By Jeremy Price
Lord Winter
Eden oh Eden
My nightmare
The First Bud of May
Nocturnal Wanderings
Raptor Rising
Hymn 1
The pursuit of the wolf
She Adieu
Summers Sister
Bride of the Dark Tree
Fragments
Be You Just One
Lord Winter
Morose the ghost of winter’s eve
The transition of seasons does he weave
Alone and forgotten in summers past
He walks in silence and ever last
His foot falls are the silence upon old lands
Storm clouds enshroud upon his delicate hands
His coat is the marriage of snow and night
A silk scarf splash of bloody autumn twilight
He trails in the wake of autumn leaves
The tail of his coat musical patterns weaved
He whispers a whimsical sorrow filled song
As if to say could I do wrong?
His blazing eyes sapphire frost
His grin so quick it’s often lost
His ears they hear every sound
Especially when there is word of winter around
And what do they whisper as he saunters by
With his smile all cunning as his eyes say hi
Does they cross there heart and hope to die
Or clutch their heart and hope he will pass by
And what is he imagining as he wonders by
As he raises his head against the winter sky
As he looks to the west and hears a crow cry
And feels the dampness of a snow storm sky
He thinks good thing I made that man stack wood
That lady make the fruit cake pood
The kids run all around
And collect the sticks that are upon the ground
He thinks it will pay off though he will never admit why
As he winks just once at the storm filled sky
Now he sees clouds near as black as night
And riding their winds a yellow kite
He is seeing the sky thick with rain
Thunder rumbling with the clouds pain
Now he is seeing a tin lined roof
Covered in moss yet weather proof
A door a knock is all it will take
With his looks and charm his home he will make
And in there the lord of winter will hide
He will con the owner until he takes his side
He will find the best place against the fires light
And wrap around himself a big blanket tight
He will con some soup and supper too
And most definitely will have the use of the loo
He most definitely will be staying the night
And if he took your bed you said it was alright
Now a day or a month might become the past
The lord of winter on my word will surely last
He will charm you and disarm you and until he has had his fill
A month or 3 later he will disappear over a distant hill
It won’t be winter on that day
The woods will be filled with spring hurray
The sky will be both round and blue
And to your morning greeting he will reply lord who?
There will be nothing left in the larder too
Nothing left for he ate that true
There will be a place near the fire in his shape
Where he sprawled and crawled and threw his cape
And in the sky there will be a golden light
The flippant yellow of a soaring kite
Floating slowly against a summer sun
And through this summer lord winter will run
Eden oh Eden
A wind whispering a triviality, to the world and to itself
A wind born within the nights darkness, haseth naught else
A sea sat placid within the darkness dark and deep
Spread like liquid night between the space that horizons keep
The stars of thy heavens shimmered all abound
Upon this clear night of spring, their light in darkness profound
A boat sat tethered upon the beach of an islands rocky shore
Amidst the to and fro of oceans and beneath moon law
Ivory avian wings of waves broken forth from the sea
To rise from the darkness to crest but to never break free
To wash in turmoil upon this smooth oceanic expanse
To fall again to ambiguity and subdued romance
And upon this island of wind, the morning dawn came
Like a distant revelation it arose with crimson red frame
Arising fair sun, do thee grace this enchanted scene
To grace the sweet suffering melancholy of the serene
To be caught as though frozen, the night trapped in time
Released as though from purgatory by crisp sunshine
And upon thy island a figure stood
His face obscured by a dark deep hood
A man that the sun seemed shun to shine
For he walked only in evil and devilish moon shine
He stood in such silence as though not alive
Then he turned crisp steps to the waters side
A knife in the moonlight he tried to hide
Though it flashed in the dawn light by his side
And upon thy stranded vessel, upon closer inspection
A white cloth wreathed figure with a fine fair complexion
Languished, lazing and part naked from stern to bow
A wisp of blonde hair lay upon her breast and upon her brow
Her limbs stretched in sweet suffering repose
Within this fair morning perhaps did she doze?
And for naught but the breathe within her breast
That rose and fell like a rhythmic wave crest
One could believe her dead and gone from this world
Though her life within the sanctity of wood, was indeed safely held
Perfect possessor of symmetry, such grace of feminine form
A bright becoming beauty that had its twin in the dawn
And her features though still, lost within gentle sleep
Were enough to make an angel break down and weep
For Eden, oh for Eden such bountiful beauty wrought
From why and from where upon this boat was she brought?
