Can we know
The beat of light,
Within our breath,
Our day and night,
Seasoned circles
Around a sun,
Burning,
Turning,
All as One.
A poem simply sounds the bell, of that which words could never tell.
THE SUNDAY BELL
Insistent,
Measured,
Calling coherently,
Amidst the clamour,
The traffic,
Scavenging gulls,
The helterskelter scattering,
Of minds,
Intent on tomorrow,
In beats of silence,
Little corridors of calm,
The Sunday bell,
Lone, yet firm,
Points to aspiration,
Heeded by few.
Measured,
Calling coherently,
Amidst the clamour,
The traffic,
Scavenging gulls,
The helterskelter scattering,
Of minds,
Intent on tomorrow,
In beats of silence,
Little corridors of calm,
The Sunday bell,
Lone, yet firm,
Points to aspiration,
Heeded by few.
UNKNOWN
All this,
Brushing against my skin,
The web of Electra,
Issuing from my eternal dynamo,
All this,
I do not know,
But sense as sparks,
Flying in my own darkness,
My soul a canvas for this brushing,
A life support,
Whose blushing flesh,
I dare not,
Cannot know,
Enduring surprise,
For my desire is growing,
In countless ways,
And boundless days,
Yet I am hidden
From mine eyes,
Resting in my knowing.
Brushing against my skin,
The web of Electra,
Issuing from my eternal dynamo,
All this,
I do not know,
But sense as sparks,
Flying in my own darkness,
My soul a canvas for this brushing,
A life support,
Whose blushing flesh,
I dare not,
Cannot know,
Enduring surprise,
For my desire is growing,
In countless ways,
And boundless days,
Yet I am hidden
From mine eyes,
Resting in my knowing.
DIFFERENCE
Fancy not thine own addictions
As dear to me,
Nor that gently whispered almanac,
As clear,
For in that majestic place
Where difference is forged,
I am sovereign and whole,
And if that place were not to be,
Then I am thee, and thou art me.
As dear to me,
Nor that gently whispered almanac,
As clear,
For in that majestic place
Where difference is forged,
I am sovereign and whole,
And if that place were not to be,
Then I am thee, and thou art me.
PLOUGH
Reason ploughs her endless furrow,
Dormant seeds already sown,
That a gentle sun may warm the heart
Of sleeping truths, already known.
Dormant seeds already sown,
That a gentle sun may warm the heart
Of sleeping truths, already known.
MINE
All power is mine,
How then,
Find you cause
For idolatry,
And in my thinking,
Become blind?
All power is mine,
Then I am you,
And thinking
With my mind.
How then,
Find you cause
For idolatry,
And in my thinking,
Become blind?
All power is mine,
Then I am you,
And thinking
With my mind.
MAGIC
History is at once anchor and lighthouse,
Stable comfort and manacle,
Enlivened by the wand of present thought,
As black or white magic for humankind.
Stable comfort and manacle,
Enlivened by the wand of present thought,
As black or white magic for humankind.
TIDINGS
The snow-white moon then slips and hides
Her face inside a black, lace shroud,
In sombre mood, to vex the tides,
Decides that magic be allowed,
A secret hex will spell the curse
To set an ocean in reverse,
Tugging wave-top silvered spray,
Demanding currents change their way.
When spent, her temper soon subsides,
Content, she glides from out the cloud.
Her face inside a black, lace shroud,
In sombre mood, to vex the tides,
Decides that magic be allowed,
A secret hex will spell the curse
To set an ocean in reverse,
Tugging wave-top silvered spray,
Demanding currents change their way.
When spent, her temper soon subsides,
Content, she glides from out the cloud.
EMPIRE
With deadly self protection,
Your right as regime,
Myths of justice,
False totems carved from stone,
Stone,
Squeezed from blood,
Deny and petrify,
Poison with sanctimony
Those who march to unfamiliar drum,
Consigned yet again
To museum-piece history,
Mausoleums built from stone,
Stone,
Squeezed from blood,
Bend now,
For the sake of all,
Be soft, be warm,
Blood may yield to mystery.
And pride descend at last,
That those towering walls
And cowering halls,
May befit their sanguine tone.
CURIOUS
Time glides along steadily, with a comforting security - like a snail.
Curious then - that we remember only footprints.
Curious then - that we remember only footprints.
REGULATION
First watch,
A birthday gift,
The hour,
The minute,
Pointed out
By the plump,
Gloved hands
Of Mickey Mouse,
A smiling, red manacle
Slipped around my wrist,
Held up close,
To hear,
A fascinating heart,
Beating,
Deep inside,
My regular childhood,
Synchronized
By Disney.
TAKING TURNS
The nature of a wheel - to turn,
And only in turning its purpose reveal,
All who precede are followed,
And all who follow, lead.
No point to discern upon its rim
Other than our fancy find,
And then we must observe the same,
But opposite in kind,
All connected,
As heaven descends to earth
The eyes of earth are lifted up,
All in motion,
Dancing round an invisible centre of stillness,
Nothing greater than balance will allow.
LIGHTLY DOES IT
Light,
Winged messenger,
Illuminating reason,
Whose passion is
To fashion her,
As sight,
Scene,
And season.
Winged messenger,
Illuminating reason,
Whose passion is
To fashion her,
As sight,
Scene,
And season.
KALEIDOSCOPE
Curiosity will never cease,
Our questions,
Extensions,
Of that original quest,
For more,
Fruitfully born,
As the hand of time
Gently disturbs
The pieces,
The shapes,
The colours,
The light,
Imperceptible - almost,
Rearranging,
Tumbling,
Nudging,
Briefly settling,
Only to be propelled again,
Across the mirrors of mind,
Each instant,
A uniquely intimate dream,
A chaotic growing,
Yet all safely contained.
Our questions,
Extensions,
Of that original quest,
For more,
Fruitfully born,
As the hand of time
Gently disturbs
The pieces,
The shapes,
The colours,
The light,
Imperceptible - almost,
Rearranging,
Tumbling,
Nudging,
Briefly settling,
Only to be propelled again,
Across the mirrors of mind,
Each instant,
A uniquely intimate dream,
A chaotic growing,
Yet all safely contained.
RUNTIME
As if the spaces in between
Contained the rainbow,
A portent of colour
Yet unseen,
Thoughts of yellow
Blue and green,
Life, before the living,
Imagining a sun,
A glistening dream of oceans
Lapping warm sands to run,
Expectantly,
Excitedly,
A new race in embryo,
Waiting for the gun.
Contained the rainbow,
A portent of colour
Yet unseen,
Thoughts of yellow
Blue and green,
Life, before the living,
Imagining a sun,
A glistening dream of oceans
Lapping warm sands to run,
Expectantly,
Excitedly,
A new race in embryo,
Waiting for the gun.