Christmas on my walk

Going for my usual walk -
my half hour of freedom -
I look for signs of this time of year
Something I might pick up
a specialness in the air.
Well, it's a glorious sunny day,
small hawks are hovering about
always alert.
Faithful watch dogs
are watching out for strangers
turning round and round
barking from their square of concrete ground
outside the master's mansion.
Down on the footpath
a woodlouse scuttles along
humbly minding its business.
It could be any day...


But there,
getting into the car
Not so happy people
off to visit some relative
because it's December 25th.
Tradition and religion
are just a burden they bear
their body language doesn't lie.
Here, a homeless guy
tries to sell Santa's hoods
to slightly impatient drivers
forced to wait for the green light.
On the windows, occasionally,
a baby Jesus with open arms
and an almost smug expression
competes with clumsy Santa
who is hanging
rather than climbing
the dirty building's wall.
Down the road
billboards announce
fabulous discounts
if only you're gullible enough...

And that's it,
That was Christmas on my walk:
weak gestures,
worn out symbols
lame excuses
and more useful objects
than there are uses.

Sensuous stuff

Pleasing syllables
soft and smooth

arching adjectives
aching to be stroked

adverbs adjusting
to a surface

easy-going conjunctions
making themselves
comfortable

interjections
stretching slowly

voluble verbs
purring gently

nebulous nouns
naming the world
in silent circumspection

as pronouns
pronounce
the unpronounceable

all this sensuous stuff
is so delicate
and yet so intense

that it feels like
present, past and future
could merge
into one single tense

and the words we exchange
for their sensuousness
are already romance.

Private exposure

Funny and odd
that this need of exposure
should spring from a desire
to be secretly intimate
That this need to be cuddled
should make me
drive you away.

Funny and weird
that this craving for emotion
this thirst, this hunger
for lusty devotion
should make me blush
when faced with your words
today.

Odd and frustrating
to need care and medication
when one is a nurse

to find one is transparent
underneath
so many layers of verse.

Gone

You sweet and tender one

with your blissful essence,
a unique, soft voice
and your purposeful -
albeit sometimes erratic -
presence

you're gone
for the time being...


Gone to higher places,
a brighter sun,
gone to spread your grace
and your witty good humour
around everyone.

Here
remains a shadow,
a scent,
an echo
lingering by.
And feeling lost,
forsaken
slightly incomplete,
alas,
am I.

Take a small step

breath in
then let go
reach out
for something to hold on to
take a small step
- that's it -
grab my arm
come along
- there -
see? it's easy
(I know how difficult it has been)
but you're here now
don't look back.