I have resigned to only one
Hug a day,
Because the rulers say
I need only one
Hug per day.
I have resigned to only two
ComplaInts a day,
Because the rulers say
I need only one
Hug per day.
I have resigned to only three
Poems a day
Because the rulers say
I need only one
Hug per day.
I have resigned
To discard twice a day
Any complaints conveyed
Through poetry.
As the world dies
I die with it,
My sap sets
In a public puddle
Around Marble Arch
Beyond the Reform Tree
Along the Serpentine
To the Corner and the Broad Walk,
I speak my mind in a dying world
Unlike those that went
before me
I carry little weight,
I claim to be
No Marx
No Orwell,
Nor make an impact on the world
Like Callinan
Like Marcantonio
Like Quinn.
In the sunset I wonder
About a dying world & a dying man,
Who dies first
& if it really matters.
Marginal Peripheral Anomaly
Cycling the circumference of the greener world
Greener grass and greyer moss
& by a punctured ego
โ flattened
Marginal Peripheral Anomaly
Meeting the force of familiar faces
Blending foreign spices
& happy local hops
Marginal Peripheral Anomaly
Bidding last farewells
As years turn to seconds
& no rain fell on the fellows
โ feeling strangely akin.
& the Demon of Time stalked the young man heading for home where greener pastures awaited, of that he was sure.
Along the winding promenade by the cracked grey Vanishing Lake.
Through the silent Forest of Old, where smouldering pines coughed and snored.
Above the tickling trickling streams of silver where gold was found and the rich got richer.
& the Demon of Time stalked the young man who never knew the dangers โ of not looking back.
Grey moss grows on an ancient tree
Fattened in solitude
Beyond the reach of Humanity.
It reflects in a nearby Loch
A desire to be cut โ chopped
Down into pretty pieces,
Ring by ring โ year by year
The wisdom accumulated
โ in risk of fading.
Lichens cling and clamber
Towards the top of the ancient tree
As it stolidly stands in attention
โ pondering the coming peace.
