Things that break
   at dawn the day
at mealtimes bread
   or when promises
count for nothing
   the heart

Shapes and patterns
the fabulous arrangement
of stars in the winter sky
and all that we read
into them
how we befriend them
and look to them
for answers

How did I get to this place
and what will become of me
will I find love and if so
will it remain true
forever and a day ?

Fine filigree of frost
on the window panes
this morning
ferns furred with ice

the excited chatter
of children on their way
to school their warm breath
emerging in the air

Then silence

I am awake in the world
to capture this silence
to carry it with me
to keep it close to my heart
a wordless wisdom
I know that it will serve me well
in good times and in bad

John Lyons

Last night
a clear sky
frost beginning
to form

I raise my eyes
a vast canopy
of stars etched
out of the darkness

Brethren I mutter
under my breath
my warm breath
that hales
from the stars

John Lyons

We are into winter
       and it’s early morning
and in the distance
       there is sunlight
on the trees reflected
       in the leaves that remain
of copper and gold parchment
       soon to fall

I wonder about photosynthesis
       in the winter months
and what sense the trees
       make of their seasonal loss

This morning too
       I observed a cat sitting
on a ledge beside a light-
       coloured wooden fence –
the cat was adjusting its posture
       by studying the clear silhouette
of its shadow on the smooth slats
       posing for my photo shoot

It’s the integrity
       of the natural world
that I love – how one thing
       feeds inevitably into the other
the joined–up writing
       that underlies the script
behind the universe in which
       love is the fundamental law

John Lyons

Let’s face it
       the universe is about travel
matter and energy
       that simply cannot
stay still under
       any circumstances

Stillness is an illusion –
       all things are in constant motion
the atomic and subatomic structure
       of stone proves this
as though proof were needed
       Nuclear fission is based
on these principles
       and the power it generates
in some modest way mimics
       the Big Bang of our origin

And so the nuclear sparrow
       perches on the garden fence
and through its open throat
       one of the many songs
of the universe
       emerges to reassure us
to help us cope with the silence
       and dark nights of the soul
and thus our thoughts turn
       constantly to love
and to all the affairs
       of the restless heart

John Lyons