I’m old and fat
And that is that
No saving grace
For my poor face
The past is gone
I must live on
And walk this road
With aging’s load
But I recall
When I was all
I’d hoped to be-
An answered plea
I was the best
Of all the rest
I reveled on
Then all was gone
But I’m still here
With mind yet clear
The years roll past
Each one more fast
But as they fly
I never sigh
I’ve had my fun
And now it’s done.
        ljm

as a sweater
shrunk in the dryer.
You no longer fit.
You're just a liar.
So, I split.

I outgrew you
as a baby blanket
I'd carry around
till you tore
and colors faded.
I no longer paraded
you in town.

I outgrew you
as cigarettes.
Sick of the sweats.
I kicked the habit.
Jumpy as a rabbit.
You stunk
with smoky breath.
No longer the dance of death.

I see the light
in the corner of my window
before it morphs
Into the face of Hades

Death will guide my breathing
into this open space
and drown any meaning
Of air and it’s grace

I will see beyond all
that explorers have yearned
and the city heads tremble
Forlorn

For the street dusting folk
have accepted this fate
long before they were born
And will sing at the face of Dawn

When the sea reaches down
to take my hand
and sing me a cry
So foreign

I’ll remember that sleep
is no different from waking
and I’ll wait with no hurry
No claim

And we will soar
through the fires and
hailstone histories of man
Spit oil and embers on brand

For smoke becomes smoke
And poison becomes poison
And our bones a lovely crown
for our children

The lonliest people
push away arms that care
they kick at gifts of comfort
as if the lonliness itself were a grey woollen blanket
wrapped tight around themselves
protection against feeling anything at all
except lonliness
because that would make the blanket fall
and leave them cold
naked in the light
and vulnerable
to vicious attacks of kindness

I'm surrounded by these four walls,
My thoughts bouncing off of them;
Loud and clear.

I find comfort in these four walls,
Knowing that my cries for help never leave,
That when I wail at night no one can get to me.

I also feel trapped by these four walls,
They make me feel small,
The white colour blinding me when I come up for air each time.

But these four walls know me better than anyone else here,
They know the real me.
Because when I leave these four walls every morning,
I leave as a new me.

Indefatigable defines me and many others in different ways
Comfortable in my skin now
Respecting myself and others
You don't take yourself seriously but you take seriously what you do
The the way you live in this world
Sometimes listening very carefully works wonders
So does keeping still and taking it all in
Moving forward that is what"s planned
Finding time to sit in parks or beaches
Feeding squirrels and wildlife
Letting it all go by with great appreciation and respect

C@rainbowchaser 2023

Dissolve into the mists
Rain sprays across the grey water
Cloaking ever shrinking islands
I sail away into the white
..
She swallows the kiss of every word from my breathless lips into whisper

And pours home into my heart like relief and respite

I do not dare myself compare
Against the flame within your state
My love, you fill each breath of air
So that each word may expell hate

You soar so high, you bring me low
To roots, to nourished earth - I grow
For you, my sun
You tend to life, and love and play-
You ease my nights and brighten my day