Beaumont Evening - Blank Verse

Thistle down
Fluffy heads on spiny stalks
Balls of beige cotton wool
Dry stone walls
Green then fading grey then black
Into shadows of evening
Misty montage of copses and hills
Away to the horizon
Evening insects and the birds
Meandering in flight
Suspended by the golden light
Of warm autumn sun - finished with us now
Off to set over Ireland
Gold to the west
Blue to the east
The sky like a tinted glassy bowl
Tints of bronze, cobalt and aquamarine

When ...

The thousands of the millions
Growing like the grass
Again, again the planets spin
Quick the seasons pass

Grasses soon are dried and gone
Though grass may sprout again
Once-dried blades will not return
Nor their place regain

Soon will be forgotten
Everyone I knew
While the galaxies rotate
New regions into ...

If its true - all that we are
Is an elegant mistake
Why then worry fret or care
Why then trouble take

If your bald insistence is
That after final breath
An ending to existences
Lies behind the door of death

Then there is no reason
Nor rhyme to what we do
And there is no season
When we may live anew

And it does not matter
That new grass has to grow
If but we may be fatter
And rich before we go

Petulance and primal greed
Is easily excused
Sating each imagined need
Lest we die refused ...

Solomon looked up to see
The circles in the skies
And pronounced life vanity
For man that quickly dies

Who would dare to argue
Who would dare to chide
When looking at the tombstones
Of those that recent died

Brief to be remembered
Perhaps a tear falls still
But not for stones forgotten
Fallen on the hill

And the grass between the graves
Grows each season too
Replacing what the sexton shaves
Sprouting, tender, new ...

Yet death shall end and greed shall pay
Pay for what it took
And all shall answer in that day
The keeper of the book

Each sacrifice that was made
All advantages forsook
Are treasured up to be paid
Written in the book

When at last the book is read
And all receive their due
Then the favoured wakened dead
Will bid death adieu

And laugh and live and love and give
Worship to the one above
Who decreed that man should live
In token of his endless love

Legends of Snow

Once there were posts by the road on the moor
Tell me again, what were they for?
They marked the course of the road when it snowed
And the depths of the drifts when the winter wind blowed

Once there were bears in the ice and the snow
Tell me again, where did they go?
There was no ice so they swam and they swam
'Till they sank and they drowned and never were found

Once there were gentle breezes and showers
And sunny bright pick-nicks that lasted for hours
Now there is only a storm without rainbow
Tell me again, where did it all go?

On the Care of Infant Hearts

Your baby's heart is tender
Your baby's heart is warm
Guard your baby's heart
Keep it safe from harm

Your baby's heart is loving
A fire burns within
Add the flame of your own love
You're ready to begin

Yet you must remember
A baby's heart is small
And its flame is quickly snuffed
If you love it, not at all

If you love not your baby
Your child will not love you
And when you're old and lonely
What then will you do?

And what will they do after
When you are not about
And they look within their heart
And find the fire is out?

White Pawns

A white pawn paused on the chessboard
Facing a red, red foe
'I wait for the word of the Master
When he speaks I shall go
I notice that some of my brethren
Go not when he speaks to them
And, not many moves later
They are not seen again ...'

They were reluctant to hear
They delayed to obey
They waited too long in the rear
They did not discern the day

We will escape the Red King
Though bishop and rook machinate
The Red Queen's final offensive
Will prove too little, too late
We will stand on the back rank
When the campaign is won
Because we marched for the Father
And were of use to his son

We who responded when called
Put the red forces to flight
We were not dismayed or appalled
For the Master gave us the fight

Dominoes Falling

Dominoes fall at a rate
That is determined by
Height proximity and weight
And I can testify
The last to fall seals our fate
Therefore explaining why
No sound is more appalling
Than dominoes falling

Conservation of Superlatives

Manifique, merveilleux, beau, grand, bon
In their place the Englishman has but one
For superfluous superlatives the Brit has not the vice
Disdaining flashy adjectives he calls such things nice

When he, she or it is to be complimented
When he, she or it is really rather splendid
When he, she or it really is sublime
Then perhaps the Englishman may take the time
To express himself in praise more precise
Should this occur, it is very nice

Long ago it was decided
In this world of dirt and greed
That superlatives be hoarded
Against a day of urgent need

When came the urgent needful day
Superlatives were locked away
Brit's could utter not a sound
Because the key could not be found

What to say they did not know
And turned to arcane Latin lingo
Latin answered in a trice
"If you don't know, then just say 'nice'"

