When I was a windy boy and a bit
And the black spit of the chapel fold,
(Sighed the old ram rod, dying of women),
I tiptoed shy in the gooseberry wood,
The rude owl cried like a tell-tale tit,
I skipped in a blush as the big girls rolled
Nine-pin down on donkey's common,
And on seesaw sunday nights I wooed
Whoever I would with my wicked eyes,
The whole of the moon I could love and leave
......
I do not ask for youth, nor for delay
in the rising of time's irreversible river
that takes the jewelled arc of the waterfall
in which I glimpse, minute by glinting minute,
all that I have and all I am always losing
as sunlight lights each drop fast, fast falling.
I do not dream that you, young again,
might come to me darkly in love's green darkness
where the dust of the bracken spices the air
......
Beloved,
In what other lives or lands
Have I known your lips
Your Hands
Your Laughter brave
Irreverent.
Those sweet excesses that
I do adore.
What surety is there
That we will meet again,
......
My need has frayed with time; you said it would.
It has; I can walk again across the flood
Of gold sil popples on the straw-gold hills
Under a deep Californian sky that expels
All truant clouds; watch squads of cattle graze
By the radio-telescope; blue-battered jays
Flash raucous squaking by my swivelling head
While squirrels sine-wave past over the dead
Oak-leaves, and not miss you_although I may
Admit that near the telescope yesterday
......
Dainty little Snowdrop
Peeping through the snow
You are so beautiful and white
How gracefully you grow. Dear, dainty little Snowdrop
So brave for one so small
You push your way through the hard, hard soil
To give pleasure to us all. Beautiful little Snowdrop
You are a harbinger of Spring
We know full well when you are gone
Other flowers will begin. But for all the beauty of other flowers
......
i was eating breakfast
when the morning sun warmed my skin
it was then that i belatedly realised
my skin wasn't tanned anymore
it no longer glowed in the sunlight
the last after a long string of
things i have lost in the past two years
i suppose, after all it's been
a catastrophic two years
......
i imagine leaning on the doorframe
paint peeling, wood cracked
a soft breeze ruffling by my hair
i imagine the tips of your fingers
upon the cold skin of my cheek
as i watch your face intently
i imagine seeing in your autumn gaze
something that would make a wreck of me
and my heart squeezes, maybe
just a little bit bitterly and so does my brow
......
I was a busy archaeologist, who enjoyed interesting and fulfilling work,
And I was very intrigued, with the ancient sites where mystery lurked.
My painstaking work caused me to travel, ofttimes to far distant lands,
As golden day weds silken nighttime, with rich, colorful wedding bands.
Having been raised in a remote area, I was now living faster in the city,
Except for slow motion parks and fields, where blooms flourished pretty.
Daily life can appear so sweet, when once you have achieved a dream,
......
The sun sheds a tear for the moon,
and the moon for the sun
For only a glimpse of the others is caught
before each must run
Since I had long fervently loved flowers, I had become a plant breeder,
Striving to create more perfect blooms, to make summertime sweeter.
My current task was the endeavor, at creating never before seen colors,
In much longer lasting, richer blooms, unlike their fathers and mothers.
Mine was very pleasurable work, that held wonderment and fascination,
And frequently surprises as well, like the beauteous rainbow sensation.
My social life was rewarding, too, and I loved giving the gift of flowers,
......