Christmas Ingredients

Christmas is many things to many people God in a manger and angel choirs Santa Claus is coming to town Food, and booze, and parties, and presents Even loneliness and grief, missing those who have passed What’s it to me Decorating a tree Wreath on the door Crib on the shelf Carved wooden angel hung…

Prince of Peace

In a war torn world Full of anger, violence, fighting, killing There is such a raucous din That even the angels block their ears in dismay And long for silence Be still, says He who came for us Come rest in me At Christmas we remember To come into the blessed, peaceful presence Of our…

Rose-tinted Christmases

How sweet does it seem When we look back Remembering the children we were Remembering the excitement Of opening presents straight from Father Christmas Of eating turkey and plum pudding All smiles and peace We long for the good old days But if we think really hard We remember the fights The shouting, the tears…

Hypnagogia

They wait and they watch The twilight people In the liminal space Between awake and asleep Their eyes stare always Sometimes they come close Sometimes from a distance They never speak Sometimes they are men, sometimes women Dogs or cats, lions or wolves Sometimes they are only eyes Eyes that never blink They are waiting…

The Music Box

Petite prima does perpetual pirouette On a tiny turntable to a tinny tune She dances you into memory Into the past of childhood Then you watched her dance And imagined a world of wonder Now you are old Childhood dreams are ashes in your mouth The tinny tune that gave you hope Makes you weep

We

Man shakes fist at an empty sky They’re all out to get me! is his cry I need to find my own safe crowd We’ll shout together, nice and loud They’re all out to get us! the people shout Come join us if you wanna get out We’ll stand and repeat the same old lies…

One Touch

It is rare to understand the value of smallness To be a microdot in an infinite universe Is to be free Free to become your own best friend Free to touch the world around you With kindness and respect Understand you need never worry About the state of the world Small you cannot save everything…

It’s Coming

It’s coming Closer every day Civilizations rise and fall Soon it’s our turn The day when everything changes Build your walls high Arm yourselves Rip up your lawns and plant vegetables Learn how to DIY Because it’s coming And you want to survive Don’t you?

Stand in Ashes

The things I tied my soul to Are broken beyond repair Shards in my hand No longer beautiful The things I took delight in Are rotted away Consumed by scavengers Til nothing remains I stand in ashes They say ashes make things grow But how do I start again By turning my back on the…

The Drowned Lands

Stand on the shore of the lake at midnight Wait for the moment and soon there will be Voices whispering up through the waters Songs from the drowned lands calling to me Bells toll fitfully, lost in the darkness Children’s laughter echoes below Lights flicker faintly through the dark waters Up through the years from…