Next

Next

The wind on my face

Stroking my skin

Massaging my worries

Waking my mind.

Waiting walking

Wondering whats next

Roaming the unknown

Seeking the undone

Vietnam

Vietnam

Land of the motorbikes

Land of the horns

An orchestra of noise

Rows of wheels parked two by two.

Accents and embellishments

Every word a work of art

White pillars and black lines

Light from the neath annotated with gold.

Boxes stacked on boxes -

Piled on bikes weave through and round,

Eyes wide at pale legs

Half covered faces that give naught away.

V

V

A golden heart and the strongest head,

 Beautifully complex but still simply beautiful.  

Direct directions, always finding never lost,

Collecting moments, ideas, hearts: the lot.

Content, continuous, conscientious and kind,

Delicately smiling, clicking your way through life.

Listening, thinking, contemplating us,

Sharing real happiness: your gift to the world.

You weren't there

You weren't there

Four Irishmen, one Aussie and a Brit walk into a bar

And light it up with laughter.

Humming theme tunes and shouting lamb chops

Full of hearts, avoiding the ace.

Four Irishmen, one Aussie and a Brit walk into a bar

And memories are made.

Fast friends make strong bonds

When miles away from home.

Four Irishmen, one Aussie and a Brit walk into a bar

And quickly fall in love.

Hidden souls resurface

From still waters that run so deep.

Four Irishmen, one Aussie and a Brit walk into a bar

And time stands still.

Gentle nudges and cheeky grins

Love so strong it’s mistaken for hate.

Four Irishmen, one Aussie and a Brit walk into a bar

And never want to leave.

Soaring through clouds of happiness

Elation that’s catching; infecting smiles.

Four Irishmen, one Aussie and a Brit walk into a bar

And leave their hearts there.

Goodbyes, they are inevitable

But we will always have Nam.

Too soon

Too soon

I’ve got you here with me now,

Your photo in my heart.

As I see things you never could,

Experience the world you left too soon.

I’m thinking of you now,

Everywhere I go.

Loving and living in your stead,

Experiencing the world you left too soon.

I’m climbing for you now,

Diving and swimming where you couldn’t.

Making each single second count,

To experience the world you left too soon.

I’m living for you now,

To ease the pain your loss has caused.

Imagining your smile -

Because you would want me to experience the world you left too soon

Brutal beauty

Brutal Beauty

Young trees and small buildings

Misty mountains breathless in the background

A raindrop orchestra dresses leaves in diamonds

And ripples reflecting each green and every brown.

Rivers falling, flooding, flowing

Tall limbs that reach, bending, bowing.

Silence surrounds quiet; tranquility defined

Past secrets forgiven – almost forgotten

But never far away.

Faith

Faith

Faith is a bird

Precious feathers that float in the breeze.

She speaks her voice through the silence

Sings out in peace and statue.

Faith is a child

Playing hide and go seek.

Her attention flickers from new world to new world

With innocent eyes that dart around.

Faith is a candle

Lighting up a darkened room.

Though she is tortured by the wind

Still she holds strong; strong and true

Faith is a snowflake

Unique in everyone.

Resting on pavements, paths and houses

She blesses all she's touched

Faith is a blade of grass or grain of sand

Strong amongst communion.

The sum of her parts that make up the whole

Harder to see for all the trees.

Faith is a poem

A collection of thoughts and prayers.

Her words become promises

Kept forever, forgotten in now.

Faith is like hope, like love, like forgiveness

She needs protection and time; patience un-ended.

She will never be bought and never be sold

But bravely won by the worthiest heart.

Depending on rest and water

Depending on rest and water 

A fuzzy feeling foreign to my body

Washes over in waves unsettling the view.

Flashes of black and cold burn inside my ears

As tears of hot sweat bead quick across my brow.

Seconds stretch and collapse,

The air weighs on me heavy,

Try to blink the fog from behind my eyes

But still the mist remains.

Moving slowly: tender knees and trembling steps

Distracted by focus, cared for by strangers

Depending on rest and water.

Skinny Hi

Skinny Hi

Oh Skinny Hi your voice is syrup

And your laugh, it warms my heart.

Your smile explodes across your face

And teeth that beam welcome the world.

Hey Hi, my dear oh sweetest Hi

Your soul, it is exquisite.

Like medicine for the mind and food for thought

Your cheer has made my day.

Soft Tears

Soft tears

I weep for humility

Humbled as I am.

Humanity fails before my eyes

All softness forever undone.

                          

I weep for joy, for forgiveness unbound

In pain, I weep for their sorrow

Overwhelmed by a land of smiles

That suffers hardships I will never know.

I weep to find the strength

To accept what I haven’t effected.

For peace and grace beyond all known

To protect them that should have been protected.

Three Eight Thirty

Three years of ugliness: unimaginable

Eight months of injustice: inconceivable

Thirty days that will never be undone

And so a people shed tears of grace - beaten but not gone.

Three years, but never over

Eight months, still stories untold

Thirty days with wounds still healing

The sting of the past now burns as the sun.

Three years, eight months, thirty days they tried,

Yet peace and patience blooms in humble, forgiving eyes.

So precious as flower that smiles with determined hope,

That three years, eight months, thirty days are forever gone. 

Crossings

I can’t blink, can’t sleep

For the beauty at my window.

My eyes hurt with newness,

Too much gone too quick to see.

I can’t breathe, can’t think

Open mouthed, inhaling the horizon.

Beyond the unfamiliar and over the unknown,

Behind what I’ve never seen and the hidden truths that pass me by.

Only those who sleep

Watching you sleep, a child just like me,

Vulnerable as a petal that floats into dreams.

Calm strokes your cheek as a mother soothes her child,

Kissing every heart beat as it flutters at your nape.

Softness is your innocence,

Your thoughts like trees bend strong and long.

All air around you slows its pace.

What days cannot hold, that night can never keep.

Still: moving only in time -

Washed by browns and greys that hush past your ears.

Fall into sleep, head cushioned by its peace,

And whisper secrets through parted lips, to only those who sleep.

Rain

Rain.
Rain like you’ve never known,

Rain that blurs the screen ahead:

The unknown ahead.

More rain.

New rain,

Hot, sweet rain anointing my brow:

Blessed by the road.

Water rolling by

Miles, from miles,

Racing across the pane -

Pain, for gone.

Grey skies danced with red and gold,

Rainbow clouds that dust the way.

Colour bursting from raindrops

As they smash against the bay.