Sonnet 1
Your dotted inanimate cathedrals, of oriental templar power
Still stand, as if some old dynasty in a long forgotten land
While others fret, in conscious coil,
I lost in wood and nook
Mind spun in drunken veil,
in and out of nascent night
Too herald coming age, as if written on holy page
In memory, youth and sun,
dancing in the street,
laughing at all I meet
Free, yet misunderstood, old rankled firewood
Laugh world, at failure to launch, never started
Take wing, set free, long departed
Judge not, the rhyme, so sweet in its prime
Like rosy roses, in cold crip dawn, untimely sawn
Old rooms, like old lovers, I know every crack
Your tear soaked carpet, your white walls washed
Your family, gone, dissolved by time
Your frame forced view, staring at sunset and star
I gone now, behind cosmic spin, off drifting far
To remain, never to leave, faithful to all
Everliving castle
When aged face falls, crumbled to ground
Your bricks piled high, your unassembled mess
Look kindly on your state,
Turn sorrow to gladness, at what life brings
Oh great monument, that graced herculean kings
Sonnet 2
Quill and sleuth, bard and barren
Road leads to sunny Avon
Green country, flowering grass, who could give the sites a pass
Beware travelers; enjoy the pretty tree's, watch the river flow, theres more to know
Why come wayfarer? Shakespearean pallbearer
Seek you fame, peerage or do you worship words
Regardless- simply watch the birds
Travel to the heart, where mighty Thames goes
Where Kings and Queens lord, a clot of knowledge grows
Find him in verse, printed signature, everlasting Vere
King arise, from thy mort tomb, on St Peters steps
Worms and dust shake, new dreams to come, a new page
Your words give life, mind of razor sharp, your soul for all age
Posthumous poet, what has the world become
Dead are the crowns, words forgot, but you are not
But fading ever near, the end, of times merciless arrow
Time is proof that nothing was, yet you remain, in all brains.
Celebrate the passing tides, that form at no point
Origin is key to thee, past a confluence joint
Your words, your soul, it shines alive
Likeness gone, vanity deprived, truth survives
Sonnet 3
I saw the scope and scale of London fair,
With your spiritual sun, rising high in morning air
The mist has not yet parted, fog cloud perturb her view
Green canopy clouds below, as wood meets metal vision
Blocky and disjointed, a million minds at indecision
Whistle sweet, the birds of autumn fall, mask construction drum
Sirens wail in old London, like she come undone
Up here on top of hill, with mind free at conquered sight
Ship come aground, on Olympus might
Sonnet 4
Your older now, time has not waited
Your teeth are black, your skin greyed and dated
Remember when all turned head, and gave you credence
Off fruit still tempts the poorer beggar
April air is decades past, gone adrift
When you took hand and stole errant kiss
Disaster often seals, guilty pleasure,
As eager hand is apt to find no measure
Thief’s love is a choice, if you think so
Disguised in friendship, now you know
Age has no wisdom, as repeated mistake
Finds vulnerable victim, a feast to partake
Are you in a better time, or has the best been
As seasons come, and leaves change
Weather constant, your moods strange
Your flaws rich, but his double, sins aplenty
Revengeful, pompous proud, jealous in love,
Time, ever ticking, never to return
Finds you perfect, in all vice,
Unique visage, a throw of the dice
Sonnet 5
The walls of Westminster speak silence,
The coated draperies of consequence, power
Great deeds, lofty men, in that eerie tower
Kings and Queens, royal heads of state
Dust and bone, is their fate
Living acted tombs, vessels borne to other veils
The place, where you receive no mail
Darwin, who mapped the course of man,
Newton, who mapped the starry night
What dignity left, on flag stone and shallow bed
Where peasant, leers and firmly tread
Consecrated stone, chills the bone
Religious rights, bell pells, no soil to till,
The smell of death on nose fills
Where are trees, and cool wind blows
Deep in the crypt, of sealed woes
Ye gods where are the women, do they live, do they have lives
Grant the mighty Elizabeth, and a few loved wives
If women be the greater sex, you would not know
