White Gown
This poem was inspired by my favorite novel, "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte.
Entangled in a cruel web
Spun together with treads of lies and deceit.
So weary! I cannot go -
And yet I cannot stay.
Haunted by the twisted contorted branch,
Fresh from the split Oak tree.
Sturdy roots and body now distorted.
Death reigns where where blossoms grew.
Passively awaiting a sign
To remove this new-born misery.
Haunted by kindred spirit -
Innate, a heart so like my own,
The cord that ran through us is broken.
Oh Mother, piercing to my inner chamber!
Wait for me while I rise.
I must escape the shimmering whiteness.
Oh nature, my home, my mother!
Embrace me and take me into your fold
For you are my ony solitude,
My forever and my repose.
(Written July 2000,
Stirling University)
Can I Help It If I Cry?
In a small dark cave
There once laid
A girl wrapped in white.
She tossed and turned
For inside she yearned
For something better, inspiring, different.
One night it rained
Drip, drip, drip
It echoed in her head.
So she prayed and prayed
In the depths of that cave
That the waters wouldn't reach her.
Slowly the water crept
Bit by bit
Closer to her by inches.
So further she fled
Into that dark cave
Believing all the while that things could still change
She bobbed on the water
And the rock scraped her flesh
But she held her breath quite calmly.
Under she went
Down through mirky depths
And sought for her salvation
And then she saw
A crack in the wall
But feared she wouldn't fit through it.
She squeezed and she pushed
And just as she did so
Her white gown was lost forever.
Written July 2002
Shakespeare Syndrome
Twas transient love,
I knew it well but not by that name.
Heart, soul and mind were entertwined
To create a passion so vivid, so real.
Delusion -
Strong, manipulative, deceitful.
It tore me apart, inside out
Exposing me.
You never knew, you never will
As I'm left to ponder it.
And then I saw you!
Confused?
We all were, but not for the same reasons.
She loved you,
You loved her.
The smoke cleared,
My eyes dried, my heart healed
And the roses died with you
Forever.
(Written Jan. 1999)
Nightly View from the Court
Perfect starlit night
Dangling shadows embrace the moonlight
Scents of flower fill my senses
As they dance upon the breeze . . .
Remains of blushing sunset
Peep through the trees
And smiling the birds have settled
As the june-bugs stir
I see it all in silhouette
Deep in the silky grass
Where the fireflies make sense of it all
They light their way through the darkness
With no complication or hassle
They rise, drooping to my level
Then up they go to kiss that pink hue
As it fades beyond the horizon . .
Written 2001?