Lines & Images From The Lighthouse

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Twilight


Oil on Canvass 45cm by 60cm

The Gendered Day


The Gendered Day

And thus it was born.

The birth of recognition

That man was of woman

As child is to need.


The cruel inventions

That set us apart

Man is to death

As Woman is to life


And what of balance

Venus and Mars?

One gets a day

The other a year.


A day earned

Instead of taken

Is a day worthy

Of a year and a day.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

The Lily Wilts

The Lily Wilts

And there he cradles, with rifle aimed

The ideal nurtured from history pained.

And spoken to by public men

The righteous goal to fight again.


And now to choose from life apart

To live as is or die to chart

A means for man to share his bread

For simple end, that all are fed.


In his trench, his communal grave

Ideal words, those deaths, forgave.

All is well, those others say

But in that trench your dream must stay.


The world you gave, but could not cross

Has now decayed for that loss.

The lily wilts, your bloom does fade

Whilst public men in silver trade.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Autumn

Autumn


Strange the clarity

In the autumnal sigh.

A sense of pause,

To contemplate the end

Of expectant times.


The dawn is darker.

As the pillow complains

Of unfinished dreams,

Broken,

By an intrusive day.


A whispering grey

Permeates the stillness.

A dew drenched haze,

Proclaims the ritual

Of the weeping trees.


But all is cycle.

And in its place.

The relentless truth

Of life and change

And change and life.


And still there is laughter.

Challenge and ambition.

An indifferent defiance.

The varied voices of the young

Play amidst the fallen hues.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Emma's Portrait

In Time's Meadow


In Time's Meadow

There is a beatitude
In the timeless vale.
Where rhymes chime
And colours converse.

I walk there seldom.
Alone and not.
With canvass and quill.
The collective solitude.

And dialogue.
With perfect abandon.
Where even a glance
Utters its meaning.

There is a lot to be said
For not having to say.
A lot to rue,
Once it is said.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Between Time


Between Time

The world is awash
With breathless colours
Speaking chaos
To the hurried self.

This is life.
Ordained by others.
Orwell's regiments
Marching, grey and cold.

And then it appears,
By repentant chance.
An idle view
Of something free.

Like a child,
Brimming with simplicity.
A moment in harmony
With the precious, privy self.


Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Adagio


Adagio

Tranquillity
Dishonoured by a pace
Which utters treason
Against a rationale
Which knows itself well.

Socrates adjured us:
'Know thyself'
And for what?
If Plato cannot convince
Others need know it too.

I slumber long
In the great adagios.
The world is deaf.
I hear it clearly.
I hear it all the time.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Bon Voyage


Bon Voyage

Tomorrow a plane
A journey east
An island recluse
A sanity feast


Tuesday, August 10, 2010

The Tipping Scales



The Tipping Scales

What is denied, recurs.
And erodes
Unprepared shores.
Life's rites,
Win or fail,
Must be lived.
Or islands
Cease to be.


A ponderous death
Is a wasted life.
The forlorn rebirth
Of what might have been.
The death knell balance
Gazes aft.
At sacrifice rebuked.
Life lived, and missed.



Sunday, August 8, 2010

In Ireland's Garden


In Ireland’s Garden


Beside the grey the pastures lie

Beneath the mountain luring sky

With tempting hues of rolling light

And solace pledged in meadows bright


And colours to the halcyon eye

Dance amidst a leafy sigh

A barren beauty within our reach

Depart the grey, to life, beseech