Naught But A Poem

I already wrote words for this

For every wound sealed with a kiss

For every goodbye, for every excuse,

For every time I would pick up and move.

Dawn wandered in on a lonely day

While Paradise skipped over hills far away,

And I saw a light, in the emptying night

That wasn't the sun, for it had run;

I sifted through meaning

And still I found none. 

Hollow and shapeless, the lies fell apart

Just to stand naked in front of my heart

Touched and now broken,

All words have been spoken

Until only silence knows what to say.

And dawn wanders in on a lonely day.

I could ask if you're done, is it over and won,

But the war starts anew, and I'm already through.

I could weep but for darkness,

Tears are but a harness.

There is nothing new, nothing gentle or true,

Just the ghost of a thought, what isn't, but ought,

The contest the same, the endless tangle of games,

Till I'm bloodied and sore, and the winner took all.

More nightmares and death, more smoke on my breath,

I am shaded and grey, the dawn's light of the day

I am silent and cold, the story is told; 

Here endeth the lesson, that is the rope,

There is naught but a poem, where once there was hope.

Step Away, Walk Away

Drifting further into the beyond,

Step away, walk away;

There was a truth, but now it has gone,

Step away, walk away;

Drums pounded loud, then only silence,

Step away, walk away;

Peace gave way to inner violence,

Step away, walk away;

The blood flowed red,

In a river bed,

The war to be won 

Was fought in the sun,

And I, the darkness,

The power's harness,

Broke the moon with one blow,

And laid the dream low.

A desert born in morning's light,

Step away, walk away;

So familiar, yet a broken sight,

Step away, walk away;

The howling fortress grim and closed,

Step away, walk away,

Left behind by one betrothed,

Step away, walk away;

And the mute spoke lies,

To a heart of flies,

And the dead sang songs,

To bells and gongs,

And the past wrote a letter,

But nothing better,

And the witch drank spells,

From the tears in the well. 

A poem uttered, and soon forgot,

Step away, walk away;

A coin tossed high to cast a lot,

Step away, walk away;

An empty sky where the heart used to be,

Step away, walk away;

A single hope fading in the face of reality,

Step away, walk away; 

A drop, a stain, a memory in vain,

Step away, walk away;

A sorrow ended, to be raised again,

Step away, walk away;

And the fool waved flags,

Made of bloodied rags,

And the rage ran high,

Like a rising tide,

And the ice ran cold,

As an age of old,

And the dead lay dying,

Whimpering, crying,

And the end was near,

As hope became fear.

Step away, walk away.... 

One Stroke

One stroke, one ticking clock.

One silent trap of time

Watching hours, days, weeks

Minute to minute, counting, 

One ticking clock.

A passing second, marked by the same thought,

It could be real.

It could be real.

Should I run and hide? 

Let it pass and drown with time.

Magnificence stalking daylight

Taunting moonlight and its shade.

Should I run and hide?

Watch from a distance, keep from view.

Spy from a burrow, behind shaded trees.

I walked along the ridge at sundown - 

Did it see, catch my scent?

Will it follow, or merely gaze upon me

As I stand still, wary of intent...

It could be real. 

It could mean nothing. 

It could be naught but the passage of time.

One stroke, one ticking clock.

A passing second, marked by the same thought. 

A Coloured Wall

I woke. 

And sound was silent, the room

Cold with its absence. 

I spoke.

Something gutteral and incoherent.

A punctuation of fear and design. 

I saw

Blank walls shifting with shadows

Dancing motes in stray light.

But the silence competed with sensation

Of holy loss and disturbed communion.

Where was the howling, the tolling of bells?

Extravagant in their presence,

Abhorrent in their nothingness,

Like shadows, on a coloured wall. 

A Thousand Lullabies

I broke my fall 

Saw the edge too late

But my grip was great,

And in naught but air,

I built a stair - 

I climbed, head reeling

From familiar feeling

Of apathy and despair, 

To an edge of reason,

Logic's season,

To know I didn't belong there.

I knew from the start

There was no heart

But knowing isn't certain.

I fell to be falling,

All the time calling

Until the final curtain.

Bare now the stage

In all its age,

For now no player lies.

And the silence keeps

As truth now weeps

For a thousand lullabies. 

Splendour

Splendour, like a spell of morning,

Fresh wakeful breeze upon the air

And clouds that dance as lovers fawning 

While light reflects everywhere.

Poems in the sunlight bold,

Dewy grass and misted breath,

Songs in tiny wings unfold, 

Falling leaves and scattered death. 

Shadows long over in happy eyes,

Memories short-lived in tantalizing sighs

All for the walk of a handsome man

And the splendour of a smile that could rule the skies. 

(August 2013) 

The Dreamer

Dark mountains form silhouettes

Against a painful sky

As the ground gasps fire and

Sounds fury and rage.

A broken door in the floor of the world

Screams wide open

And the panic in the center of the earth

Breaks free.

Oily haze burns the air

Smoke and grit dam the atmosphere

Like spattered paint.

The howl of the sunrise

Bursts through the mind

And the world turns orange to red.

I stand on a hilltop baring

teeth to the gale

In a wild beastly grimace of joy.

As the sound turns to pain

and the sky bleeds black,

I hold my hands out

to thick dark rain,

Bathed in firelight and

the blood of the sky,

I watch the world born again.

When I wake, the ashes

Still taste on my tongue

And my ears still ring with the screams.

Sweat stings my eyes and

Burns in my hair;

Which am I?

The dreamer or the dream?

(March 2011) 

For The Heart To Hold To

Pain inside where it isn't felt

Till ice melts and wears away

The walls and fragile memories

Rewriting the past to be okay,

Another dawn, another day....

No longer burning, quiet and tame,

The fervor gone, the silence lame

With words unsaid and feelings remain;

Time passes and jerks you round

Desire now lives underground

Somewhere a flame, somewhere a name,

But so long ago, a word not heard

And a nothing where it stayed.

Broken up from where you were

Ashamed to feel, to have the nerve.

The new begins and dies as fast,

And the heart now aches for what is past.

Dreams flourish and spark anew,

Something for the heart to hold to

Passion.

(August 2011) 

Wanderer

Wanderer, you have long stood still,

Standing, waiting, watching, for good or ill,

Your snowy face has slowly turned to stone,

Your ancient soul has had nowhere to roam.

Travelled long through stars and magic,

Statue, you found answers tragic.

Cracking stone, a foot does rise,

And creaking bones now reach for skies.

Dust has crumbled from your mouth

And the bonds of your mind have fallen south.

Limbs twisting in first freedom known in years,

Now you may revel in sweet joys made of tears. 

Passive fires have lit and burn as beacons.

The earth now breathes again as you awaken.

And titan fists now flex within their casing,

A stone heart beats a rhythm that is racing.

Piercing eyes now stare across hidden lands,

And arms stretch out to take them by the hand.

Goddess, you have been so long in slumber,

Words all that was heard of your sweet thunder.

Quiet whispers haunting minds that heard

The dormant power of your spirit's word. 

But here, the light now grows within the shell

And life returns to break the statue spell.

First raised, then lost to darkness, pain and death,

Wanderer, you may finally draw breath. 

(August 2013)