BEAUTY
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Naked Act
Silence in the act of art
Real life in pretended part
Folding off the delicate shoulder
Down to where the question wonders
Milky light, curved, full and open
A London afternoon production
Sunshine staged mountain lines
Ranging till the end of time
Crystal gleam off a lake supposed
Body and an aching mind exposed
Eyes on eyes in the House unblinking
Beauty beheld, defrocked, unthinking
Shock at the sheer, unshrouded shock
Secrets of an ebbing love unlocked
Eon-long seconds tempting with awe
Forgivers will not forget what they saw
Suddenly the gaping moment gone
Eden’s consequences put back on
Face and hands defining character, place
Seconds after such a state of grace
Play playing on, ending where it ended
Words mere words matinee dreams suspended
Out into the cold, into the night
Out of the darkness but into the light
An Absolute
Shimmer
Shadow trees and fine-print dresses
Sandal feet and bare soft arms
Lofty cotton stranding cirrus
Heat and sticky, languid calm
Tables out in sunshine serving
Cold drinks feeding mouths through straws
Sunglass-search for shady corners
Holiday-ready for distant shores
Salad tasting on lawn cut grasses
Lying back in lunchtime rest
Friends and lovers talking closely
Hazy, lazy, easy fest
Sweet wine flowing into laughter
Nodding lap dogs, drooping eyes
Waiters smiling in their waiting
Flamenco rolls, piano sighs
Quiet reading coffee-house poets
Out on benches cappuccino
Drinking in love’s creamy verses
Endless rhythms so al fresco
Holding hands, cheek-hello kissing
Entwining fingers, touching tips
Shoulder to shoulder, happy knowing
Cocktail romantics, lips on lips
Song-bird singing from colour-clad windows
Balcony waving on piazza squares
Still standing time, watches in pockets
Today forgetting world-weary cares
Mirage hot, balmy oasis
Parasol popping in solar-ray simmer
Petal-scent air, sky light refraction
Cold winter memory, summer’s shimmer
Two Wedding Verses
Today and Tomorrow
Today is smiling and tomorrow is an echo
Today we laugh and tomorrow can wait
But tomorrow is full of todays
And they should be days of love and living
Today is theirs and tomorrow is timeless
Today is the moment and tomorrow far away
But tomorrow is theirs for the taking
And they can take it in love and living
Today makes history, seals sacred promises and toasts dreams of the future
Today, two comets, two people, come together
And in their greater universe an infinity of tomorrows lie within their grasp
Today is now, tomorrow is when
Today is here, tomorrow is there
And all their tomorrows should be lived in the love they feel today
For my son Tom and Beth's marriage - 2012
On This Loving Day in June
On this loving day of June, I have chosen you and you have chosen me
This is our happy choice, our one clear voice, for all the years that we shall see
Through the sun of every July
And when the heat of August sighs
In September rains we shall love each drop
Across all our Octobers, we shall never stop
Whatever the chill of November says
We will love each other on December Christmas Days
New Year Januarys and we will always see
The fresh snow falls together in February
The March of time will make us sing
For our Aprils and our happy months of Spring
Come what all our years will bring, come the unknown, come what May
I have chosen you and you have chosen me on this our wedding day
For my son Elliot and Sarah's marriage - 2016
Enchanted
The gramophone spun in the dusty lit room
Looking out to the Grove in the quiet afternoon
A photo, a cover, they were on a beach
Somewhere across the world far out of reach
A time from my Mum and Dad’s open and shrouded past
Moments, before my life, shared before their chips were cast
Then the music came, in an instant confronted
The world stood still, in that second enchanted
Some evening, some wonder, some woman, some man
Sweeping into my heart so I could understand
Alone in the house, across a crowded room
Somehow, I knew, the sound of love in tune
How I was enchanted so
Wondering who it might be I would never let go
Human
When I give up the ebb and flow
When I stop all the clocks and say no
When my momentum goes
I will choose human
The water lapped before any kings
The water sang before songs to sing
The water was forged before any such things
I choose human
No gods and goddesses up in the sky
No holy book to tell me how and why
No superstition to make me cry
I choose human
For a clearer way, for a brighter day
For colours when the clouds are grey
For all the things I want to say
I choose human
Mirror Mirror
Mirror, Mirror! I am beautiful and intelligent.
How true this is
Ugly and stupid? Really? Me?
Calling everyone! Hate absolutely sucks
Life now looks good, no, because, just listen
Grace and elegance my esteemed friends and family
Once impossible, utterly unimaginable, lie screaming
A touching distance
Beyond the face.
Face the beyond
Distance
Touching a screaming lie
Unimaginable, utterly impossible
Once, family and friends esteemed my elegance and grace
Listen, just because
No good looks now
Life sucks
Absolutely hate everyone calling me really stupid and ugly
Is this true?
How intelligent and beautiful am I Mirror, Mirror?
The Dawning of Self
The way it was, lined up along the wall
Hopefuls, young and eager, in the dim, yellowing hall
That day in the morning, in the soft days of calm
The winning and the winning, seven on the spin
Moving and taking, predicting, anticipating
That day waging war, squares on the board
The end of the opening, the start of another
The prospect, the idea, something entirely new
Those days of the future in the dawning of self
The run to the finish, losing a step on the way
Home and dry when the counting was done
That day of congratulations, for the felling of Kings
The lighter, happier hall, silver cup, clapping hands
Never expected, never could understand
The day that was sweet in the dawning of self
Winning a junior chess tournament
Beauty at Wannsee
I met a man from Wannsee
Painting in the cool of the tree
I asked him who he was and he laughed
‘I am an artist you see!’
I met a man at Wannsee
Deciding the future of the free
I asked him what he was doing and he laughed
'I’m playing God! You see!’
I met a man at Wannsee
Laughing and full of glee
I asked him why he was rubbing his hands and he laughed
'This is our destiny!'
I met a man from Wannsee
Lying under the canopy
I asked him what could save the world and he laughed
'Beauty, beauty, beauty ... see…'
Max Lieberman painting at the Royal Aacademy – he lived at Wannsee
Where Are All The Dancers?
Where are all the dancers?
Who danced in the shoes in the shop?
The ballet shoes in the window
That danced and just couldn’t stop
Where are all the dancers?
Who danced on the tips of their toes?
The dancers who danced until morning
In tutus and ribbons and bows
Where are all the dancers?
Whose shoes I saw today?
The dancers who dance now without them
For they’re in the shop on display
Ballet shoes in a shop window
Sunsets
Sunsets can be beautiful and they can be sad
They can be the best part of the best days you've ever had
Sunsets can shimmer and they can glow
They can be the best of the best ever show
Sunsets can be the best start of wonderful nights
They can make the best of the best ever sights
Sunsets can bring in the cold and dark
They can make the deepest of the deepest mark