Superlatives, though in their prime
Are locked away now for all time
In place of gaudy elocution
The Brit's have made a substitution
When they don't know what to say
'Nice' will always save the day

Called Away

If you are called away
I will mark the day
All the days to follow
Will be extended from that one

If I am told to stay
I will mark the day
And a life so hollow
Will be appended to that one

If I have faith to pray
I will mark the day
When all those that sorrow
Will be transcended by that one

Days of Plenty Passed

The tube was full - I squeezed without care
Some on the brush
Some down the sink
Some on my chin - look there
Even a little in my hair
What did I care?
I opened the box and flung it away
That was on 'new toothpaste day'
I forgot the yesterdays
Rolling the tube so tight
Squeezing with all my might
Yet not even a smear
So I brushed my teeth with water
Spitting it out fresh and clear
Cursing the profligate ways
Of my 'new toothpaste days'

Beneath the Ice

Rising and falling
The grey ghost of fire fled south
Casting no shadow unsure of itself
Seen diffuse through liquid made crystal
Seen by still eyes without flicker in torpor
Fins that don't quiver and bright scales of copper
Rest in a stratum of chillier water
Slow beats the heart quick passes the season
Beneath the ice in a frozen nirvana
Awaiting the fire of the sun

Snowy Cedar

Snowy cedar in your winter coat
Shake your head and make it snow
In the shadow of your boughs
Make it snow down here below
Snow falls and a peeping green
On your waving arms is seen
In my bright imagining
It is the smallest spark of spring

Winter AM

The watery sun warming none
Heaven's empty hearth
Frosty glitter on blades of grass
I saw you totter down the path
Train-puffs of breath in the air as you pass
You, a ball of shiver
And the puddles like pieces of glass

Flutter

Leaf falling upwards
Challenging the sky
Other leaves must fall and die
Russet butterfly

Ouroborus

The serpent chanced upon a worm
Tasted it and found it firm
Swallowed it - or so he thought
Swallowed it although it fought

See the auto-cannibal
With a zeal satanical
Devoid of rationality
Seeking immortality

As upon himself he fed
His body was digested
'Till none was left save his head
Then at last he rested

A giant fossil skull was found
Without a body in the ground
No-one knew what would have filled it
None could say what could have killed it

Broken Umbrella

Fingers to the sky - bony fingers without gloves on
Once held a parasol - a shimmering marquee
A cold wind blew - then the rain fell through
And like mascara smudges beneath weeping eyes
Heaps of soggy leaves now lie under rainy skies

Perceptions of Time & Mortality #1 - Taxonomy of Eternity

When time began galaxies span
Oceans were drawn to the shore
The will of the moon decreed that the waves
Advance and retreat evermore

Called forth to swim in the river of time
Humanity fighting to live
Each being merely the latest in line
Receiving what ancestors give

All of them soon demonstrably gone
Absented from physical strife
'Dead' - denoting the end of a song
Describing an absence of life

If 'darkness' describes the absence of light
And 'death' is to life likewise
Then he who has lived must wink out of sight
And go to no-where when he dies

All of we humans destined to die
Flawed anti-entropic machines
Transmitting new errors to new nuclei
Our data bleeding from genes

Should in the future all come to naught
And phenomena find itself stilled
Then shall nothing have ended the world
And time by death have been killed

If ever and never together have sprung
And never forever may see
Then nothing may something one day become
And something may still nothing be

And one day the frozen corpse of the sun
Must rot in a dead galaxy
And never again will the universe deign
To accommodate humanity

But the universe is - not just a room
Complete with a door and its locks
It was woven upon the loom
Of the one outside of the box

Time and tide and you and I
Exist at his decree
He does not rest - he does not die
For he is aeternity

Know that the one who stoked up the sun
And lit the bright stars that burn
Will not forget each faithful one
Whose heart does love him in return

When his time comes to recreate
Then death, where is your gain
For our Creator in his great love
Shall bid us to live once again

Migration

The swallows have flown to the moon
On such a grey afternoon
It seems that the sparrow, the blackbird and dove
And all that own wings have been taken above
And without this realm of chill air
Are joining the swallows up there

Perceptions of Time and Mortality

This post forms an introduction to a verse project that will be undertaken piecemeal over the next few months.  The objective is to explore perceptions of time and mortality by means of a series of eleven poems.  I have determined an initial structure to the work by means of pre-selecting titles and general schema for the poems themselves.  The actual structure of each poem, its colouring and form, will depend on the influences of the moment when pen is put to paper.

