The Demagogue

The eyes of all the people turned to him,
As if expecting something quite profound;
But he had nothing in him but the dim
And anxious feel that none of it was sound.
So first he called for God to bless the crowd,
A classic start that gave him time to think,
And then he swelled his chest, got very loud,
Found wind, set sail – today he wouldn’t sink.
Each day he put his life upon the line
To please the mob he hated – one and all;
Although he told them they were very fine,
Their enemies were not, and so his call
For absolute destruction of the slime;
He’d get this bleating mob some other time.

The Essential Faust

It’s when I’m bored I think of Faust again,
And since I’m bored right now, he’s there,
Entrapped inside a cave within my brain,
And there, like me, he paces in despair.
So shadows in the dark, we wait until
His demon comes to entertain us with
His jokes, his magic tricks, and tales that thrill
Of gods and heroes of romantic myth.
And so we while away what’s left of time
With Helen, Aphrodite, temptress Eve,
And other stories full of love and crime -
Until at twelve o’clock it’s time to leave.
We hear the urgent ringing of twelve bells,
And down we go to very different hells.

Landscape

The light upon the petal makes it red –
Behind the bloom the sea and sky shine blue;
I square my hands: a painting’s to be said
About a blossom, sea and sky and you.
Why are you here? Why do you smile and steal
The sea and sky and bloom of all their worth?
A story’s to be told, a spinning wheel
Of love, ennui, disgust, and then rebirth.
My heart sinks with the sun, the colour’s lost
To everything but your abundant smile,
Which I now know comes with enormous cost
To heart and soul – but, please, love, stay awhile:
I’ll get my brushes out, forget the pain –
That light, bloom, sea, sky, smile I’ll paint again.

Sunrise Sunset

“I like it when you smile that earthy smile
That you reserve for me and only me;
It’s not without a worldly bit of guile
That I alone am privileged to see.”
“It’s two for tea against the rest, you think –
I like your lovely foibles, you like mine;
We’re arm in arm, in love, and in the pink,
And everything is fine, so very fine.”
“Yes, pink, and blue, and white; the sky and earth
Revolve and rise with mornings made for love –
A system in perpetual rebirth
Makes that below ascend to high above.”
“Then kiss me, stupid – back to bed we go;
If I’m the earth, you sink for me to glow.”

Fifth Avatar, Five

Oldham Manning,
Machiavellian-like Guile

That road before you here is ending now
That you have travelled ninety years or so;
You’ve gone the distance Nature will allow –
Or close to it – a mile or two’s to go.
Walk proudly on those hurting limbs, my dears,
And smell intensely all those drooping blooms,
And sleep past midnight, disregard those fears
That dark and sneaky presence now assumes.
Find lightness in your mind – that light from youth
That lingers even now within your thoughts,
And nourish it with lies, take them for truth,
To conquer those foul numbers Age allots.
And take these medications with a smile
That hides your Machiavellian-like guile.

The Jolly Corner

A presence stands above me as I sleep –
I know not if its thoughts are of my death,
Or if it’s there in kindness and to keep
A watch upon my rest and aid my breath.
To answer this, I chase it through my mind
Down corridors and corners, while it flies,
But any moment I expect to find
It caught before my thoughts and opened eyes.
Now there it waits – I ask it what it needs
And why it shadows both my bed and dreams;
Its eyes aghast, its mouth agape, bright beads
Encompassing its creasing brow, it screams,
“It’s me you haunt; it’s you I dream, afraid
Of all that lingers in your mortal shade.”

Shoulder Dust

We wander in the valley of the dead
Where those who’ve gone before are but the dust
We swipe from shrugging shoulders sans prayer said
And sans ripe understanding that some gust
Of future wind will carry us as well
From shoulders to some distant sunny peak
Or to some deep volcanic inmost hell
To shoot from height or depth into the bleak
And wonderful expanse of time and place
Beyond the sun to space beyond our ken
Where life and death and life at endless pace
Revolve in orbits infinite to then
Re-enter in a drop of summer rain
Watched as it trickles down a window pane.

Husband Waiting

My wife she smiles and smiles upon my sins –
I drink too much, and swear, and fool around
With cars all day; but when the game begins
I’m there to cheer for Knick or Cub or Brown.
All this is good – but there, I know she waits
Above the sink, or in our marriage bed,
As if some magic waits on opened gates
When some enchanting incantation’s said.
But here I am, no magic waits for me
To take me from my sins or from my couch;
I am but what I am – why can’t she see
That, yes, I’ll rise again, only to slouch
Towards the frig to be refreshed by beer,
And win or lose it draws a nagging fear.

