The age of innocence

The age of steam
had not ended
when I was born

I remember
thick plumes of smoke
that trailed
behind the locomotives

and the acrid air
that hung
in the soot-stained platforms

I remember
the piercing whistles
that trumpeted warnings

as the engines roared
through the station
at full throttle

and the rhythmic chug
and pant
and the grinding
of wheels of steel on steel

I was a child then
and I remember
all my innocence
and my love of life

John Lyons

The default setting

When the poem
           doesn’t come together
I put down the words
           and pick up the paints
and when the colours disobey me
           and run riot all over the canvas
I never know what to do
           Someone once told me
Just let them be
           the colours and the words
they will find their own way
           if you just let them be

At the moment my fingers
           are reeking of turpentine
and I don’t know
           whether to paint
or to write
           or do neither

I had a thought
           that the default setting
of our souls
           is love
and that we are to live
           as roses do
rooted in the soil
           aspiring to beauty

John Lyons

Landscape

This is the way it is
           beyond the rows of rooftops
I see a landscape of trees
           their leaves in various states
of decline from green to gold
           and from a distance
it appears that nothing
           is moving

Clusters of birds move into
           and out of my field of vision
and in a neighbouring garden
           the bushes are being flailed
by strong gusts of wind
           which I can also hear
as it curls
           under the eaves

I have nothing to add
           nothing to subtract
from the beauty of being
           alive in this moment

John Lyons

Living in the lap of luxury

At nobody’s beck and call
           the foxes lounge
on the shed roof
           sunning themselves
on this beautiful
           autumn day

Ownership
           they might say
what is that ?

And time
           and space ?

They are so familiar
           with the lie of the land
they want for nothing
           which explains
the dark orange beauty
           of their luxurious pelts

Luxury
           they might say
what is that ?

John Lyons

A walk in the woods

Through the woodland
           we walked hand in hand
heard the rustle
           of a baby squirrel
in the undergrowth
           saw crows pecking
at the rich pickings
           in the damp soil
and magpies going silently
           about their business

and in the open field
           a dog fetching a ball
only for it to be thrown again
           All nature falls yes
but life bounces back
           the hollow trunk
decaying down into the soil
           will rise again
in fresh limbs
           that will proudly withstand
the rain and the wind
           nature is par excellence
a survivor and love
           is in our nature

John Lyons

Particles and waves

particles and waves
waves and particles

the humility
of the universe

you and I
waves and particles

energy shaped
into purpose

what ions are exchanged
when we embrace ?

a cosmos underwritten
by the laws of attraction

congregation and congress
in which bodily boundaries

are annulled and for a moment
our souls blend into one

John Lyons