Surely among an old man’s memories
there should be recollections

of the long nights of love he spent
in his younger days when the world

was new and the stars had lost
none of their brilliance

and the streams teamed with trout
and the roses seemed never to die

when he would wake to sweetness
to gentleness to light – content

at every turn of his dreams
the solid architecture of his life

built upon the unerring
beauty of her heart

John Lyons

Pale brow
still hands
thin bloodless lips
she is an image fading
a memory lost
on the bitter edge
of a dream

Were I to peer
into her heart
I wonder now
what I would see
what of all the love
what of all the dust
we laid down
together

Where there was pulse
where there was breath
where our voices
once blended softly
there is silence and loss
endless separate
soulless silence

John Lyons

Seventy years
       man and boy
I’ve known hawthorn
       in flower and thistle
and seen cherry blossom
       strewn across the lawn
I’ve known the solitude of crowds
       and the companionship of roses

My fingers have bled
       when I grasped the thorns
I’ve known and lost love
       and won love again
only to lose it once more
       but each day I dream
of a dancing girl
       who will come to me
when the shadows gather
       and night falls

in the blind darkness
       she will creep into my life
a warm heart embroidered
       on her sleeve and she will
spin and twirl in my arms
       until the early hours

At dawn the dandelions
       will rise in the fields
in the eaves
       white doves will coo
and the joy in my heart
       will be unconfined

John Lyons