The poems will all bear the label PTM to enable quick reference and will be posted when each is complete - not necessarily in the order of their numbering.  The numbering however will dictate the order of reading once the project has been completed.

1. The Taxonomy of Eternity - Definitions of 'time', 'death' & 'eternity'.
2. The Ephemeropter - The universe of the Mayfly
3. The Eternal Moment - Animal consciousness
4. Postpartum - Perceptions of the new-born
5. Equipoise - Man in his prime
6. In Extremis - Trauma-induced time-dilation
7. Altered States - Psychedelia
8. Janus First and Last - Geriatric repetition of infantile time-dilation
9. Transmission - The reproductive imperative
10. Deity - Outside the continuum
11. Temporialis - Conclusion

I hope that this introduction will whet the appetite for what is to come...

Best Regards,

Theodore.

Janus Smiled

Walking out of the door
The thought that it all will not last evermore
A joy and a delight
I was not loved there but that is alright
For I did not love and the passing is sweet
Now I have passed perhaps love I shall meet
And what I left behind the door
Shall not endure evermore

Birthright

Why should I not - breathe the air
Why should I not - collect the rain
Why should I not - till the earth
And call its produce gain

I was not born - to work for you
To dig for worthless gold
And turn it into others' wealth
While I grow poor and old

Why should I not - live to see
Times of equity
When neither gold nor currency
Make you superior to me

When all alike - shall breathe the air
When all alike - collect the rain
When all alike - may till the earth
And call its produce gain

Yggdrasil Fallen

Washed by pre-primeval rain
Before the works of man begin
Yggdrasil of olden fame
Shaking its crown in the crystal wind
Its roots the source of the ancient spring

Stately pillar - verdant crown
Silence blankets the glade
Yggdrasil of old renown
Whose soothing dappled shade
Through fluttering leaves is laid

Men abode within the shade
But found not tranquility
Where great Yggdrasil was made
Lacking the ability
To live long in harmony

Then fell the leaves of Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil of old renown
Men bent the earth to their will
Then, stripping off the leafy crown
They cut the ancient down

Yggdrasil is gone and done
No more shall come the soothing rain
Now beats down a cruel sun
For relief of ancient pain
And for grace we ask in vain

Applause

Hear the animal roar
Waves crashing on a stony shore
Pebbles scattered by the waves
Dance then settle as before

Waves dying on the shore
Out on the ocean millions more
Sent by sun, moon and wind
Each another's last encore

All across the coast-land
Hear the waves and understand
Applause - the death of waves and
Pebbles grinding into sand

Lame Pigeons

Lame pigeons stumbling
Wincing as they walk
What if they could talk?
What if they could choose?
To continue or not
To end a life without toes?
What do you think they'd decide?
To live on - or suicide?

We know what it is to walk
We imagine their loss and baulk
But they have a gift we cannot buy
They know what it is to fly!
Though walking be painful
Ever their eye
Is focused on the sky

Should you be in pain
Could you do the same?
And feel your dejected spirits lift
As you remember a higher gift?

Black Fly Fat Fly

Black fly fat fly gonna' buzz today
He gonna' buzz round all day...

(Fat'n black'n buzzin'
Lookin' for what he lookin' for
'till there's none to be found no more)

Lookin' for a fly to make his day
Get them eggs laid 'n' fly away ...

Lookin' for smells of death 'n' decay
Suck it all up 'n' fly away ...

(Fat'n black'n buzzin'
Lookin' for what he lookin' for
'till there's none to be found no more)

When he all gone, you gonna stay?
You fat fly gonna' fly away
You black fly gonna fly away
Suck me all up 'n' fly away

When you decay he comin' your way
Suck you all up 'n' fly away ...

(Fat'n black'n buzzin'
Lookin' for what he lookin' for
'till there's none to be found no more)

Beaumont Evening

Balls of beige, back-lit gold
By the sinking sun
Thistle-down born from spiny stalks
Now borne aloft upon
Meandering breezes of evening
Woven through with the song
Of bundles of feathers leaving
The radiant day now is done

In a purple distance
A montage of copses and hills
Surrendering to evening
And a stillness that fills
The upturned bowl of the heavens
With colours of tinted glass
Cobalt bronze and aquamarine
Now that the day must pass

Mossy walls sunk in shadow
Shelter the heathen sheep
The palette of the tableau
Is sunk into colours of sleep

