From time to time a poem

Winter Blue

These winter nights are darkness
Under skies of frostbit black, rolled back;
Stars shimmer out to nothing
Through quick-lost ghosts and vapour trails;
Evaporate in evening
Vacant aeon holding all that's left as one:

Those clear blue eyes are shining
Delicate as dim-remembered daybreak;
Slim elegance of kindness
Bow-bent forms which sway and softly settle;
Under one pure colour flying,
Sailing, sinking in the still encircling oceans.

From the Agamemnon


We learn nothing save through suffering,
The pain of wisdom falls drop by drop upon the heart in sleep
Against our will comes wisdom,
The Grace of the Gods is forced on us.

~Aeschylus

Picture from
http://merlkir.deviantart.com/art/Battle-of-Troy-38399862

Translation by Wescli

The Shell

Cultivate an emptiness
Hollow out the heart
Scoop the messy substance
Leave only the shell.

Sea-sounds' slow reverberation
Air pressure and modulation

Ping and resonate when knocked
Crack and smash when hit
Collapse with every heartbeat
Every smile a split.

Sculpture

The idea which keeps me up at night
Formed from darkness, unseen feeling pressed
Against myself, to seek for clarity
To push and press and rend and crack
With rusting tools expose every slim curve
And line and hair and unseen detail dreamt.

The sculpture is open to me, more open
Than any canvas. It is for me to measure
Touch and probe and check and that is why I hesitate;
One slip, one wayward hammer blow
Could shatter all that I expose, and reduce
The slender marble form to scattered rubble.

The sculpture smiles with knowing eyes
She sees my nervous heart and knows it better
Than perhaps I ever will. But still
We spend those twilit hours locked
In mutual exploration, chisel twisting
Through gentle peals of metal meeting rock.

One day the sculpture will grow tired
Of sitting in this dusty room, her legs
When fully carved from the blank stone
Will send her out to find another sculptor,
Perhaps another novice to begin again
Another patient loving excavation.

Until then I try to make myself forget,
And fix on just these cherished sleepless
Hours of silent joyful conversation.

Up

Green giants couch a cage
Perfect prison pressed shut by thick air
Glowing footprints lead away, but
We cannot go
Blind and blank and blinking

We breathe
And then,
Up.

Up past ancient enemies
Moss-hearted, thick and furred
Up through a garden of talons and claws
Relief with every perfect stretching wingbeat
We climb, and climb.

The sky is open here
And past the clouds the sun is always out
We gaze down on emerald forests
Deserts, mountains, oceans.

In the silent grey of morning
I watched the mist surround
Where rain had once been falling
New puddles circled round
I grew to love reflections
I learned to crave the cold
For, long ago she wandered
The sun that shone so bold
Frozen here for ages
In ice encrusted fields
Loneliness there sheltered
From all the pain it yields
Numb and left alone
I finally grew tired
Surrendered to the sadness
And all that it inspired
So mourning for the sun
I set out for the stars
To seek another out
That might return to Mars
An atmosphere of wonder
Vast oceans filled with love
The lush green grasses flowing
Past earthen memories of
The days we lived here happy
The dreams we gave to light
The pleasant wish of lovers
That whispered in the night
And now the world has turned
The sun does crest the hill
The dry air fills with moisture
The basins slow do fill
I wait for perfumed grasses
For ocean sound to play
I smile anticipating
The waves that soon will sway
I close my eyes and listen
For her voice to fill my ears
And know that I will lay there
Though it take many years
I found my peace in knowing
Our city yet remains
Beneath the crust of wanting
Beyond the longing plains…

PACHYCEPHALOSAURUS

Among the later dinosaurs
Though not the largest, strongest,
PACHYCEPHALOSAURUS had
The name that was the longest.

Yet he had more than syllables,
As you may well suppose.
He had great knobs upon his cheeks
And spikes upon his nose.

Ten inches thick, atop his head,
A bump of bone projected.
By this his brain, though hardly worth
Protecting, was protected.

No claw or tooth, no tree that fell
Upon his head kerwhacky,
Could crack or crease or jar or scar
That stony part of Paky.

And so he nibbled plants in peace
And lived untroubled days.
Sometimes, in fact, as Paky proved,
To be a bonehead pays.

~ Richard Armour


I might be too old to have a favorite dinosaur.. but this one is it and I found the poem when I was about 23 or so.

In the Temple the knight kept his guard,
though this task was very hard.
He could hear the voices from the deep,
like the songs of a funeral dream.

The sirens cast their net with pride,
trying to seduce the noble knight;
there he kept to the painted walls,
never letting his voice be stalled.

Over time there was a toll
on the knights eternal soul.
He dallied with the temptations long,
listening to the evil song.

Yet there he stood without a care
in the dark where no one dared,
keeping long to the vigil's call,
the knight was not seduced to fall.

The Temple is lit over long
with the fire of the song,
the song that issues through the night
to the souls that never die.

Sages

Those dim candle-lit chambers
Within ourselves, secluded
Where the old sages sit

Ringed in darkness, meditating
They speak without words
Know without needing to see

You led me to another room
Where, gazing at the dancing flame
In silent thought I found myself.

Shadow

In my dreams we’re always alone
Hands touch, escape
Curl into shadow,
Bolt and run, and run forever
Slipped from every scene together

Back behind the world
The corners of abandoned lots and
Ghost town alleyways

I chased you to the end of the garden
Dew on our bare feet
And we stood there
Facing each other

At six paces
Morning sun not over the hedgerow
Smoke in our breath
Our hands were empty

Sometimes I wonder
When or how we died
It’s gone, and I’m glad.

In my dreams we’re always alone
Lost, unafraid
Stretched long in sunlight;
I will carry you with me
Wherever I go.