Poetry (p.3) - (attempts from 'the muse')

"MISCELLANEA"
Copyright (c) 1992 Maljam
 

"Why?"

Still, in the quiet of the night
I heard you cry my name,
a soft yet stirring sound
Soft, the night does come alone
And echoed in the dark,
a soft yet stirring sound.

Oh, the tears inside my head
Still locked behind the door
That shattered through the night.

Hide, in the quiet of the night
But whispered in the dark,
I feel the heartache near
Sigh, in the stillness of my life
I lay awake ‘till dawn,
when loneliness will clear.

But Oh, the cries inside my heart
Still locked behind the past,
that shatters through the dark.

Why do you love me more?

Hide, in the quiet of the night
and whispered under breath,
I hear the heartache near
Sigh, in the stillness of my life
I lay awake ‘till dawn,
when loneliness will clear.

But Oh, the pain inside my head
Still locked behind the door
that shatters through my night.

Why do you love me more?

Maljam (c) January 1990

“Fogbound Solitude”

I don’t know what to say...
tho it may seem unusual
for the way I feel today.
Sitting in a backroom all by myself
trying to waste some time;
(why should I bother at all?”

distraction demands my attention...

I scream at them all day and night
but all they do is laugh at me.
It makes me so tired, sometimes
I just have to laugh...
...solitude sings.

...I slip back...
Any lonely people by themselves?
Don’t let it get you down,
(“don’t worry.”)
Imaginations tire of desperate thoughts
Will they bring you down?
It won’t happen anyhow...

Awoken alarmed,
afraid of my own silence. Maljam (c) November 1982

"Aching..."

“...but how to say that to miss her...
the aching that only love can conquer -
: a touch of the hand,
a sigh in the trees.
To still be with her alone, inside
after the line has gone dead -
hear the breath that parted her lips.
Sigh the wind, sigh the mind;
The aspiration of the miles...
But not long!
For to know is love.
Love but conquers all -
the fascination that our love has for us.”

Maljam (c) January 1989

"My Wife..."

“My wife...my wife!”
What does this mean to you? -
Even though your presence is so far gone
(‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’.)
Inside reaches toward the heavenly bliss
Of time alone with you in mindless abandon.

Just once more, let me clasp your affection;
Hand in mine, caressing the hope in love
That beats a swirling rhythm, pulse,
Bonded in one heart-stop.

Maljam (c) January 1991

“Alone the King”

I have an island for a home
It’s all the things that I own.
In silence I live all alone
A silent king upon his throne;
Alone the king he will sit,
Throughout the night, a little bit.

On this island there’s a tree
The only living thing here,
save me.
I live in shade it casts upon
These shifting sands that are my home;
On the outside looking in
Alone tonight,
a little bit.

A raging torrent that comes form the sea
All that is left here: my home and my tree;
Is lost in an instant -
Washed to the sea.

On the outside looking in
alone tonight,
a little bit;
Alone the king he will sit
Throughout the night,
a little bit.

Maljam (c) January 1989

"7b"

Maljam (c) April 1983

"Ninteen"

My name was unknown;
To anyone but me.
But a day passed
and the whole of creation
Became aware.
Alas, now look;
Eyes and minds have closed
and forget what was.
Never to remember,
but me.

Maljam (c) April 1983

"Poor Simon"

“I’ve forgotten how to write!
I can’t type the accuracy
I thought I knew last night.
My eyes are failing badly, now
the eyelids drooping low;
If I don’t get up and leave this place,
this poem will never know
how hard it’s been to force this out
thru dust and mud and web,
I wish I could find sleep again
instead of what I’ve said;
I need a break - go take a walk
to clear my musty brain,
and leave this house, and in a while
i’ll loose eyesightless strain.

“I want to write...
i’ve lost my will to fight.
I need to think, but
not what others’ think...

“These words inside my head
of which I call ‘my own’,
I wish I hadn’t said
I could do this on my own...
Now I’m not even doing
what I’m wanting to do,
to achieve the end
in this, my friend,
(as if I ever knew...)
I’ve lost the way,
the way of hope,
I don’t know where I’ve lost it,
I’ll find a way,
and hope I don’t
forget where I have tossed it.”

