Complacencies
dreams a little
too easy on the tongue
drinking coffee
or biting into a sweet
juicy orange
catastrophe kept at bay
by building sandbags
out of books
and the ancient sacrifice
of knowledge
the hush hush
of toxic literary gossip
Night settles
over the wide river
and all is apparently
at peace as the lights
are dimmed
here by the Tower
where blood once ruled
stone has the upper hand
the flesh finally laid to rest
John Lyons
I think of Lorine her life
on the edge of water
the gliding river
or lake or swamp
and the simplicity
and the beauty of the poetry
she made from leaves
or broken reeds
floating on the surface
from carp swimming below
the hum of summer
and the slow burn of time
the hours fishing the shallows
with a hook and line
and the silent words
seeping into her soul
John Lyons
You think perhaps
that these are
empty abstract words
of no substance
but how much space
do you really have
and how much time :
more or less
than the rose that grows
in the open air ?
We’re all astronomers
so why shouldn’t we
worship the source of all life
without which not a petal
not a kiss
not a single breath
John Lyons
I was raised in an orchard
where there were apples and pears
and plums and peaches and cherries
and seasonal soft fruits
I ran in fields and was drawn
to the tall woodland trees
and to the margins of streams
and rivers where the fish
swam in secret and the ducks
and the swans made no sound
At night when darkness
shrouded the house
I felt secure in my own world
of certainties that were renewed
year after year
I knew love and loved in return
And life was so solid
you could take it
into your hand and know
that it would never fail you
and it never did
I have no one to blame
John Lyons
Earth
water
leaf
flower
fruit
seed
earth
water
leaf
flower
fruit
seed
John Lyons
Jackdaw at my window
they say it means rain
I say it means life
pulse of the universe
mouths to feed
fledglings about
to leave the nest
survival of the species
How can there be ice
in a universe built
from a single explosion
the atomic heat
from that single event
from which all life springs
as though that single mass
needs to be reassembled
pieced together atom by atom
in a process we could call love
John Lyons
What is relentless
is the pushing forward of time
See how the colours of summer
have faded and how already
there are anticipations
of autumn as the days draw in
the jackdaw at my window
has laid its eggs
its nestlings have fledged
six hungry mouths to be fed
so that they are big and strong
before winter sets in
John Lyons
