Dark night
of the winter sky
a half-moon
a chill wind
foxes slinking away
in the distance
I look up
and count the stars
my lucky stars
as long as
I can
count them
they’re all
lucky
John Lyons
Angels more common
than one would think
they move among us
silently and their silence
is their message :
the aura of innocence
lambs that gambol
and skip and small
children who love
blue skies and open fields
in which to romp
laughter on their lips
To attempt to describe them
would be foolish
for they are better known
by their actions
pure and unselfish
Wherever there is love
the angels are present
they are the filters
through which our words
pass when we wish
to praise the beauty of life
in all its truth
John Lyons
Back in the day of chilblains
when all things froze
when my hands
shook with the cold
The swirl and flicker of snow
around the street lamps
the softness
of our footfalls
as we trudged
through the streets
Back in the days
of innocence
before experience
and knowledge blew away
the mystery of life
the life that lay
before me
the life that lies
before me
the life in which
nothing but love
makes any sense
This is what I struggle
to say
I the lover I struggle
to be
John Lyons
The life we build
in our memory
never-to-be-forgotten
moments of love
the days that will
stay with us forever
the simplicity
of being together
the hours and days
shared
and the words
laid down
as a record
Love
as we know
is not complex
it goes straight
to the heart
and all things
are less than love
John Lyons
On a cold winter morning
the magpie bathes
in the garden bird bath
Three times I saw it
jump into the icy water
and flutter its wings
so as to wet itself
all over
and each time it jumped out
and sat shivering on the wall
fluttering it wings
in order to shake off the excess
before repeating the exercise
a plump black and white magpie
time carelessly beating in its breast
and who knows what
running through its mind
full of the joys of life
John Lyons
johnjosephlyons 