Maljam (c) Ausgust 1992

"Mouse"

I knew a little mouse
he lived under the stairs,
I fed him cheese and crackers
and other fancy fare.
I made him clothes of cotton
and dressed him like a king,
He looked so high and mighty,
my servants did him in!
What’s more, the cat had found him
running out the door,
“The king has got no clothes on,
underneath those paws.”
I wished him many happy days,
short but so unfair,
“Come back to stay, you’re always home
Underneath my stair.”

I knew a little mouse
underneath my floor,
I leave him cheese and crackers
by his vacant door.

Maljam (c) August 1992

"In the Bush"

1.
There once was a man
who said in a huff -
“I’ll clout the next man
who says I’m a puff!”
He splattered his words
with spray all around,
his audience cheered -
this day of the clown!

I once saw this man -
I tell you it’s true -
He was wanting to sell me
a “pig by a ‘roo”:
His eyes were alive
with the truth in his tale,
I wouldn’t believe, and I
knocked back his sale.

Again of this man,
who lost off a truck
his one prized possession
that promised him luck;
He swore a reward
of One Hundred Pounds!,
but-of all that had searched,
it ‘twas never found.
I saw the man cry
and he drew half a breath,
“Now luckless I die
or starve half to death.”

But Paddy O’Rourke
would give him his chance
to give his lost fortune
a second of rest.
“I’ll give you a job,
a fair one no less,
a dog and some damper,
and somewhere to rest.”
He turned on his heel
and spat in the dust,
“I’ll rather die first,
(his pride fit to bust),
I’m rich in the heart,
But prouder man, no.
I’ll rather die sulking
than risk my life so!”

So off he did tread,
the wind my his side,
soon lost in the dust.
that rose up from behind.
We may never see
that proud man again.
And until this day
we still don’t know when
that he will return,
good-luck on his side.
But - I doubt he’ll be back,
if he’s still alive.

2.
Paddy O’Rourke saw the
dust rise one day,
and wondered afar what
ever became
of that man with no wits,
and no luck to show
his one prized possession
he lost in a throw;
Now, he tried to win
his wealth back afresh,
but luck won’t allow
this man second-best.
We watched him all day;
with each settled bet,
he’d pocket the win
and spend some more. Yet
slowly we watched
as he got more drunk,
he lost all his winnings
off the back of a truck,
that drove from the town
in a mountain of dust,
bound for the far-side:
“Queensland or Bust!”

That money did fly
from hand and from fist,
that pockt’d cash,
no, none of it missed.
They saw he was falling,
so grabbed him with glee,
that man blindly stumbled
and fell by a tree.
They plunged all his winnings
On Race No.5,
backed the one horse
they thought would survive.
Alas, not this time
did luck look their way,
for Race No.5
was cancelled that day.

The man was enraged
with the larrikin mob.
“That’s mine, you cheap bastards,
I’ll call for the cops!”
But, no call was made
from that place that day,
as one man they took him
and tossed him away.
Like refuse they threw him
and tipped him outside,
left with his headache -
he thought he had died!

3.
Paddy O’Rourke
saw the mongrel had life,
and offered the meal
supplied by his wife.
(At least now I don’t have to
finish her tea,
I’d rather be sucking
the salt in the sea!)
The man nearly choked
as he opened his eyes,
saw Paddy O’Rourke
nearly twice his own size.

“I’ll just lay here quietly,
thanks all the same.”
At the sight of our Paddy,
he just wasn’t game
to argue with men who had
three heads, not one!
He thought he’d been out here
too long in the sun.
His head felt removed,
and with eyes in a spin,
his dribble had dried
from mouth to his chin.
“Please, leave me alone
I need to catch breath,
I seem to be viewing
a vision of death...”
But Paddy O’Rourke,
a man with a heart
soft as a woman’s, but
tough as a tart,
he pulled the man upright,
who struggled for breath,
and stopped his head bleeding.
Alas, half-to-death,
the man he did try
to give our friend Paddy
a jab from behind!

4.
Now, Paddy O’Rourke,
the kindest man, he,
he picked up this refuse,
dropped him on his knee!
The crowd in the window
did raise half a cheer,
‘cause Paddy O’Rourke
had won himself a beer.
“The bet,” said his mate,
“It aint very fair,
but say if you win,
we’ll shout you all year!!!”
The bet, you might wonder,
(or started to ponder):
“If you shut that big-mouth
out there, for his own good;
pretend you’re his saviour
or offer him food;
So, while he’s not looking
shut him up, think,
keep that guy quiet and we’ll
all have a drink!”