Tattoo You

I feel no need to lie
Explain myself to you
There need be no "why"
I'll do what I want to

Life has passed me by
I'm middle-aged, fat too
But before I die
I will get a tattoo

Nothing else can I control
There's no purpose to the race
I'm unclear about the goal
I will get one on my face

Don't worry what the others think
If you are old and fat too
Under the influence of drink
Get yourself a tattoo

Poetic Illusions of Love

I love you not after the style
Of Rupert Brooke or Poe
Who savor the pain of forsaken loves
That pretty and youthful shine then go
Into night and corruption
Leaving a rosy afterglow
Consumed by a dream
Of what may have been - No

I'll love you in the summer days
Of endless company
And feel your loving hand in mine
As you walk close to me
No matter where the road may turn
No matter if the wind blow cold
Still love within our hearts will burn
Still your loving hand I'll hold
Still the ancient promise true
That you love me and I love you

Ignorance

I don't know why I came
I don't know when I'll go
I refuse to take the blame
For the things that I don't know

I will reap as I sow
But there's no label on
The bag of seed that I have sown
'Till ev'ry seed is gone

All gone and there was never one
To tell me what to choose
To tell of all that may be won
To warn of all that I may lose

Now I wait and ponder
Hidden fates out yonder

Changes

Your father's wealth owned by yourself
I guess it is your due
My father so poor could set by no store
And what now am I to do?

But yearn for the time when man in his prime
Will ever be renewed
The worth of man will exceed that which can
Be counted or be accrued

Then we shall all be - permanently
Suffered jointly to stand
Though wind be blowing and water be flowing
And mountains be turning to sand

The lost race of man reclaimed once again
Moved by gratitude true
Shall turn to the one that shines as the sun
Thankful that all is made new

Mr Boltzmann's Brains

Mr Boltzmann's Brains
Applied dynamic'ly
To problems of complexity
And Secondary Laws
Discerned the flow of heat to be
Leakage of complexity
An increase of entropy
Implying a first cause

Mr Boltzmann now in conflict
Bends his brains to extricate
Lifelong hero Darwin, Charles
From ascent upon petard
Bravely does he cogitate
Inwardly does remonstrate
Seeking to avoid the fate
Of acknowledging a God

Eureka !!!

If the sum totality
Of orderly cosmology
May merely be assumed to be
An illusory charade
In dimensions yet unknown to we
An excess of entropy
May yet explain the panoply
Of order found in ours

In spite of imbecility
Displayed through inability
Of Boltzmann's brain to retain
A grasp upon reality
Still rather would the Boltzmann brain
Believe that all within contained
By ancestor was not informed
But sprang from nothing fully-formed

Boltzmann's brain is celebrated
Quite why is not apparent
Since brains are random-generated
Quite devoid of talent
In the vast and lonely spaces
In-between the stars
Boltzmann's Brains without faces
Are more numerous than ours

How did Mr Boltzmann know
The sturdy explanation
Allowing atheistic order
To replace creation

How did Mr Boltzmann know -
Perhaps his Brains told him so

South Bank Present Imperfect

Limpopo-coloured Thames
Reflects the sky and is blue
There's a beach around the reach
Where I'm sure it is true
That gentle waves surge and die
And one can swim and drink gin
In a tropic approximation
Of the dream I am in

In a more prosaic scene
Here where pigeons fly
Greasy, great and grey-green
Reality passes bye
And the litter misbehaves
Where muddy water licks
And the pebbles in the waves
Are remnants of ancient bricks

Misplaced Elysium!
Now pigeons are closing in
To intercept a fallen crumb
On its way to the litter bin
Across the face of the sun
Shadows of airliners pass
Amid dilapidation
Oh for a rosy glass

Refutation

Hey my brother, let's join forces 'gainst the father
Look what I have taken, you can have it too -
I will give it all to you.
Sell to me your birthright, it will all be alright
Lay down the heavy burden - look and see the view
You were always the organised one
Come be the moon to my sun
I know you want it too ...

Go away, for it is written - this is all I say to you
And many are the faithful who will say it too
Who will love the father just as I have done
And I will call them brother
And He will call them son
And they shall have your birthright
After you are gone ...

