Dawn

S

un over earth, a brusque untimely warning

to nubile night, for morning pales the moon

with fiery chariots of dazzle dawning

and comes upon our loving bed too soon.

I am no tiller of infertile earth. 

I don’t expect a kindly, new tomorrow

to turn our mix of madness into mirth

to fetch us more of gladness than of sorrow

and give our failing enterprise rebirth.

Beyond the bedroom is a world of care,

precedent plenty driven into dearth.

Because I’m love-sick for the flowers there

I cultivate our couch for all I’m worth;

they grow the better for the purple night

and turn unwelcome day to dark delight.

What’s that went past?

The road is dark.

A doe has wandered from the park.

A furious approach she hears

that swiftly nears.

The road is black,

a blaze of light.

She cannot move to left nor right

a blinding dazzle binds her here

in rigid fear.

The tyres scream.

The hooters blare.

She calls in terror and despair.

The cry is passed from deer to deer

that death is here. 

The Third Law

I throw down my challenge, Fate,

Chaos, Fortune, Chance…

whatever you wish to call yourself.

I defy your imperative force.

In your anonymous face

I fling my glove.

Reader, why should I try to deceive you

in the attempt to deceive myself?

Chance rules the life of man.

I cannot oppose it;

for its creature, time,

works its Paganini tune,

scratching its legs like the desert locust

on a gypsy violin,

irretrievably eating its way

across the cosmos.

Kiss me and I shall return

Kiss me and I shall return

like the salmon to the burn

surely as the rising sun

comes to say the day’s begun.

I’ll return forever after

like the swallow to the rafter,

like the honey-seeking bee,

if you give your kiss to me.

On your ruby lips your laughter 

shines and sparkles like a sign.

Kisses of your mouth hereafter

bring your soul the gift of mine, 

Learn the secret of my heart:

kiss and we shall never part.