For men rule the older world, feminist do not go
Leave this ungodly cathedral, full of rotten meat
Human ambition, divine spectacle, brought to nought
Yet..and yet, the lines grow, the reverence thus
Minds great or small, want living idols, the very best of us
Sonnet 6
I know not my own mind, it is a spurious devil,
That awakens often to deadly thought
For minds be mined, if not so dull, for jewels and treasure richly brought
Ego's favour is a curse, when he shines his light,
To public scorn, on stages so bright
Do I ravage this femme mystic, or do I soil my own perfumed bed,
Years on, it sinks my head
Shunned and shamed, friends of old fled
Weary already, dashed and spent, better off dead
What malice, cold like icy stone, no room to atone
I curse my fate, disappearing like phantasm forsake
What of her, sweet angel in the modern time,
That took the wrath, so quiet and true
You have taken flight, though not so high, as liked
Navie your song, though bright your impish face
That sung to me in an ill-gotten place
Though I weep for lost time, and these harpy vagabonds,
Now invisible as the peripheries of vision
Past be Past, never so old, as time makes amends,
For that which memory can't endure
Turn east, to rising sun, aflame, in baptised state
Turn thought, to breath, to life, to words of fate
Sonnet 7
My muses countenance is serene, when at rest, though she never sleeps
Her body a temple, unto Apollo, bright, untouchable as the sun
If eyes be moons, hers stretch out to eternity, lunar white
Food is sweet, under her breath, her kiss a diabetics death
Her hair curls, a bird nest be, contorting from head to deepest sea
If faces tell time, a million years it would read
A widow wander, desperate to breed
An act of chastity, like a nun, virgin, unspoiled
A mob of hungry dogs, desecrated, soiled
My words are dun, next to her voice, though dun might be brass
Her dead poetry, not made to last
If muses could be lovers, then mine you would be
Yet fate, arriving, always destined, sees
You my focal lens, poison chalice,
Never seeing inspiration, are free
I alone, with pen and silence, know it's never me
Sonnet 8
So short the tenure of time,
On long winding, narrow way, these earth gifted days
Clock whittles humdrum hours, as Gabriel fights paradises powers
To come so far, to asked exhausted; why?
The reaper whispers witlessly…to die
To give so much, then fade, peacefully into greater rest
A heavy crown bestows, a heart-full test
There is a type of love, that blossoms short, then dies away
With kindled flame, and the promise of new day
Lillies stretch to outward arms, the sun and heavenly choir reciting palms
To live on, not to die, to extend out into celestial sky
Griefs be gone, never to return, as you my dear safety urned
To live a life, to work till end, your hand my eternal friend
Bittersweet the love that dies, for it is phoenix winged
Set free of mortal realm, and flying on Poseidon winds
No more the stress of bygone years, or the shocks and many fears
No more rains cold shiver, or clouds oppressive black
No more the flames of wildfire flared, or thunders clamorous crack
No more worries of grave, or longest sleep
Illness, breath or friends to weep
Angel girls and angel boys,
Must fade to mortal end, as time so enjoys
With youthful wings, all dancing on gods fairy strings
All so light should be, mother, memory, you are free
Sonnet 9
Beauty awaken before my vision, was I dreaming till now
Do eyes deceive, is love so myopic
Fruity amorous angel or a dove flirting nymph
You quench the comets tail, on furnace arc
Creating thirst of ages, a famished mark
Is beauty for eyes only or to consume,
As honey drips, into lips of bears
Let me sup, a babe at the teat
Your Magdalene nurture, so nectar sweet
You are an alien architect, a extraterrestrial tourist
Born of exotic sphere, not all human
Let me follow your solar steps, in blackest depths
Last aviator floating free, through that cosmic sea
She enchants the night, like a glow worm in a darkened grove
Dancing within a beam, white dress spinning interwove
Her form, her grace, her elegance
Introduce her, as a elfin sprite
Gods angelic secretary, clothed in human form
Come down to visit and keep us mortals warm
Sonnet 10
The lake is not an ocean, nor is it a trilling stream