Abel's Prayer

Please grant me passage to return
To where I've never been or seen
To streams of water and a tree
Within your garden green

I will never eat therefrom
Nor covet that which is not mine
Accept an orphan in your home
Of happiness sublime

I am weary of this place
I long for one I've never known
As grey days and years have passed
Homesickness has grown

Now I stand and cry without
And beg the cherub 'still the blade'
Let me return and live within
The garden you once made

"Soon you sleep my precious son
Soon the pain will pass
Soon when all is overcome
You will wake at last

Then you will wake and find yourself
Where you have never been or seen
By streams of water and the trees
In my garden green"

Photography

I looked upon the wall

And there behind the glass

I saw the image on the film

Where the light fell in the past

Glowing from the captured face

Light and beauty lit the place

Though now the candle rendered dark

Still on the wall I see the mark

Contextual Amnesia and The Impossibility of Empathy or Why Are People So Stupid?

I wished that I could write a book
With this title deep and true
But I have only half an hour
So this will have to do ...

Contextual Amnesia

I notice that I soon forget
Previous situations
Especially those in which I met
With painful limitations

When I was a poor man
When I rode upon the bus
Drivers of cars and velocipedes
Made excessive fuss

The cursed bus was in their way
The cursed bus blocked out the day
Behind the cursed bus to wait?
Not blooming likely mate!

Now my means have grown
And a modest car I own
The freedom it affords to me
Is not complete, I am not free
For in the hours when traffic rushes
I'm stuck behind the stinking buses

Pedestrians?  Equestrians?
Please don't make me laugh
They may go where e'er they will
As long as they're not in my path

Gentle reader please forgive
The foregoing hyperbole
Say not "my neighbor's just like that"
Ask rather "does the cap fit me?"

And so we pass to topics new
Wont you come explore with me
The plain impossibility
Of true empathy ...

The Impossibility of Empathy

Object if you will
To the gross insinuation
That empathy is not to be
Found in any situation
I contend, it's rarity
Is rarity to such degree
As to approach the apogee
Of true impossibility
Therefore I hope you will concede
In spite of ling'ring pedantry
That empathy is justly judged
Beyond the realms of normally
Accepted possibility

Can you remember how you felt
when you were barely two
And by parental edict
Wore ribbons on your shoe?

Can you remember how you felt
When you were nine or ten
And had to wash your face and hands
Then wash them all again?

Very few have the gift
Of recall with full clarity
Still fewer deign to take the pains
To apply their wit to charity

As long as such a state shall be
We shall see continually
The impossibility
Of true empathy

(There is a type of reader
Who likes to skip the fluff
Eshewing complication he
Skips down fast enough
To the chase, the punch, the core
And so we find him here
Awaiting our arrival
At the last frontier
At the pithy moment
At the phrase so lucid
Can't you hear him asking
"Why are folk so stupid"?)

Why Are People So Stupid?

I have a theory on this point ...

There comes a time bereft of hope
When empathetic souls can't cope
The fault is not with you or me
It's rather with mortality
For hidden deep within the soul
Lurks an ever-growing hole
A warning of the hole to come
In which all are one

"The grave awaits and I'll not give
One second of my life to live
To any other single one
For it all will soon be gone!"
Thus our logic un-refuted
Shows why people are so stupid

But ...

We who better know
Are happy to compassion show
For the plenitude of Father
Will last -we know - forever after

The Haunted Hunters of the Hollow Lands

Haggard, worn, tired, forlorn
With weary tread and heavy head
But watchful eye in spite
The Haunted Hunters of the Hollow Lands
Marched throughout the night

Barren, cold, shattered, old
With blackened plain and primal rain
But hungry yen in spite
The Hollow Lands of Hunters Haunted
Mouldered through the night

Dark, hiding, furtive, sliding
With mournful soul and steadfast goal
But cautious hush in spite
The Hunted Haunters of the Hollow Lands
Watchful through the night

In the Hollow Lands the hunting of the Haunter
In the Hollow Lands the haunting of the Hunter
The Hunter is haunted, the Haunter is Hunted
Both by each are broken and stunted
In the Hollow Lands

Once was no Hunter and none were hunted
Once was no Haunter and none were haunted
Yet since the Hunters' first kill
The haunting and hunting were destined to fill
In the Hollow Lands

Now Hunters and Haunters keep score
Of the casualties of the war
'Till none but the rain
And none but the plain
Of the Hollow Lands remain

Euphemism

The smallest room is quite capacious
For it must contain
A phone, a dog and wellingtons
And access to the drain

Eternity

In an English meadow a gentle stream was dammed
A rippled silent mirror filled the rolling of the land
Variegated hues of green reflected on its face
Along with blues and whitening clouds and all was is in its place

