To see the world
as love sees it
the constant
ephemeral flame
what fires the heart
sets acts of passion
in motion
and drives us
to be better
than ourselves
to be the gift
that never dies
to be the truth
that never denies
its reason for being
its being for a reason
John Lyons
When lost for words
I reach for the poets
Charles Olson
or François Villon
luminous words
scrawled on paper
genius is almost always low tech
it comes in flashes
in aperçus
in fleeting moments of insight
All that has been
suddenly is : time
is the face of recognition
where are the loves
of yesteryear
the snowfields of yore ?
Each of us has
our own unique antiquity
some die in their bed while others
swing from hallowed gallows
Notre Dame
a place of visitation
a monument to belief
in the resurrected spirit
John Lyons
One to another
separate
but each seen
in the other’s eyes
the face read
observed
listened to
each expression
traced and mined
for signs of love
for its affirmation
recognition of feelings
of commitment
the delicate need
to be one and both
more than the convergence
of skin and breath
a shared form or way of life
within the big picture
the smallest of gestures
that accumulate
that act upon love
absolute and lyrical
innocent and just
measured in startime
bathed in beauty
lustrous truth
of the material spirit
John Lyons
Revised text
As blood is
as blood rises
handsome blood
ruby red
rich with iron
fortitude
of the soul
it irrigates
as blood is
as love
as winsome smile
as soft brown hair
wind-blown
into tear-stained eyes
lips chafed
under the sun
as blood is
that bleeds
into the fallow earth
blood of promise
of covenant
of marriageable minds
faithful unto death
blood of my breath
blood of my flesh
all for the heart
as blood is
as blood is
John Lyons
A love of firm purpose
a constancy and yet
an intimate intricate
perplexity
Life structured as a dance
for one who moves lightly
on her feet
whose gestures engage
with another
whose fingers count the hours
whose lips savour their secret
whose hips gently sway
in the partner’s presence
whose soul captures the flow
of a unifying universe
in which mountains rise and fall
with the seasons
whose words and deeds
are but rarefied variations
on a solid theme
She who is beauty to the eye
she whose satin soft skin
glows with life’s pleasure
rare creature born to love
John Lyons
A sky
full of snowflakes
obscures the stars but
from their hydrogen
and their oxygen
comes water
a marriage made
in a molecule
Yes
fruit of the stars
and chain of constant
resurrection
that for which
we were born
moving within the light
at rest within the shade
a temperate life
capable of noble deeds
energized from before
the moment of conception
and measured against
the inspirations of time
and judged
by our capacity to love
Love
that supreme fiction
poetry of all that’s made
bonds of flesh
bound in words and intoned
in tender hymns
to our humanity
cherished thoughts
that elate the heart
and fire passion
in our blood until we attain
the proud pangs of paradise
John Lyons
Revised
The glory of what it is to live
without pride or prejudice
but to fill the lungs with living air
to be energised by all
that existence has to offer
to give and receive love
in every shade
and to forgive others
as we are bound
to forgive ourselves
Composed not just
from the dust of stars
but from their light
which we transform
into daily life
the meeting of body
and mind and the web
of words and associations
that we create within
the intimacy of our souls
the periodic table
of all we value
of times and places
and names and melodies
and kisses never to be
forgotten
John Lyons
After the rain
I see a large thrush
tugging at a patch of grass
to extract a live worm
that the moisture has driven
to the surface
So one life feeds another
and I move about the world
with my eyes open
harbouring what Olson called
the root curiosity
and there’s so much to see
so much with which
to nourish the senses
I walk rhythmically
but constantly on the lookout
for what has changed
for what is the same
and for all the differences
It rains often here
but no two rains
are ever the same
no two birds
no two clouds
no two paths
no two stars
and the perplexed mind settles
for what sustenance it can get
as it moves on through the days
through the nights
And in the end my hopes
my dreams my fears
are of no consequence
provided there is love
John Lyons
The above text has been modified from an earlier post
As Charles said
we learn the simplest things
last
It’s undone business
always
too late to complete
or no time
for a second attempt
This time
we say
I’ll get it right
I’ll master the art
of living
the trade and the trade-offs
I refer of course
to matters of the heart
I’ve kept a checklist
of my mistakes
of false assumptions
or inaccurate evidence
promising myself that this time
I’ll succeed
and not fail or fall
for the same half-truths
or fantasies or illusions
I’ll shoot straight
and hit my target
my probing will go deeper
once bitten
twice
this time I won’t shy away
I say
my weather-eye will be fixed
on the wind
as it winds its way across
the wide waters
John Lyons
Revised
. . . as it has always been
Olson is talking about
the moral struggle
here as in America
or ancient Greece
or down among
the Guatemalan Mayans
a struggle over the land
over property over
who owns the fish
in the sea
does anyone hold
a title to them
inherited from whom
the origins of ownership
just as one bird may steal
the food from another
to feed its young
who owns the discourse
who owns the language
who owns art and poetry
the pomposity of some
so-called professionals
who despise the amateur
who look down on all from
their towering ignorant egos
Truth is the holy grail
and beauty shall be known
by its innocence
by its wholesome disclosure
as it has always been
the struggle is moral
John Lyons
johnjosephlyons 