And like a herald the gentle wind did invoke
Softly within the scene it quietly spoke
She is the beauty of the past
The bountiful lustful ever last
She is the prisoner of the dark one
The one whom the sun does rightly shun
He who brought her here to slit her throat
To take her life and then to set her afloat
A bag of gold in his callous cruel hand
A gift from a king from a foreign land
Maiden of the water born true
Sensual grace born and worn anew
Wake now for great danger does abound
Cried the sea and the breeze aloud
But still she did not move, in still life repose
Perhaps some small poison made her doze
For if thy beauty cannot wake
From him we will help thee to escape
The wind then sang of deliverance as it caressed the sea
It put winds in the sail to make it break free
Together the sea and wind awoke the boat from sleep
The sail of the boat that the land did keep
The wind it blew into the yards of white loom
While the ocean below rose to give the keel room
Together it was like their child amidst the rising sun
A creature that with their powers had became their loved one
With a shudder and a pitch the vessel was filched free
To take its consignment across the sea
The hooded one cried to see it go
But upon this sea he could not follow it so
He cursed and raised his evil hand
And promised a blight to follow her to new land
For a day the vessel sailed under a serpentine sky
And for a day did she silently, sleepily lie
Then some evil came upon the distance, dark and grey
Something wicked that came swiftly her way
Perhaps something summoned from an evil hand
To destroy her before her vessel found again land
For morning storm did abound in the corner of this world
Dark drapery to rival mountains the horizon held
The dark billow of madness and nightmare dreams
Tore forth within darkness the lightening gleams
Monochrome marvelous and the tremble that is sound
The world awaited awed, the storm inbound
Wake fair angel, the wind cried
Ride this storm, the sea sighed
Master this vessel, they both cried
But still beauty in sleep did she lie
Small waves grew upon this nebulous world
Sails tug cruelly to thy mast that it be held
Sky’s above slowly darken to consume the morning light
Though some escape thy turbulence to contrast the storms might
Rain first falls, pattering to glaze blistered wood
That which has born testimony to all it has withstood
To bequeath thee vessel again, a rich new splendour
To grace its deck with a rich dark hued ember
Though then to soak thy slip of her dress through
But still promised queen did sleepeth true
The storm rose to a catastrophe all around
Jagged lightening strikes between heaven and sea resound
White walls of water higher than sight
Rose to carry thy vessel far from the light
Though for some reason the vessel bore true
Parting the waves with its single sleeping crew
Riding the storm like a white knight
It vanished under wave crest to appear again in sigh
Though soon the storm dispersed to a grey flat sky
The storm clouds spent, used up and dry
The lightening again darkly sheathed
And the thunder again within cloud secretly wreathed
With the storms departure, deliverance soon came
As the sea and wind became again tame
Float she did as though forever in this becalmed place
Until she came across the sea to another place
And gently thy vessel nudged dry land
And was steered upon the shallows by a strong firm hand
For Eden, oh for Eden such beauty wrought
From why and from where upon this boat was she brought?
And like a herald the gentle wind did invoke
Softly within the scene it quietly spoke
He is the man come to her at last
The forever king for ever last
He the descendent of noble line
The one whom the sun does softly shine
He who guided her to this very shore
She whom he does adore
A silver ring on his callous kind hand
He the king of this foreign fine land
And with a simple kiss she awoke from sleep
Tears in her eyes as though she would weep
Then to look into fine fair eyes
Against the plethora of pale blue skies
Ivory avian wings of waves, broken forth from the sea
To rise from the darkness to crest and now to break free
To wash in promise upon this smooth oceanic expanse
To fall again into the promise of sweet romance
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Cometh to life my nightmare
Behind a veil in which sunlight hangs
Half the world drifts to sleep
The other half lithely awakens
Amidst this nightly deep
For when the damp of dusk gathers
Upon the remnants of the day
The fiery light of fabulous butterflies
Dance amidst this still eve of May
In this place pines shall rear
Against an amber western sky
An ancient need shall fill all things
As all things shall feel and sigh
And when moths shall replace the butterflies
Alive upon the trees
Darkness too shall replaces daylight
As silence again will fills the eaves
Now all unmade expectations
Art now laid to rest
Perhaps to again resurface
At the dreams persistent request
Farewell thee diurnal world
So bright alive and gay
Greet thee my dream world
For here thy shall tarry until day
Because on the other side of midnight
Daylight dwells on the doorway to a dream
In the space of reassembled memories
The past is rewritten and then made clean
And where angel flight and ghost dance
Are a welcome timeless escape
When comfort is a soothing word
And we wish to never awake
When within idleness and eiderdown
Within renewal we partake
We toast our day’s triumphant tragedies
As in sleep we recreate
And even when our cherished ones
Snuggle against our sleep
As though within and amidst this darkness
Some companion we can keep
And even as arms and legs
Now softly naturally entwine
The darkness of sleep does persist
As in jealousy to cruelty unbind
For it is only when we are truly alone
Amidst this diaphanous delicate world
That our thoughts will be left to roam
Until no truth is left withheld
Moulded meticulous architecture
Amidst the murmur of this night
Visions that are memories
Fill our unconsciousness and our sight
For here awaits us something special
Something that is all ours
Because somewhere deep inside of us
In the darkness something prowls
Upon the contorted rope of reason
It cunningly climbs its way out
Following this ancient well trod path
It peers in as we look out
Cometh to life thy nightmare
Bringer of stolen dreams
Lonely lost dream child
Drowning within this stream
Dark majestic romanticism
Swirls and swims all around
Within the past the future the fantasy
Thy world is slowly drowned
Secrets soon to discover
With a frail and frightened hand
Let me dear God flee
From this strange and foreign land
Corporal body strangled
Amidst sweat and bleak bed clothes
Limbs involuntary clasp and kick
At unseen terrible foes
And when you seem to know all
Of the nightmares insatiable thirst
When all has been thrown back to you
And thine soul has not felt worse
Only then shall thy be delivered from thee
Upon this new born day
The gentle touch of sunshine kiss
To bless you where you lay
Top of Form
Nocturnal Wanderings
Wanderer below the night and mist
Endless avenues of aimless ways
Leaving the warmth of the fire
The beckoning arms of sleep
And the comforting colloquy of human kin
Pacing the desperate paths above the rocks
Amidst the sable silvered moonlight
And the sounds of day creatures dreaming
A time given to amble and converse
With the daughters of Arcadian memories
Pondering daylight and its bright mortality
As though a vision sent from the coloured world
A tightrope walking the edge of indefinite shadows
Where to stumble means to fall
Into this uncouth night of immortality
Walking beneath a reign of courteous stars
