A Reckoning

Above and beyond

The chancel arch,

Looped and traced

Through slivered  glass,

Your  slanted hues pin me

To the cold grey stones:

Nailed upon a cross,

A prostrate shadow,

Body blooded,

Head in haloed gold,

Is the open chalice,

Thirsting to be filled.

The soul’s grey garment

Splashed with tainted silver

Comes sainted

In the pilgrim’s wounds 

Bleached beneath

The  burning sun.

Was it here that once we met

Beneath this self same chancel arch

I  walked away in selfish pride?

So now  you haul  me by another rope

To kneel in supplication,

Wounded by your side.

 Thought this would be good for a friday

JL

A Sorry State of Affairs

Fickle freckle fingers

Feel my face

Tingle tangle twitches

Touch my toes

Little lacey lollipop

Licks my lips

Single sentence sadness

Saps my soul

One day at a time

The Unexpected One

So beautiful to see

A blood red rose

By the sordid corner

Of a rusted stair

A child at bed time

Knelt in prayer

A sunset sinking

In a southern sea

An orange moon

And harvest home

A rendezvous

When hope had gone

All moments

Of unexpected joy

Catch my breath.

JL 28 Sept 2011

Thought in Passing

If you meet a guru on the road
Then pass him by (not into killing)
His place is not by you
But before you
And your meeting
Is not a meeting
But a passing
For you were there before him
And all he offers is consolation.

The part of the guru
Is not to console but to guide.

A guru met upon the road
Is no guide
But a fellow traveller
On life's journey.

Taste rather the air you breathe
It is the wine of your being
And the stones beneath your feet
Are bread for your sustenence.

Touch  of Lao Tse here

Monday Wash

Crisply clean laundry
Line dancing
Under a washed sky
Complete with cloud capped
Dolly Blue.
And salt scented by the sea

Cloudless Twilight

 

In the stillness

The cicadas return.

In the merest

Breath of a wind

Likened to your kiss,

So gentle

The faintest of greetings,

Yet fullest

In expectations

To stir the fantasy

Of perfect pleasure,

A sipping

Of forbidden nectar

From a spring

Full sprung

Within the darkest soul,

To leap into the arms

Of softest down

And so to slip

Into

A dreamless sleep

Beneath a southern sky

20^th Aug 2011

 "To the father through the features of men's faces."
(As kingfishers Catch Fire) JMH

A thought suited for Sunday.

Things for Anthony

There are moments

there are sweet things

there are tears

there are smiles

there are things

that screw your eyes up

and in the end

there are beautiful things

that are so wonderful

they make you cry.

JL July 2011

That's it solstice gone.  Now we of the north folk move into the dark.

La Primavera

Almond blossoms

Along terraces

Below the pines,

Where towers

Of old Castile

Seed tarragon  and  thyme

White ponies nuzzle

By the wine press wall

Shifting.

There is quiet

Before the lark rise

The cloud rush.

The curtain in the window

Taps the pane

The cypress stirs

The churchyard calm,

And Later

Rain.

JL  1987

To continue the atmosphere this week an old number found lodged in an old file tucked away under  winter poem. I will leave that till next week. The weekend approaches. So