If ever a quip A witty comeback Martini smiles Wry as vermouth Sultry whispers splash As snare brush jazz Taken aback Night women swoon For lost lover Lyrics lie to cover Her maiden in youth
When silence echoes Through hallways Living rooms Down yesteryears' phone lines
Seems to me all hush, Blush and gossip girls Collude like fuel For a raging fire Lit by the father Surely, to snuff my life Out.
Blue bowls of bamboo Nourished my babies for decades Like chips and seagulls Snatched up and filled Hot, cold, spicy, sour Sweet cereals swimming in milk. Tower over me now Year by year From ruddy babes on breast To ravenous bears with bowls To one day flee To leave this nest Nourished and whole
Years I have dwelt Under earth Tread over head Magnetic anomaly Compass bearing bend
Nights I have glowed Channelling fury Fire of echoes Into soft light For lantern show
Days I have lain Wounded in pain Watching seasons stroll by Blossoms, fruit and leaves Butterly arms surround To soften, to sleep
Till axis shifts away Leaning toward you I am compass I am moth I am fruit Sleep finds me now Wishing and wanting Dreams evade The breadth of years Laid waste
When you let go - that little bird Into the wild, unrelenting sky One must be willing to never see her again To be free means no burden of expectation
They say, there are other birds in the sky The blackened birds that awaken me each morn Alight upon suburban fenceline Sing their well-known song
There is no one like the one you so loved Love tended and fed, doted upon The one who recognised your voice as you arrived Felt the silence once gone Until the caged perch to which it clung Felt nothing like love at all