Last night

Last night the stars
           in the pitch black sky
brighter than ever before
           and the space deeper
the silence too
           wondering how love
can be sustained
           over such distances
: and through the silence
            endless radio waves
from the origins of time—
           all things that have beginnings
have ends too
           even a universe is not for ever

so where does that leave love
           and how can love survive
can a kiss stretch around the moon
           can a caress rescue the faltering word
can the unutterable abyss of absence
           ever be filled : what gestures 
will bind two hearts together
           in defiance of time and space ?

John Lyons

So what

There are no shortcuts
           no feigning paradise
nothing comes from nothing
           neither are there
accidental roses
           or transient loves

against the frost
           there is the warmth
the light in her eyes
           affirmation in her kindness
life is deliberate
           even though we struggle
to attain perfection
           such as it exists in this world

life is a knowledge
           an accumulation
a construct
           and nobody is free
from error
           all are beholden
to forgiveness
           the gloss on our actions
soon wears thin
           but love endures
as the rose is paragon
           be steadfast
life is a visitation
           a discovering
a walk in the park
           keep your wits about you
and never forget her
           nor let her forget you

John Lyons

Minimum

Crimson sunrise
           a dusting of frost
soon will melt
           into the air

Sparrow-song heard
           and soon forgotten

John Lyons

Morning musing

If she were simply a dream
           I would not remember her
when I wake and she is gone
           I would not long for a kiss
that she could never give

The earth fired
           with a crimson sunrise
this cold morning
           a dusting of frost
on the trees and grass
           that will soon
melt into the air
           as all thing do
no moment
           no thing fixed for all time

Life is sparrow-song
           heard
and soon forgotten
           until it returns
a world of perhaps
           maybe / who knows ?

John Lyons

A piece of work

Sun that reaches
           down into the roots
light into flesh
           a girl’s arms
her hair her lips
           her body built
cell by cell
           from energies
accumulated
           in the leaves
of plants : from grains of life
           that feed this forest
of substantial souls
            Our honesty lies
in our adherence
           to the aboriginal scripts
that underpin the whole
           of our existence

that we should be conscious
           of our consciousness
knowingness of the self
           structures and codes
of language and behaviour
           the greatest discoveries
yet to come
           a poetry of time and place
of elegy and loss
           and memory
for we are who we remember
           ourselves to be
our inner beauty
           is of the moment
and love for one another
           our most precious movement

John Lyons

Dream

On the day that the rain stops
           the wind will cease to abrade
the river surface
           and the waters will run
smoothly down to the sea
           the sun will rise in the East
and the morning will be
           warm and blue and by noon
the roses will have spread
           their luscious petals
and the buzz of bees
           will confirm their status
as exemplary workers
           in the field

                                 By the time
the sun sets in the West
           not a shot will have been fired
nor a word spoken in anger
           swifts and swallows will feast
on the evening aphids
           and summer lovers will settle
snugly into their beds
           and dream of life everlasting

John Lyons

What words

What words will do service
to my thoughts and feelings

my life stripped to the bone
I carry with me what I need

dreams yes always even as
time slips away and fewer

stars illuminate my inner sky
I cling to love and hope

As I hover above the trough
of reality : all my days

I have sought to master the gentle
disciplines of tenderness

seen within her eyes an Eldorado
that I could grasp with both hands

Love is one step after another
and there is no turning back

it is a face soft against my face
it is a word shared time and again

it is the ultimate undying truth
fastidious in its warm fidelity

John Lyons