DIMINUENDO

In the garden that is sweeter than the water,
In the sea that beats the beach with playful wave,
In the sunrise like a moon,
In the blinding sun at noon,
In the sunset turning sky to fire-lit cave,

Using sweet bush scents that vary through the hours,
Using thrumming, trilling sounds both dark and bright,
There’s impressed upon my eye -
On my brain as on the sky -
The after-image of a girl in blinding light.

And I sacrifice my life upon her altar
In my alternating focus and despair
At parental altercation
And my glacial alteration
As I lose ambition, wisdom, strength, and hair.

But the thrashers sing so sweet, so sweet,
And I soak in sun so warm
With that soft sea breeze,
Those whispering trees -
That I fade with no sense of alarm.

Bring back, O bring back, O bring back my sweet one to me…

Published: Candelabrum, UK, October 2009

SONG TO A STUDENT

We only study History
To find out more on who we are,
We only study Chemistry
So we can brew a drink;
If we didn’t study Cooking, then
Our food would all be gooier,
If we had no Religion, why,
Instead we’d have to think!

So Learning makes life easier
And that is why we coddle it;
We study what applies to us,
That’s only common sense;
You only like Biology
Because you’ve got a body; let
Me help you with your studies, I’ve
Got more experience!

Published online: Snakeskin, UK, October 2009

Congratulations to Martin Bax and Ambit

The 200th quarterly edition of Ambit is out, with a front-cover kiss and proud boast "Still at it after all these years".
Ambit was founded by Martin Bax in 1959, and he has edited it ever since. This in addition to a career as a pediatrician, being the editor of 'Developmental and Child Neurology', publishing a couple of novels...
Congratulations on turning 50, Ambit, and thank you Martin Bax!

OBSESSION

Like a wasp making a nest under your chair
Like a lizard, watching from ceiling and wall
Like a spider living in a crack in the floor
I am closer than you know, I am here.

One day I was not there, and the next, like the pink and yellow lilies after the rain,
I am all around you, underfoot wherever you go.

You will be moving like a golden butterfly from flower to flower in a poinciana
And, coming upon you as a blackbilled cuckoo, snap!, I will have you.

Your parents may blow like a storm - like a coconut palm I bend and recover;
They, hurricanes, blow all my fronds off - and I sprout new;
They can uproot me and knock me flat - I bend my new growth up, I rise up again.

Like the sea at the rocks, I will lap against you day and night;
Like the waves on the sand I run up, and when I go down, I come up again.

Consider the fish in the sea:
I come back with the tide, with the night, with the dawn, with the moon, through all seasons and years.

Like a singing cicada by day in the bush, like a singing mosquito at night in your room,
Know: I am there with you, whether you see me or not.

Published: Candelabrum, UK, April 2009