Truly startling
How heartache can feel
Like a rapid rushing
Over rocks
In time, over distance
A babbling brook
A trickle easing its way
To ocean
Accepted by generous banks
Of rivers
To gaze upon it
Perched aloft
All creatures delight
Tumble, preen and feed
On its shores
So shall I
Wander vast landscapes
In snow, wind and rain
Pour out my heart
On alluvial plane
Marvel and bow within
Carved limestone cave
Forage and flit about
White washed waves
For each day of yearning
Turns a new fresh page
Placing the point
On paper, thoughts race
As feelings are aired
They are lighter in space
Took all of my wandering
To know here is my place
Will I get to see you
Wear my favourite jumper
Until it's threadbare
After all..?
Do I need to say out loud
That you are the closest
I ever came to my person
If only you didn't
Have so many already
A brilliant and kind friend
Is worth more than
A golden ring inset
With diamonds marking
Decades of compromise
The most memorable and moving stories
May be untranslatable
Missed by your average listener
Unless they can read body language
Since the unspeakable time
One in 100 year devastation
I grow accustomed to sitting
In a crowded room surrounded by
Empty seats of friends
I've never forgotten
An artist captures the essence of my heartache
Blue china bathed statue
Raving about earl gray
Other pleasantries
In politest company
In the vein of Ovid's Remedia Amoris
Don't let me near a bumblebee
A lizard, owl or slimy leech
No butterflies or hilltop scree
Invertebrates nor anemone
Away with bells of pink or white
Dangling in the dappled light
No trudging through the crunchy snow
Or campstove fires in cabins glow
Pandani, fagus, kangaroo grass
If you want to air the grief
Far away from nature's best
Put this cure-all to the test
Nature lover, wandering free
One never forgets an ecologist!
Humanity divided
By shade and hue
If only so inspired
What art we could do
Only comes out
On coldest days
Wild wind snaps
My face into shape.
Any passing stranger
Notices cool change
Friends embrace
Challengers turn tail.
It holds space
Though never filled
Gravitates to places
Where eyes first locked
Pockets turned inside out
Lint was spilled.
Gaze darts from butterflies
To fleeting smiles
Peering through the aisles
Of best sellers.
Silent goodbyes
Are all that linger now.
Hesitant
Tentative
When the hurt is all you had left
Step into grove of golden flowers
Tread the path that leads
To roaring waves defending sea
Hear the words fall upon soft ground
Mingling with memories of another
Gently lapping morning tide
Safe harbour sunlit, teeming with new life
Steer your own way out
Return to me, steady turn of rudder
Double back if your heart is sore
Come alongside save rocky shore.
Who knows what
Tomorrow will hold
All the while
These hands
Strive to let go
Past is behind
Empty hands
Listening heart
Brave as the deep
Incline is steep
Willingly foreword
The answer in mind
Do not grow too content
With being alone
Empty seats beside
Roll eyes as party behind
Chatter happily
Warily evading suggestions
Of a match maker
Relishing breadth of one in bed.
Sprawling diagonal
Clutching hot water bottle
Catching clouds racing
Through the mind.
Know this
There is one somewhere
Who exudes sunshine
Their gaze radiates
Over skin and lips
Eyes ablaze
Tense pain of shoulders
Eases, deeper breath
Healing
This is the test.
Does their presence
Feel like a Sunday evening?
Count the stars of heaven 