| Mea culpa |
Jan 8, 2007 5:53 am
1456 Views | I made a mistake
the other day
and someone got hurt
badly
not by words
at least
not directly
but when I said
what I wouldn't do
something else
happened
and someone got hurt
and I can never
make it up
can never
make it right
the hurt is done
and the trust
is lost and though
the love
remains
it is not
what it was.
I made a choice
the other day
and you got hurt
badly
I said I wouldn't
come
not knowing
that he was there
that he'd returned
that he held your
gentle hand
in his
and broke it
and you don't blame
me
but I do
for you don't
see me now
as you saw me before
your look
has changed
as I have
in your eyes.
This is not
a poem
this is not
a plea
for help
nor forgiveness
this is
a cracked
mea culpa
that comes
too late
as such things
always do
it does not
heal you
it cannot
protect you
in your time of need
it only
stands
to remind me
of how
I lost
your trust. | |
|
15 Comments | |
| I'm leaving on a jet plane... |
Dec 22, 2006 3:02 am
1555 Views | ...and I know exactly when I'll
be back again. Work starts 8 Jan
but I'll be squeezing every last
drop out of my holidays and won't
come back until the day before.
This means I'll probably be out
of touch for the whole two weeks
as the local chieftains that rule
my home village believe the internet
steals your soul (could be right),
and so it is banned.
So when I'm sitting by the fire
tattooing the rites of passage
onto the face of another young
nephew, bringing the goats in
from the snows and raging through
the long cold nights in a blur
of moonshine fuelled ecstasy,
I'll spare a thought for this
little circle of firelight here
on the web, with its sages and
its healers and its philosophers
and its poets and its madfolk
and its fights and its warmth
and its comforting weirdness
and I'll smile.
May you all be brought at least
a little of what it is you most
desire.
...and in a blink ** he was gone. | |
|
11 Comments | |
|
| Disillusion. |
Dec 19, 2006 4:12 am
Mood: melancholy, 1304 Views | I thought we'd touched
Then you retreated
I thought we'd won
Not been defeated.
Beaten by the pasts
That we both bear
Beaten by the scars
That we both wear.
I thought we'd seen
Each other's heart
I thought we'd made
A brand new start.
Without the weight
Of long gone years
Without the shadow
Of long spent tears.
I thought I could
Absorb your pain
I thought it would
Help you live again.
Free from your demon
Haunted nights
Free from your sorrow
Loaded sighs.
I thought I was
The one for you
I thought you were
Made for me too.
To keep away
The nightmares' chill
To keep you safe
From every ill.
I thought together
We could prevail
I thought all this
To no avail.
The past lies heavy
On us all
It chokes our hopes
With its acrid pall. | |
|
11 Comments | |
| Modern Shakespeare |
Dec 18, 2006 10:33 am
1312 Views | Inspired by (or should that be blatantly
stealing from) the inferno which is
Thinkblink's convoluted imagination,
I've been leafing through some of
William Shakespeare's lesser known
work. We all know he coined such
phrases as
"to shuffle off this mortal coil"
(something about changing lightbulbs)
and was the first to use in print
words like "dwindle" (try to have
a pee in the rain) and "hurry"
(insert amusing definition here).
But for me some of his wisest words
were:
"Mend not that
which be not crack'd"
Which has since been handed down as:
If it ain't broke
Don't fix it.
Does anyone else know of any
"Shakespearianisms" which have
come down to us in a more modern
form? | |
|
11 Comments | |
| You know when you meet someone and you think that maybe you'll never have to write another sad poem. |
Dec 18, 2006 6:56 am
1373 Views | I met this girl the other day.
What we talked about I couldn't say.
I can't recall a single word
Of anything I said or heard.
'Cause when she talked
I watched her lips
And when she walked
I watched her hips
And when she smiled
I watched her eyes
And very soon
I'd realised
That I didn't want to walk away,
Say maybe we'd meet another day.
Then turn around and close the door
Like I've done so many times before.
'Cause when we laughed
We laughed together,
And when we touched
It felt like never
Had I felt so light
And full of grace.
Not lumpen, leaden
And out of place.
So I told her how I felt and when
She said she felt the same, well then
I took her in my arms and swore
I'd stay with her forever more. | |
|
9 Comments | |
| Being brave. |
Dec 14, 2006 9:58 am
1321 Views | Susan is being brave
For the first time
In her life and
It
Feels
Good.
There is nothing wrong.
No bad tidings
From doctors
Or family
Or friends.
Susan is being brave
Because fear has stalked
Her every lifelong step.
Childhood dreads and
Adolescent fears,
Replaced by maternal angst
And a quiet desperation
That kills sleep and
Robs her days of calm.
Susan is being brave
Because she has had enough
Of frayed nerves and
The burning hollow of
Simmering panic that
She has carried around
Like a stillborn child.
Susan is not
Putting on a brave face,
Being brave for the kids,
Or braving anything out.
Susan is being brave
For no-one else
But
Herself.
No words
Will cow her.
She will not
Be laughed at,
Sneered at,
Browbeaten
Or shamed.
Susan has screwed-up her courage
Into a tight fist
That will smash
The walls that hold her
The walls
That he calls
Home
And she calls
Hell.
Susan is being brave
For herself
For the first time
In her life.
As she steps out,
And shuts the door,
And throws away
The past.
And
It
Feels
Good. | |
|
12 Comments | |
| Thanks. |
Dec 12, 2006 11:20 am
1367 Views | I wrapped my father's shroud
Around me
Even before he was dead.
Bound up in my fear
And anger and
Self disgust.
I had no time
To love or grieve.
And yet you did both
For both of us
And your only thanks
Was pain. | |
|
13 Comments | |
| How it ended. |
Dec 12, 2006 11:14 am
1332 Views | He loved her and
She knew that she
Had loved him
But love cannot
Be bandaged and
Healed. And so
It bled to death.
Little by little.
And each drop fell
Like a tear
To the ground. | |
|
7 Comments | |
| What he lost. |
Dec 12, 2006 11:06 am
1295 Views | Sometimes she placed her hand
upon his
And the stars fell to earth
and shined
In his eyes.
Sometimes she kissed him upon
the lips
And the moon drew the depths
of the sea
Through his heart.
Sometimes she lay down
by his side
And angels stepped lightly
fleet foot
Cross his soul.
Sometimes she whispered soft words
in his ear
And the echoes still
haunt him
Wherever he goes.
__________________________________ | |
|
6 Comments | |