Surrounded by the hills, cradled like a babe, illuminated by rays and beams
To hike among the trees, out amongst the stars
Wading through the wood, lost from view, home so far
My lady is of the court, not the verdant wood
Seeks the company of culture, speaks all languages, and is never good
For her the country, is a simple kind of place
Nothing to occupy a busy mind, the aromatic air a waste
Give her fine things; posey, presents and the finest wines
Let me hear her laugh, with high gay sounds
Let me see her smiling eyes, let her voice be heard over town
Much is said of her affairs, her dalliances the start of lusty gossip
If truth be true, and she is all they say
Let truth have it’s way, take me back to wood and thicket, there I haply stay
Sonnet 11
Every morning is a smile, that lights darkest room
Snow white teeth, dissolve depressions gloom
Your lips pout asking for a kiss,
Clouded eyes are leaving, soon to miss
Your questions probing, discovering every lie
Your attention waning, this love may die
Travel feather light with you in toe,
Your hand, your caresses, all there is to know
With your Parisian scars, and your devil memory
And double vision, it’s blind refusal to see
And your earthy conscience, to change the whole globe
And your gypsy visions, of the endless road
With your future haze, a fog of dreams,
Your lazy days, time slips unseen
Present pleasure, no future watch
Forms the formless, a path notched
Perfections mirror, a gauzy error
False self-image, vanities terror
Fully formed, beauties Gospel rose
Our love, naked and unclothed
Sonnet 12
The face conceals the moon light of the mind
As masks are worn at festival, in Lent time
Marriage is conquest of the the quiet days
The long dreary december, at lights end
Lovers eyes a medusa sight, spell entranced
Married by vision, the Dionysus dance
Beholder of soul, or window into the chasm
Darkness often reveals the orgastic fathoms
All affairs of heart, flutter flip, as palpitation
As chance meeting, risks false relation
Intention true, as promise made,
The long decadent cascade
Success is staying, the caregivers care
If world departs, follow soon my dear, in coffin embrace
I in tux and tails, you in lace
At worlds end, the train has to stop
Final destination, heaven or...not
Sonnet 13
The human soul measures and endures loss
Dark dreams we may have
But this is no rehersal now
To stay hidden in local haunt, denying adventures call
Fear of change, times modulation, habits amnesia fall
People, places, worlds to see
The mind stagnant or set free
Years pass unseen, soon aged bed
Times thief revealed, as the mist reveals the web
Hours pass, on the great tree, nature unlocks
Green to yellow fall, autumns ever ticking clock
Times disguise, the boredom of days
Fools fools, awakens old age
Our time is now, all wrongs to meet
Ready captain, the waves to greet
Life is a dream, a passing temporal fad
Its time to redeem, what you should have
Time to let go of everything you know
Shatter bonds and chains, holding you back
Eternity to come, all eternity to wake
Awake captives, for mercy’s sake!
Sonnet 14
For all the glorious places, the orbs often see,
Home is mind present, it’s familiar winds calling me
The wet eyes of winter, drips, rain soon to come,
Distant shores waiting, dreams of summer sun
Simple pleasure of humble start,
Calls like a siren, seen from the mast
Connections deep, tangled roots,
Network’s memory, heavens fruits
Liaisons of love, rich in hope,
Fails hopelessly, like a sinking boat
Take care my hearts, don’t beat too hard,
Your sanctums scared, to this bard
Home a indescribable place,
Deep in memory, charted base
Different homes, different lives,
All those longstanding ties,
Familiar visions, soothes the mind,
Makes the clock, speed unhindered through time
Sonnet 15
Age is the portal, by which all must pass
The sea the beginning, with it’s sails and masts
Take us home, to the beginning place
Chance to meet her radiant sumerian face
Age is the avenue all must go
Like a tinker in a wood, careful…slow
All plans coming, all plans end,
Soon dark night, the waiting friend
Flickering time, in old faces once known
The image of self, stubbornly alone
Heaven glimmers, that Arabian jewel
All the hosts, watching this fool!?
