Endless reflection

I wonder what it is
           that shapes the light
into love everlasting :
           at times the years

simply drop away
           as though nothing
was ever lost
           and failure
never known
           I have lost count

of all the faces
           that have shed
tears in my presence
           lost count
of all the roses
           and all the thorns

they say that it’s
           a learning curve
but what is there
           to learn of love
that gathers
           instinctively
in the aching heart
           If I had all the answers

I would share them with you
           but I have only my hands
and my lips
           and my words of love
and they are yours for as long
           as you desire them

John Lyons

Night

The night brings peace
           silence and the promise
of deep sleep :
           it brings an end
to the evils of the day
           and hope for a better
day to come
           and it brings you
with your soft breath
           on my face
our bodies huddled
           together in the darkness
and it brings the confirmation
           of love and the certainty
that whatever the cost
           life is always worth living

John Lyons

Remembrances

Last night as the dust descended
           I thought of how long
I have known these streets
           the fields and the woodlands
the winding roads and the houses
           barely changed since my childhood
and I thought too of other streets
           I have known in other places
so far away and yet
           I could still walk them in my mind

I thought too of all the love
           that has come into my life
and how some has remained
           and some has left me forever
and I thought of you and what
           your presence means to me
and how the days pass
           and the seasons come and go
and how in reality we are
           in a kind of fresh infancy
once again taking the first steps
           uttering the first words
holding hands and hoping
           that the feelings we share
will continue to grow and
           that our love will truly prosper

John Lyons

Tenderness

Tenderness
           the love expressed
in a spontaneous
           simple physical gesture
the palm of the hand
           of a young child
raised to stroke
           its father’s face

a lover who slowly runs her finger
           across her lover’s lips
the warm human complicity
           of the enduring smile
the bright eyes
           and that hand
always reaching out
           with its healing touch

John Lyons

Fragment

I saw today the child I once was
           I saw the fields and the woods
where I played from dawn to dusk
           the foxes and the squirrels
that wandered through those days
           caught the heavy scent
of life in all its vegetative glory
           the fallen trees riven with decay
riddled with a swarm of insect life
           feeding upon the death of fibrous bark

and on the edge of a clearing
           a wild rose that seemed unchanged
from all those years ago
           as though time had passed it by
its petals pure as any truth
           a beauty unfurled for all eternity

John Lyons

Enough already

Once upon a time
           the story of the artist
as a young man
           the story of the rose
of you and I
           of the light of love
not just words
           but the first word
the propositions
           upon which we build
our lives steadfast
           under ill winds
and changing
           constellations

Pride and fame
           and fortune and power
all seen in the context
           of all that fades
beauty fades
           but not the truth
of beauty nor the truth
           of love

John Lyons

The patriot game

Feckless money
lying on the banks

of foreign shores
fattening itself

on sandy beaches
under the shade

of coconut palm
God help us !

John Lyons