Author: martin (Page 12 of 31)
My Darling
At the centre of your being
you are light
Inextinguishable, radiant, wondrous
Thoughts that dance across the stage are just that – dancers going across the stage – some will be beautiful – some will linger – some will be helpful – others not
On which dancer will you shine your light?
Which dancer will you invite to leave?
Your choice, your light
You are the light
Inextinguishable, radiant, wondrous
You are light
My darling
MChallis @ 2016
BY WALLACE STEVENS
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
for JR
at the grove’s edge
you meet them all, each one
dripping with hurt, steel eyed
dusted and luminous
moss trodden and lichen lipped
you go on, forgiving and seeking forgiveness.
looking back, you see that
none follow and
alone you go,
liminal to the margin
at the dipping point
each river-pool clears of its whispering ghosts
your trinkets, tokens, icons of memory
are placed in offering as expiation
each gesture a steady movement
each step up the mountain, lighter still
you are deep prayer moving steadily
toward foresight, toward reclamation, toward flight
ascendant
you are golden haired
loved by the gods
you are sweet-breathed
as friend, father, brother, as joy-bringer
you are seminal and unbound
the wing of forgiveness
lifting toward light
MChallis © 2015
For the need to watch the breeze in trees
And eye the vineyard climbing hills
As green farrows line such steep escarpments
We sit this while in shaded birch – the grove; this peaceful heart.
MChallis@2015
for Dennis Lee
By the river
at night
burned stubble
of sugar cane
feathers the air with a lick of caramel
a quiet earth underscores
crocus and chorusing cricket
as curlew weep their distant sonorous calls
fingering the stillness
we pluck a string of starlight
to pull a gentle breeze closer
we tug on orbiting moons
in the darkness of deep
we become motionless
intent to watch worlds
and enter the symphony
MChallis @ 2015
cursive arm
arcane
encompassing form
verdant hip
in moist tropical air
shoulder to storm or zephyr
cloud mist arising the
culdera and precipice
vulcan formed soft-soil
in fecund sleep
the circumference
paternal line
maternal steep
ancient cradle
bundjalung, first people
watchers listen deeply
this river their song
MChallis © 2015
for Daniel
the country singer has gone to the city
packed all his chords and a harp
how the voice of love sings
in New York
his part in the harmony
stepping between tramways
along avenues
he finds a new stanza
picked like a flower, put
to the lips of new promise
and meeting her with
soft-eyed recitals
in cafes and bars
the tenderness
singing
awakening each heart
MChallis © 2015
Boy Man World.
The boy in the world will wonder
The man in the world will strive
The world in the boy to open
The world in the man to thrive
A book of poems by Martin Challis published in 2015 – available at amazon.com and amazon.com.au
From ambivalence to ferocity, she
Touching everything at times
Gently her soft hair over
Follicles and skin through
Reeds in marshes and then
Grassy planes
Across thresholds
To the leaves of autumn
From antipodes to tropics
From arctics to alps
Even the immovable
Will feel her
And they also
Will tremble
MChallis @ 2015
When we work with love
We’re doing, the
Real Work.
MChallis @ 2015
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