"luxor" poems
Many people write a "bucket list" of things they want to do before they die. Now in my 80th year, I don't have the time or the energy to do things that others might aim for, but I have during my life visited many places, seen many things, and enjoyed many experiences that I would have been sorry to miss. There have also been some events that I would have preferred not to experience, but which have enriched my life in different ways, and which I remember with a kind of sad affection.
Some of these are very personal to me, and would not be interesting to most people, but read the note if you wonder why I chose them.
Here then is what I might call
My Reverse Bucket List
Towns and cities – architecture & atmosphere
Barcelona, Spain
Venice, Italy
Oxford, England
Jerusalem, Israel
Luxor, Egypt
Varanasi, India
Hiroshima, Japan
Pompeii, Italy
Other locations
Galápagos islands, Ecuador
Great Barrier Reef, Australia
North Woolwich, London
Churches
St Paul's Cathedral, London
Sagrada Familia, Barcelona
Coventry Cathedral
Córdoba Cathedral, Spain
Blue Mosque, Istanbul
Other structures
Taj Mahal, Agra
Auschwitz concentration camp, Poland
Royal Festival Hall, London
London underground system (because it was the first, and I rode it for a long time). Also the more splendid underground railways of Mexico City and Moscow.
Avebury Ring, Wiltshire, England (the largest prehistoric stone circle in the world, and much more primitive than Stonehenge)
Bayeux Tapestry
"Angel of the North" statue, Gateshead, England
"Christ the Redeemer" statue, Rio, Brazil
Events
Messiah at Royal Festival Hall, Feb 1959, with the girl later to be my wife
St John's night, Spain, early 1990s (?)
Death and funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, Aug 1997
Oberammergau passion play, 2010
Destruction of World Trade Centre, Sept 2001
Sep 17, 2018
Sep 17, 2018 at 9:16 AM UTC
Amethyst dew drop
Eyelash down
Full lip up-turned
Pink, glossy, round
Glitzy green sheen
On my half moon lid
Prism bright stud
Like the Luxor crown
Slightly levitating
Pierced, royal, proud
Skin luminating
Glowing from within
Golden, honey, brown sugar
Streams of gold and brown
I dance like a moonbeam
I dance like the sun
I dance like a star in flight
I dance on the run
I won't let a single man
Take this glow from me
He did it once
He did it twice
Three times
Shame on me
Feb 22, 2013
Feb 22, 2013 at 12:53 AM UTC
I have not slept in days.
Today marks somewhere
between one to two weeks
Where I have not found rest.
I have seen the sun rise
And seen the sun set
More times than I would like.
I've seen the bright light of
The Luxor from the strip,
Shining into the night sky,
A beam to the stars that I have
Daydreamed of following -
Maybe then I'd find
A nice place to rest.
But I've grown restless
Trapped in this ****** city,
Where sin is encouraged
And fuels the economy,
And I don't want to be here
Anymore.
I have seen the neighbors through my window,
Few pulling into their driveways
At the crack of dawn,
While others leave at the same time.
The same woman across the street,
She steps onto her front steps
Desheveled, hair a mess
Takes a seat and lights a cigarette
Every morning at 6 am.
I have memorized the textured ceiling,
The wood lines of my dresser,
The precise timing of the air conditioning,
And the time that my family wakes up.
They prepare breakfast for themselves,
Knowing that I am asleep,
And leave just a few hours later.
I suppose this shouldn't be
much of an issue -
It's summer, after all.
But I have not found rest.
Even when school was in session,
I never got more than a few hours,
And I survived just fine in the day
But now I get nothing,
Zero, zip.
And nothing makes sense.
And everything moves
In slow motion.
And my thoughts are intrusive.
And nothing makes sense.
And I'm paranoid
Of nothing at all
And nothing makes sense.
And I just want to rest.
Jul 11, 2013
Jul 11, 2013 at 9:00 PM UTC
He saw one evening a young woman in a red dress, and he remembered being in Luxor, sitting on a hotel balcony, looking out over the Nile, watching all day as the shadows shifted on the cliffs above the opposite bank, as the colours changed from ochre to gold, from pink to violet, and how he had felt so completely at peace. And seeing the girl in her red dress, with her hair up showing the curve of her neck and throat, with her easy, natural smile and her confident air of self-possession, he knew the same feeling; he could have sat and looked at her for hours and asked for nothing more to make the evening perfect.
Feb 5, 2016
Feb 5, 2016 at 10:14 AM UTC
Be Quick
I’m on the back of His Enduro,
through the alkaline dust of the desert,
we ride by the full moon’s light,
the three Pyramids of Giza casting perfectly measured silhouettes,
so dark they could be shadows,
and we both know time is of the essence,
so we are trying to Be Quick,
I’ve got a train to catch,
a one way ticket to Luxor,
but they say life is the journey not the destination,
so we’re always going even if we don’t always know where,
here,
on the back of this bike,
I hold on to Him for dear life,
as the back wheel kicks up the Sands of Time,
His bike obediently continuing into the night,
I don’t know where we are going,
but I know if I live to write about it I will,
because I am a writer and writing is what I do,
it’s my way of showing gratitude and being thankful,
He’s a writer too,
similar to me,
or maybe I’m similar to Him,
because He’s 20 years my senior,
used to live the Hollywood Life,
made films and got famous,
and now He's a non profit doctor,
helping those in need that are nameless,
I see my future in his eyes,
so when we stop atop a dune,
at a bedouin camp with the three pyramids on the moon lit horizon,
I ask Him one question,
“Are you happy?”.
