A wise man
Lives in ignorance
Of his own wisdom
Uncategorized
Silence
Poetry is taking a break
Poetry is having a rest
The rest is silence
I’m only asking
I’m only asking
What does your day hold
what are you bringing to it
what hopes and dreams
what gestures of love
for all the hours
that will never return
what have you planned
and what are you prepared
to let unfold
in the summer breeze
what respect for others
and for yourself
will guide your actions
and inform your choices ?
John Lyons
The earth we walk
The earth we walk
Something pure and simple
on these cold mornings
when there is ice underfoot
and windows are frosted
birds singing as though
it were the dawn of time
which for them it is
just as it is in a sense for us
we live on the threshold
of the instant our memories
filled with future projects
it’s all about what is to come
the next move the next step
each of us with our own agenda
the marriages of hope
and expectation
the bones we have built up
for finer things
there are those who live
on the side of time
and those who resist it
those who could stare
for hours
into the heart of a rose
and those who could never
see the point
We live within the ruins
of decadence and beauty
new cities will rise up
on the site of our demise
but not for the moment
the rose too will wither and die
but not for the moment—
love all you can
while you can
the rest is history
John Lyons
Respite
Respite
Out onto the quiet streets
clear pale blue sky
and lower temperatures
the winter respite
during which
crocuses have appeared
on the edges of the woodland
trees covered in dense ivy
A moment for reflection for time
with the solitude of the self
that restless inner voice
full of temperament
and belief and hope
the thoughtful mind
that moves through
the transparent air
through the barometric
pressures of time
and space and place
a sense of movement
through the stillness
of the constructed world
unconsciously conscious
a human shadow
unseen unheard full of
compassion for this world
of particles that would
split the atom
John Lyons
Beauty
All that is certain
Beyond dispute
The petals in full flush
The gentle fold of her lips
The skin smooth
And soft to the touch
A certain light in the eyes
That never fades
Age imperceptible
The smile ever present
The promise of laughter
Of a kiss
Of a warm embrace
All that is beyond doubt
True for all time
At every pulse and inspiration
What renders the flesh immortal
Nothing nameless or pointless
Love
John Lyons
Rio
Sun
Sand
Sea
Sport
The great unrest of which we are part
The great unrest of which we are part
As I sat today in solitude
by the rolling river
my thoughts went floating
on vast and mystic currents
What is Nature but change
in all its visible and still more
its invisible processes ?
Or what is humanity – in its faith
in its love its heroism its poetry
even in its morals –
but emotion ?
Fifty thousand years ago
the constellation of the Great Bear
or Dipper was a starry cross
a hundred thousand years hence
the imaginary Dipper will be upside down
and the stars
which form the bowl and handle
will have changed places
The misty nebulae are moving
and besides are whirling around
in great spirals
some one way some another
Every molecule of matter
in the whole universe
is swinging to and fro
every particle of ether
which fills space
is in jelly-like vibration
Light is one kind of motion
heat another
electricity another
magnetism another
sound another
Every human sense
is the result of motion
every perception every thought
is but motion of the molecules
of the brain translated by
that incomprehensible thing
we call mind
The processes of growth
of existence and of decay
whether in worlds
or in the minutest organisms
are but motion
Adapted from Walt Whitman
Epigram
Epigram
Thinking
of the beauty
of life
of the beauty
of love
poetry
is lost
for words. . .
John Lyons
On just such a day
On just such a day
So the rain fell
and the river rose
and ducks swam freely
in the road
The sun that day
was an afterthought
almost forgotten
behind the dense cloud
A young child
in a pushchair
waved his arms for joy
when he saw the ducks
There was lilac blossom
in the gardens
I spotted a red-breasted robin
scavenging for food
and across the river
I could see the park
with its monument
to those who fell
in Spain in defence
of the Republic :
so many memorials
to so many fallen
in so many wars
That night the moon
shone full – exemplary
in the black sky littered
with its tiny pinpricks
of silver starlight
and the wind changed
blew up from the south
Anything might happen
-or so I thought- in this world
where so often the easiest lessons
are so hard to learn
John Lyons
johnjosephlyons 