A portrait in words

Breath was his foundation
           he saw the world
through his mind
           and in his heart
and acknowledged
           the wisdom in all things
the lilies in the field
           the trees that shed
their shadow in autumn
           the lizard that crawls
beneath a rock
           and observes
—it is after all
           an observant universe
and a complex
           of simplicities
and simple contrasts
           even of extremes
but love mellows
           all things
and renders time
           irrelevant

How generous
           the earth and the seas
that feed us :
           let us use our breath
to celebrate
           and give thanks
for the mercy
           of love

John Lyons

You ask the questions

What am I to take from this day
with its grey sky and fine drizzle
and a brisk breeze combing the leaves
and a lawn on which a fox is playing

with a child’s ball pushing it
back and forth with its paw
and in the background I hear
the hum of traffic and the to and fro

of people about their business
a mixture of speed and stealth
of purpose and acute indecision
What am I to make of these hours
and minutes before nightfall

before the blossom gives way
to fruit and prayers are answered
and summer descends with its promise
of beauty and peace and endless love

John Lyons

What if this is so

There is a time too
           for silence
to live in the moment
           to observe and to appreciate
how wordlessly the world
           articulates its beauty
and how love between
           two people does not always
require verbal expression
           Sometimes the words
are mere obfuscation
           an interference that disturbs
the communication of feelings
           deeper than anything
the teeth tongue and lips
           can express

John Lyons

Morning matters

The particles of matter
           that made me
what I am
           soft-voiced but no sparrow
I sing to myself each morning
           even in silence my mind sings
and it is the same song
           over and over

I ask myself
           Has all this sunlight
                      come to this ?

And how I am driven
           to search among words
for the right words
           and how I will know them
when I hear them
           when I see them
when I feel them
           when I live them

John Lyons

Enough for today

Some day some of my words
may be important
though not now
not for a good while
and not necessarily or ever

Today there are daffodils
and clouds and the threat
of rain and a return to winter
and after all the woollens
have been carefully tucked away

I hear the siren of the steamship
that plies its trade on the Thames
that ferries tourists back and forth
in their aimless lives passing under
the bridge of history
in the shadow of the Tower

and outside on the street
I hear animated conversation
words used as a web of intimacy
or simple good cheer
because there’s time and because
time somehow has to be passed

There are young children too
growing into the words
they will later use with such
precision to praise or to destroy
to build a life around
their affections and so defeat
the endemic darkness

John Lyons

These days just a song

A bird is singing
           singing its heart out
perhaps because the rain
           has stopped and the sun
has emerged from the clouds
           a single melodic line
over and over again
           as though its life
depended on it
           or mine

John Lyons

Yesterday rewritten

Love how the light
           cascades through the leaves
of summer trees
           the chapter and verse
of spread branches
           once bare now thriving
with fresh life
            vivid greens set
against a blue sky backdrop

In time these leaves will fall
           to be gathered in piles
before fire or dust
           consumes them all
but for a while birds will nest
           and sweethearts
will lounge beneath their shade
           exchanging vows
of unending love 

Love how time filters
           through the leaves
how combed and caressed
           its pace is reduced
and all cares
           are brushed away

Love how the light
           and love coalesce
into moments of beautiful being
           in which time is stilled
with just a nod to eternity

I imagine the leaves
           as words strung out
for all the world
           to see and to admire
the dancing lilting leaves
           that sway
with the rhythms of life

John Lyons