Hello, Goodbye

Look who hasn't been here in forever and is a dirty slacker? That would be me. Naturally, alone in a hotel room in a city that faintly terrifies me, I feel inspired to write poetry.

Obviously I need a new muse.

On to the poetry...

Hello
Is an echo down a long,
Half-empty
Hallway
After green eyes
And musician's hands
As he walks on,
Oblivious to
Important things, like
Existence and
My smile.

Goodbye
Is a sigh
In the wake of
The click
A door makes
When it closes
For
The last time
Behind
Green eyes
And musician's hands
That play
The only song
I will ever hear.

Regret?

When I am an old woman and I can hardly see
And my limbs are as gnarled as an old oak tree
And naught but my thoughts are left to me
Should I regret the time I spent with thee?

When the tapestry of life has been spun
And sands of time have been outrun
And we feel as if we have just begun
Should I sorrow when our time is done?

When the end has come to us at last
And all of our life is in the past
And all that's left to us is fading fast
Could all that we had be surpassed?

Million Things

There are a million things I could have done.

I could have reached and touched the sun.
A million things, and all times two,
All of which, I did not do.

I could have drunk the desert rain.
I could have loved, but feared the pain.
I could have lived a life so free,
unbound, as a bird upon the sea.

A million things, and all times two,
All of which, I did not do.

I might have found the rainbows end.
I might have been a constant friend.
I might have been a beacon bright,
I might have been someone's delight.

A million things, and all times two,
All of which, I did not do.

There are a million things I might have done
Coulds and mights, and did not one.
A million things, and all times two,
All of which, I did not do.

Forever Living, Forever Dying

Forever living, forever dying.
Upon the wings of both I'm flying.
Here forever trapped to be,
Between the mountains and the sea

And somewhere else I do not know.
Somewhere midst the drought and snow.
Or else in prairie lands so vast.
Perhaps its now, perhaps the past.

I look to see but cannot tell,
Am I in Heaven or in Hell?
Where at last does it stop,
In the valleys or mountain top?

Cannot rest, nor drink my fill.
Continuing on, tormented still.
And my soul is forever crying,
Forever living, forever dying.

Poetry Compilation

These are all poems that I have worked on over the last year. But I didn't think you would want them all posted separately. If you do then I am more than willing.

Dance

We dance across the moonlit floor;
Our arms, hands, and bodies one.
I follow in the path you trace,
You show me how it's done.

I smile at every misplaced step.
Patiently you lead me round.
Though I can feel the earth below,
My steps have left the ground.


Elixir

When I ponder on the days I had
I know not what to think.
Your love was an elixir
That I would deeply drink.

Oh, I knew not what that potion was.
Truth, or lust, or lies?
All I know is from that cup
My heart grew sad but wise.



Bloom

I loved you then, when year was young,
And all was green and new.

I loved you still, as days were long,
And nights were brief and few.

I continued to love you in the chill
Of winters darkest gloom.

But when the spring had come again;
My love, it did not bloom.


Where are you now?

I could feel the sunshine's warmth
From your golden smile
I could breathe the clearest air
I Could walk with you for miles

Where are you now?

Your tender arms surround me
Kept me safe all through the night
And when the dawn awoke me
You were always in my sight

Where are you now?

Your kisses breathed life into my soul,
Taught me how to live.
Everything I had was yours
All that I could give.

Where are you now?


Eagerly

Eagerly I sought your eyes
To tell me of your soul
I had a wish that you might see
My heart that you had stole.

Eagerly I met your gaze
but saw no spark within.
The coolness of your look was pain,
Though your touch burned upon my skin.

I closed my eyes to shield my heart
From glancing I refrain
I put it all to a restful death;
I dare not look again.


Wishes

Wishes are a way to think
Of things that could not be
They bring a smile to your lips
And set your dreaming free.

Wishes are a lot of fun
Although they don't come true.
The sparkle in the morning sun
And fade like morning dew


Birds

Time is forgotten,
when roses bloom in spring.
Tiny birds return again
and teach my heart to sing.

A simple tune of life's new growth
thaws my frozen heart
Help me to forget him birds
and give my life a start.


Deathless Sleep

Wake now from your deathless sleep;
Open up your eyes.
Bring again your sweetest smile,
Hold here to your earthly ties.

