Friday 2 August 2019

I am a Landscape

I am a landscape of shadows 
With arduous trails to climb,  
Dark valleys in the background 
Shape-shifting clouds 
Slanting downwards, 
Pelting  
The mutable ground - 
Hoofmarks washed away 
Of a trembling fawn  
Near a field by the river 
Where butterflies and bees 
Bask beneath  
The fluttering of song 

See the winding road, 
The hidden harbour, 
The paint on the palette, 
A confusion of colour: 
California poppy orange, 
Sunlit fern green, 
Swaths of sunset pink hues 

Look into the scene 
There, beside the willow tree 
See the semblance of me

Tuesday 9 July 2019

Will You Push Me?

Will you push me on the swing 
So I might think that I have wings 
Will you push me from behind 
So I could feel that I can fly 
Will you push me bit by bit  
So I'm not at all afraid of it 
Will you push me everyday 
Help me kick the clouds away 
Will you push me as I grow older 
Softly grab me by the shoulder 
Will you push me, push me back 
So I always know you’ve got my back 
Will you push me, make me try 
So that I stretch to touch the sky 
Will you push me, push me far 
So I can reach my dreams, the stars      

Saturday 8 June 2019

The Plight of the Peony















My days of being caressed  
And titillated  
By those rotund bumblers’ 
Dangling feet 
Have been cut short 

I am no longer bathed  
In the luxurious warmth 
From the globe of illumination  
Or sprinkled and splashed  
With succulent life  

Instead, my severed stem 
Was doused in tepid tap water 
While my head careened  
Against cold, imprisoning glass 
To droop, dispirited, 
Thirsty for hope 

I know full well 
My buxom fragrance  
Permeates  
This spiritless box 
Yet I find nostrils 
Inserting themselves 
Between my silk petals  
As if they could inhale  
Angelic bliss 
Before I am to be  
Casually discarded, 
Heaped with tomorrow's  
Repugnant coffee grounds 

Alas,  
‘Tis the cruelest of jokes