Travelling Light Read online

starters.”

  So off went the fox and the mole

  To start their bank-robbing life.

  Living it up, the law they defied,

  Rivalling even Bonny and Clyde.

  Smile

  I walked in time

  In a summer rhyme

  I stopped to tell

  Every passer-by

  The secret in my secret smile

  They stopped and stared

  At my summer guise

  That shied away

  But I knew inside

  The secret he had shared

  How he looked within

  To my inner mind

  My eyes he opened new

  So sharing himself

  Though he left untouched

  Hope

  The optimistic side of me

  Likes to dream

  That rainbows follow rain.

  There’s a little girl

  I used to know,

  Fair-haired and wide-eyed,

  Imagining elves and giants,

  Ghosts and goblins,

  Chasing the wind unseen,

  Her whole life unlived –

  Does she still wander freely

  In her dreams?

  Footsteps in the rain

  She walked into the path of oncoming traffic

  Lights flashing her blind in the pitch dark

  Heading her way, they swerved to the side

  Horns high-screeching like cats, radios blaring

  The night ached a thousand lived memories

  She walked barefoot, her feet cut but soundless

  Like a dreamer who had long ceased to dream

  The stars glistened high above like fairy lights

  Dazzling in the night sky, so quiet their beauty

  Unravished by life, uncorrupted, so pure, fine

  Her eyes she squinted to improve their clarity

  Shining so brilliantly, like ice against black

  She had wandered far, not knowing the distance

  Far, far, a long way from home and her people

  Seated around a wooden table, food cooking

  Amid warm smells of crisp, burning wintry heat

  She could imagine them laughing and grinning

  Their teeth glinting in candlelight as they spoke

  Blood dripping off their plates, their eyes red

  Clawed fingernails gripping the edges so taut

  Their wild hair flicking as they wailed and groaned...

  Enough! This she did not miss, could never miss

  So now her escape was final, desolation dismissed

  The blood could stay chilled and frozen like ice

  Away from her, hidden in those dark, darkest eyes

  Closing her eyelids, she forced away the memory

  The road felt cold and the rain was starting again

  Tap, tap, tap, the lights danced in the water

  Her toes flicked little glistening drips into the air

  And she grinned at such a simple, honest thing

  Memories of a life forgotten, once lived before

  In the time long ago, in a time she lived once

  The horns continued to sound, sigh-pitched wines

  Too high, shattering the quiet of this still night

  She turned her head to scowl, unseen in the dark

  Determined, she walked on, oblivious to the cold

  Heading into the noisy, bustling flow of cars

  She had no fear of them or their terrifying roar

  They sounded their horns but they could not see her

  Blinded as they were to the dead thing walking.

  Sigh

  I could not stop in the waking rain

  Lest the world stop beside me

  Ceasing its endless ticking clock

  Ending this life I see before me

  I could not wake in the morning air

  Lest my hands cease to find me;

  Stark sunlight through a window blasts

  Lights the hope I have before me

  Blow

  If I forget, remind me

  To blow out the light

  When the singer ends

  His song

  A candle flickers out

  ‘Gainst the windowpane

  Shimmering yellow to

  The last

  Sing the longest song

  That will never die

  Or seek to shiver to

  A stop

  Wax slowly melts

  Forever renewed in

  The red-hot heat of

  Regret

  Blow out the light

  Lest it remembers

  To cast chaos in

  My dreams

  Little boy leaps

  Sand-speckled feet

  Shimmer in these waters,

  Flickers of light

  Paint a blue escape

  Cold waves call,

  Restless in the distance

  The blue eternal

  Circles, renewing

  He splashes oblivious

  While shadows dance

  In the yellow flight

  Of palest light

  Echoes of children play

  Far across the beach

  But here he plays alone

  At one with the sea

  Myriad colours beckon

  Inviting him to swim,

  Swift waves surge and stride

  Pulling against the tide

  Struggling to be free

  On this blissful summer day

  He jumps and laughs again

  Leaps in the shimmering

  Gossamer

  A tiny butterfly

  Flits its life away

  On the windowpane

  Seeing movement

  Beyond the glass

  That is everything

  Heading my way?