Fifth Avatar, Four

Oldham Manning,
Four Little Fates

Good little Tom glanced left and right and thought
That all was clear before his hasty feet;
So there he stepped and there his steps were brought
To their swift end upon a city street.
His little woman, Beth, at home, was told,
By Sergeant Gray, where he had died, and how;
On hearing this and that, her heart grew cold
And ceased its beating in the here and now.
Their children then became wards of the State:
Poor little Ben grew up to be no good,
And little Charlotte followed in his wake;
They joined a gang, and with that gang they stood
Before Judge Black, who thought they both should hang,
If hang he could, beside their nasty gang.

Fifth Avatar, Three

Oldham Manning,

Time Falls to Time

Time falls to time as sails in summer glide
Within the wind upon a mighty stream,
Or in the wind itself where sparrows hide
To reappear in some cold winter’s dream.
Time falls to time with spring and autumn done
When birth and dying float upon the bend
The world spins as it dies around its sun
In galaxies that eddy to their end.
So big and small, for everything that sails
And falls to time and spins as spins a top
Upon a table till its twirling fails
And falls to time as time in time will stop.
But out within the stream the sails still find
Their wind and twirl within some younger mind.

Trickster Steve

Steve knew himself to be so smart; he seized
His every thought, proclaimed its truth, the world
Could not be other than be rightly teased
When Stevie’s little judgments were unfurled.
"Oh look at me," he preened. "Today I’ll pounce
Upon some sacred cow with softy friends
Who’ll be so crushed by my cruel words; I’ll trounce
With that, or this and that, or odds and ends.
And they will scamper here and there for truth,
And they will check, recheck this fact and that,
And they will find naught here or there, forsooth,
For nothing’s there – I pulled it out my hat.
And while they mystify themselves with this,
I’m onto something else I’ll find amiss."

Cat Love

My little cat it caught its mouse that day
From where it hid from deep behind the door,
And, yes, with it my cat did sit and play
Until the mouse lay dead upon the floor.
I’d heard some cracks from where I’d sat and read,
And squeaky whimpers too had called in fear;
But cracks and whimpers couldn’t raise my head
From my good book until the end was clear.
“So now you’re done,” I said, “how it did flail
Upon the floor, and squeak, while crack-crack-crack,
You ate it all and left for me its tail
Which I accept; I’ll place it in this sack
That overflows with trophies of your love
Just right above the wings of that dead dove.”

Third Avatar, Three

Leda Lamour,
The Swan Princess

She rides their pony backwards, her eyes on
A present that dissolves and opens to
A crestallated castle where a swan
And princess live adorned in white and blue;
No dragons yet disturb their peace inside
These high bright fairy walls enrobed in cloud
Where ice-cream wishes will not be denied
And all her dreams of candy are allowed.
But, after, into this, came her fine prince –
He rode her way, and smiled a smile so sweet
That in no time she rode behind – now, since,
Her castle walls have been in fast retreat.
But, high before, her swan finds all her skies
And waits for her onetime adoring eyes.

Fifth Avatar, One and Two

Oldham Manning,
Sanguine

“Enough of what you want; it’s time for me
To roar and run upon the moon’s bright face
And fly away to constellations, free
Of mind and blood, yet full of gathering pace.”
“No, wait a little while, a moment more –
And in these dancing words, roar, run and fly
To all the stars that gather here, and soar
Past time’s bright start and in that moment die.”
“Why fly so high? See here, this bench and book
Or that bucolic walk through gathering green
Or that of snow – through chasing seasons, look
At colours wandered by but never seen.”
“My soul is young, though I am old; the way
Is both the morning of and end of day.”

There Still Is Time

There still is time; there still may be more time
To find our age and wisdom here within
This place, outside these walls – we still might climb
To freedom there, and though it’s late begin
Our run towards an ever opening day,
The morning wind and sun behind our track,
With western vistas welcoming our way –
To what? – We don’t know what. So we turn back.
There still is time – we know next morning will
Present itself with something more to be:
Some grace perhaps, a prize perhaps; the chill
Of night now warms to possibility.
For this we know: there still is time; we know
Some time remains – there still is time to go.

