Beach Mermaid (2005)

A wreck upon the water stands
Bend o'er to the waves
The sweetest music as she sings
The sailors maid
She lures them to the rocks and underhand
Her hair all wreathed in seaweed is their fate
Tangled up in her laugh
They realise too late
She is the siren on the beach
The metal twisted harpie queen
The high tide mark
All stranded with the rust
Of a thousand sailors dreams

A wreck upon the water stands
bend o'er to the waves
The sweetest music as she sings
Manmade mermaid

This will be the only time I ask

Did you let the mask slip
And did your eyes see
Was it too much
Or was it just me
Could you let your mask slip
And be what I need
Is too much to ask
Of a man
Or will you
Reveal to me

I don’t need your great plan
Your exercise in being an also can
What path leads to my door
Just love, nothing more
What words could you ever sing
Better than the angels’ horizons bring
I don’t need another way
I just need you to say
What does your heart see
Or is it just me

You write it out in prose
Black ink on faded rose
You carved it onto a tree
A promise for all to see
But it’s not words or symbols
It’s just love, nothing more
What words could you ever sing
Better than the angels’ horizons bring
I don’t need another way
I just need you to say
What does your heart see

Raptor

Do you think they know how free they are?
Not weighed down by trinkets and tax
There's just life and death
And inbetween there's flying

The Rules of Fools ( from 2004)

Soft tide gliding in
Your hand upon my skin
It's as if your heart walked away
You broke the rules
Well, what rules were they?

And hour by hour we are holding here
On a shoreline rain's made unclear
As though the world is washing by
Your eyes too deep a place to hide
So why do you think you broke the rules?
I think they serve to make us fools

Soft tide gliding in
A letter, note or line to begin
I'd organise a whole page or two
And when it comes down to the rules
I'll leave those for other fools

Older poems revisited...

Feeling hugely uncreative at the moment but very reflective and so thought I'd visit some older pieces. It's always somehow horrific to read stuff I've written, trying to imagine what/where/how I have managed to find those words or (eeek!) that rhyme. I think I can only justify stuff on the concept that a poem is like a layer of skin...uhoh, I'm going to start talking about onions which will make Shrek fans laugh. Recurring themes sometimes pop up in older poems. One or two lines that I am happy with do too. So I'll start with some work from 2004.

In the crucible of nothing

In the crucible of nothing
Where there's only the night
And boredom leads to bottles
And the lonely broken flight
Where once were choirs of angels
A heart filled with empty cigarettes
In the crucible of nothing
You kid yourself you've no regrets

Magpie Billy winks at me
As I'm sitting under his tree
His words feel like wisdom
But beyond are blue skies

His song is beguiling
Enought to stop me smiling
I'm not one for optisim
But at least I try

Wayfarer

You turn to smile and the look in your eyes
Asks what is it that clouds my happy skies

It’s knowing you’re going to turn and walk away
Guess I’ll catch up with you, some day