To A Lost Friend

No wind to shake
The trees tonight.
Just some leaves
Doused in yellow.
And the half moon
Like a child, cradled,
Is going down, down
Too far to see.

There were times when
You never asked.
Looked the other way
Said you couldn’t believe.
Cast your nets around
For someone else’s eyes.

Then I get to thinking
Of degrees
Latitudes
Longitudes
And the walls that divide.
I remember you,
Ugly, once
Beautiful, thrice.

Away

Away, in your wings
Tonight.
Away, like stories
When your lips part.
Away, like music
When you touch.
Away, like secrets
When your eyes are drawn.
Pretend, or
Take me away.

Colours

Last time that I ask
What will you do?
With this ball and chain,
When the road becomes the rainbow?
And all that we once built,
Takes a different hue.
Out of cue,
Out of time, again.

Can you think of colours, new?
When two worlds collide
Yours and mine, hands entwined
With two suns going down
In a different place,
At a different time.

Say everything we’ve heard before.
Gone in circles, not so round
Mixed our shades with everyone,
We’re not.
Made us new,
But different, again.

When you slide over like a shade
Your body becomes the floor.
Then you’re the rain
Smiling down on me.
Washing me away,
Into the blue.

And as I lay watching,
Wishing to myself if I could get,
Just a little.
Your face swims in cool waves outside
And the night is black no more.

Footsteps

Today, you will not understand

Tomorrow, wait for tomorrow.

But the questions leave me wanting

Waiting, watching, wishing

I knew more.

Like the darkness, you left me

A night with no stars

And I’m still seeking

Tracing

Footsteps

Till I find my own.

Be Near

Drifting, devoid of shade

But don’t we all?

A thousand teacups ring your name.

Remember when you

Made a corner your home…?

It was there, in that corner

Where your roots took shape.

Forced itself through every wall.

Ran free, like

Rings through your ears

Found me waiting

And took me in.

And all I’ll ask of you

Is to

Be near.

When the night breaks me in two.

And the day finds me again.

Take Me Back

Take me back to the days

When there is mist all around.

Sunlight pierces through to show

Birds resting on the trees.

When smoke hangs in the air

A candle flickers and lights your face.

Take me back to the time

When it rained and we ran for shelter.

Shared a blanket, sang together.

Walked through the night, lost our way.

Traced the footsteps of an old man

Dodged cows, dogs and pitfalls

And home again.

Take me back to the moment

When you close your eyes and

Hold your breath.

Before you laugh and let it go,

To take me back

So I find you there.

Take me back, to all that

And more, like

The things that I forget.

There is no one here to hurt or please.

And the room I’m in leaves me

Uninspired

Though I still hear the birds sing.

Nothing

It’s been raining bad poetry

All through the night.

It kept me up

And I could not

Hear anything else.

I look and I see,

Infancy, or

A photograph, decade old

Cat’s eyes.

Then you gazing into

The yellow

The white

The black

With one eye closed,

Or open,

I can’t tell.

Your messages

That took from me.

I want it all

Or nothing,

Nothing for now.

Just a few days, live

Only a few miles, try

Temporariness is a funny thing if you think otherwise.

It goes on and on

Like the word itself.

Lonely word.