the golden blow

we take the pummel since we have to ride

no need to fumble there’s a ready flow

though words are warmer life retains its glow

both here and where we  see high mountain’s side

wake in new green our hearts no longer hide

from the assertion that they truly know

what is their will we’ve seen the golden blow

after the panic and we share the pride

no worse disaster that we care to mark

in daily news or nightly tale of care

can come so close or make our souls to smart

but what’s important is the end of dark

erasure of the hard weight of despair

from where it lay upon each normal heart

no one regrets

emerging from the freighted dark no thought

but that the sky be clear and hands be filled

with all the needful that your warm hearts willed

when in good daylight the first words were caught

by eager listeners who had been taught

that not all prizes went to those best drilled

in the arcana of the freshly-killed

rather to ones who would account for naught

there is a victory that no one regrets

up in the hills when all the gifts are due

then hunters call and do not comprehend

the plainer meanings and the open sets

though when we have been silenced and review

our final forces we find there’s no end

at the commencement

at the commencement all the world was dared

for a small prize a kiss  and then a hope

so that the magic feeling would be shared

not by the ones whose  urgency was feared

as they came running down the morning slope

at the commencement all the world was dared

just so they could with justice be prepared

for honourable parting we elope

so that the magic feeling would be shared

in proper form and time by those who cared

more deeply and were happy they could cope

at the commencement all the world was dared

yet we survive while all the children stared

as new dawn seemed to offer yet more scope

so that the magic feeling would be shared

by all the folk who knew they had been spared

to hold with strength what they could barely grope

at the commencement all the world was dared

so that the magic feeling would be shared

truth's a toy

what’s left unknown weighs down  until we bleat

in rage and fear then leave off being bold

for better nights and stories wiser told

as those with longer practice wait the fleet

leaving the late ones to patrol the street

in angry silence so while it is cold

as the dew rises and the night turns old

the urgent and the foolish still may meet

this is the game of rats that always prey

upon the leavings that once made for joy

cast away now beneath the starless sky

as every denizen flees from the day

in certainty that even truth’s a toy

and honour turns out just another lie

fever

running into darkness and the grey wall

in the strange quicksand which is some dark trap

you have no choice you must cry out and fall

yet this is not the time for you to bawl

at life's injustice and go off the map

running into darkness and the grey wall

with none to hear as the hard sun stands tall

you have the strength to go another lap

you have no choice you must cry out and fall

but will get up though none may hear your call

since there is still a way out of the crap

running into darkness and the grey wall

even though light itself may seem to maul

your heart and no one ever gives a rap

you have no choice you must cry out and fall

struggle again to show you have the gall

to face down all the ravages of hap

running into darkness and the grey wall

you have no choice  you must cry out and fall

les neiges d'antan

yesterday's snow is dirty now and dark

we look for ice and worry about shade

as the sun rises and the long parade

of normal time resumes along the stark

roads and each newly-woken seems to mark

a world made gritty when light must abrade

both faith and fear the horror we have made

there's nothing but the chance of a new spark

from a great distance in another zone

there's news more bitter than the fleeting cold

and nothing that can make it feel more light

since each plain word will cut right to the bone

yet do no more than let us know what's told

which is that all will come to end in night

no river flowed

in the deep silence when the heavy snow

had closed the ways and frozen every road

each of us certain that no river flowed

and turning inwards for the gentle glow

of  home and hope that love will soon bestow

on all of those who have found out the code

of normal joy there's no more human mode

for us to find nor for the heart to know

yet as the dark descends on the cold city

we're held together by another light

clearer and kinder than we might deserve

safe in a time we know for rough and gritty

and made secure by truth instead of might

we find the gold around the final curve

the message

we heard a clear message loud as a gun

roll from the speaker who stood above

bright as a sovereign in the setting sun

there’s what we have asked for much has been done

the structure is falling just one more shove

we heard a clear message loud as a gun

and we are not startled though it may stun

having already seen fist in the glove

bright as a sovereign in the setting sun

pleasant words told us of miles left to run

with hearts of a lion and souls of a dove

we heard a clear message loud as a gun

out of the vision the teller had spun

came more hope than any of us had thought of

bright as a sovereign in the setting sun

the story of all that was worth being won

the magic and beauty of our common love

we heard a clear message loud as a gun

bright as a sovereign in the setting sun