26 August 2013

this moment is no lie

now tell me that this moment is no lie
we mean to go one just as we began
to measure all the world within one eye

so that this magic will not make you cry
allow each of us to fulfill the plan
now tell me that this moment is no lie

since you have gained the trust and will not cry
for any reason there's a way to span
to measure all the world within one eye

we have been gifted with this will to try
for other countries where there is no ban
now tell me that this moment is no lie

that honour rises in the summer sky
with all the goodliness that we may scan
to measure all the world within one eye

in order that each heart may learn to fly
beyond the places where our feet first ran
now tell me that this moment is no lie

to measure all the world within one eye

19 August 2013

the test

from shadow into shadow there's no need
to measure honour nor to mete out pain
through the sad morning for each must abstain
from that fierce propaganda of the deed
which was by action of straight force decreed
since all the nature of this world's made plain
and we learn both the cure and the heart's bane
what makes us whole and what will make us bleed
truth does not give the agent much real choice
you get to act since there's nowhere to rest
this side of death that is the one sure fact
instead you have to give justice a voice
face the rough world and submit to the test

just hoping to get all the way intact

10 August 2013

an ordered departure

we always seem to leave there in the rain
not in light drizzle but a heavy pour
that catches us straightway we leave the door
yet we're back with no reason once again
to find our way through torrents to the plain
it seems too much and yet we ask for more
as if this were a torment we adore
the price of pleasure being this hard strain
the thunder speaks and we dare not respond
since all our fears are centred in that sound
when it is echoed by each traitor heart
revealing that we won't refuse the bond
and most afraid that hope will not rebound

because our hands and minds have lost the art

07 August 2013

the normal way

the name is wrong the memory still right
of the grey trees beside the drystone wall
fruiting in summer so lush in recall
and seen so clearly in approaching night
as we looked up to see the birds in flight
the setting sun that gorgeous red ball
as into the green sea it seemed to fall
made of it one stark blessing of a sight
we cannot know what goods may come to pass
on this hard journey up and down the hill
but dare not bid a single minute stay
yet what we see reflected in the glass
is not the force either of wit or will

but all the markings of the normal way

01 August 2013

emancipation day villanelle

in the bright morning under the free sun
all are now equal each of us may stand
glad in the knowledge that the lash is done

the times are over when we had to run
justice has entered where it once was banned
in the the bright morning under the free sun

a different type of journey has begun
when no one has the right of sole command
glad in the knowledge that the lash is done

we look around and see that we have won
so very much that all our words seem bland
in the bright morning under the free sun

what will become of us is known to none
but t we are ready and we understand
gland in the knowledge that the lash is done

and we have reached the point where everyone
must pause to sing then claim as theirs the land
in the bright morning under the free sun

glad in the knowledge that the lash is done