Broken world

And in that moment
when the world broke,
splitting in unseen
ways, as if destiny

had written itself into
invisible cracks, which
eventually, would be
prised open, in silent

tearing, to ensure the
known, scattered itself
in new ways, to allow
fate to mould another

shape, create different
form, not yet imagined
or perhaps dreamed,
and yet lying always

as the seed of some
thing which demanded
to be birthed, brought
forth from the ruins.

So the world smiled
in its brokeness and
promised hope from
the dregs of being,

as golden light ran
through the wounds,
identifying, healing
and offering beauty.

Desire

Desire laughs at tawdry
years, at softened flesh
and worn skin; mocks
the wrinkled realities

which time does bring,
because it is beyond
such trivialities and
petty concerns, running

deep as it does, tapping
into the river of Soul,
drowning in the depths
of delicious, liquid love

which flows in bright
waves, beyond borders
of the merely material:
Desire cares not for

years, or age, or the
frayed and wearied
edges of life, but sees
only the source, the

depths of self, which
remain untouched by
time; eternal, singing
always its erotic poem,

in a silence which veils
it from others; open
only to the two hearts
which are listening,

holding in a blossom
of being, which does
not fade, and where
each petal is perfect.

https://dversepoets.com/2018/11/20/poetics-desire-and-sexuality-in-poetry/ 

The shower

I got you in the shower,
lathering your huddled
body, soaping, washing
your private parts, in a

hiss of steam, as if the
snake of grief raised
hooded head to strike;
and you wept, while

I washed; not knowing
what else could be
done but to clean the
physical, as the mental

grew in stinking mould,
and the heart hollowed
in your distress and fear;
so did the daughter play

attendant on this tragic
piece of theatre, of
life in all of its cruel
being- as if mere soap

and flannel, could
wash away what was;
remove the awful and
looming reality, that

you were alone, and
there was no-one else
to take his place, to
hold you up; and the

arms of a child, while
willing, would always
be too frightened frail
to soothe the pain.

So, I washed, at all that
you were and all he had
known, achieving little
but baptismal flesh.

https://dversepoets.com/2018/11/15/open-link-night-232/

Dreams

Dreams do hang in unison,
pegged to tired wires,
teased by listless breezes;
dried by life's desires.

Frayed on every corner,
tangled threads reveal,
stories are unravelling;
such is time's appeal.

Washed in silent suds,
offered to the rains,
call to be recovered;
rescued from the pain.

Birds in curious waiting,
balance on the line,
thus is doubt attending;
so are dreams denied.

https://dversepoets.com/2018/11/08/meet-the-bar-creating-metaphor/

Early

I am always early,
arriving ready,
just in case, there is
a chance of being

late.  Except for
when I was born:
three weeks over,
and yet, finally here,

and perhaps from
that day, always early,
as if to make up
for my tardiness.

https://dversepoets.com/2018/10/22/quadrille-67-early/

Middle time

This moment falls
in middle time; that
place where past
and future have no

face, and the ground
is held by present,
embracing all the
space, and smiling

in the gaze of distant
possibility, both
behind and ahead in
this path through life.

How did it come to
be, in this unexpected
way, which prior
thoughts did not hold,

which neither fears
nor hopes described?
Surprising in its
presence, such trick

of time and space,
born without thought,
simply happening,
as if it had always been.

as the years pass

It is harder to hold to
dreams as the years
pass. They slip like
gossamer in a wind,

which teases, irritable
and disconcerting, as
if it had been planned,
for just these times;

so do we enter the
days of the mundane,
the real, the practical,
without the shawl of

fantasy, to blur the
bitter edges, soften
the hard shapes -
create possibilities

for those we love,
and all of the things
we thought we might
do and be, in this

allotted time. Does
it matter? Or is this
how it was always
meant to be in a

slow process of
waking up, before
the last true moment
of awakening?