Song

dance with me, my Romany dreams
scatter my desires in waking
to the singing of your tambourines
waltz me a waltz through ethereal greens
take me, and make me
my Romany dreams

The Worst Verse

I wrote this poem backwards
to see where it would start
if its seed was in my head
or it grew in my heart
and then I turned it inside out
the surest rhymes to find
decided it could do without
a certain measured time
but after all I set a fire
and in it through my verse
thinking that cast to the flames
it couldn’t get much worse
therefore I started up again
and forwards did compose
thus these simple lines appeared
to bring me to a close.

The Hawk’s Way

a red feather falls
manna from a bloodied sky
devoid of mercy

Capital

a carthorse bloodied
without breath
no more draught to work
nor fallow field in which to rest,
each muscle torn
and lacerated flesh
counted to the cheapest
reckoning,
that even still
with given ghost and sunken chest
his worth is measured
to the final bolt.

Summertime

this easy lover
warm and passionate of touch
call him summertime

The Waves

let us make love by the river
observed only by the lighthouse
casting our shadows inside and out.
let us make love by the river
to the gentle sounds of the waves
that come more from within than without.

A Piano in the Parlour

her fingers
floated
above the keys
afraid to let them rest
upon their ivory,
the piano
hadn’t been tuned
since the day
he died
almost twenty years ago,
but more than
anything
she feared
to taint
the memories
of his melody

Eden Ends (unfinished sketch)

the lilies close
and yellow roses
turn toward
the setting sky
gold sunflowers weep
themselves to sleep
for summer soon
itself will die.

Blessed Stars

between the silver clashing
of tempest and the sky
there my dreams under the sails
wait on horizons passing by
from out of day into the night
those blessed stars empyrean
summon my thoughts to their light
to rest there ’til my cares are run.

Mists

eloquence is hid
and then poetry is lost
to mists made of you