Life is such a small price to pay

A harmony of chance You
so unexpected but so welcome
in my life I had already travelled
through so many towns and cities
and you breathed on that day
the breath of love into me

It has taken years to sustain
the memory   The steps we took
together  Call it a rhapsody
or a Traviata of the soul
an unrehearsed ballet
an unworldly pas de deux
that carried us to distant seashores
and narrow Venetian canals
and along the Parisian quais
to a boutique hotel in Budapest
and soft eggs draped in fatback
before we crossed the river
of no return of no regrets
Life is such a small price to pay

John Lyons


La vie est un si petit prix à payer

Une harmonie forgée par le hasard.
Toi, si inattendue mais si bienvenue
dans ma vie. J’avais déjà parcouru
tant de villes et de villages, et ce jour-là,
tu as insufflé en moi le souffle de l’amour.

Il m’a fallu des années pour soutenir
le souvenir. Les pas que nous avons faits
ensemble. Appelons cela une rhapsodie
ou une Traviata de l’âme, un ballet
improvisé, un pas de deux
hors du commun qui nous a menés
vers des rivages lointains, d’étroits
canaux vénitiens, le long des quais
parisiens, jusqu’à un hôtel de charme
à Budapest et des œufs moelleux
nappés de lard gras, avant de traverser
le fleuve du sans retour, du sans regrets.
La vie est un si petit prix à payer.

Digression on love

Digression on love

The memories
I am bound
to dismantle
of times too good
to be true

of scallops
from Borough Market
in the fluted shells
that the pilgrims wore

Memories of walls
and rivers and boats
and cathedrals
and many a meal
so joyfully shared

At what fence
our love faltered
I’ll never know
like so much
I suppose

I’ll never know

John Lyons

Revised from earlier today

Budapest recalled

thorns_1
Thorns, John Lyons  (toothpicks aith acrylic)

Budapest recalled

Between Buda and Pest
on a pleasure boat
sailing the Danube
as snow fell

my hands frozen
my teeth chattering
in the cold night
and you beside me

One more memory
to add to our stock
of shared moments
of love and kisses

but time marches
to a drum tap
and all things pass
in this field of battle

John Lyons

Styx and stones

Styx and stones

The city within
       the rise and fall of it
a world driven
       by light and by words
a word-world so to speak
       built of star-blood
what it costs to be poor
       what it costs to love
what is costs
       to succeed
what it costs
       to fail

Mythology tells us
       there are two sides
to every river
       I have crossed the Danube
back and forth
       and survived longer
than I would
       have imagined

John Lyons