LVX CREARE

Some people never know when it will come
live in beautiful, ignorant bliss and content
while turbid pools of deep displeasure stir
no ripples show on the sheets or pillows

Me however, I felt it coming…

Silent dread, sleepless nights, restlessness
letter writing on the hotel bureau at midnight
pouring out a sacred heart in scared anxiety
on to the pages of pure white, my black ink

Yes, I felt it coming that night…

Some people never know it’s even coming
others know the very date, down to the hour
I’ve heard of virginal brides, left at their altar
You left me at the airport terminal instead

Oh yes, I felt it coming…

Do you remember that time in our youth
when we climbed a grassy hill
which towered above us as children
but offered little resistance as boys

Our great crusade

Then when we sat upon the summit
gazing down upon the town
the outlines of houses and gardens below
so small and unassuming from there

The land of our fathers

I’ll always recall what you said to me then
fixed intently on each other
eyes meeting, the tacit agreement signed
the simple diplomacy of children

A covenant made

Later I thought of the great implications
true friendship, grand designs
rooted deep and true
naive to think that our world thought the same

Milk and honey

Now I think about that time, tones of memory
how would life have swept us up
if Decima had not intervened so early
I’d assumed our journey would lead us further

Pilgrims’ progress

Lives to some are facts and figures, numbers
only to those who do not suffer their loss
maybe we’d have climbed a different summit
seen it together, what we spoke of…

Jerusalem

The promised land

Where is your Mother, Little One?
Why has she left you here?
Tethered to this shady, silver tree
Does your Mother care?

She is with the smallest Children
Waiting in the safer heights
When the ground began to shake
Hurried there amidst the fright

Where is your Father, Little One?
Why has he left you here?
Bowl spilled, leash tangled
Water disappeared

He is watching over townsfolk
Serene and compassionate
When the thunder broke the silence
Thought of others first

Will they be back, Little One?
When the trembling stops?
Once the children home to dinner
After fervent panic drops?

They will always come back to me
Just as I come back to them
I am loyal, patient, waiting
They have never not returned

Where is your Mother, Little One?
Does she know you’re here?
Lying still upon the pavement
Does your Mother care?

She will call, then come to find me
Wrap me gently in her arms
Swaddle me in threadbare blanket
Place me there away from harm

And your Father, Little One?
When he comes to see?

He will sigh and fetch his tools
And lay me there so tenderly
Beneath the sturdy, steady branches
Of that shady, silver tree