SOUL
What is this world, this life, these hands?
The purpose in passion and plans
The wonder we see in the stars
The beauty behind all the scars
What is the answer to all that is sought?
The space beyond feeling and thought
The rush, the push, the pull
The wise, initiate, fool …
NOTHING TO DO
BUT BE
No role to perform
No goal to achieve
No urge to conform
No thing to believe
No judgements to air
No longings to cap
No troubles to ease
No bridging the gap
No task to complete
No journey to start
Just peace in the mind
And love in the heart
WAVING
There’s a distance between us
A drifting apart
I’ve not felt before
Do I stay still?
Do I ride out to you?
I fear we’ll lose sight of each other
I fear anchoring you more
I will come to you
If you call for me …
CONGRUENCY
I do not wish to be
Another in history
Thinking one word, saying another
Preaching one life, living the other
Fuelling the plague
Of hypocrisy …
ISLANDS
We are each an island
Divided by the sea
Underneath the earth and rocks
Connecting you and me
Up above the moon and sun
Lighting up our cause
All around the restless sea
Lapping at our shores
ANNIVERSARY
It’s been a year
Since we first met
Talking over breakfast
Lounging by the pool
My hand upon your knee
Waking up to what might be …
STILL
There is a stillness …
Once we have spent our day
And come together
To share a meal
Appreciate each other
… that moves into me …
After we have laughed
And kissed
Made love
In one or another way …
THE MAN IN THE WINDOW
I waved a man
He waved me back
I smiled, he smiled.
A gentle, easy smile
He pulled a phone
From out his pack
As I pulled mine
To check the time
Sure not to miss
The lunch ahead
And perhaps
A lover’s kiss …
MIMIR’S WELL
I knew I liked you back then
Your smile
Your pretty laugh
The floaty way you walked
… and your eyes …
They had the better of me
I didn’t know why back then
Too young?
Too self-conscious?
Too busy mimicking
The shallow behaviours
Of those I thought better than me …
MY STARLIGHT VALENTINE
What is this thread
This starlight thread
That spans the impossible distance
Between you and I?
I can’t see it
But I know it’s here
I feel it in my heart
Each time you …
CATS
As
Ekhart Tolle once said
I have known
Many Zen masters:
All of them cats
I too
Have known a few
Loving one
Like a fool
As much for his cuddliness
As his cool
LOVE IS
You have given so much
Protection to your siblings
Dedication to your mum
Your body to your children
Your best to others who
Didn’t know
How to appreciate it …
DOWN BY
THE POOL
Down by the pool today
I thought of you
Surrounded by pretty faces
Bare-skin bodies
I thought of you
To the sound of happy voices
Music, laughter
I thought of you …
ONE HEART
Tall, short, fat, thin
weak, strong, her, him
Rich, poor, black, white
Gay, straight, wrong, right
Good, bad, false, true
Them, us, me, you
Win, lose, give, take
Live, die, choice, fate
Stop now, change course
Two sides, one source
Two sides, fresh start
One love, one heart
LINDEN
When I write of Linden
I write not of trees
Of living legends
Honeydew and
Heart-shaped leaves
But of you Linden
Strong yet gentle
Timeless as myth
Perfect as a flower
To me
Living proof of
Intelligent love
Clear for all to see
A GREAT WALK
I walked a great walk
By way of ridge and brook
Heavy-breathed, through copper fields
Of highland grass, wild game and
Barren pass, I took my time
Facing each unknown as it came …
And in that most majestic space
As I reclined looking back on what
I’d climbed, a lonesome voice
Brisk and careless, came to mind …
THIS BE THE inVERSE
My take on a Philip Larkin classic
They fuck you up your mum and dad
Now is that really true?
If you surrender to that thought
It will be true for you
And you will make excuses
Always holding them to blame
And you will run a program built on
Guilt and lack and shame
People hand love on to people
It deepens like a coastal shelf
Choose your future, do the work
That Phil denied himself
OUR SWEET KILLER
You bought us a gift today
Dropping it at our feet as
I might drop a hat
My son picked you up
I picked up your prize
To take it somewhere
To recover
Or to die in peace …
SUNSET
How I love that sunset light
Through valley haze to sleepy gaze
In summer grass and winter glass
Lightens heart, summons grace
Wrests the soul from time and space
REALITY
The life you’ll come to know
The world you will perceive
Has less to do
With things you learn
Than things you will believe
FLOW
As brooks bubble
And buds bloom
As debts double
And deadlines loom
As stars gleam
And wonder calls
As flames flicker
And shadows fall
As order comes
And love engages
As chaos reigns
And contrast rages
I step aside from all conclusions
Left the lid on life's illusions
On the wave of sweet confusion
I row I row I row
THE POWER OF INTENTION
There was a man who long forgot
That life was just a dream
He lived in separation
Felt he couldn't change a thing
Until one day he heard a voice
That turned him on his head
Was like he knew it all along
And this is what it said
The world is just a mirror
Reflecting back your mind
If you think some thing is real
Then you are sure to find …
LAMENT FOR
THE NUMB
Can you hear me?
I talk, I nod, I smile, I blink,
but I’m not really here
I’m far away
Worrying about bank debt
And purpose
And saying goodbye to
People I love
When I die
Can you hear me?
I can hear you
Your words
Floating between us
Your eyes
Like lifebuoys
Sitting on
The surface
Of a waterlogged soul
WHAT IS FUN?
A sticky bun
A journey begun
Asleep in the sun
Curiosity stoked
Wonder evoked
Beauty provoked
Laughter and tears
Friendship for years
Love over fears
Music and travel
Knots that unravel
Knots that unravel
I SEE YOU
There’s a wonderful thing that happens
When you've exhausted all of your patterns
And taken the time to let go of
All that you think that you know of
A person you've lived with for years
And all your unconscious projections
Judgements and sketchy intentions
Fall to the floor
And you see
The beautiful person before you
Is more than you dreamed them to be
PRISONS
Prisons are cold, desperate places
Full of despair and desolate faces
Full of the lonely, full of the tough
Full of the children
Who weren't loved enough
It's easy to blame
To say they made choices
But many were made
Long before they had voices …
BEYOND THE VEIL
I walked outside to open ground
I bent and stretched and wandered round
I touched the grass, sniffed the trees
Crunched the stones, watched the bees
The sun fell warm upon my face
A breeze that danced through time and space
It seemed to reach beneath my skin
A strange elation stirred within …
YOU AND ME
I do not dream for you to stay
We have had our time together
And our hearts are calling us on
To things they long to experience
And I am grateful for all we have shared
And I love us for our bravery
And I am humbled by our efforts
All of them
And I am curious - now - to see
What shape life will take for each of us
Beyond the known
Of you and me
A SUNNY DAY
The sun is up
The willows sway
I'm preparing for a sunny day
The wind is chill
The buildings grey
I'm preparing for a sunny day
The mind is clear
The soul's at play
I'm preparing for a sunny day
The heart is bruised
I'll be okay
I'm preparing for a sunny day
