Silent movie screen

The heart always speaks
What mind can't conceive
The eyes reveal slowly
Like a magic trick

Don't let her know
How you really feel
But there in lights
The interlude telling

All plot and storyline
Reveals a glass ceiling
Comedy or tragedy?
Bring you to tears

The girl is unknown
Unkept, barely shown
Nameless silk gown
Averted through town

Always loved or owned
Aged traded for tender
Renown

Steer ashore

Fear grips tightly
At the helm
Taking over orders
Pulling us in

Over our heads
Waves crashing
Broached to
Shoal approaching

No lives lost
Crew is down
Handing over
Dogs to morning

Rolling like a lullaby
Reassuring
Raised a lighthouse
First sighting

Pinnacle gives way
To coast
Welcome faces
Twirling smoke

Casting lines
Shorebound stagger
Every sight new
Intricate beauty

Island delights
Happen upon flower
Resiliently tender
Heart own power

Fear of the storm
All but gone
Only shaking hands
Wide eyed one

Never leaving
Smiles receding
As night creeps in
Farewell again

Handing over everything
Knowing no direction
Trusting wholly
In you

It’s a sign

How did she fly in
Through my window
To land on my thigh
Barely noticed

Seems strange when
Smallest sight
Feels like a sign
Unseen eye

Telling me what's ahead?
Pay attention
Obey all warmings
Flash flooding

Inevitable river edge
Fear of falling
Highly possible
On precipice

Open out your covering
Protecting you
Unfurl invisible wings
To fly

Catch my drift?
To the untrained eye
Life is random chance
Though happy coincidence
You and I

Evensong

From where 
Does that voice
Of home, of love
Emanate from
For you?

Mine in the silence
Stillness of morning
Liminal spaces
In between times

Waking and falling
Daily repeat
Comfort only
Listening sweet

As waves in chorus
Between the staves
Low vocal tones
Violincello

Hum of engine
Breeze on wing
Chatter of trees
Sky ocean mirroring

I have seen some
Listening for love
From afar, voices echo
From ruins and scars

But mine here and now
Alive and loud
Any less and how
Could I stand so proud?

So I sing evensong
Night and day
Short and long
To remind me and all

To listen to the voice
That proclaims you worthy
That the life you dream
To live is real

If only
Within you
Artists of Tasmania ~ Lucienne Rickard, loss of wildlife on Lord Howe Isl. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

As surely as

Leaves are biding
Their time till fall
Soaking in sunshine
Cascading green wall

Clouds cover mountains
Blanketing dew
Drifting to sea
Each morning new

Human way of being
If ever any question
Is we're always feeling
All feel the same as you

Falling

Swept
Breath
Fall

Off their feet
Taken away
On their knees

Sounds divine?
We have a lifetime
To work it out
How to live in love

From this position
Upturned
Breathless
Lying low

We will need
Every day
However long
It should take

To know
How to stand
Held hands
Walk on
Artists of Tasmania ~ William Buelow Gould, Kennedia prostrata, Red prostrate creeper. C 1837.

Allport Library and Museum Collection, State Library of Tasmania.

Ruffled

Pure delight
Little fingers find
Feathery treasure
Waving its finery

We shed parts
Of ourselves
For friends keep
To admire

In sharing
They grow
Lighter
Fly higher

Lament
Those of us
Left behind
Artists of Tasmania ~ Lucienne Rickard, loss of wildlife on Lord Howe Isl. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

These days

Even today
I smile again
A knowing one
How on earth
Can we truly know
Anything at all?
We can

On the odd day
I stumble and fall
Grasping for
Something solid
Committing to
Falling ungracefully
Hoping that days
Like today
Will come again
Tomorrow

If all the days
Were even
How would I know
How glorious it is
To rise above
The odds

Belonging

If a sprout takes root
On an Island
That drifts away
Heading South
It was always there

Seeds that flew in
On the breeze
Hosted by birds
Do we blame these
Mixed leaves?

So what happens
When I wander hills
Wondering whether
This bloom or that
Warrants attention

Is all life
Worth a mention?