Poem: Stranger, My Body

What is this trembling that stalks my body so

Electric pain taking delight, making my body

Feel like a needful unknown stranger;

Clamouring, demanding, hiding me from myself

Replacing pieces of me with turbulence

Constricting  and stretching muscle at will;

I close the door, it creeps in through the window

I lock the window and its porous gas seeps

through my skin, heat seeking;

Fog, moving through my head and scattering

My memories abroad, to seek asylum

And be discovered some other summer;

My will lines up its scarce resistance fearing

Useless dependence and told that it is

my feminine madness; a woman, hysteric.

Yet betwixt the stranger and that madness that some

seek to apply to me, and call it calm –

I sometimes weep quietly for your strong arm.

 

 

 

Poem: You Are

You are the undiscovered country

I never thought that I would find;

You are the buried treasure, the

Seam of gold they never mined.

You are the catching breath,

The trembling heart that never rests;

You are static electricity, surprising,

Rushing joyously.

But stillness too, and sudden bliss,

Entwined in peaceful, perfect rest;

You are the colours of creation,

You are the curious sensation.

And when the passion calms,

In the well within your arms,

The precious truth still shines bright to see

That loving you is like coming home

to me

Poem: On Being Stubborn

Stubbornly, you have insisted

(whilst you are disguised)

That silence is for comfort

(Please recall, love is not blind)

And love does not demand you speak,

 what you feared must stay disguised

Nor seek to pull a string, or drag you home

 though oft love cries

Oh darling, I am stubborn

But dearest, so are you

For stubbornly you still test love

and wander to, and fro

Oh Gruff, enough, and hear me now

 please let your heart hear this

I love you, I do not doubt you

 It is true

(And I stubbornly insist on this to you).

 

 

Poem: Mr Mysterious

Carefully and in disguise, you went out to seek, to find

If there might be some love out there

Some love out there for you;

And found, perhaps, to your surprise

That love indeed there was to find,

A love right there, held truly, all for you

But in your heart your sorrows held

And as you wandered to, and fro

You tested love and wandered to, and fro;

Then, carefully disguised once more, you came to find

If that same love still waited there,

and still held true for you;

And found, perhaps, to your surprise

That love held true for you to find,

Though carefully disguised you still remain;

Though careful your disguise, and whilst you tease, at least allow

That love was never blind, it wasn’t then

It isn’t now.

Poem: A Further Question…

So, our bodies

do not work

the way convention says they should;

But, it means

we can explore

the endless ways love can reveal

the different ways to live

the love we are both

truly worth

And if the place

we leave to make

that life of endless exploration

is not the place convention

might demand;

it matters not

when the place of destination

is still – naturally –

the love and joy

we are both worth

Poem: A Question…

You want to give;

To make the world a better place

For those you love –

You want to give,

But worry in yourself

If you are enough.

And you think;

Oh, how you think!

About the life

You want to give

To make a better place to live

in love;

But worry in yourself

If you could ever be enough.

I think, too;

Of all I want to give

To make the world a place

Where you can live,

In love.

But worry in myself

If I could ever be enough;

When we do not doubt

each other

Why do we doubt

ourselves?

Why let that doubt rob us

of all the love

we are

both worth?

Poem: Oh, Porcupine..

No wounds, no tears of sacred grief

No scars, no fears, no jowly cheeks;

No green cigarettes when roses are scarce,

Nor trouble of body, no worry or care;

No doubt of self or anxious mind

Could chase me away from you, or

Cause me to doubt, it’s true

If you were here now

it would always be so,

There is only my heart

full of love to say this;

If you were here now

It would ever be so,

I promise, I promise

I promise you this.

On Sacrifice

For various reasons, I am taking a break from my writing here for now,  but following a period of reflection and meditation, I am sharing some thoughts on sacrifice over on my Medium blog.

 

In the meantime, I shall leave you with some of Anne Bronte’s lesser known poetry – this is from ‘Last Lines’, written in January 1849:

 

That secret labour to sustain

With humble patience every blow,

To gather fortitude from pain

And hope and holiness from woe.

Thus let me serve Thee from my heart

Whatever be my written fate,

Whether thus early to depart

Or yet awhile to wait.

If Thou shouldst bring me back to life

More humbled I should be;

More wise, more strengthened for the strife,

More apt to lean on Thee.

 

Poem: How Porcupines Make Love

If you were here now

– a little less prickly,

I would say

My darling, I promise you this;

If you were here now

 – maybe less bristley,

I would tell you

I promise, I promise you this;

No wounds, no tears of sacred grief

No scars, no fears, no jowley cheeks

No troubles of mind or bodily pride

Could chase me away from you, or

Cause me to doubt, it’s true

If you were here now

  it would always be so,

There is only my heart

  full of love to say this;

If you were here now

It would ever be so,

I promise, I promise

I promise you this.

Poem: Storm, Be Still

The storm in your head

The raging in your heart..

You cried out: get away, get away!

But

here, here was love dearest

And hope

 

The storm in my head

The raging in my heart…

  I heard, oh I heard: get away, get away!

  But

here, here is love darling

And hope

And how the storm raged, raged on

And hearts were caged..

Imprisoned,

unprotected,

weeping, hearing

get away!

get away!

Yet stayed the loved,

And stays

And hopes

Come home

Where peace eases, and heals

Oil poured on troubles

And love is free

Unbound, safe, protected

Free, growing strong

Stay

Come home