  Travelling free on the whims of the tide

  You’ve come a long way to reach this town

  Winding the free roads, heading nowhere

  Where do you really wander to?

  So young and careless with your dreams

  An empty suitcase of sometime smiles

  Where do you go when the chill wind blows?

  Summer skies and lazy days beckon

  Yet they will only take you so far

  Where do you go when the rains run dry?

  Carrying your beaten suitcase like a magic star

  Across the highways neon lights blur

  Into a single streak of sparkling iridescence

  Why did you leave, where are you headed,

  Do you remember where you came from?

  Empty windows stare from these desolate hotels

  Unkempt figures shelter in the dark shadows

  Still, silent spaces contain no answers

  Enigmatic in your silence in this darkness

  The moon is but your one muted companion

  The empty, dust-strewn road stretches forth

  As you follow, free loaded with your dreams

  November

  November chills me with its breath

  It shocks me out of this limbo

  With its icy fingers and numb breaks

  Night begins to creep in early

  Crisp steps it takes across this land

  As the sky sinks down ever nearer

  Trees reach skyward for past blossoms

  Carried away on the back of the wind

  I yearn to bury myself away in warmth

  To hibernate like a sleeping hedgehog

  In a small box of paper, hidden away

  Nestled alone with my memories

  Wake me in the warm glow of spring

  As I’m sure I will not miss a thing

  This slow slide into winter unnerves me

  Season of change, death and seclusion

  Bring me sunshine on a silver platter

  With roses tinted pink in summer’s scent

  The smell of green brought by the rain – r />
  Smile away the despair of the darkest day

  Lost and found

  Let me have this pure thing

  With no questions asked of me

  No demands or small print hidden

  Nothing fades like hope lost

  Give me back the thing you stole

  Don’t pretend that you’ve forgotten

  When this was once the key to all

  Nothing fades like trust broken

  If time really heals all wounds

  Why is this memory still so clear?

  Played out like a moving picture book

  Nothing fades like bruises given

  Let me have this promised peace

  Of a spirit that heals unbroken

  With an openness to the good in things

  Nothing fades like an empty gift

  Nightmares

  If I scream

  Will it drown everything

  That frightens me

  In the silent dark?

  Amputated limbs

  Red scrawls of blood

  Eight-legged freaks

  Impenetrable mists

  Running into infinity

  With darkness chasing

  Fast behind me, it

  Comes closer, enveloping

  Feet lose their grip

  Creaking bridges give way

  Falling in slow motion

  To where monsters roar

  My mind goes blank

  Sinking through the air

  The ground draws near

  And so I wake

  Sea shells

  making waves

  she tries the sound

  listening to nothing

  in the motion

  of moving

  crashing waves

  the dead of the sea

  swishing still

  inside her ear

  the cold shell

  curves echoing

  the murmur

  of distant

  waves flowing

  from the shores

  so long lost

  in time spent

  sinking

  into

  bliss

  Horror

  The unknown stands behind me

  Raging above in a bright

  Inferno – let it fall,

  Drown me in this sea

  Of wrath, draining

  In screams of muteness

  Red blood dancing in streams

  Smother me in this warmth

  A passion that knows no end

  But in the blackness of the dark

  Words are silent

  Faith

  Paint me a new day

  Breathe in these colours

  Maintain the purest sky

  The chill of white lace cuts

  In silken touches of snow

  Red stains black as it dies

  An open box that smiles deep

  Cuts the Earth in two

  Borrowing sorrow’s eyes

  To see again, rest a while;

  The summer will stay

  To shine for you.

  The pack

  echoes in the dark –

  cries of the lost

  wolves running

  in the still night

  beneath the stars

  glistening high

  on their forest run

  eyes glinting

  ears pricked

  feet soundless

  chasing sounds

  heard but unseen

  the moon glows,

  sheds its white

  misted half-light

  on their trail,

  weaving a path

  long travelled

  anew but