Let you gentle hands once more
Encompass all you love.
Let your spirit here remain
In a world that you are part of.

Let your arms embrace again
friends who hold you dear.
Know that a life of joy awaits
for many and many a year.


Shells of Autumn

Drifting autumn leaves are now
Shells of what was young
Summer dies along times way
Winter still unsung

Barren limbs reach for the sky
Silent cold and gray
Twitching in the winter winds
Gone are days of may

Wind replaces song birds call
Whistling sharp and shrill
Keening to the moonless night
Echo winters chill


Did Not, Would Not

I did not heed you when you called
I did not stop to know
All the words that you could say to me
As the winds of winter blow

I would not stop touch your hand,
All my dreams had gone awry
I could not let you see my tears
I will not let you see me die.


Eternal Call

It's been forever since I've seen you;
An eternity it seems.
Though it has only been a few short years
In the scheme of things.

I cannot recall you clearly,
No matter how I try.
I always feel you watching me,
Guarding me, as my days fly by.

The years have passed I've seen a lot,
I yearn to tell you all.
I have waited oh so patiently,
For your gently call.

It seems I can go no further
Though I try with all my might.
You seem to be just ahead of me.
Somewhere just out of sight.

I'm weary and I stumble,
I feel about to fall.
When I hear you calling to me,
That last eternal call.


Twisted Perceptions

Earth above and sky below;
Moonshine and the sunlight's glow.
Winters growth and summers snow;
Rivers stop and deserts flow.

Solid wind and misty stone.
Truths are hidden, secrets shown.
King's stool and a paupers throne
Multitude of suns, a star alone.

Crystal fire and blazing ice.
A single sleep and a first kiss twice
Careless shadows, worlds precise
A fractured gem at double the price

Lofty plains and valley peaks
Adamantine flowers, Granite weak
Quicksilver snails and lighting creeps
Vigorous death, and life that sleeps.

Tension

Making lace,
Like cross-examination
And well-paced drama,
Is all about one thing:
Carefully-balanced tension.

The strings and wires,
Fingers and wrists,
Must be positioned just so,
Tug here,
Give slack there,
And if coordination
Is met
– Gears in a watch
Turning and ticking
To the eternal circadian rhythm –
Then two hitches
Become one stitch

And there’s just
That little bit
More lace
To adorn her wrist.

A Strange and Beautiful Thing

Flickering cursors,
Green and red,
Dancing across the screen,
Up and down,
Left and right,
Comment and question,
Comma and em-dash,
Connection and correction.

Friday nights on
Googledocs
Can be a strange
And beautiful
Thing.

Another Brick

I’m sorry
Is worn around the edges
From timeless repetition.

I don’t know what to do
Is a little sharper,
Newer,
Clean lines and stark corners.

I love you
Is razor-sharp
And blood-stained.

Each is
Another brick
In a newly-rebuilt
Wall.

Anymore

Each tear is a searing needle
Digging deep into the soul
Every memory a traitorous
Tether, binding free will.

Lightest brush of the fingers,
Tingles remembered. Dancing.
Dancing across the skin.

Simple embrace,
seeking comfort.
Fitting together
Just like before.

A stolen kiss
Quiet whispers.

I can't do this anymore.

Betrayer

Raindrops fall like cat’s paws
Across the slate roof,
Felines circling the house
And waiting for prey to emerge.

Children,
Small as mice,
Grey and hunkering down,
Noses twitching
For the faintest hint
Scent
Taste of the enemy
Linger at the windows and doors.

Officers in black –
Armbands in black, white, red,
North and south,
East and west –
Clutch guns and stamp
In the cold,
Breath misting the air,
Impatient racehorses
Waiting for the firing
Of the gun.

The cat’s meow
Is a smile and a nod,
An affirmation and a sign,
Six points of gold
And the end of a child’s smile.

“Yudas,” says the child.

Betrayer, his mother screams.

Gifts of Life

Give me life and give me hope,
New beginnings and
Springtime joys.

Give me air and light,
Bright days and
Starry nights

Give me freshening winds,
Dancing waves and
Soaring birds.

Give me majestic pines
Wooded hills and
Rocky slopes

Give me vast deserts,
Shifting sands and
Scorching earth.

Give me frozen ponds,
Drifting snow and
Misting breath.

Give me a world of wonder.
Each day a gift and
Each night a dream.