Alone within this contemplative night
Losing reason upon the nights fancy
While following the perambulations of the mind
Into places where monsters fear to tread
Squandering amidst whispery waterways
There is suddenly water splashing all around
Ears filled with the sound
A fast flowing river reflecting dappled lunar light
Broken by rock and crisp clear river spray
Soaking feet in this wet birth of insecurity
Before stumbling up dry bouldered bank
Over the driftwood of ancient life preserved
Wallowing for a time amidst beech and bracken
Then stepping over the illusion of empty shadows
Raising a weary head to heavenly stars
That gleam through the canopy of festive trees
Cloaked in the dressings of spring
But alas born invisible into this grey night
With all thought of colour hidden from this world
Regaining the path and abashed dignity
Only to have it taken again upon a prickled branch
Wavering amidst the throes of a night breeze
But at once the soft caress of evening alms apologise
With the gentle smell of wild rose
Dallying upon the dusk of evening lands
Tripping and consorting with pebble and stone
The steady grind of millennia underfoot
Upon the edge of the ancient
Amidst the whims of this primordial dreamland
Bearing fancy upon malicious night creatures
That only stalk the deepest shadows
Wishing to cry to this lonely lunar land
A ragged scream of the primitive within
But instead falling silent in dignified civilised shame
Crawling below the dark silhouette of distant crags
Rearing lovingly like knife blades upon rounded pastures
Alone amidst the nights deadly contemplation
In a place where precarious falls are just stranger paths
That become lost within a deeper more immortal darkness
Clasping at shadows and dreams in the darkness
While wandering the primitive paths of the forgotten
Then tasting the wisp of wood smoke yonder
And hearing upon the air the garbled echo of voices
That breech the eerie barrier between worlds
Going again to the mocking embrace of men
The boisterous laughter of boys
Where all doubt is lost upon the tip of flapping tongues
Drowned forever within the well of communal taste
And exhaled as sweet lies upon spicy smoke filled air
As the fire blazes forth in welcome and warmth
In this moment you cannot move fast enough
Then stumbling tripping falling
Leaving the sanctity of shadows
You again enter the solace of light
Top of Form
The First Bud of May
Amidst the empty trees of winter
I held spring within my hand
A testimony to stagnation
To the eternity of winter land
And as skeleton limbs clawed
As though to founder winter sun
The world slept in silence
Dreaming of why spring had not begun
When the white cloak of winter
Was draped upon the ground
The silence unreal
The world without sound
It was here I could feel spring moving
Silk touch of velvet lace
Its timid naked sadness
As my hand trembled in disgrace
It called forever softly
Please let nature be
Let me return to the world
Let me be free
It painted each word
With a delicate bouquet
The portent wisp of jasmine
The fresh smell of hay
It drenched each intonation
With a pallet of vivid colour
Hues to stir the spirit
To present to a lover
Oh spring how I know thee
Our fates forever entwined
Even amidst this mutual distaste
Still comfort we did find
Now thy must wonder
How spring found its way here
Why it has been so long
And why I know such fear
A solitary walk
One wintry wandering way
A chance to form winter verse
Before the start of May
Then to look down
Irksome and disdain
There the first bud of spring
Winters poems bane
This perfumed bud of May
Was from meristem cruelly torn
Delicate floral softness
Against this aged hand worn
A wish to crush so softly
This perfumed grace
To drink of the aroma
From this cruel embrace
But instead decide to treasure
This first bud of May
To put it in thy pocket
Amidst the worlds dismay
Why I did this thing
I do not truly know
But when I put it in my pocket
So too did spring go
Months went by
And green did not come
The trees stood desperate skeletons
Silent and glum
The snow did not melt
And the streams stayed a froze
The birds did not sing
While by the fire I did doze
I at once tried to write
Winters frigid word
With a shaking hand
To compose an icy dirge
But no words ever came
And though I knew why
I could not give spring back
To winter wearisome sky
Of course I wished
To send her upon her way
To farewell the sky
And its somber despairing grey
To relinquish her fragrance
Her softness and my guilt
For I knew though I need not look
That slowly she did wilt
Now a year later
Within winter land
I still hold spring
In the palm of my hand
But now figures uncurl
Light is allowed in
This spring bud of May
Its life to begin
Was it love or guilt?
That visited me that day
When a lonely year later
Spring came to stay
Poetry no more of stagnation
Let spring sing
Let winter fall from this land
Let this new world begin
Top of Form
Raptor Rising
Above the distant rapacious earth thought flew
Within thou mystic web of starlit dew
Within precious night, between evergreen boughs
Beneath celestial star that light dimly endows
You share thy heavens with a slice in the night
The lunar orb of reflected light
This place the silence of a forest in sleep
In which prey and hunter like lovers meet
You saviour the sweep of a frozen mirror lake
You fall to dip thy rapturous will to satiate
Soon thy shall sleep and wake at lunar birth
But for a while thy loner shall not reap from this earth
Instead thy shall make a harvest of a different kind
Fly night angel who are in the daylight blind
These nights I dream of a distant forest place
My body fallen in sweat and disgrace
The sheets around me so desperately entwined
Within this desperate darkness body bind
My eyes squint desperately as though they wish to hide
Again this dream I wish to ride
And within this vision that I distantly bare
Another soul, a strange metamorphosis I wear
And when I wake for a moment I hear such sound
A catastrophe of noise spread all around
My eyes can see within a darkened room
They can peer within this desolate gloom
Another night, another dream, I am free
Come for a time and fly with me
Upon the gray sky of heaven I flee to my place
To perch upon a branch of silence, while this morsel I taste
Ravishment of woes and partaker of bloody wine
Shadow upon virgin snow, whilst on innocence I dine
Twin eyes I possess, born of sun yellowed fire
I stare into the darkness the rimed washed mire
And in dreams I bring to thy feathered breast
The last quivering breathe of thy creature to rest
Good night my dear soul, thy were my prey
A flurry of wings I’m gone into the snow sky gray
This elation this speed and silence at my call
This rapture to sweep the skies and then to land fall
The rain drips a drape upon ivory pavements
I can smell the earth and its lonely bereavements
From this window to this city, mildewed drapery in hand held
I can see all that the world promised and that time has withheld
Down upon the shoulders of concrete boulevards
I hear the chant of consumerist hymns pour from techno bards
From my perch in the darkness I see all things
My senses though dull experience brings
I weep at this fate and this city that abounds me
Soon be it night and the darkness let it astound me
Come to me my night time bird, come to me my distant friend
Come within this foreign cradle, this synthetic haunt of men
These nights I have seen you from my window true
Amidst rush hour traffic and pedestrians you flew
I saw you alight, atop a signpost
A snow white creature, a wind born ghost
So why my night angel does your path take you this way?
