Poems – Page 3

London

It’s so quiet out herein the small hours,just the song of robins, the larksand the sound of my feet on the wetpavement for company,it’s so very English. I love this city,for all its problemsand all its iniquitiesLondon is my home,maybe if I had ever lived anywhere elseI wouldn’t think of it in that waybut IContinue reading “London”

Stillness

I stopped to watch a trainpassing under the bridge this morning,a speeding promise that weighedover a hundred and eighty tonshurtling through the wet nighton its way to somewhere,I watched the signal lightsreflected on the carriagesas the train passed them,red one way, green the other,flash, flash, flashgreen then red, green then red,no return, no return. AsContinue reading “Stillness”

Night

I have come to lovebeing outdoors at night,I love the solitude, space and anonymity,I love the freedom to be myselfand the absence of expectationsfrom anybody else. In the darknessthings become visible thatyou just don’t see in the light of day,an entrance hall to some flats filledwith fluorescent light,a solitary lit window high upon the sideContinue reading “Night”

Soldiers

I have worked as apsychotherapist for nearly forty years nowand though I have never met one in the course of my workI have heard and read about people who are enlightened,when I was younger I hoped that one dayI might count myself among them. I thought that if I could achievean enlightened state I wouldContinue reading “Soldiers”

Now

4.00am and the streets are deserted,nothing but hard frost on the pavementsparkling in the lamplight. Somewhere behind me I hear a car,the petrol engine murmuring and then the sound ofthe tyres on the road, disappearing into the distance. A fox crosses the pavement right in front of meintent on some purpose that has consumed herContinue reading “Now”

Lost and found

Lost and foundAbout 15 years agomy life was beautiful and filled with hope,then it became ugly and then uglier,I don’t know why, I thought of reasons,I thought of nothing but reasons, none of them kind,but I didn’t really know why and even if I hadI doubt that it would have helped very much,somewhere I knewContinue reading “Lost and found”

Soup

What will happen to my poetrywhen I take all the seeking out,all the images of journeys, struggles,trains and pathways, when I just want tobe where I am because that’s where God is? What will happen whenmy breath is company enoughand I no longer need cynicismto protect me from the painof my unrealized dreamsor shadows toContinue reading “Soup”

Betrayal

Have I ever betrayed love?Many times, but not nearly as oftenas love has betrayed me. Not nearly as often as love has refusedto fit into the ideas or rules I have prepared for it,broken the fetters I have placed on its wrists and anklesor passed by my poetry without a glance. Love doesn’t bow toContinue reading “Betrayal”

Intoxication

This morning wasdark, cold and frostywith a perfectly clear sky,|as I walked over the railway bridgeI stopped abruptly, turned and looked upso I could take the moon by surprise. But the moontook me by surprise instead,so clear, so sharp and unequivocal,there’s something intimate and exciting aboutthe light of a full moon on a dark andContinue reading “Intoxication”

Passing

I passed a woman on myearly morning walk todayand as I did I said, ‘Morning’.She looked up from her little dogwho was peeing against a tree and said,‘Mornin’, then we went our separate ways,she with her dog and me with my thoughts. I walked on, over the railway bridge,past the purple buddleia growing out oftheContinue reading “Passing”