The After-Bloom

When love flowers late
it's bloom is often brief
and suffused with relief
from being made to wait.

Take your time
and watch the flower closely.

Your memory of what you see,
gathered in recollection, 
will be it's after bloom
until love comes again.

Some Thoughtful Self Censorship

'If there is no God not everything is permitted to man.
He is still his brothers keeper and he is not permitted
to sadden his brother by telling him there is no God'.-Czeslaw Milosz

It Takes Grit To Get Through Life

If you see the planet as your oyster
you may well see yourself it's pearl.
As you, do appreciate you are made
of the dust of the earth, made round
and bright, for being polished under water.
Reflect long and gently, with humility,
on the duller forms of sand,
who for lack of shine muddily reflect
each other. They are as dependent
as you on that shell, for their shelter.
 
.

Casting-A Poem

The waters deep, the waters dark,
Reflect the seekers, hide the sought,
Whether in water or in air to drown.
Between them curls the silver spark,
Barbed, baited, waiting, of a thought--
Which in the world is upside down,
the fish hook or the question mark?
-Howard Nemerov 1920-91

War Through The Ages

War at first is like a young girl
with whom everyone wants to flirt
but by the last it is like an old woman.
All who meet her feel grieved and hurt.
-Samuel Ha-Nagid

Ripples

The flap of the swans' wings
echoes off the surface
of the water, leaving
ripples in my ear.

Nature's Fly Tipping

Flowers will lodge their seed
in the tightest of places
to add their sense of colour 
to the most barren of landscapes;
nature's fly tipping.