That we are things
        things that think
we are stone
        made flesh

the atomic numbers
        within us that hold
our thoughts
        and our feelings

We search for meaning
        on all sides
and within ourselves
        direction and purpose

and we set great store
        by love in all forms
by beauty in all forms
        by truth in every instance

Though it may take an eternity
        the universe is countable
its infinity finite and bound
        by contraction—by attraction

love is the quantum
        song is its expression
light its revelation : the body
        thrives in its consummation

John Lyons

I write free from
the pressure of praise
my words go
largely unnoticed

and my subject
is what I see and hear
and feel –

during the day
I count sparrows
and at night
the outer stars

and how we so
reveal ourselves
in our acts of love

Not for no reason
are the flowers
we bring
to our host’s table

soft-petalled beauty
that knows its place
that fills our lives
with guileless grace

So when I took your hand
it was to hold it forever
it was for our love to be
contentment’s face

John Lyons

Love acts beyond the day
       beyond the night
beyond seasons
       beyond borders
it brings infinite focus
       on beloved particulars

Within its own time
       it acts beyond time
and is expressed
       in a body of actions
it is cause and effect
       it knows no deception
no betrayal and errs always
       on the side of love

Love’s heir is love
       in temper
in voice
       in patience
in remembrance
       and future vision
it is steadfast revelation
       of all self-knowledge –
who turns away from love
       turns away from life

It is sparrow and rose and mistletoe
       it is hawk and nightingale
a lawn spread with dandelion
       a snow moon presiding
a star that casts no shadow
       Measured against it
all wealth is inadequate –
       as cherry blossom litters
the streets and sap rises
       it is time now to love

John Lyons

This season’s colours too
     will fade when our secret lives
emerge from the shadows
     and peacocks strut once more
and fan their feathers to admiring hens
     life leaf flower fruit life
this too
     is the way of the world

How my blood warms
     to love and the thought
of paradise – a smile
     the warm flesh pressed
to mine – a breath unearthed
     I turn around the light
in her eyes – streets strewn
     with cherry blossom
white chalk mineral words
     with which to sing
of such beauty shaped from clay
     of nature’s skin and bones

John Lyons