One on One

Ivory on ivory,
Ten fingers on forty-eight keys,
And more songs
Than one man
Can imagine.

White on white,
Ten fingers and two hands,
Two fists against a gi top
And his best friend’s
Skin.

Peach on peach,
Fingers and vials,
Acid spilled onto the gap
Between lab-coat
And gloves.

Red on white,
Blisters and blood,
An entire wood floor
Laid out end to end,
A new home.

Don't Remember

Don't remember how once
You thought to fly,
Buoyed up on the warmest drafts,
Circling higher than you dared imagine.

Don't remember the giddy dreams,
The impossible visions,
Of what might have been.

Don't Remember.

Forget the gentle touch.
Forget the whispered word.
Forget the shadowed gaze.
And forget the sweetest kiss.

Forget.

Forget it all.
For the sake of sanity
And self preservation.
Forget what you had.

File it all into the past
Neatly ordered.
Every thought and wish and dream.
Keep it safely forgotten,
Labeled carefully in your mind.
Let it collect the dust of time.
Become yellowed with age.

Until you forget it was ever there.

To the Ground

A hundred steady pairs of feet
Marching left-right one-two
To the beat of synchronized drums,
Banners whirling behind them
Wielded by practice hands,
Horns and trumpets blazing abroad
A victorious army marching onward.

All it took
Was one pair of feet
Marching right-left
Two one
To send the whole thing
Crashing to the ground.

Summer Rounds

Like burning shades of golden twine;
We dance in summer rounds.
An emerald sea beneath our feet
Whispers, as the sun goes down.

Azure mantle round our heads,
Pearl white clouds our crown.
Diamond stars to kiss our brows
As ebony night enshrouds the land.

Six Conflicts: VI

Denouement: Magic

The green waters of Aquae Sulis
Wash over him,
From crown to toe,
Warm and cleansing.
He breaks the surface,
Motion clean as a knife through flesh,
And he tips his head back,
Parts his lips in a breath,
A prayer to the stars.

He dresses as he did
At the last battle,
With his own hands –
Linen and gambeson,
Hauberk and pauldron,
Greaves and cuisses and gauntlets.
He smoothes his hands over the lines
Of his surcoat,
Of the blood-red and the dragon-gold,
And then he reaches for his helm.

The final battle is
Without opponent or spy,
Foe or troops.
It is for him alone,
And the voice calls
More urgently, pleading,
Come to me,
Free me,
They need you.

I need you.

He walks longer than before,
One foot in front of the other,
Head held high,
Gaze on the horizon,
Feeling the tug of destiny
Low in his belly,
Like the needle of a compass
Swinging toward Polaris.
Days and nights pass,
Cars roar by,
People yell and shout and cry,
What are you wearing?
Where are you going?
Are you mad?
But he ignores them all,
Because he can hear the call.

For a man to walk so,
Unsleeping, unstopping,
Without food or drink –
He knows the hunger and
Fatigue settling into his bones
Like the weight of his armor trebled –
The unnaturalness of it all is a sign.

Magic.

Like vanishing into thin air
With an icy blizzard for a wake.
Like razing an army with a handful of lightning.
Like summoning a lady –
Gleaming, glittering,
Beautiful beyond words –
From a lake.

The tower is in shambles,
A collection of rocks
Like a handful of pebbles thrown down
By a giant child
(Whose father he had likely slain).

The call tugs faster,
More insistent, vibrating
Through his blood like the
Buzz of battle.
He has Caledfwlch in his hand,
And he stands over the heap of stones,
Listening to the please please please
And hearing the song of the stars.

He drives the sword down,
Into the stone,
Into the earth,
And he knows that he can never
Pull the sword
From the stone again.

The ground quivers.
He casts about for balance,
A new sailor at sea,
And the song of the stars
Becomes real,
Dancing on air,
A weaving of notes
And whispers,
And then the earth opens,
Lips parted in a prayer toward the sky.

Emrys opens his eyes.
Rex quondam rexque futurus,
He says.
Arcturus holds out his hand.
Our people need us.

Six Conflicts: V

Society

The map is shiny-slick
Between his fingers,
Littered with tiny lines
And letters-numbers-words,
But he remembers
Broader maps of
Mountains-rivers-kingdoms
And he knows how to get
Where he's going.