5.
The man, in his wisdom,
lay still quite a while.
Face down in the bulldust,
not even a smile.
When darkness surrounded
the races that day,
well, if he had moved,
we just couldn’t say.
By morning we found
no trace of manslaughter,
but Brother Cornelius’
sanctified water.

“He lives!, but asleep,
he still could have died,
if not for his greed,
ambition and pride.
He lays in seclusion,
our Brotherly arms
keep him protected
from yesterday’s harm”

Next night, while the darkness had
given him cover,
right under our noses,
he fled from the Brothers’
rapt care and affection;
He headed for home
under cover of night,
he’d fled on his own -
so swift was his flight.
And we never did hear
from that poor clod again.
But I hear that his money was
never quite spent.
Those races survive
by luck, or by fluke,
it keeps them alive
to drink ‘till they puke.

6.
And, Paddy O’Rourke still lives by the dust
that rises and falls
by the light of the dusk.
He often rides out
in search of the man,
who still makes them laugh
where the whole thing began;
Tho, Paddy, it seems,
no stranger to luck,
he’d rather forget
the stranger. Enough
were the days’ when he
said in a huff,
“I’ll clout the next man
who says I’m a puff!”

Maljam (c) August 1992

"As One"

Park bench abandoned under a clothes line
Bicycles hidden away from view,
A line of cars that impress only ourselves.
Observe how they lounge-about (perched) on stools.
Theirs is always the number - the 11 or 13,
But the zoo is always hungry;
Each one plays his own game,
But the whole respond as one.
Inquire as he smiles; exhausted and weary.
The sounds now drift by from
Some distant chamber.

(we want to work,
but not really any hurry
for the newspapers are at least
one day old.)

So, time has no meaning
At the council of souls.
Existing for themselves, so should be naturally -
Everyone concerned for the
Each-others’ continuity;
The animals will always be united,
Until the end of the rain.

Maljam (c) january 1984

"Too Many People"

Too many people are living a lie.
Living the heartache of each-others’ lives;
Wooden through pantomime
that strangle their mind,
Hide behind masks
Can’t see hope, they’re blind:
though they choose to...

“Why do you people pretend you can see?
‘Cause in the darkness
there’s no-one to see.”

“Please forgive me
my head is in my hands;
Please forgive me
I’m a child, I’m not a man.
Not a man...”

(c) 1990 Maljam

"Better Days..."

Nothing in the world here for me
I live for something still to be
No-way will I be drawn away
For what on earth can make me stay - here?

There are still better days to come
Still, there are better days to come.

All I hear is death, pain and war
Have we not heard it all before?
So why is this time diff’rent from the last?
Don’t you know that this won’t last?

Better days to come...?

“Jesus cried alone (you know)
To go where no-one else could go.”

There are still better days
to come...

Maljam (c) April 1989

"I Had a Dream"

I had a dream....
Ahh, I had a dream.
To make the whole world smile,
See this old world cry.
Sub-conscious games
still rolling concave
Though travelled though my rest,
Walking autumn west.

In a time of colour and light
Truth did so reflect;
A magical time of laughter and joy
At dusk, made whole,
perfect.

I have a dream.
Although I lived the dream,
So now awoke no doubt
That what goes in goes out.
I lived the dream
Awake, I live the dream
That hasten one to love.

(c) 1988 Maljam

"Free As a Bird"

Float like a butterfly
Soar like the eagle
To be free as a bird.
Fly above the driftwood
Drift above the clouds
I want to fly so high
To touch the sky.

Had a dream that I could fly
Fly away and be free
See the world from miles away
So my wings carried me.

But Oh, how high the wind of the Spirit does sign
I’ve seen the world through my eyes.

As I dreamt that I flew
Saw things as they should be
Saw the world in so much love again
So the love carries me.

Don’t know where I’m going
Who knows where I’ve been
Don’t know how the sky takes me in;
I’ve flown through the sunrise
Sailed through the rain,
The wind takes me soaring again.

But Oh, how high the wind of the Spirit does sign
I’ve seen the world through weary eyes.

Float like a butterfly
Soar like an eagle
To be free as a bird;
Fly above the driftwood
Drifting with the clouds,
I wish that I could fly and
Touch the sky.

Maljam (c) October 1990