Short Poems

Life
You have been good to me….
You have not made yourself too dear
to juggle with.

i) i trawled through an inner-city newsletter and assembled various phrases and fragments, 'renovating' them fairly often -
ii) added my own images and phrases as they made their presences felt -
iii) used a line from arnold's 'the scholar gypsy' -
iii.a) & a slessorian gesture -
iv) referenced a billboard ad from the kings cross underground railway station -
v) took particles from articles and ads in a business magazine or two -
vi) and that scam email [at last put to work - tho haven't had one of those for ages] -

Plum blossoms hold the melting snow and bear it;
Willows lean with the eastern wind and wait their leaves.
Lithe girl, wine cups, room in a tower;
The red sleeved wanderer
Sings in a soft voice Coming of Spring.

Let's compete with our tears,
let them pour into a lotus pond;
then we'll wait this year and see
whose flowers drown in salt water.

Weep not for little Leonie,
Abducted by a French Marquis!
Though loss of honour was a wrench,
Just think how it's improved her French.

Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
A medley of extemporanea;
And love is a thing that can never go wrong;
And I am Marie of Roumania.

Old as I am
This candle I light
For you today
May be the last one
Of your afterlife
With me, your son—
With me you die twice.

Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
It doesn't matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even if you have broken your vow

a thousand times
Come, yet again, come, come.

Come let us be friends, ye lovely beauty,
listen to my laments, oh Henzi,
come to see the mela and,
we shall roam through Telbal.

Cid lod kalde tvende Jøder
Og med mange Ceremonier
Gav dem Plads hos sig ved Taflet.
Tusind Stykker Guld han ønsked',
Og til Sikkerhed for disse
Gav han dem to store Kister,
Der var fyldt med alt hans Sølvtøi."