Category: poetry

The sundowner …

DSCN7377

As I sat at the window watching
the sun slipped off the horizon
outside, the palm trees rustled
and the frangipani bloomed

The night, young and warm
much like me once
yes, you knew me then, in the dark
like the frangipani, by perfume

Laughter around me, the genie
I see your presence in a fleeting smile
not yours, but familiar enough
oh! those uneven rolled sleeves and crinkled eyes

How near you are, when I’m far
sitting here, sipping thoughts
from an empty glass,
in a noisy bar

If you were with me
I’d say, like before,
bring out the stars
make my jaded heart sparkle again

a dawn bird

In response to Word of the Day Challenge – Sparkle

Shaken, not stirred

DSCN9984 2.JPG
There was a time
when they read each other like a book
turned the page each day
to a new line
as the years rolled into one
the book frayed
the pages became fragile, with weight
and no discernible lines
as they smiled through the cracked veneer
of once hallowed ground
no one the wiser
except his heart that yearned
yearned for what once was
and now knows, can never be
the fairytale, he hoped it could have been
because he couldn’t leave.

a dawn bird

In response to RPD – Monday – Stir

Finity

In open landscape or empty beach I am constantly searching for that one thing that speaks to me and when it does, I settle in to listen.

thumb_IMG_0522_1024.jpg
Jurien Bay, Western Australia

This is the smallest shell I have ever found.  To give some perspective, the sand is fine like sugar.  The shell is no bigger than a nail from an infant’s pinky finger and, like a gift offered, filled with scooped sand.

If we viewed our lives as such, moments scooped in a tiny shell, would we live our lives differently?  Be less afraid?  Love more deeply?  Take risks in the knowledge an ending is just a beginning elsewhere.  Maya Angelou, says this well.

Passing Time (by Maya Angelou)
Your skin like dawn
mine like musk

One paints the beginning
of a certain end.

The other, the end of a
sure beginning.

Worth thinking about …

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

Circle of security

A little dewdrop escaped his lips
and landed on my knee
I gasped in exaggerated surprise
catching his smile, with mine

He slid down his mother’s knee
toddled his first steps across the floor
steadied himself, turned and grinned at me

in that brief moment, I knew
this is not how it should be

His mother missed it all
flicking the feed of selfies galore
chuckling intermittently at what she saw
but how I wish she had seen what I had seen
when he checked in with me

a dawn bird

In response to VJWC – # 72 – Wish

Beyond the secret door …

It starts insidiously
the insomnia
the uncertainty, the denial
surely, it can’t be

Soon you cringe in a cafe,
this can’t be true
You’re at a wet tee-shirt contest
and the only contestant … is you

Like an infomercial … but wait there’s more …
It comes with a bonus, for some, not all

Increased libido, younger men
Oh! that power surge again!
Yes, life goes on
As does the urge to strip
when he least expects it.

a dawn bird

In response to RDP – Thursday – The Secret Door

The Inevitable

DSCN9664.jpg

For years,
I walked along the shore each day
at one with the sea
the tides came and went
there was no one else there but me
with my heart in a million pieces
shattered beyond reach
the load somehow seemed lighter
no heaviness within
I thought I was floating free
accountable to none
built walls
knocked them down
then built them up higher
I’m not sure why
to protect the void
safety seemed key
in the push and pull of will,
the tug-o-war within
the inevitable happened,
one night he pointed to the sky,
see those stars,
the million stars, he said softly,
they were once shattered pieces,
mended by me.

a dawn bird

In response to RDP – Monday – Mend