Birds sang and swam and subtle fish glided in the deep
Onward-rushing time stood still and Chronos went to sleep
Though you and I will live and die
Though empty aeons pass
Forever more the ripples play
Upon the mirror mid the grass

We may pray to live as they
They who do not mark the pass
The petty avalanche of sand
Within the hour-glass
He who made all that is there
He who made it fair
Who made it ever timeless, new
Intended we be timeless too

So hand in precious hand with you
Beside the mirror in the grass
Upon that day when all is new
We will watch the aeons pass

No Last Goodbye

Jesus went up to the Father
As those belov'd looked to the sky
"Surely he shall come again - as you beheld him fly"
Thus was it said to them after
And was not a last goodbye

Before I knew there was a you
Before you knew there was an I
He came to live and then to die
Before we loved each other
And feared that one may fly
Yes before we feared a last goodbye

Should we be sundered from each other
It shall not be a last goodbye
For another went before
And decreed that love not die
And but a very little after
Love has wept, a brighter eye
Shall greet a much beloved other
That there may be no last goodbye

Politics

I went to where the countryside

Changed colour on the map

I walked along the borderline

In the atlas printed black

I wandered in the forest

And searched upon the ground

Among the leafy litter

No border could be found

All the birds and squirrels

Didn't notice when

The countryside changed colour

And then changed back again

But the changing of the colour

On the map is clear

And those that are not dead o'er there

Are fleeing over here

At the border on the map

Now painted on the road

The men with uniforms and guns

Relieve them of their load

And herd them to a common place

The people of the hated race

Delivered from a sudden death

Dying at a slower pace

With the birds and squirrels

I stand and wonder why

The lines and colours on the map

Mean they have to die

Village in the Tree - Compendium

 Those of you who have been enjoying the Village in the Tree may wish to have the whole saga in one document - with illustrations no less!

Feel free to download via this link (for your private enjoyment only, commercial rights reserved).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4kvbh8hqpjt2b6q/VIT%20Blog%20Version.pdf?dl=0

The Village in the Tree #10 - Epilogue

A tree within a forest fell

None survived to note it well

If your tree should start to fall

Will anyone survive at all

Survive to tell what fantasy

Destroyed your Village in a Tree

Final Coordinates

The relationship of constant T
And the axes xyz
Require me to think
Fourth dimen-sion-ally

In my case, when constant T
Was less than 1963

I had not yet come to be
There simply was no me

T alone possesses
Linearity
As it grows predictably
Toward infinity

Sometime long before
It reaches such a score
The xyz describing me
Will be naught once more

I hope I can control
The growth of x and z
And thereby my total mass
Measured at max (T)

And like everyone before
And all that after come
I wonder what val (T) will be
When xyz are none

But I can be grateful
For the one who keeps the score
Of xyz over T
That we may live once more

The Sot

On a bus I met one day

A drunken sot who dared to say

That my case and suit and tie

Was offensive to his eye

He mumbled out profanities

He spat and spluttered

Coughed and wheezed

As though to ride upon a bus

Was purely for the drinking class

As he muttered and he swore

Offended by the things I wore

The folly of his case was plain

All his funds went down the drain

And who's to say and who can know

How quickly could the Sot's funds grow

If to booze he did not choose

But spent his money on clean trews.

The Village in the Tree #9 - Gratification

Contrary to the expectation

Of all gathered there

The Village in the Tree

Descended through the air

Tumbling most gracefully

The Village in the Tree

Was briefly Village in the Sky

But lacking competence to fly

Became the Village on the Ground

Devastated all around

By good fortune I had grasped

The final leaf as it fluttered past

The final view will stay with me

The face of mute disbelief

As the Philosoph' observed my leaf

Then fell toward infinity

Yet I am sure that while he fell

He assured himself that all was well

Reality, though defective

Would at the end be self-corrective

Would align canonically

With most Royal Philosophy

These musings, though most comforting

Reprieve of sentence could not bring

Realisation - out of time

Marked the end of a paradigm

Sans L'homme

Go where man has laid his dead
With measured reverential tread
And find not death but life instead

Go where man has ceased to talk
Go where man but seldom walks
In the company of trees
Donating now their fallen leaves
Where birds may sing their crystal song
Sheltered in a world sans l'homme

Go where man has laid his dead
With measured reverential tread
And find not death but life instead

Fence

I chanced upon a timid group
Of ramblers free to roam
They stood before a broken fence
Eager to get home
They hailed a local ancient
Requesting sage direction
Here you find their discourse
Recorded sans correction

Good man we hear a noise beyond
The fences and the trees
Would it be safe to proceed
Tell us if you please ...

