replicant1955

[replicant1955]

Sylvia

Sometimes, in the morning

I sit and watch the rain

Recall a love that seemed so perfect

And ended in such pain

With a head inside a gas oven

Breathing in the fumes

The children fed and quiet

Left in a neighbouring room

Winter is the worst time

When the hawk flies overhead

High in the sky with its beady eye

Searching for the dead

Doug

[replicant1955]

And Prufrock Replied

We stumble through this world like sheep

Softly bleating, half asleep

Poets lost within the rhyme

We live in shadows, measure time

And end up seeing things while others sleep

We know in darkness lies the truths

The thoughts that claw like vultures on the roof

(Within the spider webs of life

The fates in torment wield the knife

And lovers in the silence softly weep)

The scales that weigh know well this tune

Stand waiting in the empty room

Caught in the corner of your eye

As you spin out another lie

Another friend nods slow goodbye

Like Prufrock, we wait upon the beach

As mermaids sing to us out of reach

(The half-heard rhyme that promises the best

That vaporises all the rest

Is hinted in the colours of the ether sky)

In the room the women come and go

Eyeing up Michelangelo

And everything ends with cushions on a chair

An empty phrase to empty air

Promises you cannot keep

And lies that only wise men preach.

Doug

[replicant1955]

My England

It is raining and the world is green

And lush like a scene from a film

Shot in the Amazon. I half expect a

Monkey to be sitting in the oak tree,

Piranha in the fish pond, snakes in

The long grass. But there is only an

Errant cat passing who fixes me in his

Green eyed stare, like a panther

On the loose. This is my England.

A land recently bathed with endless

Sunshine and empty rivers, water

Shortages and sunburn. 

Tomorrow it might be snowing.

Doug

written in the last heatwave - seemed appropriate.

[replicant1955]

After Troy (Homer laments)

I sit in sun beneath the city wall

As the shadows lengthen slowly over all

Watch eager childish battles, loud and shrill

Flow quick with wooden weapons, noisy kills

I knew my Bacchus, such a slippery youth

Smiling, beguiling , never truth

And now my friends are mounds on Troad’s plain

Where fire fell on Troy like rain

(I had my plan and made a hash of it

Whilst all around were striking gold

Or perhaps a counterfeit of it

The wine was flowing, but in truth

I had the worst of it and it of me)

So wisely I became the poet, secure in my exclusivity

My words were weapons but the rhyme seduces

And the fairer side pay heed to him who knows the piper

Well enough to sing his tune.

So time takes all the shit and fear and makes it gold

Rhyming in my measured lines like tunes

And gives a meaning to a story told

Of senseless moments on a narrow plain

And distant Gods who played a crueller game

There is no meaning, only words

That come and go in half forgotten songs

So in the end, it’s all the same

My friend we try to make a sense of things

That wise men never try to name

And children play my words in bloodless games

Doug

[replicant1955]

Dark Red wine

If I awoke, one sandaled, soused upon the rocky strand, Could I, like Jason, become the king of all this land? If in a doorway, curled in cardboard boxes I laid me down to sleep, Would you give me keys to Joyous Gard, my very own to keep? I’ve supped through ages, ever since the dark red summer wine Splashed across the bull’s blood floor And drunken laughter filled the night, Tumbled out the open door. So like the ancients, through a multitude of lives I watched you grow with hooded eyes. The dark red grape that cuts like steel, That breaks us sinners on its wheel

Doug

[replicant1955]

Olympus

If from Olympus I was cast

Twisting and turning in the blue

Tormented by my wasted past

And all my memories of you

If in the Troad I was to drown

The eager bubbles dancing round

My broken form and empty eyes

Staring soulless to the skies

To kiss you would have been enough

To justify my empty days

And the memory of your quiet love

 Would light my path through Hades ’ways

Doug

[replicant1955]

The Evening Wind

The evening wind is blowing off the sea

The sun is gentle warmth and golden light

The billows race across the sand to me

And flee away in gentle rustling flight

I walk in summer’s balm, drown within its blessing

As seabirds twist and turn in dance above my head

And wind tuned grass bows in waves a whispered greeting

Its driftwood bones bleached white like ancient dead

I walk alone, I leave a single track across the sand

That waves and time will quickly wipe from memory

And like the sand I blow unkempt in life’s warm hand

Till the sea will rise and come for me

Doug

[replicant1955]

Tongues in Spring

coax out creative fusions of the day

as when fresh waters fuse within the sea

the bubbled spring that mused its hurried way

is solaced more than simple words to be

more than the reeds and pan-pipes of desire

more than the soulful gentle wind caress

more than the crucible and melting fire

that seams the song to smelt pure love, no less

for when you stand majestic as a tree

for when your heart is gemstone in a clasp

for when we blend our urges - we will be

urgent, fulfilled, complete,  all in one gasp

coax ! strive ! endeavour truths ! made ours that day

creative fusions and the final say !