Youths grown form, now new generation
Childless enmity, old fought hostility
Effort wasted, effort plain, protests only the insane
Mind going, darker days, all dreams shattered in this middle age
Time is the portal, wind tunnel gust,
Slowly crumbling, reduced to dust
Where is hope, that sunlight undimmed
That once starry orb, of herculean spirit
Not in skin, blemished by sunlight
Not in red eyes once fresh with blue
Or in physique now withered down
But in past, anachronistic time, never to return
That window of youth, all is wasted that is unearned
Sonnet 16
Memory fickled, strung out through time
Shadows lengthening, like mulled wine
So much past, so much to do
All the things you wish you knew
Destiny’s secret, the hidden past
Your present future, spied through an eyeglass
Children crying, youth in full flight
Old age descends, like owl in the night
Roundabout ways, the descendant of days,
Bring back old time, like a treasure in a attic
Freeze frame, that reaching hand, lock it in static
Shift this mirage, this ever floating scene
A torturous entity, that’s gone, that’s been
With a push of a button, the shake of a hand
Our dreams die, we the collateral, in this free land
She lives still, in distant mind, if I seek, I will find
She is not as she was
I am not as I am
I am the light, the spotlight of all fears
The only companion, throughout the long solitary years
Sonnet 17
When you have grown old, but not too old
When you have seen a cast of human souls
All play at lifes little game of give and take
Harken to Paradise
When you have read of a million dead, and a child or two…
While you have eaten at the finest fairs, while war ravages in forgein lands
And your appetite for it’s continual dun, annoys you so
Harken to Valhalla
When your mothers voice you can not stand
Knowing that she soon will die, as pedestrian as a thanks at dinner service
Or realise that manners matter, as much as a passing fling
Harken to the Bloody Cross
You have surveyed an exquisite women, better than your wife
As you have learnt not to judge a man, for wooing a ugly mistress of the night
You have learnt much, and know nothing is a scared right
You have lived long enough to forget your past,
Seeing it occasionally in the mist, upon a life raft,
A promised secret, of past time
As death unfolding, with each tick and chime
All of self, as a timeline
Stretched forth, tight as time
Life here, life there
No wrongs or rights
Though cursed existence, traded pair
One life for yours, to someone else, truely rare
Sonnet 18
The soft light of yonder years,
Breaks harshly like fallen tears,
Times temple, once so blessed,
By your manner, now married, at rest
Destiny’s plans, a loose papered amateurs art,
Karmas expression, an uncaring repose,
Her eyes mirrors, reflections of self
Determined time, the master of stealth
Gradual erosions, the stone masons game,
Life tether tenuous, a string pulled to far,
The wine, the rich life, the feathers, the tarr
How can I sleep, with the worries and fears,
How can I feel, when all experiences spent,
All of eternity, to play over life,
To watch them, happy…his wife
Scale the mountains, walk through the valleys green,
The trees your friends, the rivers and lochs,
The wind in the willows, the birds in flocks
I care not for your friendship, or your troubles and woes,
Only the scent of a woman, on a plush white bed,
The look in her eyes, at ‘I do’ so meaningfully said
Sonnet 19
A river doesn’t ask for much, it doesn’t strive to be,
It simply runs it’s course, the currents set free
Sometimes the light catches it’s eddy waves,
The reeds, the bullrush and the grass,
The ride of the pelican, on jet streams fast
Darker clouds obscure our view, such a radiant sight,
Natures gift squandered, natures harmony, all alight
Cruel the hand that strikes too soon, unexpected in its sting,
The mirror of the water, the eyes that see within
At start of day, I woke at dawn,
Filled my belly as was norm,
Then I headed out to that quiet spot,
And disappear, all forgot
For Harry
Sonnet 20
When the sun is expired, it’s scorch and sting removed,
When labour tired and the day is done,
I say goodnight to the helpful sun,
Oft overzealous in it’s shine, then it is no friend of mine
Bone weary, browned by heavenly light,
A source of energy, a source of sapped might,
Blisters carried, mark of cancerous unrestraint,
The sun, the summer, it is the time, the date
When tasks placed aside, rush back old thoughts,
Mortal coil, springed
Likeness soon to die, extinct,
All ancestral favour, gone out with a whimpering wink,
Childless, quick; rush my little friends
Navigate, the tunnels, the long windy bends
If I was more, hold them in my arms,
As is, I hold forehead in my palms,
Slippy time, the old locomotive,
I swear indolent in his way,
He cares not, so passes fruitless days
Sun is hot, begs me to complain,
I lie silent,
Not at all sure, if summer is best,
Still gives life to wildflowers, so nicely dressed
I wonder if fate of self, assured by time
Was best left in darkest relm, where mother and father now dwell,
Never mind, I will join them on the dark-side, in only a little spell
Sonnet 21
Love without love, the handmaids curse
Life without love, the unfulfilled hearse
Oh happy harlot, self confessed,
Ready to receive, mens best,
Always a victim, with troublesome eyes,
Stalkers paradise, a convicted felonious prize
Her psychotic stare,
Makes quick departure, easy to bear,
A glass unfilled, only poured for self,
Unable to recognise, whats good for her health
With her napoleon pride, a canine army of one,
To command without love, not to call it her son,
Emotionless subterfuge, as dry as a bone,
Not to marry, not even a moan
Am I to care,
Am I to feel,
If the vessel is empty and bleak?
