Balances

There is the pain

It is there all the while

Yet see how I smile

That you might ask

How am I keeping

Yes, it is true

It does keep me

From sleeping

Yet see how I am lightened

By your offer of tea

No, the despair

Does not quite

Turn to my weeping

Instead, I write

On matters of love

I try to repair

Yes simply as if

I am reaping

To furnish with light

The missives of love

There is the pain

As if climbing the stile

Yet just see how I smile

That you ask, sympathetically

How it is that I am needing

Available at Amazon

I Am Lightweight

Last night I watched

Jiska Rickels’ film 4 Elements

I am now able to tell you

That I personally have no desire

To be a forest firefighter

Or a deep sea fisherman

Neither a miner in Germany

Or anywhere else for that matter

Finally, I would not wish

To undertake the training necessary

To become a space astronaut

I am happy to write

From the comfort of my armchair

Or to make a sketch, in a coffee shop

Yes I am ok to say

How I wish that Mrs Thatcher

Had not closed down the mines

And the shipyards

But I would not wish my sons

Nor I, to be in those professions

Available at Amazon

On Being Told Not To Interfere

I come back to this room

I come back to this room

Where a few minutes ago

I was listening to David Whyte

Listening to David Whyte read his poetry

As well as him telling a fine tale

About himself, and John O’Donohue

Talking of to go against yourself 

Go against yourself - a neat Irish phrase

And, or so it seems to me

One not entirely at odds with

Being told not to interfere

Available at Amazon

Thoughts That Do Not Waiver

Still to love

The one you love

Even though that love

May be unrequited

For they too

Cannot truly see that thought

When they think

That they no longer love you

Available at Amazon

Waking, As If Rapidly Dreaming

A cheap choc-ice

A Christmas card

For the benefit

Of retired jockeys

A piping hot

Cup of tea

And the wood-burner

So so fully alight

Such a rush

Out of the evening nap

Such a world

To break into, or out of

Taken to ones doze

With words about William Wordsworth

With words about Thomas A Clarke

With words about Frank O’Hara

Such a literary stroll

Towards the light sleep

Such a poetic saunter

To those moments of grace

Available at Amazon