Towards this night side kingdom of suffocating dismay
Why are you here pale creature of this night?
That which I have longed for amidst neon and red light
From whence thou came over crag and rime washed snow
Upon a breeze so cold that few of us will ever know
Where nocturnal currents are buoyant within a cold breeze
Sailing thou majestic zephyr atop thou pine trees
Thy come to brush thou wing against this filth sky of men
This dirt grey sky of corporate greed and apathetic brethren
To plunder darkened doorways and back alley vermin
To reap the wonders of neon balustrade, gaudy light verbatim
To perch a silent white ghost atop graffiti-ed signpost
To sweep thy eyes down upon the crawling metropolis host
To dip ebony wing upon alabaster pavements
Here to carry from me all of my bereavements
A cruising solitary wanderer beneath this skyscraper sky
You greet this city with white wing and owl cry
In dreams I feel the soft touch of your feathers close
Such a flutter upon my face like a moon warmed ghost
The cold clasp of your steel claws, a cold embrace
The light within moonlight eyes, makes my heart race
An ivory breast and feathers that dance in the air
With the spread of your wings, gone without a care
Thought found on dawns pillow, so softly doth it repose
A gift of moon captured gladness, fallen near where I doze
A gift from distant skies where you flew
Where a wandering you came to me, white wanderer
Adieu
This city dressed with world poverty and awash with bad taste
Petty misplaced perverted romance, riding fashion and disgrace
Finish this foul amalgamation with commercial tunes and electric light
Art thy city simulacra, as lonely as us all on this night?
The city is in motion, some would call it a living thing
Dance with it for a while, take it for a fling
Flung like a used newspaper gossip column, consumed and read
It will leave you penniless and broken on the street for dead
Nocturnal night creature of despotic night time woe
Crawl if you can back into the darkness from retail light go
Please sleep thy electric lights so darkness we can again know
So again in our consciousness nature can grow
Dusk abound amidst this city of unrest
This time I must say you are at your best
Electronic monoliths surmount thy darkened sky
Twisted towers of Babylon rear so ever high
Mechanical insects weave all around
The shadows of police choppers silhouetted upon the ground
Upon these gaudy metropolis walls, advertising sin
Consume to reach enlightenment then throw it in the bin
And down below thy sewers, encrusted in waste
Above the foot falls of workers who can only race
This place a place to forget our mortality with all haste
Rushing toward a present our children will never taste
A testimony to all that is perishable and all that is fake
Destruction and deliverance it shall soon take place
I wander through back streets of this conglomerate abode
My distaste, my contempt, my burdensome load
I lay crumpled against the night’s soft throes
Bespoken, forgotten, worn thin repose
I trip startled upon this crisp gray curb
Awoken pale contemplation, lonely night wanderer disturbed
I glimpse a glimpse of people as they pass by
I wish again to see through angel owl eye
I walk awash in this synthetic born sovereignty
Alive momentarily within this land of calamity
Noise polluted senses instinct I suppress
Within this sea of distraction I slowly digress
Faceless bodies push through the fray
Amidst this dense feed of humanity, I soon lose my way
I stumble and fall and reach for the sky
A glimmer of white passion in the corner of my eye
I see you again white, against this ash filled sky
I long for your sound, your lonely cry
I reach for you as though to motion you close
But then you are gone my wind born ghost
In desperation I climb towards avian haunts
My clumsy feet upon red fire exit taunts
Between the filth of cityscape my life is held
In a place of fears where dream lives are felled
Crucified between towering steel monuments of men
I will to meet thee, amidst steel fluorescent fen
In this place sweat glazes my glossy pimpled brow
In the crisp wind my body feels feverish and foul
In the purity of this air, my hands clammy and my grip sour
This building how I detest it and yet against it I cower
In this night my arms shake and my body aches
Warmth from my body, this city takes
Then I glimpse you ever so high
A splash of purity against this polluted sky
Then I ascend slowly with new strength
“Who who” you seem to cry from arms length
I see you flutter, forever close
Ah, my beauty, you my winter ghost
Then with a desperate, dangerous and foolish need
Tampered with disappointment loss and greed
I reach for that which I had only dreamed
That in which I knew I could feel redeemed
And just as you flutter so desperately near
The sight of you takes from me all fear
With courage I then reach, far too quickly
From fire exit escapade, I lurch sickly
The city below me a sea of light
The buildings like trees in this portent night
A soft wind blows and it’s all I need
I see through owl eye as I fall freed
I watch this body fall silently away
Back towards this damned city and moral decay
I raise then white wing “me me” I silently sing
On these wings to me, wilderness I bring
Top of Form
Hymn 1
I can’t hear snow fall
But then that is its beauty
I can see it though
Falling and falling
Against a back drop
Of white washed grey
It falls
Some kind of purity
Born from the darkness of the sky
Like a cascade of gentle dreams
That watch the world float by
I can hear rain falling
But from inside
I cannot see it
But then that is its beauty
To sound the same anywhere
To be the reminiscence
The nostalgic sweep
