Brave

A poem

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

I think you are brave to keep living
when you don’t know how anymore
when the odds are stacked so heavily

I think you are strong to keep smiling
when the waves keep crashing in
when the pain will not give up

I think you are wise to stop caring
what the thoughts of others are
accepting what cannot be changed

I think you are brave to keep being you
when so much wants to destroy you
dignified in the mess of humans

I think you are beautiful despite
the scars, the symptoms, the pain
when no one understands anything of you

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For Jane

A poem

A flash of lightning
His life was gone
Hurled up in the air by a car
Ragdoll-like, puppet with no strings

Without knowing, in that second
She was bereft
Rap rap on her door, police
He’s cold an hour now

Cards flowed in, meaningless,
Her love was gone
She was a puppet on a string
Thank you for coming

No sophistry for this, how could she
Plan to be a widow?
Hurled up in the air her life
How does one proceed without her late- no,
Her dead husband

Published in The Lark

Hot Day

The air is fresh now, and clean,
gone is the sultry, moody sky
that carried a veil of humidity

Stroking our skin with wetness,
leaving a languid erotic sense
aware of our bodies, but lazy

Touch was work, the air heavy
love was easier to speak than do
but now we make love easily

Languid, we lay on our bed, sweat
glossing our skin, tracing salt on tongue
but after the rain, love is energized

Published in The Lark

If Love Should Come Again

If love came to stay again there would be no fairy tales
No speak of sea and oceans, rivers to cross, sun or rain
No huge great mountains or journeys from afar
But everyday life to share, watching stars

I would love you whilst cooking or digging the plot
Our love will be shared while we search for a sofa or so
And if we met in a meadow or council flat stairs
We’d still know we’re in love and doubt it not

If we drove a Roll Royce or an old banger with rust
No difference it would make to our mutual trust
If we lived near a swamp or a place with a view
I’d be happy, my sweet, to share it with you

There would be no stardust or magic at all
Except that which we make in our love on our own
And the spell that we discover in each other’s soul
Will be like the garden we’ll share at our home

Our love will nourish us if we are far apart for work
And homecoming will be a celebration each time
So journeying on in the passing of days and nights
I’ll be so happy to know I’m the jewel of your heart

Published in The Lark

Waxing Moon

A Poem

Each evening, yearning every night
for Moonlight to flood my bedroom
waiting to watch wondrous orb
transit east to west across the sky

Tender light, gentle in your journey
I watch as you wax, revealing more
from sickle to fully glowing
friendly light, filling each night

Published in Under The Moon

Sun

Poem

Earth on it’s axis turns away in it’s orbit
fickle but eternal path in the Universe

Darkness begins to shroud our daily lives
we hunker down, wrap ourselves warm

We yearn for light, the Sun, weak warmth
bright Sun mornings cheer our days, the joy

So rains and storms may come our way
Hallelujah for every single Sun day

Published in Lifeline

If You Should Die

If you should die
Please give me notice
So I can say my words of love

Gratitude or sorrow
May I let you know
All is well, as well can be
Coping even painfully

If you should die
To whom do I write
I am at peace despite all the odds
For it was given by God

Published in The Lark

O’Driscoll

My dog dances with his rope toy
Shakes it from side to side
As he prances front paws high
Looking like a Chinese dragon

A dog like tango, sudden turns
Graceful yet staccato-like
Playful growls as he flirts
Dancing prelude to a game

Walking by the sea, fey by the wind
running to and fro, circling, reeling
choreography unknown to me
joyous, an hour of memories twice daily

Published n The Lark

Lands and Countries

In three countries before I was born
and then we moved to one of them
where Oma and Opa raised me
their house truly was my home

Age five we changed countries and language
no more Oma and Opa except twice a year
pined myself sick for my true home
no one understood that was clear

Then we moved to another town
home to me with dens and trees in the garden
the boy next door was sweet on me
he took my side always and secretly kissed me

And then all hell broke loose on me
ensuring I would never be the same
that took me to the strangest land
that has followed me all around the globe

Collecting countries is what I’ve done
and absorbed their cultures too
but the one I want so much to leave
is the land that follows me everywhere

Published in The Lark

Motherhood

a published poem

The first time I knew I could kill
the first time no one else mattered
the first time that love underpinned all
no option to walk away.

Child, I have loved many people,
gone the second mile so many times
given everything I had, been unconditional,
then I gave birth to you.

You became my world, everything was you
a love I cannot describe, stronger than death
instincts I’d never known, strength I never had
came to me when you were born.

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