Poetry

Smell of the Storm

It smells like rain
Small droppes spattering in the dust
Holding there, a little liquid stain
And then fading, lost in soil's dry lust

It smells like the wind
The sky burns gray overhead
The yellow trees tormented by howling godsend
The unceasing drizzle spatters living and dead

It smells like lightning
Electricity hanging heavy in the air
Permeating everything -
A sharp crackle in loose hair

It smells like life
Plants blooming, soon
Water come to starved roots, rife -
With potent buds, dreaming of monsoon

It smells like a storm.

An Ode to the Heavens 

Oh sky of fire and ice
Why do you tempt me so?
Those million points of light
Places, vast oblivions I can never go.

I may yearn, and scream at the coldness of the void
But in the end we rage briefly and then we pass
Stars, worlds, men, the space devoid
Entropy will come at last

A billion upon a billion of infernos
Roaring in unimaginable fury
Raining fires and methane snows
All wonders I can never see.

In the face of the infinite we turn aside
We watch with the eyes of an insect upon the rushing sea
We watch as suns go out and galaxies collide
For it is all we can ever see

Birthday Dance

The cake and presents are almost through,
The ice-cream’s gone and the feasters flew.
The music starts- some poor fool’s turned it on
And they come trudging back, all those that were gone
Some shuffling at first, a little awkward prance
Soon, though, feet and bodies begin to dance.
They whirl and they spin, some badly, some well.
The music changes, breaking the spell.
Soon the lights turn to rhythm, the dancers to melody
Churning, turning, like crumbs in the sea.
It’s a slow song now, they’ve split into pairs.
Grinning, blushing, they’re red to the ears
The birthday girl’s picked one, she’s smiling and bright
Dancing now, shining with light.
Soon the music’s turned off, it’s time to go home,
Sleep is calling, the place where dreams roam.
And later it fades to dull recollection,
But for that one moment, that shining reflection.
For while memories fade, and dreams never last,
They will never forget that one birthday dance.

The Desert.


There is a place where no river flows
Where the sun shines bright and no grass ever grows.
Where water is frozen, solid ice.
No animals live here, not men or mice.
The soil is baked a badly burnt red.
The color of iron, tainted with lead.
Where dust-devils the size of mountains roam.
Dust kicked up, sprayed like sea-foam.
Where blood boils in the sun, and freezes in the shade.
A place like this, where shadows never fade.
A place where the air is breathless thin
There it is- our airless, deathless twin.
We might have been like that comfortless place.
Another barren desert, drifting in space.
This place is all very well to visit, perhaps.
But to live on Mars? – Good God man, have you snapped?

Lady Autumn

Lady Autumn paid a visit,
This end of summer’s noon.
Lady Autumn paid a visit;
She’ll be leaving soon.

Lady Autumn has a first name -
A name I cannot tell
Lady Autumn has a first name
You know it very well.

When she walked across my gate,
My roses fell en masse.
When she walked across my gate,
A shadow fell upon the grass.

She came and knocked against my door,
Fogging up the window pane
She came and knocked against my door,
From where my roses lain.

Her hair was wove of fallen leaves,
Her breath a bitter chill
Her hair was wove of fallen leaves
Resting on my window sill.

Her eyes spoke of water slow
And a tinkling of bells
Her eyes spoke of water slow;
A river in death knells.

Her voice was of a gale cast -
A blowing in my ear
Her voice was of a gale cast
At once both far and near.

She asked me for a cup of tea
And a sweater blue
She asked me for a cup of tea
And gave a winter new.

I asked her of her travels late
Of lands both near and far
I asked her of her travels late
Beneath her shining star.

She told me of a world of chill
A world of shade and leaves
She told me of a world of chill
A world of evergreens

And then she stood and walked away
A shadow in the shade.
And then she stood and walked away
A new world to be made.

Valentine 

I walk down halls of shattered light,
Leaping, dashing, caught midflight.

A cold mist - fear, seeps into my bones;
I am lost, utterly alone.

Beauty falls, gold sunlit rain.
Raining on in mirth, tinged with pain.

And at the end, my love waits for me...

Radiant - sun kissed clouds over stormy sea