footpath

there are too many footpaths here

and so I have no way of knowing

where to leave my crumbs of bread

to return me when I tire of going

and I fear;

If I have a well worn path

I will not notice all the grapevine

wildly overgrowing

I will not recognise the river

boldly overflowing.

of a morning

I haven’t had a dream that features love I’ve never known

for longer than a conscience could believe

and the traffic of a morning sounds just like the gentle sea

if you say goodbye to notions preconceived.

a leading question

you told her not to cry but

well, these tears are legitimate

are they not?

and they’re fitting,

don’t you think?

a leading question,

yes, I know,

but when you’re injured

is it not the time to weep?

goodbye

she’s happy to let go

but to give away is different

it suggests another harbour

and allows a real departure

one that’s further and more foreign

and less full of love for home.

and though it’s better not to hold on

to the things that want to fly

here’s a sadness in diversion

and a shiver as they go.

now

little flecks of love for me

are forming into something steady

and now I feel I may be ready

to step up and take this on.

good to see you

when I say it

I mean it

and I love the life we lived.

question

I haven’t got an answer

or a solution-formula.

and we are not arguing

because neither do you,

do you, dearest?

but I give no explanation

for the flutter of my heart.

and I offer no apology

for the questions I have asked.

circus

It was a happy diversion

all the jumping through hoops

but now they’ve packed it away

and are storming the next town

the flattened grasses sigh my truth:

“How I miss your love”.

devotee

how long can she wait

this little tortoise in shell

how many tired summers

and mornings of thunder

with no trace of the promise of night?

help

If he let her down

for ten years and

had so many others

he thought he loved

then he cried out

from the bottom

of his wasting lungs

would she reply

and could she carry the weight

if she did?