|
RITES AMONG MEN
There was a time I was in love with love;
Every man I met was the one for me;
Each night I'd gaze at the stars above,
Wishing for someone to be there for me.
Again and again, I mistook lust for love,
Reeling from my foolishness, loss and pain
Till one night, gazing at the stars above,
You came along, paused, put a hand in mine.
Two lonely men cruising, out for a thrill,
we savoured, believed in that first sad kiss;
Your mouth, arms, body heat in for the kill
Found me baring my heart for sacrifice...
Old gods applauding among stars above,
We rediscovered ancient rites, made love.
|
| | |
THE LAST CHAMELEON
Never thought to fall in love again,
as time passes, like kisses in the rain,
sunlight on the sea, moonbeams
chasing shadows, just as we would,
he and I, long gone, a dream to
cherish still though desire perish
like a fire left to smoulder as I
grew older - until I met you and at
first glance, extinguished flames
leapt and began dance a fantasia on
my heart, feeding its sleeping coals
with such light, such heat, storming old
defences, ravishing me where
I stand for just holding your hand,
engaging your smile, hear old gods
laughing at my heartbeat's frantic
leaping whenever you voice washing
over me, watching lips move that
I long to kiss, wondering what to say
and how to let you know I mean
every word, be sure you understand
the love you inspire in me, conspiring
with a stirring sexuality, no thought of
teasing you, only pleasing you,
new blood coursing through older veins
than yours but no reason for not
winging Avalon's towers, if only in the
sheer poetry of our being together,
whatever you decide, whether returning
these feelings I have for you the same
or choosing to give yours another name;
No matter. Love, friendship, company
of soulmates, our lifelines joined together
or passing at tangents to each other...
Fate, sure to have its wicked way with us,
happy, wishful, sad, ecstatic; a magic
roller coaster running madly, truly, deeply
for, however you choose to respond,
every moment worth the sharing, caring,
laughing, giving and taking that is love
in all shapes and forms, chameleon once
thought lost, returned home at last.
|
| | |
CRACKING THE CODE
Come a time when I die, who will know
or care that I ever walked this earth,
whose mother gave birth to a child-person
bound to spend a lifetime looking
for answers to questions where there are none,
love where there's only make-believe,
peace where there is but the pain of knowing
how things might have been...
but for wasted chances, missed opportunities,
wrong calls as a loaded dice falls
on ego's own gaming board, lost chords
of pretty songs meant to make rights out of petty
wrongs (and worse) but, sadly, merely adding
fuel to flames set on erasing names from certain
tapestries of memory wherein we would live
always so it might be said that, though dead
and gone, here is living proof that lonely people
walked this incredible earth, gave birth
to such words as they were never quite able
to attain in principle or purpose?
These at least, remain in someone's mind,
on someone's tongue, hopefully someone
taking the trouble to write them down for others
to make sense of, crack the code, learn from
our mistakes, replace a lost chord or two,
discover just what it is every poet strives for
and each human being lives for...
a fickle pursuit of happiness - or little more
than an alternative to loneliness?
Be humanity selfish, selfless, false or true,
flowers of the forest made to cry,
blessed am I, whose soul gave me to you
and you to me though, yes, we die.
|
| | |
SUPPER WITH LEO
(For Mike S.)
A great painting,
like supper with a friend,
says everything
Eating, drinking,
living, loving without end;
A great painting
Promising, denying,
sharing wine with a friend,
says everything
Giving, taking,
those trying hours we spend;
A great painting
Believing, disbelieving
what's seen, heard to the end,
says everything
Passion, suffering,
though death, too, a friend;
A great painting
says everything
|
|
|
