Reprieve

The long in between time

The gazing out of the window time, has passed 

Between morning and evening

Sweating in the midday heat

Waiting for some solace in the late afternoon

The quiet reckoning has concluded

I have granted my soul amnesty

In the guiding fading burnt sun yellow light.

Glancing Past

The deceptive photo reminders

Show little of the fading round the edge emotions

That was an uncharted feral time

Cat calls in the night,

Days of insignificant small braveries 

A vanished time, 

A malnourished mind

Vanquished, lost between the sand 

And the sickly sea time.

Whispering Mountain

The skirmishes  of summer have passed

Now there is midwinter silence

Pale clear skies, 

And wood fires marking the passing hours

Watered down images 

Set with the sun, 

Lonely cattle lullabies 

Calming calf nightmares 

Jackals lament in the valley

And then a slight sound

A whisper low in consciousness

A nudge towards towards the cherished rock cliffs

A voice from the darkening mountain shadow 

Relentless, lurking, asking me to stay.

Tracing Steps

I walked down
To the poplar forest
The small singing leaves
In a dusk breeze
Time eloped, mutated
Time was me, eight years old
Head up, feeling the wind like a dog
Hair streaming behind
Careless, elated under a clear blue winter sky.


I walked down
To the poplar forest
I saw the tracks of memory blow away
Dusty, dry, easy to erase
I looked down,
Waiting to see your footprints
And wished they had solidified in the rainy season,
And wished you had stayed.

night song

the keyboard is my piano
singing against the night
the long tunes melt into the wind
holding my tears, easing the voices
they cannot hear my night song
they cannot touch my flingers, as I play the chords
or understand my lyrics
their drunken distressed singing
falls away as the notes I compose
soar into the night sky.

Dwelling

The mountains curl around me like cushions, 

Pillowing my tired heart

A lone loerie goes about his daily routine

Habitual, non invasive

He is unaware of me as a witness

Remmebering after months,

Bird activity, sounds of small living

Life matters

homeward bound

dreams float in crystal balls
foresight of splinters
memories peel away
like desolate leaves
charred as burnt toast Sundays
four walls barricade
the deceptive sand storms
the light blinds
the ocean screams,
dream washed dirty water
the mind turned around
to a gentler sunset bound.

reckoning

every day I wake up
waiting and wanting the night to come
I drown in the empty tides
wordless tears
Every day I knew
somewhere in another remembered space
was my real home.

I stayed silent, treading water
it was your face reflecting the disconnection
showing the sickness of homelessness
the emptiness of longing
and not belonging
it took your eyes drowning, fearful
to make me turn around
and start the search to find our real home.

Return

she called out
She realigned the stars
She longed for legacy
She lined up her heartache
And asked me
Can we please go home?

The roads of regret wash themselves in the rain
They are the same, washed, maybe cleaner
They belong to her,
Her kingdom has been made of new grindstone
Her heart has held soldiers
She is history informing memory,
Whispering, I know the ridge of sunset
I stay.

Defence

The prison of the mind
Has no fortress or impenetrable walls
No circulating guards
This prison, far more subtle
Traps the dreams quietly in the night
This prison calls the daylight, fades the sun
Escape is a breakthrough image
A hadeda calls, breaks the silence
Like thunder precedes the storm
The dreams gain an ally, a defendant
Quietly in the night, they are liberated.

Crucible

The glance in the review mirror
no longer blinds vision
those hindsight hills are no longer a nemesis
they fade, the dust settles
my stone heart breaks into fragments,
fragments turn to gold
in the failing light
the resurrection of starlight shines.

Muted

my senses are slowly muted by the heat
movements decrease, mind images brighten
senses move like wind through the shaded leaves
familiar scents, reawakening a smile,
thoughts trace back to a source
happier colours, warmth.