Poems 3

You may freely copy these poems and use them in electronic or printed publications, but only with the express condition that the line showing my copyright is always included.

LIGHT

• From dust they say we come
• And to dust we shall return.

• But for an instant,
• This speck of dust
• Burns brighter
• Than any supernova.

• For an instant we are God
• And then we are gone.

FOREFATHERS

• They’re all around us,
• If we could but see:
• The ones who came before us
• And those that are yet to be

• They hover about us,
• To guide us, help us:
• These souls who know eternity
• And what will always be.

GODDESS

• Once, aeons ago, my Mistress and I were one, complete, entire.
• But the universe divided, dark from light, moon from sun.
• So we passed countless lives on numberless worlds, apart.

• But in this place, this special time, she finds me again.
• And punishes my separation, crushing my life in her fingers,
• Letting it fall and splinter on stones like a smashed vase

• And she stamps on the shards with her heels, breaking them
• Without mercy, pitiless, she crushes and destroys me
• And yet I love her still.

SKYWARD

• Clouds rolling on heaven’s blue,
• A world in turmoil looks for you.
• But all they see is that sweet sky
• Revealing all there is for you and I.

GOD

• The sun, once bright and warm, flickers, goes out,
• To leave a chill wind of death and darkness.
• But in black matter between dying stars
• There lives a greater warmth and another light.
• In a cold and alien universe
• Strange but comforting arms do hold me tight.

FESTIVITY

• The dance, the music, on and on,
• Shadowy figures, a flickering fire,
• Endless ritual, invented, repeated,
• Movements, sounds of distant worlds.

CARING FOR THE CARELESS

• At what point do I give up
• Loving the abused, the hurt, the damaged,
• The lost, the dispossessed
• Whose destiny the park bench, loneliness?

• At what point do I give up
• Sacrificing my happiness for you,
• Burning my love on the altar of your life,
• Suffering your abuse in my heart?

• At what point do I give up
• My hope of having, loving you.
• Of making one life with you,
• And giving happiness to you?

MEDITATION

• Stare into space and what do I see?
• Spaces between planets, atoms, eternity
• Stare into space and what do I see?
• Space, the clear light of eternity

TEMPTRESS

• Luring me to places forbidden
• Dark eyed she tempts me
• Revealing the night in me hidden
• And a world that is free.

ROAD

• We all have our own path,
• Shared perhaps for a while
• But then parted.
• Alone again we tread.

• Awash with tears
• We trudge the years.
• But amidst our pain
• Some joy we gain.

MISMATCH

• I can’t like you, only love you,
• You can’t love me, only like me.
• So our hearts can never meet
• Nor be entirely separate.

THE MACHINE STOPS

• In raw need for life
• From swamp we staggered.
• In an alien world
• Climbing over rocks jagged.

• And so we lived.

• Clinging tightly together
• In this strange new place,
• Our families created
• The one human race

• And so we grew.

• But now cocooned
• By machines of our making,
• To nature now aliens
• Our lives for the taking.

• And so we failed.

• Evolved beyond limit,
• Our enemies were right.
• Without the machines
• We gave up the fight.

• And so we died.

©Ray White 2006