The Falconer !

And I have let them go,
one by loved one,
unlatching protecting cages
within,locking doors
against their return.
Between being and becoming,
face fresh with sorrow, I,
oyster of a single tear,
float with the Angler,
dangle with the bait,
smell mortality on my hand,
and choking.......say ,
"it is better this way "

Grecian Dreams

The Oread of the rainbow glen
fixes me in charcoal stares,
those emberous whirligigs of fires
twin pixies of warm desires;
limpid, ask the Actaeon hounds,
"why his scars precede his wounds ?"
Her lips with Restoration blest,
then soft,trace the fevered brow,
.wetly, wake me with a start,
tender, tug the strings of heart,
pull me 'neath a hyacinth tree
and bring the Narcissus out in me.........

The Lost Horizon

Where fireflies light the darkling gloam
and ever the brambled magpies cower,
there once did dwell my childhood dream
that ruined prince of a lonely tower.

Dream it was that did wake first
then the Horn and then the Drummer,
cupped its ears ,ironic, whispered
"did that swallow make your summer "?

And I the beadle, eagle-eyed
sentinel of a playful dove,
wistful, wasted , weary ,murmur
"ah ! I could not hold that love.

It wrenched and teary ,skyward flew
and pausing, perched a-top a steeple,
said "goodbye ! lords of sleeping truths ,
I ain't so good at losing people ".

Time and Tide

With gratitude to Taseer who ,I know not how ,knew that it is a rainy sunday in my neck of woods.Thinking then ,of flowing waters , choppy seas and life's parade passing me by .......

Is it a longing seaward stare
or just a droopy quay-side look
do I take the tide on flood
or let the shallows be my brook ?

The glimmering beach-head beckons still
with splintered hour-glasses strewn,
did the sands just vacuous sift
or time on view-less wings has flown ?

But hark ! anon, when rainbow flumes
whisper to the clouds that fly
I tautly tensile raise my fist
and salute before the ship goes by.

The Caveman .

Sleepless , piling hour on hour
hearing all eternities rage ,
straw by solitary straw ,and slow
I fondly raise a hermit's cage.

Here ,around the hedgerows wild
entangled ,autumn blossoms bloom,
a snaking ,smoking ,heart-warmed hearth
skyward lifts the gathering gloom.

Will you now, my playful nymph
hear a goading from above,
tender, touch my eyelids wet
and finally ,finally be my love ?

umbra !

A land where the three dreams meet
and penumbrous glitter the unlit ways,
where daisies bloom in dewy nights
then wail a-pace for darkling days.

Where winking wavelets beading bubbles
reflect the hues of a maiden's blush,
where men do huddled sit and hear
that music of an ambrosial hush

Where verses penned in yesteryears
merge softly in a tangible sorrow,
where deferred hopes ,coalescing , pine
once ,just once ,for a cheery morrow

There ,alone ,in a twilight zone
will you leave the `how' and `why',
look downward twice and upward once
then sweetly , shyly , mur mur `hi '?

Amore' !!

When disarmed stars
without their spears,
tenuous ,trembling, hanging low
ancient glittering eyes a-glow,
forgive the world with a tremulous sigh
and crave a wish to be broken by.

When haughty falcons stalking prey
quiescent,calmly ceasing hunt ,
feel the twinge that inward gnaws
.unsure, unhinge ,unhook their claws,
then shy ,and sometime sweetly tart
spare the dove of lonely heart.

When slumberous, doleful, teary-eyed
I wake up in some fairy land,
where circling in a rapturous trance
the daring,dreamy, damsels dance,
who turn the jig and coyly twirl
and pull me into a misty whirl.

Then, on a leading from above
I will write a poem of love.........

Handy Dandy ....

I look at joys' azure faces
those mutant selves of truth and blight,
armed with auspicious dragon dreams
quell phantoms of the lonely night.

Then play the oracle tic-tac-toe
dying by lot ,living by lot ,
sowing crosses ,reaping ciphers
what could have been and what would not.

... Pause ! ye dancers of Antic Hay
no rainbows wait ,no pots of gold ,
and wail not, thou with cleaten feet
life's a tale that's already told........