Alex.

[replicant1955]

Memories

Perhaps all my memories

are nothing more than fantasies

to rearrange the past

In ways that sooth my muddled mind,

In truth I find that old certainties

become fluid possibilities

As I ponder all that has gone before

and try to make the story of my life

Was it really like I think it was?

Were those my words and feelings?

I remember the day was summer warm

We sat together on the bench, talking

The day seemed full of possibilities

In the making, in the lying past

In memories

or stories

Time makes us all liars in our minds

Doug

[replicant1955]

Summer Memories

Sunny days and memories

Moments past that stick like

gum on your shoe

Held tight inside to strike you

when you least expect it.

The reflected warmth of pavements

The taste of ice cream from the van

Laughter, the paddling pool

Water spraying from the hose

Self made tents in the garden

Biscuits and squash

Shadows that cut the world in two

Uncles, aunts grandma and grandad

Days that melt slowly into soft warm evenings

Days that never end but slip unnoticed into memories

Days that will never come again

Shadows in the streetlights

Doug

[replicant1955]

Moonlight

I saw a picture of a wood at night

With trees outlined in bright moonlight

The stars like baubles in a black silk sky

The shadows whispering to the night fox eye

I remembered walking with you, hand in hand

And it seemed like a story from a foreign land

You loved the night, I loved the day

We loved each other in our strange twisted way

The words that morph into twists and lies

Were just the colours of different skies

Love could make each difference taste the same

Could make a pleasure from falling rain

My love, like day I walk in night

Your memory clear, like the sweet moonlight

Doug

[replicant1955]

Italy (after Shelley)

Star crossed, in summer winds

we stumbled south, with friends

to plight our troth. In villas shadowed

from the sun, We held our love together

just, Like ancient vines upon a white washed

wall we clung to every rocky stone.

Each afraid to face the dark

alone. On Shelley’s beach I thought to die

so sure was I of resurrection

and another chance. But life remained.

I remember freckles beneath a wide brimmed hat

and the taste of cheap red wine, but not your face.

I held your love too tightly to my own.

Blew too often on the sparks

to fan the flame. Like a driftwood fire

on a summer beach, we had only the wind

and the sky to comfort us.

And the sea to cover all. 

Doug

[replicant1955]

Winter  Morning

This winter sun is low and hard

Casting trees and hedges in a mould of frost

The ponies stamp in the cobbled yard

Eyes bright and empty like souls long lost

Dying ash in a blackened grate

Gives a ghost of summer to the winter’s bite

And I cherish every breath you take

Your face like marble in the morning light

Leaving you is a pain that cuts so deep

Lying warm and huddled in a curtained bed

Your face and lips sweet soft in sleep

Your wayward hair a halo round your head

The basin’s water, icy cold

Scouring like a knife my sleep scarred eyes

Births me to a world that’s white cast old

That cries in crows to the pale blue sky

But wool packed ponies will not wait

And ice hard paths soon melt to mud

The streams that deep in summer bake

Will quickly spurt in winter flood

We’ve tight-baled wool to Flanders bound

To carry to fenland’s windy shores

And deep bottomed cogs from northern sounds

Are bending storm tossed ways to merchant doors

Cold fingered I buckle belt with purse and knife

Pull on long legged boots and fur edged cloak

Smile at a quietly sleeping wife

At the gentle pulse in a sun touched throat

From the empty hall with its skein of smoke

To restless ponies in the cobbled yard

To tangled reins and muttered oaths

And the gate house with its yawning guard

The dogs that wind their wandering way

Past men and ponies trudging slow

Like children in their hasty play

Midst ice that gleams in the sun’s cold glow

The ploughboy’s voice is rough and shrill

As the oxen tear the frost ridged loam

And as slow stepped ponies climb the hill

The sun gilds gold my dwindling home

 I turn my face to the winter sun

Feel the brush of winter’s bleak caress

But in memory I feel the touch

Of your soft and sleepy morning kiss

Doug

[replicant1955]

The Crow road

The crow flown road was straight and long

Traced like a knife twixt land and sky

And gapped toothed hedges strung along

To show that time was passing by

The grey above ran through my soul

Like unkempt fields, threatened rain

And knotted trees grown twisted old

In gardens sown with ancient names

The brambles clutching at my feet

Made every hedge a hidden place

Where silent birds in secret hid

And watched with care my clumsy pace

My hopes were nothing, like my fears

Just the Autumn day surrounding me

With silences and whispered tales

Then from the distance came the storm

That kissed the road with sudden hail

Doug

[replicant1955]

