across the silences these words are true
that answer sorrow with with a worthy smile ( Read more... )

  
to speak of valour is no great mistake

when each of us confronts the howling gale

those who are ready when the sandbags fail

know what is meant when city turns to lake

each of them is that moment wide awake

while in their corners all the cowards quail

left with no benefit save their own stale

as even stoutest bodies bend and shake
( Read more... )

no evidence the world is bent in shape

a bluish globe with wooly white of cloud

the mountains form a contrast sharp and proud

against the sea we note the golden cape

while in the sky dark birds seem to escape

the planetary force while winds are loud

above the foam and yet we are uncowed

though eyes are open and all mouths agape

there is a ( Read more... )

 where no man argues and no woman fights
for good or evil we have reached an end

of human battles and the stars portend

no better indications as the nights

close in we note their distant blinking lights

as symbols we might faintly comprehend

when we are whole but what the worlds intend

is not a matter that we have to rights

the argument of ( Read more... )

 where in the sunlight all the dirt's dispelled
we take our leave then some will go to sleep

their blankets piled upon them in a heap

while in the forest all the spirits gelled

anticipating that when we excelled

at sport and art the answer would be deep

but nothing holds there's no place here to keep

our kindnesses the earth itself rebelled
( Read more... )

 here on the boundary of truth and lie
where ordinary magics have their rule

underneath heaven permanently cool

no one escapes nor is allowed to cry

against the judgment of the steely sky

since every human is at last a fool

while failure is the final mark at school

the arrow that will find each weeping eye

all that we know amounts to waste ( Read more... )

 we fall so far that the first sign of light
awakens us to shaking and to pain

not ready but we face it all again

there was no comfort in the arms of night

we got it wrong so gelid is our plight

yet these are things that no one need explain

each is quite normal not a one's arcane

for suffering's a universal rite

what each must do is take up ( Read more... )

name after name recorded on the wall

a sombre history of the long crime

against us all now fading into time

made by those giants who to us seem small

through urgent years when little could appal

our fervent thoughts when worlds were at their prime

(so we believed) yet we feared the dark slime

that seemed to lurk awaiting our long fall

now ( Read more... )

 where no salvation comes from a dead lord
we're cast adrift and there's no guiding star

no symbol serves to act as luminar

and we have taken a strange one aboard

as sign and seal in these realms unexplored

of all our dangers yet we're not so far

beyond the norms of everyday devoir

but have paid more than mortals can afford

we asked for ( Read more... )

no count of years may still the hand of fate

but yet the kindly sunrise eases pain

as those who fought arise to fight again

with little rancour and without debate

for once removed the horrors cease to grate

on any soul and there’s no longer strain

when each of us can see the future plain

and know that we’re the owners of the state

this is the promise made ( Read more... )