CloudPillows

ABUNDANCE

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Watch me, as I start to fall,
Although I love not my reflection,
I'm besotted by perception,
As if the spaces in between
Demand the separation seen.
Thus, with arms full do I carry
That which unity would marry,
Gifts abundantly received,
All duly labelled to deceive,
For quantity to naught amounts,
Forgetful of the thought that counts.

HOWLING AT THE MOON

Once more, I'm left here,
Howling at the moon,
The elusive scent of love
That so captivated me,
Broken up,
Dispersed,
On the winds of uncertainty.

That call I hear in answer,
Is it the soft voice of
A distant soul,
Or just my own faint echoes?

The last cold glimpse
Of the moon
Slips out of sight
Behind the enclosing
Silhouette of the mountains.

Darkeness,
Silence returns,
Save for the amused mockery
Of an occasional night bird,
Questioning my wisdom.

CUCKOO

Sometimes silence is
The most painful sound to hear,
And absence,
The most intolerable guest to entertain,
Yet both those intruders more welcome are,
Their stark honesty more comforting,
Than fakery masquerading as faith,
Trust, fashioned from falsehood.
An imposter deep inside your heart,
A cuckoo cast from stone,
Nestled there upon stolen down,
Usurping true love from its throne.

DEWDROP

Upon the back of grassblade host,
Gently bowed,
No longer but a shapeless ghost
The breath of night is born
Into a jewel of light,
Restrained awhile,
Poised,
In the still untrodden dawn.

LOVING CUP

I hold a fragile cup in trembling hands,
Its content, this life's greatest treasure,
Fearful, lest one drop be spilled.
The loving cup, once passed, demands
Of care and trust, beyond all measure,
Until our thirsting hearts are filled.

ALICE

There'll be a time,
It comes to all
When just like Alice,
I recall,
Tiny things will loom up large,
Enormity appear so small,
And leaving this one life behind,
Where tunnel vision
Turned us blind,
We'll wonder why we did ignore
The questions that our spirit asks,
Choosing not to stand in awe
For favour of much lesser tasks,
Never seeing what Alice saw,
A human being,
In wonderland.

RADIO ELLA

Set within a cabinet
Of walnut and tortoiseshell,
A soft, amber glow
Discretely illuminates
The science of the dial.
Nimble fingers
Twist & spin around
The black, knurled,
Bakelite knob,
Cracking the safe,
Tuning in,
Surfing the sound.
Amidst an ocean of noise,
A golden island
Rich with organic warmth,
A sepia toned voice,
Smooth and sweet as honey,
Spilling its magic,
Through the art deco grille.

FIRST KISS

Lips close around a lovers' seal,
Much more than just a kiss,
And doors in hearts
Swing open wide,
Secure and safe in this,
Souls escape and flying high,
Free as birds inside the breath,
They rise to meet,
In a long moment of play
With their own reflection,
Absorbing the warmth of another sun,
Sharing, knowing another love.
Two spirits dancing as one,
Lost in the clouds of ecstasy.
To some maybe it's just a kiss,
But you and me, I pray,
Such bliss.

HALLUCINATION

Which I remembering do,
upon seeing mixwards
among the grasses,
circular standing of mushrooms,
perhaps toadstools,
greyish brown, splashes of red,
not human blood let,
sat around and jumped over,
a flutter of lace winged
fairies, singing,
dancing, playing
in the general
tea time,
till suddenness of blue frog
leap centrally,
all take fright,
make flight, away
to invisible sphere,
shame of that,
though frog a
beautiful thing,
doesn't fly.

WHEN THE TIME COMES

When I stare down from my final home,
Tears blurring my vision,
With such a longing in my heart,
Helpless to speak or touch,
Reaching out no further than my new being allows,
Oh, how I shall envy you,
Still at play,
Through eternal night
And infinite day,
Wishing only that I could once more
Chase the sand as it falls.
Each grain a precious second
To share my deepest love.

You, my unknown friends,
I ask you now,
Take this thought away,
That I may see it
Glowing in you
From afar.

LIFETIME

Oh how that steady marching hour
Deliberates each pace,
Reluctantly, to free those days
Enslaved in its laborious race.

And every man should mark that power
Engraved upon his glorious face
Much more than wound or scar portrays,
Much less to feel disgrace,

For wisdom builds, indeed, a tower,
No place for age to seem debase,
But find, fulfilled and shouting praise,
When climbed by God's redeeming grace.

BRICKS AND MORTALITY

Skull cracked,
Jagg'd edged rafters scratch the grey sky,
A dark victim, yawning to catch cold rain's fall
As morning unsettles and storms roll by.

Fractures of tile litter long rotted floor
In this once precious pile
That is treasure no more.
Cave-painting tatters flap at the wall,
Tired of their fashion,
Now soaked in the squall.

Bird-pecked,
Stone-smashed sockets for eyes
To reflect, in shades, the blood-lit sunrise,
Made to mindlessly howl
With the wind's blind rage -
Where sashes would stutter and folk would scowl,
A summer breeze flutter the unturned page.

Feeling through bars
Barely sealing the cage,
Brittled and gristled,
Toughened by age,
Droop impotent arteries
Drained of their power
To shock with surprise,
Or to clock this last hour.

Mould interrogates history's stain
Gagging it, silencing memory's pain.
Sad, unsold, brave but unsound,
The old house, stubbornly
Standing its ground,
Waits for the curtain-call
Hung from a chain.
A date with a wrecking-ball
Swung to its brain.

SUMMER SYMPHONY

Light upon the whispering crest
Of the wind's balmy tide,
Distant hillsides tiptoe near.
A cowbell rings, sky lark sings,
A lamb's new pleading cry we hear.
Each vibrant beat of insect's wing
Lends a sleepy laziness
To the heat warped haze,
Underscores its shimmering.
Unique in all and seamless time,
Played by chance or by design?
Nature's summer symphony.

TEARS

Heaven shed those silvered tears,
Slow, silent beads of daylight,
Slipping sadly out of frame.
The world appears
A smear of grey light
Straining through the window's pain.

Oh, how much does our Father weep
To find his sons and daughters slain,
Then hide behind such deep deceit
And call His crying
Falls of rain?

Let the blood wash from the streets,
Clear each heart from foolish stain,
And hear the splash of dancing feet
In pools, that tears of joy retain.