The Way

A torch held

Beacon in the night

A promise kept

Shine your searchlight

And map this heart

A course set

Compass stone

You think you want to fly

The way of the angels

Reaching down to you

While you burn a message

With your smoky eyes

Guiding light

Compass set

Under midsummer skies

Carved in stone

Words said

Long ago

Like a beacon in the night

I know

The way of the angels

Return

I've listened to your song too many times

Worn a groove in my heart

Where your needles have stung

How do I start

To move on

One day we'll return

One day we'll all learn

To get along

But for now

How do I start

To move on

Road seems to never end

Did I take a wrong turn my friend

Left too much far behind

Returning home isn't on my mind

But then one day we'll return

One day we'll all learn

To get along

And I hear you are becalmed

On an ocean of storms

The labyrinth amazement won

Over the reason to run

From it all

Can we ever return

Can we learn to get along

I've listened to your song too many times

Worn a groove in my heart

Where your needles have stung

How do I start

To move on

One day we'll return

One day we'll all learn

To get along

But for now

How do I start

To move on

Summer Roads

Whispering your secrets to me

As though I can turn the clock

To a new time

Where your hands have worn

The surface smooth

To a blank page

Summer roads

Wind down to the sea

Summer roads

Set us free

All I can do

Is make you see

Summer roads

Find a pebble on the beach

Worn smooth by oceans of time

Grains of sand running

And remember what you ask

When you whisper

For me to change it all in an instant

As though I can delve into the universe

And peel away the geometry

Holding you here

Holding out for a

Blank page

Summer roads

Wind down to the sea

Summer roads

Set us free

All I can do

Is make you see
Summer roads

Torchlight Heart

When did your torchlight heart

Stop burning so bright

And when did your eyes stop finding

Wrong from right

Chequerboard love

One jump ahead

Of my every move

And every moment

I wonder

If you

Can even see

Why you're trying to defeat me

Clouds on the mountain

And rivers flowing full

Ice on the window melting

Where you traced

Your next move

To stay

One jump ahead

And every moment

I wonder

If you

Can even see

Why you're trying to defeat me

When I was always still shining bright

When I was always still shining bright

When did your torchlight heart

Stop burning so bright

And when did your eyes stop finding

Wrong from right

The stars in the sky

Are aligning with me

And I wonder

If you

Can even see

My torchlight heart

Tonight

Arctic Tern

So, this is an oldie, probably from well before 2007 (my immediate archives only go back so far) but sometimes it's good to revisit. Thinking of writing a new set of poems and, in going through my garden photos from 2015, found some of bizarre frost patterns which caught my imagination again. Don't ask me how I connected it to this poem, who knows how those synapses fire. New set will be under the working title, 'Summer Road'.

Arctic Tern

Dry creek runs in my veins

And the drumming blood

Beats in my brain

Can't escape this passing place

If we chance to meet

Offer me grace

Silver grit and oil sticks in the crepe tread

Of my sandals again

Must be a summer road

Can't promise much

But my boat sails

On those oceans we sing

Like the stickers on the orange string

We'll throw our nets and sing

Strange lands unfolding

Scooped up in the wings

Of this Arctic tern

Feathers smooth in the skin

Flying over the ice cradles

Is how she begins

Dry creek runs in my veins

And the dust I bring

Will inflame

And your eyes will cry

With the beat

Flying across the seas

Until only the shadow of my wings

Is the structure of the tide

And I'm singing in your eyes

Eyes and a Smile

He said stay for a while

With his eyes and his smile

But I couldn't bear to stay

So I walked away

Don't judge a hopeless heart

When it was broken in the past

It takes so long to mend

Believe me my friend

Just when I thought I could fly

It turned out all I did was fall

When I thought I was free

Love wouldn't let go of me at all

So don't judge a hopeless heart

When it was broken in the past

Stay for a while

Eyes and a smile

With every falling flake of snow

A perfect pattern repeats and so

It seems, do I

This endless winter night

Flames flicker in the hearth

But still my heart

Can't let go

He said stay for a while

With his eyes and his smile

And I couldn't bear to walk away

So I turned back to say

Don't judge a hopeless heart

When it was broken in the past

Just when I thought I could fly

It turned out all I did was fall

For eyes and a smile

New set of poems soon...

At the side of this blog, I have added a couple of links to Lulu Publishing where you can buy my poems in booklet or pdf form. I am working on a new set of poems under the title 'Rain Tomorrow'.

So far the running order is as follows:

I would walk again a Dorset year

Unlike Anything

Unravelling Knots

Inside the Shell

The Window

Falling in all Directions

At the Top of the Hill

The Dragon Pool (Glastonbury)

Crocodilian

The Field Tree

While Away in Wordchester

The Garden Party (On the Rochester Literature Festival, July 2013)

Reculver Beach

Trick of the Light

Lantern Hearts

Lilac and Sweet Clover

Summer Solstice 2012

Winter Solstice 2013