Of purity in the dark
To wash away sin
And to make the world new
I can see sun shining
It lights upon my eyes
Like a fresh new moment
As though god opened his mind
And lent the radiance of himself
To us for a while
Though sometime it is too much
And I must turn to the shadows
For it is only here
That I can find my identity
And not be swept aside
By a soul
This large
I can see stars shinning
Like holes in the night
They grace my mind with their purity
There distance is unimaginable
And yet sometimes I feel they are so close
They will be here when this world has gone
But one day they to will join us
In the darkness
And know like we do the silence
That is sleep
I can hear wind blowing
But I can see it not
Like emotion
I can only see its effect
On things around me
I like that it can be so much
Quite like a caress
A subtle frightened brush
Like the kiss of two minds
Like eyes and how they meet
Momentarily in the dark
Though most of all I like wind as a gale
A frightful tempest
That makes us feel not so certain
On these days it as though
The wind has swept an amalgamation
Of human emotion here and there
So that the ether is made electric with it
So that when it is gone
We feel as nothing
I don’t know the ocean
Yet I love how at ease
It is with its secrets
It waves mysteriously
As though it knows
All to well what is left hidden
Its fickleness is a marvel
I like it when it grows up
A maelstrom of anger and emotion
Sometimes I would like to drown with in it
And then I think of its loneliness
And I crawl back to land
I am a river
Sometimes I flow opaque
As though I was not water
But darkness
Sometimes though
When all is well with the world
I am the flow of light
Transparent to the world
To my dreams
To people
I want to know what water is
We are much like water
In volume
And yet we have lots
To learn from its nature
The night ha ha
We think that in darkness
We can find obscurity
We are foolish
In the night we find our reflection
The night is a mirror to our souls
And sleep is the pathway
We wake
All our fears and foolishness
Intact
Our loves, our dreams
Intact
With the sun they disappear
And yet for days
Weeks
Months
Years
Decades
Centuries
They linger
Top of Form
The pursuit of the wolf
Haunted forest boughs amidst sylvan splendour
The silent sweep of autumn the crisp smell of November
A cold hand thy clutch at thy frigid dawn
a mist of magic and majesty upon this land born
Of wispy wanderings upon mountain ways
And snow spilt ilk upon bloody brier maze
And Red leaf a fallen crimson upon pale silk
Autumn it always prospers a serene yet silent ilk
For beauty had no name before this promised day
For this morning brought rain into misty mountain way
This is the place the trail of thy fated chase
A silent haunted hallowed hunting place
Set amidst ancient fern everglade
Silent for the dawn the moon shall soon fade
And as the moon relinquishes, its lonely zeal
The sun will soon rise and too will come it’s will
First upon pine it will send timid touch
Languish for a time and no know hint of rebuff
Then it will search deeper and deeper still
Already the beginning the diurnal dawns thrill
Dark tendrils within pine tree bows
Thick black thickets where no wolf howls
Places that reek of unconscious sleep
Places that reek of the dreams that we seek
And two beings a dreaming within a downy doze
Languishing and marvelling at all that they suppose
One dreams of hunting as the forest blurs by
The other a grazing under bright blue sky
And yet soon they will unite with this common tie
Of this we can be sure before the day is nigh
And when a crisp wind blows and the dark one feels need
He will stir in the darkness and strong will be his greed
Savage silhouette snarling do take heed
Muscles lithe for leaping and a mouth made to feed
Coat of gray and white and a grin born the same
Ears tenacious trembling this way the creature came
And though it be predator silence and the storm
Its beauty be breath taking and deadly be its form
Bespoken lonesome beauty released upon flock
Green eyed beautiful gray beast perched still upon rock
Its eyes sparkle with playful sin
Truly it is carnivores’ kin
Silent slavering deadly form as though from a fairy tale it be torn
For all is the chase and the chase is all
Until beast or bird to it doseth fall
A silent reproachful malice it surely knows
Devoid of consciousness a statue amidst snow
And then off with a preternatural playful bound
Pity thy creature that this day be found
Somewhere away later that day
The creature of light stirs in crisp warm hay
A creature of innocence within a dainty dose
A place of languished warmth absent of all foes
A place of meadow dreams and sunlit fun
Calm beguiling grazing for this dainty one
Though for every dream there must be an awakening
For this one this time is now for the day is in the making
It came of course with a kiss from the sun
Awaken fair creature your sleep be gently done
And with a leap a spring and a bound
Off thee creature go from sleep without a sound
Later that day doe a gently graze
Within forest field and gentle everglade
Amidst it wonders without a care
Fair thee fragile fawn how do though fair?
You wander hither and wither where you may
But then comes to you a shadow a hint of dismay
The casting of shadows upon virgin green earth
Claw like perfect footfalls cast still upon the earth
For what creature came here and what was its worth?
Was it a friend of the doe or something of mirth?
The doe does then sense a remembered smell
Something it knows all too well
Something that prospers thoughts unwell
Some small tiding of a possible hell
Something that it knows from a distant past
Something blood hungry fierce and fast
Snap!
