Memory

The mountains and the sea
         the warm air
and the fine sand on the beach
         the mind sifts memories
from long ago
         moments daisy-chained together
picking and choosing
         through the debris of time
and then all of a sudden
         a face from the past
with perhaps
         a word and a kiss recalled

What my eyes have seen
         all these years
what my fingers have touched
         the love I have known and lost
all slowing now
         but not done yet
not by a long shot
         There where the wide bay
curves off into the distance
         I stood and looked west
not knowing what lay beyond
         everywhere the smell of gorse
and heather and the taste
         of wild honey

These are the notes of my life
         these are the chords
and here and there
         the key changes
here the note was sustained
         and here the melody
merrily skipped
         three score years and ten
and the light as the sun rose
         and the stars faded
and I welcomed the day
         with open arms

John Lyons

Limbo

How still
         not a breath
not a leaf stirring
         a pigeon sits motionless
at the very summit
         of the conifer away in the distance
posing for God knows what
          : earlier a squirrel
ran along the perimeter wall
         a new causeway
for fox and cat alike
         I can hear the croak of a magpie
but apart from that
         not a sound
The lawn is littered
         with dry leaves
and the sky is grey and dull
         the day devoid of excitement
held in a kind of limbo
         I know that this will change
that it can’t last
         and I can’t wait

John Lyons

Love song 3          

As the day dips
         into the empty night
let us lean in love
         to share a warm
and ragged kiss
         your body curved
into the arc of my arms

With summer but a memory
         and the honey bees
long gone
         only love
knows no weariness

See how the birds swarm
         in the fallow fields
how as one they rise
         to eclipse the dying day
before they too
         in a moment
are gone

See how the scintillations
         of long dead galaxies
still stir our imagination
         and every icy ray
brings a new nativity

Come now dear heart
         though love evokes
not days but moments
         of sweet franchise
let us be
         that fleeting constellation
our fortunes fused
         our paradise a subtlety
of tooth and nail
         unfettered flesh
and blessed bone

John Lyons

Love song

Let us help ourselves to each other
         now as the day delves into night
I want your kiss wet and ragged
         lean into the curve of my body
into the arc of my arms
         summer is but a memory
Here in the dark ages amid the raw
         raging savagery of politics
let me run the steel
         of my restless fingers through
the tangled tussock of your world
         let us lie ears cocked to recall
within the deep thunderous silence
         the sibilant sound of bees
and revive the taste of honey
         on our thirsting lips
let us distance ourselves
         from this blighted fiction
they insist on calling history
         love knows no weariness
see how the birds feed in the fields
         and when they are done
rise up in a single black blanket
          so eclipsing the dying light

From untravelled spaces
         come the floating stars
of the imagination
         that will light our way
and with each new nativity
         an act of love invoked
no days only moments
         of sweet franchise

Hold me deep deep within you
         and let the magnetic murmurs merge
as our bodies clamp and bind
         and our fortunes fuse
longingly lovingly
         north to south
a waking constellation alone
         of unrequited paradise
a supple core of tooth and nail
         and blood and blessed bone

John Lyons

Rainfall

Life as a poet
         a turn of phrase
rain falling
         through the night
seeping deep
         into the soil
the waterlogged lawn
         and the damp
dawn air
         the forces of nature
gathering steam
         underground
for when spring
         will make its assault
upon the earth
         a face renewed
and midwinter
         monotony
overthrown
         It is the beauty
within the process
         the dull green leaves
from within which
         the petals spread
but they are
         the powerhouse
the driving fuse
         the makers of hay
while the sun shines
         even as the birds
bide their time
         and foxes sleep
and love is passed
         from lip to lip

John Lyons

Drifters

We are drifters
           in a drifting crowd
and I have watched you
           watch the stars
and marvel at the depth
           of space around us

Inner and outer space
           the tender silence
that envelops us
           : what will we make
from this darkness
           if not love
and trust
           and fidelity
the enduring need
           for each other

Say that all things
           are grown from seed
including the apple
           of my eye
Say that without love
           life is no big deal
a mystery unworthy
           of our consciousness
Say that love is
           the one thing
that humbles
           and exalts

A rose
           by any other name
but not so love
           The ebb and flow
of all things
           and the constancy
of love : the word
           has no equal
and without it
           wearisome dust

John Lyons