She can be nothing, not even the air,
A women for a night, but for men, the heaven-sent prayer
Sonnet 22
Why waste your spirit on old dead rot,
The fruitless germination, barren and lusty hot,
When far away, you fell out of love, I never forgot
The garden is full, spring, the roses, the sucklings white,
The green grass to keep distance, from nightshades light,
The vines strangle, parasitic choke,
Your love extinguished, all the misery she wrote
Your cast adrift, on the beachside,
I’m in the air, seated business, enjoying the ride,
Miles between, miles apart,
Love fleet footed, light on the toe,
We both reap what the other sows
Your company has become stale, like a cheap restaurants bread,
Our conversations bore, I can’t make you laugh, we will not wed
If romance is life, let this friendship die,
The sadness I feel, at such wasted chance,
Is better than moving out of step, to this macabre dance
Sonnet 23
I watched you distantly for many years,
Hoping, praying for some blessed sign,
Some glimpse of hopeful fancy
That might reconcile this longing.
Perhaps I stood too close, too curious,
When only a gentle touch would do—
To reduce you, condense you down
To reciprocal love. And still, I watched,
Helpless, way above.
Now you float on light toes,
Gleeful smiles, hopeful eyes.
I am your slave, captured by your delight,
Cheering you on as an actor cursed
By some dreadful, mournful spirit.
You cannot know what the slave endures:
To feel music’s melodious wave,
Yet never compose a saintly song;
To hear and see all,
With understanding as crystalline as clear—
A torturous, tempest-raging villains, heroes,
And wise old men.
In the simplest of motions, heart revealed,
Imperceptible to most, but not unseen.
Long ago, my soul searched—now lost.
I slump on, same tired story,
Old now, crossing into forty.
Sonnet 24
This circus town, full of its acrobats,
Fat cats and heart attacks.
Flashy lights, glitz, and glamour,
The world screams—be someone, or be crushed by the hammer.
Young are born, the promise of a new day.
The old and washed out whisper, “You will pay.”
Actors and actresses, up for the next audition,
Prey for agents, leashed to their mission.
Cowboy Denny’s strumming out on the strip,
Big smiles, country manners, and tasty licks.
Tight-ass Lucy is roaming the lot,
In her tightest tights murmuring, “They got to give me a shot.”
Some kids from Idaho strum songs down by Venice Beach!
Too young to realize no one cares, they got nothing to preach.
And down by the bridge, Homeless Harry lies still,
A thief, a beggar, a gamble gone ill.
Once a hometown king, now a forgotten relic,
In a country that has forgotten its sons.
He was so charming, kissing all the blondes,
Dashing and dancing, across the line for a home run.
LA’s a wildfire, leaves you begging for rain,
All this plastic perfection is melting my brain.
I’m returning home to see if I can live,
In a country that doesn’t care what I did—
Or if it does, it don’t let it show,
Just a nod, just a shrug, “You reap what you sow”.
Sonnet 25
Handmaid tale, as tall as time
Feminine mystique, hourglass drip
Happy starlet, all smiles, weary wit
The feast of ages, promises said
Flute to play, the rings, the wedding bed
Dizzy desire, blond locks to fall
Open the chest, the treasure, the pirates law
Parley my love, my soft cheeked sow
Nestle in, wrap around, feel my warmth
I won’t be blamed again, that day is done
Now is memorial cello time, and you…my sun
