Spend Summer with me…
frolicking like dolphins in the shallows
soccer playing with the ripples
up-splashing crystal spheres
sun-rays splinter with rainbows
leaping and diving
nudging and sliding
slippery torsos
tentacling tight
into the night

Spend Summer with me…
we’ll hand in hand
and arm in arm
hot-foot the sand
cold-toe the sea
quick-stalk the jungle jasmine walk
tap-laugh the paved cliff ferry path
slowly &
sinuously
snake & sword

Spend Summer with me…
yin-yang bowling balls of time
rolling corridors of sunshine
skittling ourselves
into tickling laughter
striking ourselves
out to sleeping spoons
naked in a
warm room
in the afternoon

Still love; a frozen desire
In a frame of memory
That steals all the colour
From the normal joys of life.
Similar to grief; it is a travesty
Of true love that exposes
All your nerve ends to grey
And merciless self criticism.
Let still love alone, my love,
Write no more poems to a fantasy.
Go seeking a true love, one that
Moves and grows and enriches life.
Still love is utter misery.

I don’t want you on any terms.
Do not come for my sake alone.
Do me no duty, tell me no lies,
Politeness puts out passions eyes.
I lied, any terms at all…..
Ignore all I’ve said -
take me to bed !
Desire me, set us both free.
I need – you win,
Round in circles I spin.

I do not hope anymore
Though sometimes I ask for more
In rare reckless breathless moments.
You never say yes
You never say no
To my hearts impulsive romance.
I play it cool.
I give you the benefit of the doubt
But I feel like a fool.

How is it that you can reach down inside me
To pull out a heart that others deny me ?
You hold her gently like a frightened bird
Smoothing her feathers, soothing with words
Then with no warning gesture at all
Splatter her against the concrete wall,
Saying simply – “the wounded should not suffer so.”

How pathetic the lover looks when tamed
Fawning for love from trainers
With timetables.
How helpless the soft moaning purr
Of padded paws, restlessly pacing
The perimeter of their open cage.

I know you must love me !
To save me from yourself
You have walked away
And proved your love.
Had you hated me
You would have stayed
And ruined a beautiful
Fantasy.

I cannot cross into your space
In five short minutes of talk
In the street when we meet.
I cannot evaluate myself to you
In such a short public time.

Yet you charm me out of myself
Then leave me dangling there
For all to see, a Cheshire cat grin
With a heart tacked on its sleeve
Slowly fading into nothing.

You see only a weeping
Frightened girl underneath
All my smiles, as if laughter
Merely masks a truer self.
I weep to think about it,
I think about it and weep.
Perhaps you see clearly.

I can’t decide whether to
Make up my mind or not…
I rang you up yesterday
To say that I wasn’t there
But when I spoke to you
I came back.
I rang you up yesterday
To tell you not to come over
But when I spoke to you
I asked you to come today.
I rang you up yesterday
To say I had nothing more to give you
Today I give you my self.
I am like a leaf
On an Autumn tree, the winds
Of August have captured me
And blown me to your door.

*

Accept my occasional presence as
No more important than a leaf
Blown through your door
That will drift outside again.
My offers of friendship
Are like dust in my mouth,
As wine turned sour – my love
Has been stolen by the carrion crows
Of black bitterness.