We thought we heard a bovine voice
We thought we heard the duck
Perhaps a pig or two we heard
Or poultry run amok

Nah them baint be grunts or moos
Them baint be clucks or baas
Them baint be caws
Or creaking doors
I tell you that becaas ...

Enough of you old yokel!
Said the leader of the group
We have not time for this rhyme
He turned toward the troupe
I say we press on here and now
And through the gap they leapt
Unaware of what was there
That in the darkness slept

Meanwhile the yokel all alone
Shook his ancient head
Stroked his chin and breathing in
This is what he said ...

Them baint be grunts or moos
Them baint be clucks or baas
Them baint be caws
Or creaking doors
I tell you that becaas ...

Them be roars and spiky jaws
An' yon Safari Park
'Taint the place for city folk
To be walkin' after dark

The Village in the Tree #8 - Anticipation

The villagers were gathered yet

Their robust outburst of assent

Still hanging in the air

A tremor stiffened every hair

The village creaked

The village swayed

Like a fiddle poorly played

The villagers rushed to see

The cause of instability

"Feel the tugging of the sun

See its grasping rays

How wondrous is the Cosmos

In all its knowing ways"

Assured the Royal Philosoph'

And took his hat and glasses off

(Earlier he'd put them on)

The villagers implored the sun

To complete their levitation

But the village and the tree

Hastened its gyration

A distant roar of splintering

Warned of separation

Now heroic products

Of Master Engineers

On each other gnashed

'Twas painful to the ears

Meeting in the middle

Where once there had been trunk

Nothing more was heard

Than an awful "thunk"

Patience

I look as I sit
At a radiator valve
And the pipe that's connected to it
At the cold water feed
With a valve that is red
And the shower that is fed
As water flows through it
And the waste from the bath
Through a two-inch tube
Runs next to the hot water feed
And the rad' on the wall
Is two feet tall
But it's warm so there isn't a need
The taps and the shower are closed
Through the waste nothing presently flows
Its all in the plumbing
Though nothing is coming
And I look as I sit
At a radiator valve
And the pipe that's connected to it

Persistence of Memory

Though in a land of plenty
I can't forget my baby
Or the sunny shattered terrace
And the blackened bones of malice
The cairn of stones that covers
The body of my father
Where the wind disturbs the fibers
Of his clothing poking through

I can't forget my baby
Though my husband held her tightly
As she whimpered in the darkness
Lest the border guard should hear -
The şebeke, who took her
Said he'd take care of her
Told my husband not to worry
Told my baby not to fear

I can't forget my baby
In her bed so rough and ready
In a silence deep and solemn
As she sleeps beneath the sky
The pill that gave her slumber
Was it gentle - did it numb her
Have the wolves now found her
Was a tear upon her eye

In the nameless forest
Where they killed my dearest
Where dwells my emotion
And the part that is not here
Though in a land of plenty
I can't forget my baby
The horrors in my mem'ry
Ever standing near

The Village in the Tree #7 - The Royal Philosopher

The great man rose

A silence fell

"On matters of philosophy

Fact and practicality

As the prime authority

All defer to me"

Privately I must confirm

His hubris and pomposity

Excelled all other quality

As you may foretell

If you know him well

"'Tis well known that gravitation

Is the proven emanation

In proportion to the rank

Of heavenly procession

Therefore 'tis plain the force that pulls

The tree upright from ground to crown

From the Sun proceedeth down

And to our dire consternation

Shackled to the ground are we

By the rootstock of the tree

And this accursed manacle

Obstructs our dream of floating free

We must act at once" said he

"Without prevarication"

"Added to the sacrifice

Of eager volunteers

Shall be heroic products

Of Master Engineers

By sweat and toil and diligence

And labor of the Prole'

We'll cut the foul umbilicus

And rise together whole

Finally we shall be free

No longer Village in the Tree

We shall fly and own the view

Of horizons that are new"

"Aye" said the villagers

Held within the thrall

"Aye" said the villagers

They said it one and all

"Aye" said the villagers

They fairly shook the hall

(Not a member I

Of that fateful quorum

Merely to record the day

Sat I in the forum)

"Now should the work begin!"

