Occasional verse

         Downriver
where the gun-metalled waters
flow under Tower Bridge
I stared into her star-kindled eyes
felt love’s blissful palpitation
in the blood

         Crimson fringes
tinged the evening sky
while white gulls whirled above

         Like nothing are the joys
of her lip-lingering kiss
like nothing the saving grace
of her soft breath

         Banished
the mortal lullabies of pain
in this ungainly space
of cruel contraries
and smitten by the blade
of love unmade
I bowed in sweet surrender

John Lyons