
I must succumb as a dumb.
I bow down before you God
Not to seek your blessing
Nor to please or appease you,
It's no fear of an unseen power.

I bow down before you God
Not seeking heaven or other abode
But knowing all the world's goodness
I can see in my heart as your face.

High atop the spire beneath a cloudless sky
the Cross stands forlorn Christmas is nigh
since long in the past time beyond recall
no bells chime here sung no carol!

But still its heart flutters as it hears the Lord's voice
I carried your burden and set for you the choice
to do this world much good and love your fellow men
be happy in others' happiness take share of their pain!

Kind Lord mutters the Cross men still live for gain
act the way it seems your blood was shed in vain
they war and breed hatred between them raise wall
hanker for pelf and power in their loss they squall!

The church lies abandoned starkly white and bare
only the Cross bows to the Lord in silent prayer
still hoping it's not far away when the bells would ring
the Lord would carry the Cross on his second coming!

i cant name that pain
when i see a human foraging food
beneath a large hoarding of a restaurant

i cant express that feeling of helplessness
when i see a human feasting on leftovers
thrown by a mouth too full to gorge more

i cant put in words that paralytic numbness
when i see a human and an animal together
pouring on the roadside bin for something

i cant give all these pains a name

or tell you about them in a rhymed poem.

We are living in war times
You can't see the blood though
The air is thick with it.
We are right, we are better
We stand for all that is good
We are in no mood to listen
Tolerance is the last thing in our mind.
People say there's so little war
There's so little bloodshed.
The war now is of terrifying silence
More ominous, more destroying
Cutting through love, endurance
Eliminating relationship, humanity-
Perpetrating a bloodless coup
Where blood is not seen, agonies aren't heard!

We are amidst war each against the other,
Silent, bloodless but more macabre!

Hurry dear it’s fast darkening
We must be home before evening
So saying she looked at her
The walk was long home was far.

She glanced at her daughter’s face
Then held her tight in sweet embrace
Knowing the child’s little feet
Couldn't do much to achieve the feat.

When she started she thought it best
To take the shortcut through the forest
But shadows here quickly descend
Daylight fades with each bend.

She quickened pace strained her ears
The silence spoke in many whispers
She heard something that scared her wit
Sound behind her of some dragging feet.

Someone was following her in that wild
She heard its footsteps didn’t tell her child
Paused awhile and picked up her daughter
Kissed her soft cheek put her on shoulder.

Mummy there’s someone coming behind
When I look for it none I find
Don’t be scared dear just the birds' wings
I can see it clear behind us is nothing.

She kept walking as fast she could
To escape the something lurking in the wood
The footsteps behind seemed to keep them in watch
Quickened its pace any moment could catch.

The forest thinned out their home came to sight
The small white cottage shone in moonlight
At the gate was her husband waiting in worried face
She told him we're safely back by kind God's grace.

The little child was still scared she too had heard the sound
Of someone coming behind footsteps on the ground
Though wearied out by the travel it kept haunting her head
After end of dinner when mummy put her on bed.

When the house fell quiet she heard her mother say
Darling I'm terribly scared I had a horrible day
In the forest was someone behind us it did follow

*I saw a figure with no head but a hollow!

The house resounds with mirth
There isn’t a nook left unlit
Death celebrated like a birth
Making separation look not un-sweet!

And this is what he had to say
In the style of a prophetic foretell
When I die I’ll be mourned for the day
Next day will be a memory on the wall!

To his credit he spoke what is right
One death is just a person less
He’s gone and not even fortnight
The house is back to beaming face!

It’s the right way to mourn the dead
By those who held him close to heart
Realizing life has to go on instead
Of stopping for the ones death do part!

I watch her picking shells
Drifting to faraway beach
It’s bad that I only remember
When she’s out of reach!

I could tell her when she was close
Could whisper in her ears
Could tell her with a bud of rose
Anytime all these years!

But why it seems the only time
When she’s out of reach
I shout it in sea’s din a mime
She’s busy picking shells on the beach!

I could tell her when she was beside me
I could tell her in the car
But why now when she seems busy
Straying on the beach afar!

Why it seems the best moment
A time most opportune
Though went years together spent
Holding hands in the moon!

I raise my voice today is the day
Her my thought must reach
But she’s gone far in the bay
She’s out of reach!

*She has drifted up the bay
Where I pine to reach
Tell her what I die to say
She’s busy picking shells on the beach!

When the night for the passing fairies stood breathless still
The full moon in molten sorrow broke down the hill
His eyes would fill with tears, his lips in anguish twitched
In drunken murmurs of a lost soul in moon’s spell bewitched.
He would be up there on Top Hill silhouetted in moonlight
Sinking in her spilling milk in ecstatic delight
Watching the moon scale upon the meridian’s peak
In the inexplicable awe of a frenzied lunatic.
There wasn’t no full moon without him on Top Hill
Perched on its crest dreaming to have his fill
Sailing in the silvery waves not knowing to anchor
Pledging his eyes to the moon till they couldn’t take anymore.

One night as he climbed up to bathe in the blinding white
The glowing disc was too much to behold, his heart stopped in fright
They found him atop Top Hill, his eyes in wide gaze
In them lay captured, his last moon’s passage.

The coroner opined that his heart failed him
To the taxing trek uphill he fell a victim
But the real cause, they would never get it right
That night having his fill, he died of moonlight.

Raindrops wished them
colors seven
obliged sunflame
sliced heaven.

********

Far from hometown
day hangs still
last sun falls down
nimbus hill.

********

Reign they all day
changing quick
rain and sun play
hide and seek.

********

Skims she gaily
July shower
gathering merrily
wildflower.

*********

I see the King
standing on ruin
madly searching
where is Queen.

**********

Say her smiles
though places she roam

love end of miles
waiting home.