A bower brakes with an ongoing rush
Something made of shadow
Painted with a dark brush
Something predatory swift and unseen
Something for blood and bones
Deliciously licked clean
Oh though poor doubtful doe
Trembling heart at this foe
For what be this day but woe
Oh soon small thing you shall know
Flee into the thicket flight you may
For death will greet you if you dare to stay
The pursuit of the wolf surely holds sway
This is what it was built for fear and dismay
Though doe young and dear wings are lent to your flight
Wings made of fear to escape the night
Together thee go a dashing
In front and behind
Hunter and hunted
Fatedly entwined
Limb over log
As swift as flight
Doe the wolf will catch
With all its might
Through thorny hamlet rose repose
Caught and trapped there though darling doe
Your flank a wilful glistening shudder
Though fair eyes a dainty dimly flutter
Tremble though will for thought
No freedom with effort hardly bought
Eyes peer so wearily all around
In search of cover upon the ground
Yet you shall not find that which you seek
Save for the darkness that behind you does keep
Though faint curiosity doseth dwell
Within eyes that tears slowly well
As darkness does draweth closely near
Brave doe does turn devoid of fear
This creature to darkness dimly born
A filthy vicious creature tried and sworn
A thing that thinks only of flesh and bone
Grisly gray meat makes it moan
It thinks not of sweet doe delight
Alive upon its feet and upright
It thinks only of the last embrace
it will put no meat too waste
Together they cometh
Nose to nose
Eyes look into each other
Twin statue stilted pose
Breath to breath
To breathe each other’s soul
To taste upon the tongue
The spirit whole
Then as though earth stands still
As the forest holds its breath its will
A wolf a turned tail and slyly smiled
And went back silently into the wild
Top of Form
The Violin
April thy promised thy frost
That I walked upon that dawn
The ice of tempered resignation
Crystal tears amidst earth formed
The dull promise of winter
Oh, how it had found its way in
Settled its way into stomach
Where its life will begin
Here I come a lonely
Though with strange thoughts born
Upon my back my burden
Old leather grazed and torn
From where this burden came
I do not rightly know
Though mine it is to carry
To death or to woe
And with it I will be winters herald
To these sun filled lands
Cold are the fingers
Of my poor pale hands
Cold is the look in my gaze
Surmounted by ice, windy watery ways
Winter will come
And long shall it stay
Amidst the towers of evergreen
And the red, so red shade of rose
When the sun forest was made of silence
And on that day the sound of crows
Here I walk silent, less I make a sound
Soon shall come the catastrophe
But for now shall silence abound
Save the crush of leaves, upon thy frozen ground
As Grief a trembled in the long grass
Of spear shaped regret
I remembered the plains of innocence
When we last met
You, the excepting silence
Of a sleeping room
The flicker of a small candle
Alive in the gloom
The shared warmth of fingers
And hands that thou seek
Across the space of consciousness
And the gentle touch of sleep
Though now you sleep forever
While forever is the place I seek
Now to come to a glade
A marvelously wonderful place
The first smile sprung lightly, sardonically
Upon thy face
Fallen now upon thy knee
Amidst fern everglade
A symphony of grief stricken sadness
Such lonely sounds to be made
And upon the ground did I rest thy case
Deep, dark and travel stained
Your well worn brass fixtures encased
Varnish tarnished and maimed
To see ingrained the journeys
Distant places attained
Places that have heard your rapture
And places that have heard your pain
These places such stories
Softly ordained
Painted with oil
And in memories framed
Salt enraptured fabulous
Crag cry terror born
Storm shrouded balconies
The crown of cities born
Misty Mountain reaches
And the urban hallways of men
The gutter crawling carrion stench
Of our brotherly brethren
The lustrous licentious maidens
To whom you so liked
The ones that would have escaped with you
Into the night
Those that would barter for you
With silk enclosed hands
Painted white faces
And crisp flickering fans
Those that would have stolen you
Without a fuss
And dragged you to the market
To collect cobwebs and dust
And yet amidst velvet interior
And comfort reposed
You remain here safely, softly enclosed
A glistening tool of romanticism
Within a gently dosed
Strings of amber tender
Taught against wood repose
Just a little adjustment
And a singing you will go
And then a creak of string
And rich warm wood
My friend we understand each other
Like no one else could
Even that pale petal
Female fatale go
Did not understand us
And apart did we grow
She could not abide you
And your beautiful eternal wood
If she could have destroyed you
Oh yes, she certainly would
To awake you my beautiful
For I shall make you sing
I shall bring you to life
And give my grief wings
Nestled also tenderly above my heart
Never again shall us and the music part
Discordant harmony
Of violin arpeggios
Dark crash minor chords
And deep dark lows
Nocturne romanticized madness
The thrash of the violin bow
Soul screams of instrumental suffering
And then a jig we shall know
The thrash of naked strings
The bow, how it is strained
Fingers work a catastrophe
As the neck creeks and strains
Fingers upon rose board
Dancing a despotic jig
Fingers flutter preternaturally
Over this polished rig
Up so high, then down so terribly low
The workings of bloody art
A trembling vibrato
Desperate despotic avalanches
Of love death and hate
Soul destroying dirges
That make our limbs quake
Empty we fall evangelized
Our souls made great
Upon the cold earth
In spiritual freedom partake
Memories colored with madness
Infuse this dying heart
Pour forth disharmony
This magical musical art
This glorious musical catastrophe
that in which we partake
Through this spiritual medium
Within creation we awake
And while this melody tears asunder
And the seasons weave around
Winter came to this land
Without a sound
And within the passion of this dirge
As winter takes hold
I think of you my beauty
And then comes the cold
And deep beneath the snow
A violin waits for spring
For its new life
Is soon to begin
Top of Form
She Adieu
Midnights caress, upon dusks beach boulders
The fall of dark tresses, over the curvature of shoulders
Smooth perfect limbs against horizon bloom
Arising and subsiding with the oceans loom
Alight and prospering, against the sea born night
A stark contrast to the majesty of night
The bereavement of oceans breath, upon lighthouse shore
An ode to oceans and their distant roar
The heavens form a face, an embellishment of suns
And upon these features, to you does my mind run
In the sweep of Orion’s belt, I see mischief’s smile
As the flicker of the stars, dance with me for a while
They flirt with a quick and desperate ease
Then turn their back, as though they have no need
The type of serenade that bring mortals to their knees
And small silent whispers that speak of attention and greed
Startled from the contemplation of metaphors law
My introverted eyes surely want for more,
What is it that I see walking towards me
Against the parting, of the mirror like sea?
