"But the agreeable lady
Found nothing to say.
She only knew how to be
Disturbed
But she lacked
The where-withal to form
Any clear hypothesis
And for that reason
She was in need
More than others of
Tender friendship and counsel."
- Dead Souls, by Nikolai Gogol, p.222.
Deciding upon
What to adorn
My walls
To keep me content
In case we need to
stay in again
Thick oak-look frame
Appearance is everything
Sandstone smiles
In the shade
Sun behind
Holding up a glorious
Bouquet of natives
Flannel flower power
Blue gum leaves
My own arrangement
By request
Selected anything
With white bloom
Tea tree in season
Looking like
A big cauliflower
Dried nicely
In my room
I remember
The next a mirror
Painted frame
Like retro glam
Gold and silver
Telling me
Look at you
-How you've weathered
So nicely
In the stormy seas-
Looking at me
Another gold
Circular seal
With purple
For royalty
A lineage
When born again
Not feeling it
In fact it tells me
Yes you studied
Greek among men
Not so different
From the halls
Of Plato
Ecumenicum
Blending in
With other
Women
Carry a Grecian
Jug on my head
So as not to attract
Attention
A bold shot of blue
Spread from end to end
Covered in blossoms
From a shaky hand
Eyes near blind
World inside
The mind of Monet
My dear almond blossom
Friend
Telling me it's time
To leave these walls
Behind
Remember the branch
Severed at one end
Can bloom and grow
Again
Never heard a ticking clock
Inside a crocodile
Never seen a fairy nymph
Darting firefly
Never seen a league of beings
Rise up and take a stand
Never felt the heartache
Missing touch of human hand
Never felt this way about love
Though seen it in their eyes
Never heard the silence speak
Revealing a surprise
Never knew with certainty
That life would turn this way
Never knew that happiness
Could lead a man astray
Never met someone who could
Turn heads with words so few
Now never want to hope or have
Another 'cept for you
The most devastating weather
Can be made wonderful
Beside a fire
Locked in embrace
The most tragic happenstance
Can somehow be made bearable
By walking it together
As the fear of falling
Becomes a daily grooming
The delight in calling
Another love
Takes the pain out of
The air pressure
The impact when
Sky is spinning above
Like skydiving in tandem
Feel the weight of air together
But even if you go alone
The rush lives on forever
Those who've had their livelihoods
Unfairly swept away
Cling to songs and memories
Of love in better days
It brings them smiles
Laughter, singing
Stories on repeat
This is love's most noble task
In case again we meet
So powerful is love's lament
Like smiling through the tears
It gives us all our decades worth
Reminiscing happy years
So if by fortune I would live
Into those golden years
Rest assured my smile will sit
Firmly past my ears
Keeping you at arms length
While holding on to life
Silence so you'll never hear
The danger and the strife
One day V day will arrive
And in your arms I'd fall
To stand on every corner
Friends and family and all
When sheltered under door frame
To avoid roof falling in
Imagining a life with you
A fantasy we're in
Like stepping through a cupboard
Into frozen landscape bare
Meeting little furry friends
Sweet treats if you dare
The realm of fiction is complete
With swords and battles too
But surely it's the safest way
That I can be with you?
Darkness lifts like a curtain
Raised to the rooftop
Of palladium
A stage
Dancers, jugglers, seers and wanderers
Mill around in their thousands
Wondering who will speak
On that day
Mumbling and speculation
Fill the open sky with heat
Distress and devastation
Trampled under feet
No authoritative voice resounds
The cacophany dies to a whisper
The only words recited 'tween
The lover and the listener
'I can't do the talk
like they talk on the TV
And I can't do a love song
like the way it's meant to be
I can't do everything
but I'd do anything for you
I can't do anything
except be in love with you
And all I do is miss you
and the way we used to be
All I do is keep the beat
and bad company
All I do is kiss you
through the bars of a rhyme
Juliet, I'd do the stars with you
any time'
Lyrics by Mark Knopfler
I wish to be your human
And you could be mine
-My feline friend says proudly-
I hope you don't mind
Such bravery to crawl on me
And underneath the covers
To twirl between my legs
Kiss my nose like I'm his mother
Such boldness is endearing
For what else really matters
Than telling your favourite human
That their absence leaves you scattered
To be near you every day
Or even once a week
Would make all of the difference
To the life I'd wish to lead
To be with you and drink
In the regular everyday
When I run out of words
And hear all you have to say
But dare I say I am
With you always anyway
Only river between
Not an ocean or a fray
- Rest assured I'd gladly swim
The distance any day -
Can you believe my thoughts
Are often interrupted
By the time you liked my shirt
Or by a joke, at me, directed
The time you sat beside me
Every word believed as true
Reciting leaves and lemon trees
Realised was all for you
Painting of a picture
With those stories far and wild
Imagine all those places
From your thoughts to ease my mind
A literary meeting
Like some tower here in Oz
Where heart, soul and mind
Find out they were there
All along
Pulling me in closely
Like moon and tide
Always the atmosphere
Between us
Watching waves coarsing
Supposedly on their own
Nothing to do with
The bright light of the moon
Turning dark one night
Super Flower Blood Moon's
Power over me, pulling
Closer every night
Long distance drawing in
Accidents and happenstance
Near misses and stresses
How did I get here?
Land eventually
Wondering if I make it
Through to you
Never leaving
Moon and tide dance
Back and forth
Two great forces
Land on her shores?
Eternally beholden
One to another
Moon starved of water
Tide drawing closer
Sea rises to meet
Rings round mist
Kisses moon light
Returns to earth beneath
Ice cream and jelly
Vanilla and strawberry
Soothing and sweet
Giving rise to voice
In the aftermath
Silenced
Thousands of times
Imagined the delight
Touching to lips
But only on occasion
Moderation
Comfort food
Not only sugar hit
Telling me
You are worthy
Strengthening
Lashings of frosty cream
Red jellyness a dream
Given to patience
For inner healing
Like me
Count the stars of heaven 