On Your Side

What should we call it:

This happy, unpredictable juxtaposition of

Time, emotion and place?

Where here is elsewhere,

Distance is merely a word

Dismissed with a hot-winged wish

And a journey on malachite-magic carpet.

Where smiles make sweetest tides of music,

Begin faithful friendships.

“Is it so very far away?”

You might think to ask,

Eyes wide; desperate to believe,

Yet unwilling to trust.

The answer is both

Yes and no; in truth

As far from your chosen reality

As lightning is from thunder.

If you wish to make the leap,

Look for me, I’ll wait a while

When sugar’d stars bleed,

On your side of the

Mist-legged bridge.

But don’t wait too long;

Impatience nudges my elbow already.

 

Flash?

“Did the driver of that car just flash his lights at us?” she asked.

“Yes,” he answered, voice deep.

Thank God,” she smiled, “sometimes I think I just imagine things.”

Nobody answered. There was nobody in the padded cell to hear her.

There never had been.

 

I Dare You …

Come, pick up your step,

March alongside o’ me – I dare you.

I’m heading across Troll Meadows,

Through the high, Lonely-Lady’s Pass

Planning to follow the Otter-Laugh Rivers

To swim with new-born whales

And hear their mothers sing

In the Waters Where Worlds Collide.

 

Carpe …

There’s blood on the blacktop, and a

Space in the peaceful pasture,

In the warm evening air, in

The fabric of the very landscape;

Accustomed company is gone.

The stars shake a little, in grief;

The roe buck pauses, sniffs

The light off-the sea wind for the

Familiar scent, fails to find it,

Shivers nervously, reminded of

Something a little beyond ken.

The dark cattle, lying down, chew over

Memory of mischievous speed

And impossible stillness in flight that

Channelled enchantress disappearance.

The hare that was there, unafraid,

Wild as myth, all spring

– Dancing, boxing, charming –

Will only be a long ear shadow

On the full moon’s face

This night –

Reminder to us all –

But never again in the meadow.

There’s The Future?

Yes,

There’s the future:

Take a good long look.

It’s right there before you

Suspended in green, safe ice

While you’re running away,

Tumbling across

Borders of flags,

Trading words for waves,

Three squares

And the promise of fair winds.

A gun is always a gun

But a song can be more powerful.

Letters? Ignored!

Unable to afford an invitation

the creature shuffles along corridors

Between the comfortable party lounges,

Lizard-eyes unblinking,

Pausing to listen, uncomprehending,

At this, or that door.

Sometimes I am that

Confused, innocent monster;

Other times I wear incubator deceit,

A happy mask, accelerator shoes

And Crazy-laugh, dance and fall

Over my fellow maniacs

In the Babel-paranoia chambers:

Trees will be clouds

When clouds can be trees.

A Matter of Life and Death?

It may not be obvious

From the scene presented;

In which we stand

Shoulder to shoulder

In the dragon crowds,

But we are, normally,

Of different flags.

But make no mistake;

This night his strikes

Will be my strikes

And my shield will be his.

Spirits are high,

Pulses ramped

And we expect

Our red-men champions

To bring the whip,

The hammer

And swords of

Justice thunder

To your Iron Tower,

Your channel shore

Of golden sun and

Riderless horses!