those who have measured the true depths of hate ( Read more... )

 some mention made then must the silence fall
upon the envies that have held us late

within the barrier lacking all freight

of decency or commerce but the tall

protectors of our honour lightly call

on such devotion as the wise relate

in their long histories and we do not state

a better truth the pain belongs to all

so what is earned after ( Read more... )

we navigate by methods good and fair

our science has been tested and found true

for many seasons the hard-working crew

have full and thorough trust in our good care

so do not worry at the changing air

in certainty that we have paid our due

before the mast the storms we have been through

are the best measure of how much we dare

yet each ( Read more... )

go through the shallows then out past the wreck

until you reach the point where water burns

you’ll know it clearly by the sharp returns

then note the ship the one with golden deck

and figurehead of angel with wry neck

you’d sign up on her as one does who yearns

for urgent journeys yet as each child learns

there are no funds left to support ( Read more... )

 we lack the honest mastery of time
though calendars and tables give the shape

of power to our lives and let us ape

the feeling of authority sublime

against the forces pushing from the slime

that are true horror still there's no escape

all in the end will stand with mouth agape

and weep and then fall back from the long climb

children look ( Read more... )

 when falls the echo on forgotten ground
none of our heroes can come up for air

since there is not one inch's room to spare

for exploration and we must confound

the masters of each noble hill and mound

who watch as we succumb to deep despair

and laugh while those who voice kind words of care

fall silent as our last good hopes are drowned

( Read more... )

 whatever happens there is no regret
for tempests that  have shredded new-leaved trees

awakening the youthful from their ease

into a present that is all upset

where each is cast at once deep into debt

not knowing whom to help nor whom to please

frozen in place by the harsh sky's decrees

and driven only to hard fear and fret

still there are ( Read more... )

 when we are lost in rapture at the sight
of the spring flowers at last fully blown

we are then healed down to the very bone

of the last vestiges of winter's blight

so too when we have passed beyond the night

into another domain of the known

where once again we cease to be alone

we can be certain that the world is right

the simple magics ( Read more... )

 where all the edges reach into the heart
are no clear corners nor a single sign

that time is changing the dividing line

is never crossed yet all are kept apart

by the hard means of some still arcane art

which the most foolish will insist divine

or claim as kindly warm tender benign

although they bleed from entry of the dart

we're far into ( Read more... )

in all our doings there’s a rule we make

about the bounds beyond which we won’t go

those limits of the matters we may know

or of the facts in which we may partake

like the good flints that sharpen when they flake

or that swift stream with hidden deeper flow

beneath the mountain with the secret glow

all of the places that we can’t forsake

( Read more... )