Whisper

The moment the sea breaks
Ocean to wave to foam
Lying in darkness
Alone in body, in thought
Watching the fire spark
And die right down
Walls around me
Contained by secrets never seen
Beneath the stars
Honesty in costume
It’s the time I didn’t call
And what they never said
Breathing out, biding time
Running alone without name
It’s when the flame dies
When your name shifts to a whisper
And the smile it leaves behind

Alone

Tie the wool from your eyes
Across my vision
Bind my wrists
With the sinew and bone
Beneath the curve
You fought to find
And deny

Take the colour from my eyes
That look on in judgment
Cripple my feet
Tie my tongue
And free mind
To walk
in spaces between

Borrow the skin from her body
That walks with entitlement
Hang my head
Bury thoughts beneath
A rented body
and contracted mind
for hours of darkness
when the sun shines

Give the time between
Inside and asunder
Beats of knowing
And lines of doubt
Your coloured eyes
Blind you
To the footprints
Alone

Time

The time of the hour
is changing
as the wind swings direction
and calls my name
once more

The time of the hour
moves on
ever swiftly
no pause
for breathe
or contemplation
of more

The time of the hour
is dark before dawn
crushed by defeat
and weight of anguish
calling your name
in twisted moonlight sweat,
left without shadow
or incident
hands holding more
than before

The time of the hour
has a different name
shouting
to the moon
swathed in darkness
bathed
in breathlessness
panting
clutching
reaching
for the promise
that hangs in the wind.

Again

The plateglass spinning
in the rain
catches the water
and light
sending reflections
shooting across
the consciousness
buried beneath
the tree by the ocean
years ago.

Glass glistening
in darkness
lit only by memory
and a sense
of possibility
lingering
beneath reflection
and the sky
that covers my head
with a darkness
that closes my eyes
and helps me
to breathe.

Fragile touch
gentle moment
filled with expectation
and burden of pain.
Peace
by the fire,
a sanctuary
created
to lose you
and find you.
Again.

Cloth on your face

The cloth on your face
hides your eyes
and betrays your heart
when it sweeps in the wind

I can see what they saw
To feel the voice
Hands twisted
The breath assembled
in order
to convey
lines of light
beneath the robes

I can follow behind
the statues of holy
that crumble as you fall
Breath baited
body reaching
to
just
have
more

I can echo the words
that fall on the podium,
lead the heros on
to victory
and blood
that runs down their shield
all the way back home

I can banish the ones
that suppress
and conceal
the colours the cloth betrays
Black over black
touch over steel
writing the time
as it goes

I can speak in the voice
that been ringing in echoes
for days
at a time,
when nothing pervades
the depth of the want
hanging in shadows,
floating away on the wind

Darkness seeps

If I close my eyes
the darkness seeps
between the lids
and hides the time of judgement
Beneath the spread
of hidden places
a moment knows your name
Entrusted to the hands
that guide through plains
and conceal the lies by day
Embedded in the body
that covets and needs
in times breath unseen
the darkness seeps
and silently calls your name

Alone

Alone at night,
The shadows fall
before foot or hand awaken.
An unseen thought within
hides action without echo.

Alone by day
the thought replays
without precedence or limit.
The memory is desires glove
contained but not restricted.

Alone again
the shadows haunt
space and flesh unveiled.
Imprint guides the unseen land
touching, ever certain.

Alone within
the thought evades
constraint or even guidance.
Running fast, towards the next,
colours deep in resonance.

Alone with you
when midnight falls
the path of memory lain.
Hope and fear now merge together
promise waiting in the distance.

Alone at night
The shadows fall
The lights are now awakened
Memory tainted by imagined colours
Time's now evaporated.

Unseen Battlefield

The unseen battlefield
Beneath my feet
Falls in footsteps by day
Pulling and asking in silence
The debris cuts my body
Leaving shadows beneath my skin
That pull me to my knees by night
Haunted by memories
Of ghosts that touch
Of the tribe fallen
Days of accumulation
Bring life, longing, wanton
To drive the road
Staring at my own demons
Fighting from the hospital room
To the greens
And the sweet choice of freedom
The shroud of disbelief
Cannot erase the possibility
That those fallen
Once walked in my shoes



For Bob, Christine, Colin and Asa

The name you gave me

The name you gave me
Late at night
In the corner
Smoothed with liquor
As I struggled to keep warm
The name has carried
Has been freely given
Written on my body
In moonlight
Beneath twisted sheets
It has endured in places
Where time stood still
Existing in memories
Long since shattered
Fragments blowing in the wind

On the wind

In the bubble
is a world complete
Moulded to shape
Filled with space
Floating beyond the lines
Reflecting the outside
Coveted with briefness
Touch cannot be denied
Through the walls
and the borders
lies a secret within
Passing through lives unseen
Riding the current
Time and place past
Circles never completed
Invisible
Imagined
Capture is destruction
Memory and desire on the wind.