THE LOST LAUGH:

I´ve searched for it, I have hunted high & low,

My laugh has gone & has lost its wending way,

I´ve peeped behind clouds & in earth way below,

I´ve tried, but failed to grab it every day in play.

My laugh flowed with bitterness in the ducts of bile,

It ran away with tears, down the cheeks of lost loves,

My laugh´s buried down deep in death´s tombed pile,

Asking if they´ve seen it, of passing men & flying doves.

Not in oceans, forests, nor behind tight locked doors,

Neither in the eye nor pretty smile, do I get you back,

But then one day, in my hand, I felt that soft little paw,

The laugh tickled my lips again & my face began to crack.

TAKE ME AWAY FROM, TAKE ME TO:

Take me away from dark places in the mind

There where analysis dwells,

To where Bridget whispers her wisdom through

Her deep & magical wells.

Take me away from those loveless corners

Of my lost childhood years,

To deep within Green-sleeves forests

So that I may play with deer.

Take me away from those twisted minds

Of the cruel men who reign,

To swaying fields of golden waving wheat

Kissed by poppies upon the plains.

Take me away from those harsh horrid hands

Those that tightens hangman´s rope,

To the land where bearded fiddlers play

Filling my soul with tuneful hope.

Take me away from those sad sodden paths

Of the daily mired grind,

To where the midnight raven flies

And where the poet caresses the mind.

Take me far away from that hollow look

Within the eye of the starving child,

Up to the sky beyond the clouds

To where the mighty eagle glides.

Take me away from the whimpering pup

From the cursing words that sting,

To the shingle of cold winter beaches

Where the icy little pebbles sing.

Take me away from these arid lands

Where seeds forget to grow,

To woods where pretty maidens trip

And fresh streams giggle & flow.

Take me away from this cruel world

Where all is bad & goes astray,

To the cold spume of Northern shores

Where falcons weave their wending ways

And to you I kneel & softly pray.

WIDOW´S WEEDS:

My blush you took with you, into your deep dark tomb,

Together with my smile, plunging me into bleakest gloom,

Your passing wrapped me in shrouds of your blackest deeds,

In my veil & mantle of darkest & blackest of widow´s weeds.

Please lead me away from these weeds of black sorrow,

I´ll inter all yesterdays & dance into life´s gay tomorrow´s,

To where tiny birds of light feathers sing in orchestral joy,

And echoing laughter can be heard from small girls & boys.

Enfold me in silks of mulberry mauves & soft lilac satins,

Adorn my forgotten grey locks in pretty paisley patterns,

I´ll wear loud floral hats in scarlet, on waving poppy’s stems,

I´ll gaily garb in Velvet lupine sleeves & golden daffodil hems.

I´ll dress in delicate lace & waltz beneath soft falling rain,

No tears, no more peeping from behind dark window pane,

I´ll embrace milky moons & laugh along with summer suns,

I´ll sing together with birds & with the stars, I´ll have my fun.

You’ve passed, you´ve gone now to that far & better place,

I´ll always love you, keep you near & never forget your face,

But I´m still here, still live & have my very soul-filled needs,

Deep in the earth, I bury with you, my sorry widow´s weeds.

BLOCK:

I am thwarted by my fickle & very inspirational lover,

Words no longer linger softly & invade my aching brain,

No longer willing pages, of lost books from cover to cover,

No letters filling lonesome corners, easing my stifled pain.

Where love once flowed in streams, now dammed by rock,

Where birds soared, they´re now gone & lost in misty haze,

This cancer called inability, which poets simply call the block,

Please God before you call me home, lift this hellish malaise.

PIECE BY PIECE:

Looking into the mirror at lines, wrinkles & creped greying neck,

I see the drooping, the loosening & sagging of a poor sorry wreck,

Taken apart, stitch by stitch, bit by bit, by life´s cruel steely hand,

The ebbing corporal tides & soft dunes of skin´s tired shifting sands.

Please God, take me to pieces & little by little I ask, take me apart,

Oil my rusty hinges, replace the lost nails & give me brand new parts,

Sandpaper the old me, paint away the cracks with fresh patina anew,

Remove the creaking pains, refresh the stains & fix the bones askew.

Please dust away all my old sins, wash & replenish my sick rusty soul,

Remove all loose, broken, useless pieces & make me once again whole,

Re-programme my capacity for loving, kindness & my weary old brain,

And put me back, piece by piece, bit by bit, so that I may start over again.