Though in fact it had begun

In secrecy some years before

According to the noble law

Affording secrecy to kings,

Initiative in noble things

Since the work could not be hid

T'was time to guide the common mood

In the path of common good

That all may share the pleasure

That all may share the pain

Perhaps more importantly

That all may share the blame

"In anticipation of your every need

And through divination of decisions now agreed

Our most Royal Patron

Wisely did proceed

Without hesitation

To commence the deed

Providing liberation - to my words give heed

You thought the project just begun

When in fact 'tis nearly done!"

Thus spoke the Royal Philosoph'

And took his hat and glasses off

Immortality

The old man always pauses
In his raincoat as he comes and goes
Reaches in his pocket
To find something for the crows

The eternal crows
Anonymous they gather
Like to one another
As a twin is to his brother
A crow has not a face
That we should see lines on
Black his coat of modesty
Hides signs we could rely on

Secretly he goes
And leaves another in his place
Thus it is with crows
The eternal race

As a boy he fed the crows
Now the end is drawing near
Still he feeds as he comes and goes
After, they will still be here

Summit

Having climbed the mount
Having won the hill
Seek not yet other slopes
Pause and be still

Soon enough the call will come
Soon enough away
Rest for now the furrowed brow
Appreciate the day

The gift of God is work
But satisfaction too
So while you rest from work well done
Appreciate the view

The Village in the Tree #6 - The Council

"After due deliberation

We hereby make our proclamation"

(It is understood

That is, we understand

We in the Council chamber stand,

That is, we in it stood)

Pausing for effect dramatic

The Council Leader - rarely static

Raised his arms in supplication

To conclude the great oration

"No longer we

As the center of philosophy

Accept the premise wrongly planted

Of dependency upon the tree

Though we nestle in its bough

The tree in its entirety

Does not assure prosperity

Its nether regions then as now

Encumbering our sacred vow

To be free

Free of earthly mundane ties

Free to float into the skies

Free to choose our destiny"

At this all in attendance rise

Giving vent to joyful cries

When once order was restored

The Leader motioned with his sword

(The ceremonial sword of office

Worn at times of greatest need

So that to the Leader

All should pay the closest heed)

He motioned with his sword

To introduce august and loyal

The servant of his Lord

The Philosopher - Royal

The Village in the Tree #5 - Aside

Finally the pump is primed

We look within and there we find

Within the mill blessed grist

Now perhaps as trees may tower

Our narrative

Our parody

Our flight of moral fantasy

As if emerging from the mist

Shall flower

Sources of the Nile

The Sources of the Nile
Passed overhead today
Lofty and imperious
They paused as if to say
'We condescend to lash your streets
And wash your filth away
But not long shall we tarry
Not long shall we stay'

They are bound on a greater quest
Through many a windswept mile
And none may hinder nor molest
The Sources of the Nile

Flotsam & Jetsam

Can't remember what its all about
Turned-on tuned-in dropped-out
Love was free for half a century
But I'm still paying for the LSD
Weed and hepatitis C
And the voices keep me company

Grubby tartan - kind'a fuzzy
Where a Mohawk used to be
Tats on saggy wrinkled skin
And one too many piercings
A vaguely shadowed memory
And the voices keep me company

The Village in the Tree #4 - Heterodoxy

Earlier in our narrative

I took care to explain

That the origin of all

Is something quite arcane

Please do not presume to think

Such ignorance is mine alone

For the dwellers in the tree

All were equally at sea

That is, they had as little grasp

Of their own antiquity

As that afforded you or me

Ignorance begets a world

Of bright imagination

Untrammeled by the tiresome bounds

Of factual limitation

Where even grubby tramps may dare

To believe themselves to be

Unjustly disinherited

Royal progeny

Subjected to the will

Of long-term infatuation

It is possible

That a population

May believe themselves to be

That which they are clearly not

On outside investigation

The entire habitation

Of the Village in the Tree

Proved to be

In such a shameful spot

Not to put too finer point

On our prognostication

The villagers upon the tree

Shared the same hallucination

In their naive estimation

The tree from clouds was suspended

Roots to the base were appended
Merely for decoration 

Thus "Village in the Sky are we"

Proudly declaimed the majority

And violent the strife

Bitter the animosity

T'ward any with the temerity

To wish to be

The Village in the Tree

Complex inferiority

Incrementally

Abandoning its principles

Deserting historicity

Descending imperceptibly

To general mediocrity

Grants assent

Once will is bent

To the general will

And even Sayers of the nay

Cast up their hands

Say "What the hey -

Village in the Sky are we”

Despite abandoned certainty

Of the nature of reality