Eve Leads Adam from Paradise

Our Lady Eve possessed the freedom to
Do as she pleased with grasses, roots, leaves, flowers,
And wander blithely through such gifts that grew
Benignly as her lawful many dowers.
But not the apple – so the contract said:
Forbidden, leave untouched, but hold in thrall;
And with one last stern look, she then was led
To wonder freely in her park – and fall.
The hemlock yields no balm, the fir no honey,
Nor will the nettle’s root produce a rose,
And if at midnight everything is sunny,
Our Lady Eve would not have needed clothes.
And Adam stumbled near behind his Eve,
Surprised, dishevelled, buttoning his sleeve.

Paradise Lost

Two happy people beautiful and brave
Within a grotto carved for mortal love
Were starved of everything but what they crave
Beyond all else below the high above
That smiled so sweetly on their fronting dale
And for a summer held them in the thrall
Of brook and sunshine, lime and nightingale
Till fortune, planets, stars, the gods and all
The great gears of the universal dial
Struck twelve o’clock twice for the hundredth time
And all at once with one abandoned smile
Their happy pleasure turned unhappy crime
Against the niceties of those who judge
The splitting of a pea and taste of fudge.

White Forest

Come float within the forest of what seems
Where everything is light and white and birds
Trill to approving lullabies in dreams
And all bow courtly to desiring words
That echo inexhaustibly throughout
Its paths and dales and through each nodding tree
That answers yes devoutly without doubt
Come now approach and show yourself to me
You truthful men who stumble in the light
That animates my realm and here come stand
While I sit spinning on my wheel the white
And frothy gossamer that makes this land
Where nothing ever need be make believe
If you believe in me and what I weave.

Handling a Hurricane

We’re in the eye of her vast storm right here –
All’s calm, but look, we dare not step away;
The eyewall gnashes ominously near
And there her anger gorges on its prey.
Stay near – we’ll do what must be done; we’ll wait
Until we catch her gaze, and then we’ll stand
With strength and awe and stretch to seize our fate,
Receiving, holding her approving hand.
Then rainbows, falling petals from the sky,
Clouds scud, and then a smiling burst of sun,
And all is wonderful and bright, on high
And here with us below where everyone
Moves freely in expansive calm and light
Where she and I find hand-in-hand delight.

Third Avatar, Two

Leda Lamour,

To Stoop to Conquer

The lion and the unicorn both bend
Toward the graceful lady, tall in beauty,
Who stands before her tent, to condescend
To smile upon a rightful manly duty.
With fecund nature busily amazed
With monkeys, rabbits, goats, fleurs, sundry birds,
And verdant trees - and blazoned pennants raised,
The woman deigns to speak – these are her words:
“These worthy gifts (each sense receives it due)
Cry I am all you want, your only love;
While nature and brave heart proclaim you true,

You kneel below to place me high above.
So with humility you conquer all;
You stoop, I rise, completely in your thrall.”

Fourth Avatar, One

Christian John,

Parable One: Raining Light

“Let there be light,” the man in rags proclaimed,
As John passed by the streetlight where he sprawled;
“And there was light,” John said, the other framed
Within that selfsame light to which he’d crawled.
And since it rained, the light bejewelled him in
An iridescence shimmering and wide;
It caught John in its brightness, while his twin
Now spoke to him as if in an aside:
“I’m not to tell you this,” his twin began,
“Hell’s other people – yes, that’s very true;
But hell’s in you for others – man to man
It spreads about and each receives his due.”
At this, John stepped away, the rain his tears

For all those that he’d hurt throughout his years.

The Kiss

The ball on air and arc ascends for him –
The man who gives that more, who offers all:
Legs, hips, heart, mind – with strain both glad and grim,
He bends high to the prized, triumphal ball.
While others fall away, or fly too low –
The risks of limb and fame, to give and fail,
Constrains their flight; so never will they know
The answer to the Sphinx, the silent Grail.
He, now alone in hush and moment, glides
Upon a wind unseen by foes and friends –
A breath, a kiss – then from a million sides
Hope fights despair, all’s still, the ball descends:
Another forehead birth between the posts
Brings life and death upon the watchful hosts.

As Dawn to Dusk, Two

After four dismal years of dismal rule,

A petty tyrant with a simpering smile

Who most now know to be a bumptious fool

Steps to misrule to spread his vice and bile –

And its results, a spiteful legacy,

Descending from his sadness and his sham,

Of wastelands made for all with eyes to see

And coming generations to goddamn.

As dawn to dusk, another steps, a guide,

And in the land awakening hearts now stream

With tears and hopes and love, and passions ride

Upon a morning held within a dream.

And neither of these people needs a name;

The moment stands within an older frame.