They paddle with staccato feet
In powder-pools of sunlight,
Small blue busybodies
Strutting like fat gentlemen
With hands clasped
Under their swallowtail coats;
And, as they stump about,
Their heads like tiny hammers
Tap at imaginary nails
In non-existent walls.
......
petals open blooms
to bursts of noon sunshine wow
eyes sudden surprise
blasts of sweet fragrance
wander beneath sun and stars
to thrill the senses
fiery eruptions
in bold pops of rich color
......
By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin' eastward to the sea,
There's a Burma girl a-settin', and I know she thinks o' me;
For the wind is in the palm-trees, and the temple-bells they say:
"Come you back, you British soldier; come you back to Mandalay!"
Come you back to Mandalay,
Where the old Flotilla lay:
Can't you 'ear their paddles chunkin' from Rangoon to Mandalay?
On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin'-fishes play,
An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!
......
Without you every morning would feel like going back to work after a holiday,
Without you I couldn't stand the smell of the East Lancs Road,
Without you ghost ferries would cross the Mersey manned by skeleton crews,
Without you I'd probably feel happy and have more money and time and nothing to do with it,
Without you I'd have to leave my stillborn poems on other people's doorsteps, wrapped in brown paper,
Without you there'd never be sauce to put on sausage butties,
Without you plastic flowers in shop windows would just be plastic flowers in shop windows,
Without you I'd spend my summers picking morosley over the remains of train crashes,
Without you white birds would wrench themselves free from my paintings and fly off dripping blood into the night,
Without you green apples wouldn't taste greener,
......
Nighttime ebony hues, turned to lovely shades of rose,
And a creamy moon yet shone, about to make its escape.
The song of praise commenced from the emerald treetops,
And other stirrings began the summer's day happenings.
I had awakened by and by, to dreamy roses in the sky!
I was pleased that day, a golden sun was coming my way,
With beauty in its wake, in charmed customary fashion.
The roses from my garden, sat fragrantly in the vase,
Waiting in silent patience, for deep admiration to go by.
A wonderful beginning to an exceedingly promising day,
......
petals open blooms
to bursts of noon sunshine wow
eyes sudden surprise
blasts of sweet fragrance
wander beneath sun and stars
to thrill the senses
fiery eruptions
in bold pops of rich color
......
Purple wildflowers
in the stained moments of day
Windswept disarray!
Fuchsia passion spreads for miles
Fetching jays and sunshine smiles.
Ebony shadows on the ground, a torrid afternoon,
Butterflies in the luscious roses, pinks on orange,
Swift flight of clamorous crows, black on sapphire,
Off toward hued sunset, that sets the world on fire,
Mystical mountain meadows, wildflowers in mists,
With the bright future ahead, of still, golden spells,
Clouds on lustrous dawn skies, in sunrise lavender,
Varying the vibrant color by the hours, in summer.
Whether in night raptures
or in the amber noonday
fancies,
The mind often escapes
to that magical place,
of deepest heart desires!
Some are fulfilled, maybe,
taking on colorful wings
like lazy summertime's
wafting, painted lady.
......
deep snows have fallen
and the firs are weighted down ~
beneath blue sky sun