Let hell be frozen over
Till the moon mutate to blue
And pigs take wings and hover
Over Jumbos pink in hue.
Let stars fall from the ether
Leopards erasure try,
Yet shall our hearts together
Bind – no rhyme nor reason why.

The billowing flotilla
Sails the mediterranean blue.
Flying-fish larks
Flutter in its wake –
Flickering specks of praise
That ornament arpeggios
In the pacific height.
Far away, the green, green isle of trees
And the haze-lapped strand
Of the distant hills.

From two worlds
We happen on the same crux.
By chance we choose the same road
Independently.

Casually abreast
We see and hear
Many things that others miss
Incandescent with life.
We have become used
To the sound of each other’s feet.
I have learned
The language of your silence
The line of your hair
And the whisper
Of your uneven pulse –
The sound of my life’s life.
I know you
When you are but a dot in the distance
A movement in a crowd
A phrase in a hubbub.

But you – your gaze
Is more often forwards
Your eyes sleep beyond my horizon
In a land where I may not come.
Soon we shall reach
The next crossroads
And you will choose again
Independently.

For the Incas
Gold became commonplace.
Then they saw silver
And silver is exquisite.
Naturally,
They traded gold
For silver.

Give me no hope to lose
Nor joys to turn to grief
No liberty to choose
A course bound for the reef.
I want no high ideal
No earnest fantasy
No vision, call, or zeal.
No plan, no destiny.

I live on the edge of his estate
Eviction is always possible
My tenure is very insecure
I try to remain useful.

He is not black – but David,
Though, by the way,
David is black.

Some,
Who keep life at arm’s length,
Say it is his only obvious feature.
I wonder,
Do they look at books and see only paper;
Or cars and see only pressed steel?

I step inside his guard,
Unguardedly,
And find myself touching another world;
One not unlike my own
Yet wholly other.
I bring my wife and children with me –
They bring their worlds too.
The youngsters soon explore
New continents of kindness
And frolic on the shores of oceans
Brimming with fun.

He ties the small boy’s shoelace
For the third time
Patiently.
Only to be pounced upon and wrestled
By a flurry of gleeful, unspoken gratitude.

So, together,
Walking in the cool of the day,
We spin a new universe into being.

Suddenly it dawns on me
That I am out of place.
I turn and walking jauntily
Maintain my casual face.

Inside, the tide of sorrow swells
Silent the sobs that rise.
You hear my bright, relaxed farewells
But not my wrung goodbyes.

How did this little gleam prevail

Against the leaden clouds of chance?

How could this otherness, this grail,

Chalice such joy, quicken my feet to dance?

What’s to do but up and go

Never mind the ice and snow

In the aching hollow

Down below.