It may be misery not to sing at all,
And to go silent through the brimming day;
It may be misery never to be loved,
But deeper griefs than these beset the way.
...

'The trouble with snowmen,'
Said my father one year
'They are no sooner made
than they just disappear.
...

The dark wings of night enfolded the city upon which Nature had spread a pure white garment of snow; and men deserted the streets for their houses in search of warmth, while the north wind probed in contemplation of laying waste the gardens...
...

Oh, I can smile for you, and tilt my head,
And drink your rushing words with eager lips,
And paint my mouth for you a fragrant red,
And trace your brows with tutored finger-tips.
...

When icicles hang by the wall
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail,
...

At the distant verge of the horizon
slowly submerging is the weary Sun
with reddened face
bidding grudging adieus
...

I had walked since dawn and lay down to rest on a bare hillside
Above the ocean. I saw through half-shut eyelids a vulture wheeling
high up in heaven,
And presently it passed again, but lower and nearer, its orbit
...

She sits in the park. Her clothes are out of date.
Two children whine and bicker, tug her skirt.
A third draws aimless patterns in the dirt
Someone she loved once passed by – too late
...

Whenever I walk to Suffern along the Erie track
I go by a poor old farmhouse with its shingles broken and black.
I suppose I've passed it a hundred times, but I always stop for a minute
And look at the house, the tragic house, the house with nobody in it.
...

God's creation
Blessed to be born in this world
We all may feel that's the truth
Until I read this-
...

Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have set us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!
...

Like a creature hibernating in its burrow
Waiting to come out with the first verdure of spring
The seed of a poem lay dormant in my heart
Through the long winter awaiting another spring
...

You don't have to go to the dale
To find her playing with a butterfly;
She would hide from you
As she is young and shy;
...

Here on the Hard, you're welcome to pull up and stay;
there's a flat fee of a quid for parking all day.

And wandering over the dunes, who wouldn't die
...

the history of melancholia
includes all of us.

me, I writhe in dirty sheets
while staring at blue walls
...

The wind billowing out the seat of my britches,
My feet crackling splinters of glass and dried putty,
The half-grown chrysanthemums staring up like accusers,
Up through the streaked glass, flashing with sunlight,
...

Depression isn't obvious but suicide is.
My pain nobody sees.
My my mangled body they shall see.
My head was all but a mess.
...

Dim dawn behind the tamerisks -- the sky is saffron-yellow --
As the women in the village grind the corn,
And the parrots seek the riverside, each calling to his fellow
That the Day, the staring Easter Day is born.
...

All alone, a snowman stands, staring out at the world.
What a life!
Short, cold, freezing really,
rigidly waiting for the 'melting' feeling to arrive.
...

............sitting here in the stillness
.............................staring
...............staring out the window
...at darkness my friend and my foe.
...

staring
into a cup
of coffee
...

Standing on Dallas Road
Staring out at the sandy beach
Longing to be on the beach amongst all the rocks and driftwood
Longing to be free as a seagull
...

There is a God
honestly God is
eternity staring me in the face of a CTC time loop
reality changing mountain moving.
...

Staring Brought You Here

Is it strange for me to stare off into nowhere
...

Staring into the deep,
I wonder what I will see,
Tiny little moving shapes,
Or my little demons waiting for me.
...

i want to hold the horse's string
cried the girl (three) stamping her foot
told by adults she was much too young
the black horse stood staring at the wall

it worries us you may get hurt
the adults whispered - meaning to offer
comfort to the little madam (not convinced)
the black horse stood staring at the wall

i'm stronger than any old black horse
the child shouted parading round the ring
thinking she was the star turn at the circus
the black horse stood staring at the wall

well i suppose.....take care ....ok
the adults muttered full of apprehension
the girl (three) poised - flexing her muscles
the black horse stood staring at the wall

now take the lead and grip it tight
they sighed fluttering hands like pigeons
she scoffed at the soft instructions
the black horse stood staring at the wall

it's easy-peasy lemon-cheesy
she triumphed (but doing as they asked)
the adults tried to swallow their fear
the black horse stood staring at the wall

so off to the man in the moon
the girl (three) laughed jerking the lead
swelling to the size of a goddess
the black horse reared like pegasus's colt

don't wait for me - i could be ages
the girl (three) sang to the shrinking adults
as the black horse leapt above the wall
the flowering cherries and the church spire

when i'm a grown-up - then i'll come
was the last the adults heard as the horse
and the girl (three) changed into pinpoints
and the world collapsed to its dull old self
...

There's someone watching as I lay in my bed
There's someone watching, it's not in my head
My body lies flat and I can not move
I see a figure in the corner of my room
...