Cliff Edge

Standing on the cliff edge
Scales fall from my eyes
Day’s mist recedes
With loosening of ties

A foot extends forward
Dares the earth to meet it
Bring its fury to me
Rising up to greet it

A moment’s hesitation…
The whole truth crashes in
The things that matter most
What I’d lose, and win

I recoil in horror
Heart pounding through my chest
With the certainty of knowing
What needs to be addressed

So if you’re struggling to see
The heart’s wants on your face
Step up to that edge
But take not another pace

 

Picture credit: flickr.com/photos/abhishek047/15897915815

The Train

The train rolls ever onwards
The piper smokes his last
Grab all your hopes and dreams
And stick them up your past

The train rolls ever onwards
The teacher can’t be taught
Hate is rolling down the line
Incontinence of thought

The train rolls ever onwards
From day into dark night
Gathering all the mind-moths
Burn them in the light

The train rolls ever onwards
Until it makes the end
To hide within the darkness
And greet it like a friend

 

Picture credit: flickr.com/photos/caldaroni/8633963996

Haiku – Clocks

Metronomic beats
Pulsing towards love’s ending
Counting down, not up

All clocks melt away
Persistence of memory?
Nothing survives clean

Time’s petite parcels
Those tick-tock happy endings
Eat away our hope

Salvador Dali – The Persistence of Memory

Picture credit: By Image taken from About.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20132344

Written for: https://haikuhorizons.wordpress.com/2016/07/10/haiku-horizons-prompt-clock/

Band of One

Been playing songs for so long
Got music in my soul
A new song every night I sing
But still I don’t feel whole

Been touring round these parts so long
And yeah I’ve had some fun
But I’m not all I could be
Cuz I’m a band of one

It looks like fun from the outside, but
This living ain’t a life
Never knowing where I’m going to,
The road my only wife

And so I take the stage each night
And whisper love’s soft words
Feeling such a fraud each time
Cuz they’re nothing like I’ve heard

If I could ever find someone
To sit with in the sun
Then maybe I could break up
This lonely band of one

And all I really need is someone
To sit with in the sun
And on that day I’ll break up
This lonely band of one

 

Picture credit: flickr.com/photos/frascelly/201456282

In The Hole

I wrote this for a friend. Look out for each other x

When we’re in the hole,
There’s no map to guide us out,
No one there to listen,
However much we shout

But all it takes is one
To offer down a hand
Help us through the worst
Remind us we can stand

No one here is judging
We just want to see you smile
Take my hand and sit with me
Let’s talk a little while

 

Picture credit: flickr.com/photos/horrigans/2385138816

Haiku – The Waterboatman

Skate across surface
Surviving on tension’s skin
One ripple means doom

 

Picture credit: flickr.com/photos/thingummy/40968649

Breadcrumbs

I crumble up the bread
Offer up some crumbs
Jealously guard the loaf
The source from which it comes

This artisanal loaf is mine alone
I do not wish to share it
It’s something of an acquired taste
And I don’t want to dare it

So take the crumbs and leave me be
There’s nothing more to taste
Than the hard-baked hearts of foolish men
Who’ve left their skills to waste

 

Picture credit: flickr.com/photos/simonbleasdale/2510798899

The Pretty Words

Round up all the pretty words
Toss them on the coals
Watch them scream and smoulder
Bonfire of the souls

Gather up the nice words
Spew them on the pyre
Feed them to the hungry flame
Dancing ever higher

The pleasant, perky, perfect words
Shred them one by one
Confetti-cast that catalogue
Into this parody of the sun

The beautiful, buoyant, bonny words
Line up by the door
Await their fate without a fight
We need them here no more

 

I’ve recorded an audio version of this HERE

 

Picture credit: flickr.com/photos/dream_in_the_dark_of_day/447686987

Bone Man

An ambulation of bones
With a storm inside my skull
I am not what you see

 

Skull

Picture credit: flickr.com/photos/sebastiandooris/5217649482

Until…

Till the songbird listens
And the moon beats down
Till the wind speaks its secrets
I will wear no crown

Till the worm does turn
Every verb, a noun
Till the cold snap breaks
I will wear no crown

Till the child is father
To the man
And love is weak
This is who I am

 

Picture credit: flickr.com/photos/pip0ka/14113923932