Faces, Pages and Places

The room sits brooding in the darkness that’s inside it. Violet shafts stretched from halogen an indiscernible distance away, fell from the door like paper blades onto the staircase and trailed off mid-step. In the corner, a fireplace. The flames that licked at the blackness of air left nothing but a lingering scent of pine and regret. Slumped across the couch in front, he flips open his gold pocket watch, an heirloom from his father, a reminder of the present future, pauses, sighs and snaps it shut. Open, shut. Not in time with the ticking. Open, shut. To the throbbing at his temple and to his chest that is beating. Open. Silence. Shut.

They say a pen is mightier than a sword
But what about our minds Do we not
Bend realities with the lies we tell ourselves
To sleep Deep in Babylon gardens

Can we get through this jungle maze
We’ve fenced ourselves in Do we
Lead ourselves to somewhere
Warm and safe With big bright lights

Our peril and our fate lie within us
Think long think hard But think what
Everybody else does because it is
What is right Sense is always common

Seldom should we break out of the box
And maybe to make it bigger Or to find
A corner that no one else occupies
Is enough Why are we never satisfied

How much of our hurt is self-inflicted
How much can be avoided If we only just
Tried a little harder to love ourselves a little
Longer Hold on to your box of chocolates

Tick. Tick. But when time’s come to claim its dues
Long and hard as you may have thought Oh fuck
Might be the last two words that linger in
Your absence An exclamation and a curse

So fight for our futures leave shadows behind
Turn and face the sun It reminds us
Of the grass that’s turning green and the
Coming Spring Man don’t we all love Spring

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‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears reliev’d
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believ’d

The hourglass tips gently over,
Time’s breath poison laced,
Sand and wind embraced,
Lunar eclipse.

Tear-stained mosaic tiles below,
Shadows stood sober,
Hunched in a corner,
Waters rise.

Mayflowers bring hay-fever,
Luck and life despaired,
Sin and sex declared,
Irises ablaze.

Milk with the morning news,
Stories of a lark,
Traversed in the dark,
Cricket song.