Our lives out of books
           picking the bones
of old stories
           looking for insight
the scorched grass
           in the shade
of the pyramid
           the black shadow
of vultures circulating
           lazily overhead
knowing that
           their day will come
snakes slithering
           through the dry scrub
a desiccated civilisation
           gone to dust

The greatest element
           we have to battle
is the god of self
           so resourceful in its
resistance to change :
           whatever tremors
shake us down
           we refuse to acknowledge
scurrying to rebuild the past
            stone by stone
lives out of books
           lived by the book
though the books
           are cooked

John Lyons

Call of the house sparrow  Just to say I’ve
built a new nest under the eaves  Come share
with me the blessings of stability
and abundant joy 
                           As twilight fades and
night sets in  we can rest our weary wings
Here we can breed and incubate and raise
our fledglings until they are fit to fly
the roost with the strength to fend for themselves
For all our fabulous wisdom  Patsy
says that sparrows know far more than we do
They have skills that we can only dream of
A sense of direction second to none
Untutored in time  they live eternal
lives  My Patsy’s
                         in a class of her own

John Lyons

The whatwhere and the howcome of it all
A life of immeasurable myst’ry
Our universe expanding even as
our days diminish and are doomed to dust
And all the time time runs relentless like
a river down to the sea  
                                   At night the
moon and the stars drift in the dense darkness
and we know that science will not save us
In those long summer days I shadowed my
father as we walked the green hills of my
childhood  Through fields of golden wheat and bar-
ley—the bread of life stretching as far as
the eye could see  The deep loving bond be-
tween father and son
                        No words were needed

John Lyons

With impeccable credentials the sun
enters the room    it locates the roses
you cut from your garden   it locates your
face    your lips   your pain
                                casts your shadow on
the wall    It passes through a cut glass ash-
tray on your coffee table    and creates
a prismatic rainbow as it goes    and
captures a cascade of dust motes in the
dry air    It leaves the silence unaltered
It leaves your tears unaltered   your sadness
It passes no judgment on any of
your actions     It is all-forgiving all-
forgetting   You were crucified in love
The sun will raise you up
                                  to love again

John Lyons