We cannot have
What we cannot have
However much
That pains us
Yet not to forget
The love
All of the love known
Even in one lifetime
Not meaning to trade
On another’s love
But to have known love
In the gifted and the given
Listen
How quiet it is
How still it is
On this unsettled morning
Are we artists
Or are we warriors
Can anyone explain to me
How to have seen the light
So close
Together
Yet so far apart
How distant
The worlds
Where souls don’t meet
A purpose
For the action
But what purpose
A reason
For the posture
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It wasn’t the West Indies jerk chicken
Or the October birthday marker
Although that played a part
Especially when followed by
The nitrogen enhanced ice-cream
We had walked through the park
Then alongside the canal
Until we reached the outpost
Of the nation’s capital city
Where the glass asks us to reach for the sky
It wasn’t the ride
Out to our boat hotel
On the edge of the financial quarter
Where buildings are deserted
At both ends of the day
We had travelled from the north
To meet with friends and children
Or just to be together
Visiting galleries and museums
To wash ourselves in beauty
It wasn’t the Italian restaurant
By the lights at Piccadilly
Although that plays a part
Especially the shared tapas style
And the £37-00 glass of Barolo
The hair is like
A ragamuffin man
As if the scarecrow
In the Wizard of Oz
Not that he cares
Or at least
He pretends not to care
With his air of superiority
The blue sky
The silver white clouds
The wind, as near and far
As the eye can see
Lampshades
Photographs
Double-glazed clear windows
With a gleam and a sparkle
The old clock
Does not tick nor tock
Neither does it chime
Contemplation, meditation even
Gifts the time
To rehearse one’s art
In the spirit
Of loving kindness
As if to sojourn
In the meadow
Or saunter
Over the sand dunes
With love in the ascendency
There to find
The lover
The poet
The song
Of all mankind
Settled into the hollow
Sheltered by humanity
From your worries
To practice your work
In readiness for the future