Dust in the sunlight

Harbour lights

redmatty75 — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 15:54:04 +0000

The murmers drifted in from sea
Robbing the breeze of cool refreshment
as the ruffled gulls set circle in discontentment

I know these voices as if my own
Tired of fighting waves and foam
The restless boats seek a sheltered home

And so the sailors irksome cries encroche the view before my eyes
Taking the peace of my quiet harbour
with scrape and shout and bump and clatter
Bringing their calamatous din, beyond control I let them in

Where once I had created quiet order,
My very self is turned to storm and thunder
as they bring with them their haunted eyes of guilt and hurt and life’s dark skies

I cover my ears to no avail, hoping that they might show sail
But more boats set their course for me and bring the tumult of the sea
until there is no room or space – an island hope turned shattered place

What to do, what to do, when days and hours come hunting you?

In a moment a turn of wind catches their ear, the whispered promise of once fruitful years
With unfurled sail they turn away to steal the light from a new born day

And while at leave I take my chance
Blow out the candles on the swinging lanterns of the harbour’s walled defences
However relentless, I will ignore the cries from the sea
Let them drown in their guilt and anguish and in their darkness let them languish
Forever as an island I will be, I’ll keep my harbour safe for me.

Strawberry jam and crocodiles

redmatty75 — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 10:53:08 +0000

Through your eyes the world is made of dolphin toast and crocodiles.
I didn’t see the double decker, or the subtle curves that you shaped better
And I’ve learnt it doesn’t really matter if we sometimes splash or spill or splatter
You know the best bit of the strawberry jam
That sandwiches don’t always need ham
and everyday how very proud I am…

Tiny dragons and cold air

redmatty75 — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 08:13:53 +0000

Morning breaks without a care
Tiny dragons take the air
Cold breath pictures form and rise
Take the moment of surprise
Capture it within a book
Keep it somewhere you will look
File it under joy or laughter
Remember now,
and here,
and ever after.

Small trees and long shadows

redmatty75 — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 11:08:49 +0000

Small trees cast long shadows…
The leaves hang dancing in the light
A golden hour at end of days
Red lights lead slowly into night
All things in mind that never age
While all around is ebb and change
The seasons bring another year
Always gone, but always here

Latte life

redmatty75 — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:22:01 +0000

I saw the lines
the lines
the lines
What’s left was right
Soft eyes hide hard times
Look for pupil traces
Nothing there to find
The silence shouting
Regrets in latte life
I take my time to be kind

George and Ruby

redmatty75 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:06:50 +0000

Red she shone on Crescent lawn
My Ruby didn’t know me then
As I would amble when work was done
I’d see her there in 4 o’clock sun
Catch my breath with delight
When from play she would turn, smiles and eyes bright
Adjusting my withered laces just to see her a few seconds more
The gem unknown, the girl I would adore
Seasons slipped past until we chanced a word about the weather
A cloud break shaft of light that would bring our worlds together
We sat a while in weeks that followed
Huddled when days grew short and winds blew hollow
And that is how we came to join our lives
My Ruby love
My dearest prize

Young and old

redmatty75 — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:00:30 +0000

It started with the little seeds
That fought their way up through the weeds
Green shoots that stretched with open eyes
And climbed their way through summer skies
To tower as sunflowers golden crowned
No longer by the stale earth bound
But nothing lasts and all must fall
How cruel when we had grown so tall
The petals wilt, the green stalk folds
The good die young, the brave grow old

Ice cream bells and sugar bowl

redmatty75 — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 22:55:32 +0000

Alas my love you do me wrong
As ice cream bells chime crystal song
The summer lawns lay trim and green
And buses rattle window panes
In distant rooms that go unseen
Cross stitched, all pressed and neatly zipped
In sugar bowl small fingers dipped
We count the hours upon the wall
The ticking tock, the rise and fall
Hands folded neatly, commercial breaks
One fast asleep, one wide awake
A teabagged table folded down
In Sunday slumbers faded brown

Moccasins and melamine

redmatty75 — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:39:49 +0000

The gas flame flickered on the back door breeze
Dance across lino moccasin stance
The lazy blue smoke, slow cigarette burn
The smell of the days in a melamine blur
Transistor songs ring, voices as one
The country joy strings and the words that live on
Wait for the whistle, the steam and the whine
The seconds and minutes you slipped out of time

Watch and caretaker

redmatty75 — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:23:30 +0000

Perhaps my watch is running fast, strap undone and face pressed to ear.
A fortnight to the day since I heard that she had passed
and now I sit at ten to five and hear the caretaker’s steps walk clear along the gravel drive
as they have each thirteen days since i have waited graveside here.
I know that she is still alive.
I remember when, cloth cap drenched and dripping with rain,
she placed a ring back in my palm,
but though she gave me back our gold
my love clung on with open arms.
And so it has been through the years
and though our paths have never crossed,
her name is shared in whispers clear
by those who know I still hold her dear.
And that is how on muttered breath
I heard about her mother’s death which brought me to my vigil’s wait,
to chance a sight of Nelly as she came to cemetery gate.
And while she knelt and placed her flowers I’d tap her shoulder, she would smile,
and for an hour we’d talk about our lives in days and all the choices we had made.
Now it is the stroke of five and padlock seals my fortnight’s breath.
I gave my heart away to chance, but chance was never one for death.