Lives, like speeding cars, rushing past, Everything I love, falling away,
Like scenery through the window Into a chasm of half remembered dreams
So much loss! To be a hero
Just one chance to prove I was worthwhile But it rushed past too quickly to be seized
And it became a taunt haunting me forever To survive, living, caring, working
With guilt corroding my life, […]
Your hand in mine Makes me feel whole
Encourages me To continue
Just a little longer – Until the next time
You hold me
Somewhere In the thorny morass Of my troubled childhood
the proboscis of creativity was inserted only half way into my brain
by a loving God bestowing on me an incomplete talent
For the arts – The fundamental need to be creative
Mixed with an inadequate aptitude Or an adequate ineptitude
For creating works of art That others find
Irresistible, compelling and alluring That awe-inspiring ability
To put one’s innermost […]
I stare at the words
That have stolen
My son’s future
I want to forget
The damage I have caused
But he lives with me
Every day is an aching reminder
Of my culpability
I kiss and hug him
And snuggle him close to my heart
Breathing in
The sweet smell
Of his little boy’s hair
I care so much it hurts
I know I can make him well
If […]
Even though the sand was littered with pumice stone And the waves too small
and sparse for the serious wave riders to aggravate you still strode purposefully out across the sand
The surfboard you held under one arm was almost bigger than you were
Perhaps to you the waves were like an adversary, Something to be conquered –
A conduit to fame in […]
I watched you yesterday Helping the kids
Shape their surfboards Your eyes sparkled
With their requited love Your hands were
Sheathed in dust I remember speculating
About those hands When I first met you
Trying to decide Whether they were
Good hands Or not
If they would bring me Pleasure or pain
They proved to be loving Dependable hands
The hands of a hero Hands that have shaped lives
As well as surfboards Toughening
Molding Transforming
Loving
“What a lovely photograph”, I say
“Oh! she’s at University studying medicine?”
“Wow – and this one’s got a job that pays how well?”
“You must be very proud”, I say And my son? “Yes he’s doing well” – and back away from that parlay
Not from shame for my boy but from grief for his lost future
This proud […]
The child’s eyes reflect the firelight,
Liquid eyes mirror the dancing flames. She stares trancelike no longer thinking.
The windows of her soul closed By the very act of seeing
She parries against thoughts which are drifting Inexorably towards the door in her mind
Craving to be let out, dusted off – Inspected
She reaches out for the flame, Holding her hand closer, and closer […]
A tear slowly slides down a small cheek
Pauses for a moment
Then, urged from behind continues its journey
The child shuffles her feet as a tear
Falls softly to the ground
The face on which it has traveled
Remains calm - eyes bright, pleading
Willing the onlooker to care
But no one does
She returns to the only place left where she feels […]
They fight and play,
exhuming fun from the back yard.
Finding in one mouth
something that would have been better off
left alone to die naturally.
‘Time for rest’ I say.
They run away.
I stalk them ….smiling.
They like this game.
Surrounding me – I can almost hear them chuckling.
They lie in wait behind clumps of grass
thinking I can’t see them,
scampering away […]