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
Although I love the countryside
and love the hills and the mountains
I prefer to live my life at sea-level
down by the shore where the waters
are never still and where it is possible
to understand that the universe
is sound and light and that
it is constantly unfolding
and since all the processes of life
have their origin in the ocean
to meditate upon that mystery
and to give thanks for the blood
with all its salts that runs
through my veins and feeds
my undying passion for life
and empowers my love for you
John Lyons
To think
that there was
a time
when the world
was a blank canvas
before there was
language
before there was
art
before there was
music
before there was
dance
Creation
is rooted
in time
love too
John Lyons
The light of the new moon
strewn across the surface
of the land-locked sea
the waters gently lapping
the rugged shore
the rise and fall of palm leaves
as the air made its way inland
our voices in the silence
celebrating the passage
from one year to the next
everything still to be made
every notion to be put
to the test
every breath to be measured
and put to good purpose
so much beauty to be held
in the hand and to be admired
so much love to be shared
and time at our beck and call
or so it seemed in those days
John Lyons
A trail of white smoke
from a wood fire
rising slowly
this Sunday
into the ancient sky
What is age
I ask
what is time
and years
in the scale of things
of ash and oak and beech
that will outlive me
of prehistoric species
of fern
What of the days
before flowers
before the gardenia
before the magnolia ?
what of the days
before beauty
had fully evolved
into the rose ?
and as the species evolved
when was it
that the beauty of love
was first expressed ?
when did the acts
of animal instinct
transform into the tenderness
of human passion ?
John Lyons
In those early winter days we would warm
ourselves before the coal fire
always jostling for the best position
I would traipse home from school
through the woods and across the fields
my pockets bulging with sweet chestnuts
which I would balance on the fender
occasionally turning with the tongs
until they were completely roasted
The hearth really was the heart
of the home and it drew us together
I know now that the warmth of those days
and the taste of those chestnuts
will never return : that’s life
John Lyons
johnjosephlyons 