I was born with
an armour or
so I thought,
a shield against
the incoming
storm, but
the veneer
wore thin
& over time
the sea crept in,
now there
is no blank state
when I wake,
a dark sky
occupies my
mind that
I taste on my
lips, wars,
taxes, too many
deaths.

(for my brother, Martin)

I have sown the moon in the sky for you
so every night its there for you to see

I have stopped every clock from ticking time away
I have turned the tides back from the shore

I have stopped your world in blue belled Spring
and locked my in the falling leaves of Autumn

So now you can rewind the moments of the world
You can go back, to that one moment of choice

and never find the hose, nor set the engine deadly running
nor send those texts of fond farewells, to friends who looked away

nor write to me with love a comfort letter
for the dreadful loss.

No!
Just you:

the tufted, still blonde cowlick sticking up
the crinkled nose and cheeky smile
those sea blue eyes to drown in
strong brown arms, muscles flexed and toned
wrapped tight around me warm
and alive.


© M.L.Emmett

At the night,
In its deep darkness
I see from afar it,
In this dream so fuzzy,
I see this smile,
In a world of shadows,
I feel this courage,
In this abstract reality,
I hear this voice,
Fact of this fertile silence,
I have think of the eternity.

Once it was strong and full of life
Now it's a mismash of signs and rails
Place of the working man and his wife
Abandoned wood and left over tales
Now its dead with a forgotten past
Deserted on the beach as the birds fly
They soar upwards wild and fast
Up and up into the sun drenched sky
The wood is rotten and the metal rust
Waves swim through legs that are dead
A decaying image of grime and dust
As it eerily hangs out over the sea bed
I see the people take their snaps
Wondering how it might have been
For a minute of two longer perhaps
When it was alive, when it was clean
The beach is deserted apart from a few
Wandering in a sweet summers sun
Shame they can't enjoy it too
The pier that once breathed out fun
Where's the money, where's the care
Why has it been left to go
People loved to walk along there
To see the cabaret or the puppet show