All that fails*

All that fails
         all that has had its dub day
in court and is done
         rust and moth and termite
the floorboards that gave way
         underfoot / on an island
in Panama’s Portobelo Bay
         1976
the threadbare linen
         or the walls with peeling paint
spider cracks in the dry dusty plaster
         even the crumbling Tudor brickwork
grown soft and porous over the years

the years themselves
         the days minutes and hours
time that fails / that fails us
         or that we fail :
and the body flecked
         with the brown stains
of hemosiderin
         the fine tracery of veins visible
through the thin pale ankle flesh
         intimations of mortality
a stiffness in the joints
         a little less conversation
the hearing the eyes
         all past their best
and yet life surges
         is wave and particle
is body and mind / heart and soul
         shot through with duality
two times two and two to tango

and there is no distinction
         between space and time
between she and he and vice-versa
          mixed motives maybe
but without explanation
         what is the quantum expression
for a thrush perched on the pergola
         singing its heart out
as the day cracks on ?
         what supple equations lie within every 
algebraic fold of the budding rose
         which in itself will not last
although its atomised molecules
          are fated to live forever ?
words      words      words
         mouthfuls of air / gasps of poetry
the tide of breath measured
          against the merciless tide of time

John Lyons

* This is a substantial revision of a poem that appeared earlier this morning. These texts are created on the spur of the moment but with a view to insertion within a larger work. As such they should be considered as the raw material of a work in progress.

Insomnia

And so it blows
         the wild wind that tears
through the peace of the night
         I lie awake and hear
the howl of disgruntled foxes :
         this is their playtime
when families congregate
         beneath the stars
when solidarities are reaffirmed
         with perhaps a shared meal

Sleepless I drift into
          sullen memories
of places I would rather not be
         and with people whom
I would prefer never to see again
         Blades of grass dance
as the wind gusts
         and foxes cower
beneath the box hedge
          and my mind wrestles
to turn back the moontide
         to shift away
from mercurial manners
         and deafen my soul
to the gutturals of disgust
         and a past past pleasantries
and a pride that fumbled
         at the door of humility

Acquiescence so close
         to self-surrender
and to what purpose
         for what good ?
Orchids so often
         lead solitary lives
unless accompanied
         by kindred dispositions
And so I have tired of listless lusts
         and slick-eyed beauty
that would for a pittance
         betray the innocence
of the unblemished rose

Life is to be continued
         but a drastic change of direction
is in order just as soon as the wind drops
         and these dreary dreams abate

John Lyons

Love lies

Love lies at the heart of gentleness
the pull of passion in evidence all around
roses that rise up from the earth
fed and teased by the power of light
And the blood that courses through her veins
See how she dances in her red silk dress
see how she steps into her day with vigour
intent on extracting every ounce of life
from her life : she has no time
for the dark furrows of despair but lives
for the flesh that melts into a tender mesh
a thought a word a deed and it is done

Let the day settle into the day
let the night sky fill with wise stars :
crafted with the precision of hand and ear
let my words move through the temperate air
let them find complete comfort in the gentleness
of your heart and in the love of your understanding

John Lyons

Moonferrets

Meticulous midnight
         slivers of rain
running down the pane
         the sky awash
with a foam of stars

No love can stifle another
         no love can encroach
on the dreams of another
         through the transom
the tail of a comet
         hurtling through
unvanquished space

And he recalls
         the repercussive love
that flouted time
         that was a benediction
of the body
         a soul-resounding love
bound by the braided ropes
         of deep murmurless affection

Words laid out
         on an Irish linen cloth
lily petals defying
         the cool night air
the red loom of her hair
         the eyes darting
back and forth
         a knife a fork a cup a spoon
and all the credentials
         of beauty
fresh and fragile
         open and giving
defying the death
         we all carry within
our scheduled doom

No doomsday love
         no relapse into dust
but borne on the intimate pulse
         of restless tongues and lips and limbs
the teeth tearing up
         the useless facsimiles of time
beauty in the arms of the beholder
         kindred spheres luxuriating
within the space they have created
         the bed upon which they lie

John Lyons

Light

In your eyes
       the speeding light
that captures
       colour and shape
and texture
       that interprets
the world around you
       in an instant
that selects and classifies
       that chooses to focus
or to ignore
       that can move the heart
to rapture or to dismay

In your eyes
       the fraternal light
of the stars
       the fierce pulse of light
that fires the world
       in every molecule
in every fibre
       the same soft sumptuous light
that configures the love-soaked rose
       that lies lightly upon your lips
that lightens your hair
       and fills the rounded contours
of your candescent flesh

Beauty is the norm
       ugliness the exception
and all the light that you absorb
       and all the light that you displace
will count towards your tally
       every lovesick sigh
and every gesture of affection
       will be weighed
for or against you

Remember this
       that you are light
and that unto light you shall return
       you are for an instant
its voice
       your actions
the articulation of its truth
       and your beauty
merely its final flourish

John Lyons

Imponderables

Life’s imponderables :
         by night the star-glistered sky
into which we peer
         with wonderment tinged
with awareness
         of our own insignificance
The mere thought of infinity
         can be exhausting
hence the need to personalize
         to imagine that there are
other vibrant worlds inhabited
         by beings just like us
convinced as we are
         that we are the defining
consciousness of the universe

In a park just outside Peckham
         the first crocuses seen
yesterday from the train
         a tightly packed patch
of mustard-coloured leaves
         standing proud
on the long green grass

Such are our common or
         garden vectors – today
tomorrow and yesterday –
         which as our imagination
hurtles into outer space
         become increasingly redundant
: and yet anatomies obsess
         beauty that is in the naked eye
of the beholder and symmetries
         that make suburban sense

Soon the daffodil will follow
         buds will burst and spring
will be upon us : thereafter
         the rose and with it
the beguiling thorns of love
         and the petalled bed upon which
lovers lie late into the night
         gazing out through the window
at the vast ancestral home
         where their forebears first met

John Lyons