I see a distant figure upon a lonely beach
A silhouette against the place, where sand and water meet
In this place, where two worlds greet
She weaves upon the sand, an imprint of feet
They are a testimony to all that has been
Until the ocean sweeps in and washes them clean
She wanders slowly across windswept sand
Shoes dangling from one laconic hand
She, captured in the romance of a falling sun
The red glow of passions, a halo for this young one
Then she stops and stands strangely still
A statue alive, yet still able to feel
She seems to hear a distant voice
And then she seems, to make a difficult choice
It is then that she begins her lonely dance
Her trembling tip toe of sweet romance
Her first foray, into chance
Her first understanding, of true romance
What does she hold to as she serenades by
As she raises her hands to the magenta sky?
Is it for her audience, that she does swoon,
Or to her pale counterpart, the rising moon?
Or is it to the distant heavens above
That part and release a pale white dove?
Or is it simply to the promise of love?
She serenades herself to a song, that only she knows
Tabular drums, sitar and eastern tangos
Her voice rises as she sings notes long
Primal passions, forever strong
She falls so suddenly, as though sensing defeat
And curls down low, to where earth and water meet
Her touch gentle, explores this world
Trying to learn from it, all it has withheld
All that is buried beneath the oceans complection
Is it nothing to her save a mirror for reflection?
What can she know save for what the tide has held
And that which storm seas, have captured and felled
So she feels for the sand but can only feel grit
It feels like time itself, so she releases it
It reminds herself of things gone by
Things that when remembered, make her cry
Though between her fingers, she finds something new
Something that was time, though beautiful too
Inscribed with the words, to She Adieu
From the moon, I am thinking of you
She smiles then, like a light in the night
The flash of white teeth, as though they have their own light
As though she remembers something, that makes it alright
As she wishes, if only, I could hold this tight
And keep it for all of the lonely night
The ocean then makes a murmur of magic
Its hidden depths speak anew of the fantastic
The land resounds, with all that is sound
As the earth begins again, its journey around
She vanishes then as though she had never been
As her shallow footsteps are washed clean
The ocean retreats, as though it has never been
And the rift between ocean and land is redeemed
A dark night disappears, over a deserted dawn
Windswept sands sun born
Air, the sea, and land to be
A white dove flies upon the horizon free
The sweep of curvature on horizon come
And arise upon it, the great red sun
Crisp cold with dawn soon warmed
Till the warmth of midday is slowly formed
As a warm wind blows upon sea sky star
The words of precious poetry are carried afar
As wishes are sent towards a distant star
The world cries silently, hurrah, hurrah
Top of Form
Summers Sister
Languor and pale loitering
Amidst summer splendor
Weave the sky with fire
And call it sweet December
The forest sings of thy summer
A subdued yet timid plot
A song to send to sleep
All who tarry and care not
The ground does tempt thy eyes
With soft undulation
Solar caress undress
The suns sweet temptation
The air is an angel’s breath
Upon thou naked brow
The heat of the air so kind
As though it knows just how
Slothful at thou sleepiest
In fair hamlet that thou repose
A place to stretch and forget
And uncurl thy limbs and dose
And though thou put up a struggle
To keep fair eyes a flutter
When the entire world cries so silent
And your qualms melt like butter
Thou will though not willful enough
Against thy enchanting heat
As thy will it unfurls and curls
And submits in glad defeat
And tender is thy long grass
As soft as the blue of sky
Garlands of flowers meet thy face
As distant cicadas cry
Soon thy silence of thy day
Becomes the silence of a dream
As all troubles tremble and depart
And all is made clean
Later thy awake that day
In longing that be given
What is that flutter of silence?
To what have you been smitten?
Faery glade and wonder
Who art though who comes near
Fair tender of aurorean love
Amorous amorphous dear
Feet of brown clad wonder
Stained by grass and rain
Calves of longing languish
And a dress of dandelion main
As fair a face does peep beneath
Hair so soft and wild
Mouth of mischief mysterious smiles
And eyes so secret and mild
The breathless taste of earthly bliss
Captured upon her tongue
Cool words of rapturous mirth
On which the world is hung
A soft caress of warm wind breeze
Does her caress remind
Across back across brow
So softly does it bind
And then she goes a singing
Where man and nature meet
And begotten bespoken
Your arms spread in defeat
Charmed embalmed and crucified
Upon thy holy ground
Garlands of thorn less roses laid
Upon thy hallowed mound
Here thou shall be held in thrall
Until day and twilight meet
Until the sun shall cease to shine
And gone shall go the heat
Then thou shall suffer loneliness
Of a cool and inconsiderate kind
As darkness moves across the land
And leaves thou behind
Silently she will bid you goodbye
On a whispered summer zephyr
Then she will colour the sky
With orange and magenta
Pleasant remembrance of long days
Before the sun was made to set
When the world became shadows
Winter may still come yet
________________________________________
Bride of the Dark Tree
She sat splayed upon the grass
Draped in white and ever last
The sky above her blue and vast
Not a shadow upon her cast
She is the future present and past
To a silver tree she holds fast
Her body swayed upon profanities bed
To the gallows her purity led
A heshian sack about her head
Blow flies bonfires and the dead
Ashen skies the sun bled
Lies from forked tongues her mind fed
Is she alive or is she dead?
