i heard them before i saw them
cries of geese cutting the skies
at once natural, at once inhuman,
denuded nature with no disguise

a word danced in my mind
held out its hands, 'come dance with me',
called its friend, another word,
and then another, which made three.

Before I knew it, there they were,
ten dancing words on a page,
they formed a sentence, then a rhyme,
tapping time as on a stage

a dance, a ring,
as song they sing,
with lilt and lill
and jig 'n spring

then, of a moment, all was still,
no swirl of smiling prose or thrill,
a hush that said there'd never been
the tap of words as in a scene

as in a play of imagination
of cerebral recreation
just wet ink from my quill
like numbers on a shopping bill

from automated teller machine
standing fixed as ordered marines
letters silent as a winter night
the magic gone, taken flight,

waiting, waiting, for magic breath,
to rouse them into life from death,
when, once again, as talisman,
they'll sing music as no man can.

From childhood i've known You
my heart conversed where none could see
gazing up to skies of blue
i thought of You Who caused all to be

everything from something came
but that something had a name
it had a start, a very beginning,
You caused that start to be,

then i was pushed into the mud,
ridiculed for all to see,
i lost You and forsook You,
in my bitterness lost at sea,

now in my noon, i look again,
and find You are the same,
You have not changed that golden chain
hidden from those that seek acclaim

You stay aloof from rationale
from claims of race or national[e]
beyond all colour and prejudice
remain forever was will is.

Winter crept in through the back
he left the door ajar
and through the door blows bitter wind
from Canada and afar

with frosted wand he touches leaves
the climbing plants and trees
and leaves them all a-drooping
bereft of nature's weaves

with cape of grey and mountain black
he tiptoes through the shadows
and in a year he'll 'gain be back
to lay waste to field and meadows

I wondered how i'd got so old
How the time had gone
How my bones had gotten cold
Before my time had come

I wondered why my eyes they flickered
Before the written word
Why it seemed my mind was liquored
And my vision blurred

I wondered why the steps had grown
steeper in incline
why they creak'd, me joints and bones,
and moved like slow bovine

I wondered who that old man was
with grey whiskers and goatee
a venerable Santa Claus
that winked from mirror to me

then i recalled the passing years
i'd left my youth behind
in veil of laughter and of tears
and now decrepit mind

so i'll paint a smile on senility
pretend i'm glad 'n fine
i'll drink to youth's virility
and close eyes to my decline

Dipped into the piping beverage
Smooth like melted ore
Giving extra oomph 'n leverage
To inner Manticore

Rousing sleeping warrior
Ad'lescent sophomore
Breaking down the barrier
Twixt pretext and inner core

Dripping ebony brown
Waxing allegoric
Soft on tongue as down
Whispers sound euphoric

Soothing edges abrasive
From land of talisman
Transforms secular to sacred
This food of gods and man

i lay on the tiles
dust around me
cried like a child
thrown in the sea
waves rise up
higher and higher
a babe's plastic cup
melting in fire
none to reach out to
i slipped and i fell
slid down the avenue
of seven gates of hell

and here i lie
slime on the walls
no silent cry
nothing at all
just ******* blackness
that won't go away
all stale flatness
that won't let me pray
i could carry on
but what'd be the use
life-spirit's gone
now tighten the noose.