He pauses,
and He answers,
with something poetically metaphorical like,
“Happiness is relative.”
And then,
He proceeds to tell me the story of his life...
He talks about Hollywood,
He talks about love and about searching,
He talks about how he gave it all up,
to come to these deserts and help those that need helping,
He reveals so much,
so much more than any of these words can translate,
and as our evening comes to an end,
I realize as amazing as our lives may be we are only men,
alone,
atop a dune in Giza,
overlooking the Great Pyramids,
trying to share knowledge without sounding like preachers,
He is Jesus,
at least as close to Jesus as I’ve ever met,
quite fitting considering He came from The City of Angels,
and I see in His eyes that for society he has wept,
and I want to stay there,
because I love Him,
I see his struggle,
and His moral dilemmas,
but I've got a train to catch,
and life waits for no man,
so we wrap up our conversation,
and travel back across those Egyptian sands,
and it is then,
that I realize,
that He is me,
in 20 years time,
He is me,
in 20 years,
and as amazing as his ways seem,
I wonder if He’s lonely and if every effort he's ever made was worth it,
and that is why I asked Him what I now ask You,
“Are you happy?”.
∆ Aaron LA Lux ∆
Dec 12, 2016
Dec 12, 2016 at 3:58 AM UTC
I'm trying to tell you
about the life I spent
on the white elm
pin oak hill,
& about all
the manifold
pains there:
a child's mouth
******* tight
from the inside;
& from the outside,
nailed shut.
A death's place,
a Luxor or Karnak -
where the gods
were stony,
& answered
no prayers,
& where
I segregated
my emotions
into neat,
sealed containers,
for some
later life
to come.
Oh, it wasn't
all terrible:
I learned to
drink young,
& the yellow
night was full
of the river
at high water
mark, and I
looked at the stars
through the
bottoms
of bottles.
I found Jesus
at the side
of the road
& drank
through him too.
The blue light
of morning
came day
after day -
why should
it ever end? -
over the
funereal pin oak
& the sad-winged elm
& the tomb-moss
that settled
over my mouth
& my name.
The sun was
merely a function,
& days just
happened to me
& every bad break
confirmed me
as less than
the barest
crooked twig
broken in the yard.
It took years
to turn that back,
to spit away
the wavering blood
that filled my mouth.
It took longer still
to walk out
into my memory
of the green
light night yard
& recover that twig.
That's what
I'm trying to tell you.
Jan 24, 2019
Jan 24, 2019 at 4:36 PM UTC
Stranded in a barren desert, I wandered across the burning sand. I was lost and in desperation when I came upon a man. I asked if he could help me, he said no but I will show you where to go. He pointed towards the setting sun, so I tiredly walked on. After much labor, I began to lose my mind. I saw what I wasn't sure sitting what seemed miles away. I then stumbled into the massive object, with the fading light of day. I stepped back several paces to see what this thing was. It had the face of a man and body of a lion and looked so regal, that I stood in awe. Then I saw something move, it was part of the giants paw. I fell to the sand in fear, think I was done. Then I heard a voice say welcome to my home. Startled I stood up and the massive being said what do you think. It rose up on all four paws and gave it's head a shake. I replied that I am not sure, what am I supposed to think. I am very thirsty I said, can I have something to drink. As if by magic, a lovely maiden appeared. She brought me water and a cold beer then quickly disappeared. I gulped down the water and delightfully savored the beer. I smiled at the giant beast and wished him good cheer. I then went black and some hours later, I found myself inside a pyramid. In a magnificent room, covered in marble and gold. I woke up and tried to stand only to find I was naked and cold. I wrapped a sheet around myself and I am happy to report, that I wasn't in ancient Egypt but had found Luxor's casino and resort. I put on a hotel robe and called some one the phone. It was long until a nice you man came up with my laundered clothes. I ask him with a puzzled look, what had happened to me. He answered with a great big smile and a great amount of glee. He said that our staff found you out back of the resort. You were lying on the ground between our icons feet. A waitress said you had ordered a few drinks then passed right on out. I asked about the giant statue and why it talked to me. The young man we get that a lot when our visitors have had too much to drink. So I lie here pondering a hanger over and massive bar bill I think, as I try to solve the riddle of the Luxor Sphinx.
May 30, 2016
May 30, 2016 at 12:18 PM UTC
I don't know
Whether sky plays earth!
Water running in circles
As if it's inhaled
Or ****** by earthy lips
And so clouds also
move along as ribs
In a breathing chest
You pass your legs into water
"how it is cold and fresh!"
and Sun, is hotter than blood
Feeding the sandy flesh
Your eyes're green at night
sunny in the afternoon
And honey in the early morning
My own are really dark!
I cannot clearly see
where poems are born
They say that neurons
Sink in a salty water
-sodium and chloride-
Just like the sea
I look at those blackish
Brainy rocky islands
And think :
Only sweet water
Could dig its own way
Through this earth's wound
gathering lonely colors :
"Schwarz, Grün , und Gelb"
On either banks of the Nile
passing by the cataract.
1st August 2017,
Aswan - Luxor
May 13, 2019
May 13, 2019 at 5:09 PM UTC