Were he at his best –
Armored,
Weapon-strong,
Well-rested and well-fed
On freshly-caught venison
And thick stew from
The Chief Cook's hand –
He could march it in one day,
Imagine the steady
Thump-thump-thump
Of his knights and soldiers
Behind him
Beneath the fluttering penant
Of gules on a dragon passant.

But he is barely stronger
Than a boy,
Thin-limbed and frail
From sleeping, sleeping, sleeping.
So he folds the map into his pocket,
Seeks the skyline to divine
The compass point,
And he walks.

The grassy roadsides,
Gently-sloping hills,
Footpaths worn by marches previous –
They are his trail,
Cobbled together by questions,
Answers from a man outside a pub,
Puffing on a pipe
Who rolls his r's like the Sons of Orkney,
A group of giggling women-children
With painted faces and innocent-wide eyes.

Those lightning-fast machines,
Cars – steel and cold,
Wild beasts
Without the familiar
Affection and courage
Of a destrier raised from colt-hood –
Speed past,
Littering the air with
Mocking cries and
Honking horns
Like an army of jeering geese.

Only a madman would walk,
Or so these people think,
But then they do not remember
The long marches of tired men
In battered, blood-stained armor
That united this country.

He sleeps beneath the trees
And the stars –
Sky and Starlight –
Until uniformed enforcers,
More brutish, less trained
Than his shining ranks of
Knights upon knights,
Nudge him awake with their boots
And grunt for him to Move along, move along.

Why has he no food?
Why has he no clothes?
Why has he no money?
He is mad – he should be at home.
But he needs none of these things,
He explains, hands still, cautious.
They offer him help, assistance,
A bed for the night.

He cannot explain
That even a king
Can sleep in the dirt
Of his kingdom,
And a man on a quest
Need only be led
By the stars.

Earth and Sea

I see you clearly on the path;
You are borne upon a gale.
Shrouded round in mystery;
From unknown lands you hail.

A boat to be your chariot;
A star to be your crown.
The wind to be your calling trump';
the world to gather round'.

The sun shines from your blazing eye;
O God of earth and sea.
And I would to thee worship;
If thou look'st on me

Six Conflicts: IV

Destiny

In the daily struggle of
get up
get out of bed
feet on the ground
push buttons
in the proper order
of one two three
red blue green
He forgets why he is
Awake.

Awake –
Not trapped in a cave
Beneath a winding sheet
Caged in rusting armor.
Awake –
Moving through a world
Of sound-light-air
And plastic-paper-electricity.

Destiny, he has heard
From the homeless man on the corner
Dirt-streaked and God-preaching,
Comes in visions
And dreams.
When he sleeps –
Back against the wall,
Clutching for Caledfwlch
With empty hands –
He does not dream.

He remembers –
Jenny, pretty Jenny,
All golden-haired and wide-eyed
And traitor-queen-wife;
Chasing arrows through
A brown-green undergrowth
For snarling, posturing Cei;
The wizened old man with the
Nut-brown, wrinkled face
Who was more handsome and
Youthful
Every day that dawned.

In the middle of the shop
He calls work –
Where he answers to
Oi, Pretty Boy
and not
My Liege –
He remembers the voice,
Whisper soft and piercing,
An arrow through his heart.
He remembers come to me
and your people need you.

He remembers
Stars and Sky,
Gentle fingertips brushing
His eyelids closed in a final
Farewell,
For the next time he sees 
Stars and Sky
It should be hello.

Aquae Sulis is the answer,
The place of prayer and
Cleansing before the
Old Gods.
Kingship is for the pure in heart,
And he has been empty of heart,
Empty of mind with the
Constant pressing of
Buttons buttons buttons.

He closes his eyes and remembers
The Voice
Calling Sire, and My Liege
and my friend.
He remembers the promise
He kept,
He gave.
When your people need you.

I will rise again.

Reviresco.

He leaves the buttons behind.

Arrow to the Mark

I never thought that I would fall in love.
There were so many I had admired.
But none that found my heart;
sure as an arrow to the mark.

I wasn't sure that I could love.
And you can out of the blue.
I was stunned by what I had discovered;
That all I wanted was you.

My day begins when I see your face;
And night falls when you are gone.
Now it is perpetual night;
And I don't know how to be strong

I hold you in my memories
And kiss you in my mind
I want you to come back to me
And bring again the sun.