To the dark tree wed
Has the dark tree fed?
Her body draped upon purities shore
Her heart awash with loves lore
Her body seraphims adore
Femininity freed from the whore
She now dwells beyond the silver door
Her body nurtured by the earth below
Fertilised by blood and rime washed snow
Her heart the soil from which doubt will grow
Is she the hoe, is she the hoe?
That all men know, that all men know
Her body emancipated in angels sighs
Her breasts firm and high
Between her legs the lie
Of Gods rage and natures guise
Her eyes reflect heavens sky
With her arms she can fly
Natures jewel the angels cry
The daughter of man the angels sigh
From this sundered garden bed
Which grows the blackened stalks of the dead
Her soul awash and nurtured by dread
Upon the last of her hope were they fed
Upon her flowers and flesh were wed
From her body did blood flowers thread
The soil of heaven a nurturing place
The light of heaven upon her face
Within her breast the seeds place
Born of life love and grace
Woven flowers like lace
Sprouting surmounting her bodies taste
Around and crowned the secret place
Forget me nots they wove and race
Strangle and entangled they encase
Her naked body in petalled perfumed lace
These flowers they wove and writhed
From them thorns did thrive
And into her heart did their roots dive
And from her mouth her heart strived
From her soul came a cry
And from her lips came a lie
And from mine a sigh
Goodbye my love
Goodbye
______________________________________
Fragments
Storms shadow upon moonlit moor
Darken shadows upon sylvan shore
Fairy filaments under olden eves
The swirl of flies in an appeasing breeze
A lonely waft in the portent night
Gregorian cicadas take flight
Bleached driftwood cradled in sand
Aged old dreams of life and land
Wallowed spend thrift in the tides wake
From the seas pockets will you take?
It lies like a treasure in the approaching night
Beckoning to you from a bed of quartzite
Nocturnal currents try as they might
To hide this pretty from your site
To take it under cold seas
To take it from the summer breeze
To take it from envious eyes
To hide it from starlit skies
You look to the beckoning light
Nearly consumed by the encroaching night
It seems not so far away
Not as far as the encroaching day
Yet you hesitate
Will your greedy need abate?
You grin as you reach down what have you found
To touch the seas sparkling crown
To caress the seas silky gown
Your need the sea will drown
To feel its soul with a trembling hand
To feel the heat flow from your hand
Now there’s nothing you can do
The seas tease has captured you
Because it’s then that you feel
The seas hidden deal
Salt upon your face
The cold seas embrace
Its then that you stare down
At what you thought was a crown
Instead it’s your greedy eyes
Mirrored in the seas lies
And what you thought you had found
Was yourself before you drowned
Bloodied skies upon roaring waves
Fractured rocks and storm washed caves
Blanched bare driftwood the seas entrails
The bleached skin of far off sails
Fleeing spirits
And a lonely breeze
The distant reel of storm washed seas
The scream of a distant gull
Wrecked ship shattered hull
The faded luster of a pair of shells
That the beachcomber sells
He said he found them after the storm
From a rock they were torn
He said they were the seas crown
They matched his eyes that were brown
_______________________________________
Be You Just One
Come, my beauty, my daughter of the sun
Dance with me, for we are one
Soil of the earth and tears of the sky
For which we live for and under which we die
Please here my distant cry
Hearken to me all, and hear my call
For all that is, may soon fall
And what shall remain, will forever be
A lost earth and darkness to see
A broken branch of the evolution tree
And what of the tree who was free
What will become of him and me
We will fall you shall see
Our fate is one, so it be
But yes you know, wise you be
Alas the fool, is but me
You were here before we
And continue I hope thee be free
Though tree I fear this shall not be so
Great foreboding do I know
My people, my family, friends too
Will be the dark devourer of you
They will cut and kindle and cast you to the flame
And gone your fame into the flame
Gone too are your memories true
Of the dance that we once knew
As we twisted and turned in the summer breeze
And fell to the ground like autumn leaves
And grew cold as one in the winter chill
When snow coated that distant hill
And together we waited for the summer sun
That together we knew, would never come
For now I see that I am done
I am just like everyone
I use and eat the gift of the sun
Until all is consumed and my death is won
I hope you remain tree, if but one
Long after my life is done
And to you I give my only son
And you my beauty my daughter of the sun,
Rear your branches over this one
Give him the spring that was once ours
Before it ripens, sweetens and sours
Shelter him, and keep him too
And maybe like me, he will love you
Perhaps he will change, amend his way
And give to you another day,
And I thank you my beauty, be you just one
Let my child play in the sun
And tree did you know him, did he find you somehow?
Did your branches, smooth and touch his brow
Did he see you and love you, at first sight
And take from you, the fear of night
Did his merriment awaken your foresight?
Did you seek the nurturing light?
Did your leaves dance gold in the sun?
Blood and gold, a marriage of on
And through piles of them did he run
Did he find solstice, in the noon
Beneath your flowers rich in bloom
Your progeny, awoken to the world soon
When you were green, again in the sun,
Did he swing from them, and scream what fun
In the dusk, the twilight, as it is before the night
Did he collapse deep into your might, and fall asleep amidst starlight
And did he treasure you like I
Did a tear fall from the sky?
Or did it fall from his eye
Did the world weep for just one?
Or did it cry for its son
Or did it cry for its trees
That met their death on bent knees
Or did it cry all alone
Did too the wind moan
And what of the unknown
Of future and fate and things to be
Of a young boy and an old tree
They are what is to be, of the worlds prosperity
Top of Form
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
CRAG CRY DARKNESS 