aching for youth

Tags

age, life, poem, poetry, youth

The muscle disappeared
my face gaunt
unshaven
aged
against weathered fence posts
aching for youth
instead finding ant beds
rust
broken wire and splintered ends

I just lay flat
not remembering the past
it all seemed too far away
tired
broken
unable to mend
the end

On a dreamy Sunday

Tags

beauty, country, couples, horses, love, picnic, poem, poetry

I would lay awake then think
carry myself to the river’s edge
far away from the city
on a horse I would sit
under willow trees I would picnic
among your company
rug and basket beside my legs

We would walk home along dirt cattle tracks
let the horses run ahead
pick white clover
then laugh
standing arms outstretched
in the middle of a Sunday afternoon

Drifting off to sleep
far then further away
beneath the bright warm sun
on that dreamy Sunday

dreams

Tags

children, dreams, life, mom, mother, poem, poetry, Relationships

you drifted out
then came back again
the same old smile
the same old friend

children now
aligned at the hip
husband too
a clever fit

but for you
as time sets in
are you now happy
and peaceful within

or do you still struggle
for what might have been
had the line been cast further
had the grass turned green

the heat burned your thongs
in the distance once again
watering afar
searching for your bent

or were you merely wandering
till evening fell once more
when you could finally escape
the mundane day to day
dreaming of a paradise
that never came your way

Riding bikes

Tags

bikes, boys, children, dads, parenthood, poem, poetry, tears

I don’t want to ride with you anymore
I want to ride on the road with my friends,
he said
As I picked myself up from the floor
and carried myself solemnly back to the door

From the house I could hear children
laughing
riding their bikes
two and fro in the sun

Then alas
a crash
bike upon stick
child upon tar
bruises and a scar

Crying
I’m alright Dad,
he said
fighting back the tears
wanting me to hold him
but he wanted to be brave
he wanted to be a lad
without poor old Dad

The calm before the storm

Tags

poem, poetry, river, storm, us

On the water
one could not erase the darkened storm clouds to the South
as thunder encircled this old wharf
everything was so old
even “Westward” the wooden craft lying uninhibited on her reach
the wood
only really tempered by the slow fighting of another tide

Why was everything so quiet?
green timbered surrounding
spread over her calm waters
too peaceful for the township of Maclean to impede
we sat that night knowing
that what had taken place was beyond us
just as the future was farther out than we could see
the lightning stood as a warning
to our own unimportance

A boat bisected her perfect face
the wake had moved on
nature was all around us
why could we not touch her?
Everything appeared distant
as the clouds moved closer
the calm was breathtaking
to attempt to look at your self
was as vast as the mountains towering over us
we were as calm as the river
at that moment of bliss

The calm before the storm
why was the river so powerful?
So serene
her glass like exterior
unmoved in that echo
she laid flat
lightning
wind
rain