Three Seasons

SUMMER (SUN)

In the summer heat you hid your face

As golden fields slipped slowly by

Gliding like swans in the river’s embrace

Bird song crying in the summer sky

Your smile was secret, and your eyes

Gleamed like welcome torches in a winter night

Midst the shining jewels of dragonflies

That danced on the river’s silver light

Beneath the sheltering trees we crept

In secret shadows bending close

To where the quiet otter slept

Midst dreams of fish and winter coasts

That day I loved you more than life

As we trod the river’s winding path

I wanted then to call you wife

But lacked the grace to stand and ask

As water drifting to the sea

We swept from eddy into rain

Passed at last into autumn’s sanctuary

Far from the summer’s love and pain

AUTUMN (MISTS)

Across the mourning lake the mist lies low A ghost of Summer, chained by ripples Of ice edged water, as the wind soft blows From deep within the grey bowl sky. It is the time to say goodbye And this place is perfect for a parting tryst A touch of ice within the heart For when the endless silence starts So smile a little, hold my hand We've nothing left to say - it's all been said Let's wander through the autumn land Where summer's dreams all huddle, dead

WINTER (RAIN)

When winter rain on polished windows falls And deep banked clouds blow sudden squalls I turn my face towards the grey cold sky To feel the winter rain and wonder why I watch swift rivers run on twisted roads With Autumn's dying leaves their sullen load I watch the wind play games with passers by Cherish the touch of winter wind and rain blown skies

And if love is passing, touching soft

On lonely hearts that question why

You need to understand the tumbling clouds

And step within the grey streaked sky

Doug - I apologise. the spacing is off on this and I can't seem to correct it. Tumblr (1): Doug (0)

[replicant1955]

After Troy (Homer Laments)

I sit in sun beneath the city wall

As the shadows lengthen slowly over all

Watch eager childish battles, loud and shrill

Flow quick with wooden weapons, noisy kills

I knew my Bacchus, such a slippery youth

Smiling, beguiling , never truth

And now my friends are mounds on Troad’s plain

Where fire fell on Troy like rain

(I had my plan and made a hash of it

Whilst all around were striking gold

Or perhaps a counterfeit of it

The wine was flowing, but in truth

I had the worst of it and it of me)

So wisely I became the poet, secure in my exclusivity

My words were weapons but the rhyme seduces

And the fairer side pay heed to him who knows the piper

Well enough to sing his tune.

So time takes all the shit and fear and makes it gold

Rhyming in my measured lines like tunes

And gives a meaning to a story told

Of senseless moments on a narrow plain

And distant Gods who played a crueller game

There is no meaning, only words

That come and go in half forgotten songs

So in the end, it’s all the same

My friend we try to make a sense of things

That wise men never try to name

And children play my words in bloodless games

Doug

[replicant1955]

A Dream of Persepolis

I found you kneeling naked in the ash

As the city burned around you

You brown eyes like an owl startled by the light

Your tears like rivers running down your face

The cedar roofed palaces roared

 Like torches as we sacked the city

And the cries of pain and suffering

Twisted like demons in the ash warm wind

It was there that you became mine

Bought for silver from the army’s grasp

eyes empty like the dust on the wind

You walked behind me in the march to India

Carrying my things, your belly round and hard

You birthed a daughter in the dusty camp

And washed her clean by the river’s mud

waited anxious in the camp while we fought

Hearing the elephants trumpet

Watching the distant arrows swarm like angry bees

searching for stolen honey and when I returned

 With a green stone bracelet for your wrist

And a two finger gash in my leg

For the first time, you hugged me

smiling with our daughter on your hip

We buried our laughing daughter in the land of sand

I dug her grave deep to hide her from the wolves, crying all the time.

I covered her eyes with coins for the boatman

You placed your bracelet round her wrist.

 We piled the stones high

A cairn to measure our loss and

I held you tight while you mourned

and cursed me in your own tongue

I thought then at you would leave me

The barbarian who had stolen you

from your life and family

But you stayed, crouching by the fire

Silent in your loss and pain

When the army settled like the locust

In Babylon you vanished

Left me without a word

And I grieved at your going

Making sacrifice to your memory

 Alexander died there amongst the towers and lies

Loved only by the men who had followed him through the years

of wars and blood, lost from our own in his dreams

And I thought then of Persepolis burning in the night

Remembered your dark brown eyes

The distant hills of Macedon, green with trees and rich with my youth

Our laughing daughter buried in the sand

And I cried my soul into the Euphrates’ green water.

Perhaps you found me there, sitting lonely on the river’s bank

Perhaps a spirit took me to another space

My footsteps had covered half the world

But nowhere had I found a place

Doug - I apologise for its length but it's one of my favourites