Beautiful tears blossomed on her eyelids
as she remembered the mother she had
loved so much and I watched her descending
the spiral staircase having dried her eyes
Every day there’s a new bridge to cross
Do you remember
the Pont Mirabeau
the Rialto the Bridge of Sighs the Chain
Bridge that spans the Danube between Buda
and Pest?
More water than we will ever
know flowing down to the sea and fifteen
pieces of music that swept us along
the course of our love
How strange to be gone
a silence an eternal rest to turn
no more again
a tuneless crumpled horn
John Lyons
Danube
Down by the Danube
Down by the Danube
On that glorious day in June
we cycled along the banks
of the Danube
alongside its blue waters
where swans swam in groups
waters bound for Hungary
and beyond into Ukraine
and the Black Sea
For a while we rode together
but you knew the way
and you headed off alone
and were soon out of sight
I thought you would turn back
or wait for me to catch up
but you didn’t and I never did
and I never have
John Lyons
Day by the Danube
Day by the Danube
Cycled out to the Danube
: on the far side
of the blue wide water
white swans swam in lines
sticking close to the bank
as they made their way north
The river was silent
except where it sucked
at the stones on the shoreline
where tiny wavelets broke
And time passed
and nothing was done
and my mind floated off
into the distance
and everywhere
became nowhere
and now became then
and it was good
John Lyons
Versión en español
Un día en el Danubio
Nos dirigimos al Danubio
en bicicleta : y al otro lado
de las anchas aguas azules
los cisnes nadaban en fila
pegados a la orilla
en camino hacia el norte
Silencioso el río
excepto donde chupaba
las piedras de la ribera
y se rompía en pequeñas olas.
Y el tiempo pasó
y nada se hizo
y mi mente flotó en la distancia
y todas partes llegaron a ser
ninguna parte
y el ahora
se convirtió en ya se fue
y fue bueno
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
johnjosephlyons 