Secluded Worlds Read online

courtship passed.

  ***

  Tawny hair, gold jewelry,

  Out the door! In a flash! A blur!

  This is all they will let me see.

  This is all, before they flee.

  ***

  So the wind must be female,

  The wind is a she,

  It never bides long in my lane.

  Which isn't to say I worry,

  So long as she's back again.

 

 

  Senior Skip Day

  You never cut school for senior skip day,

  You stayed behind the doors.

  When most other kids your age had gone,

  You withheld and studied more.

  ***

  You were never last in line,

  You were never late for the bus.

  You never had to hurry,

  Hurry with the rest of us.

  ***

  You were the sharp-dressed business boy,

  You were the serious one.

  Always at the end of the week,

  Your week was never quite done.

  ***

  You never cut school for senior skip day,

  You never ran away.

  So I suppose I'll have to regret it for you,

  And pretend you skipped it anyway.

  My Idea Of Heaven

  Come wind and rain!

  Twist the weather vane!

  Make the cock dance to and fro!

  ***

  Come snowy nights

  Down from rocky heights!

  Make the school tell the kids "Don't go!"

  ***

  Come waves to the cliffs,

  Crash wondrous gifts,

  All up and down the coast.

  ***

  Come leaves to the farm

  From a bent tree's arm,

  And gather 'round the old gate post.

  ***

  Come thunder to the skies,

  Come lightning to our eyes,

  Come cool and windy showers,

  ***

  Up over the wall,

  The gray garden wall.

  Sweep through the delicate flowers.

  ***

  Come morning mist

  To our daily tryst,

  Under the apple trees.

  ***

  Come perfect kiss,

  Come sighs, come bliss,

  On a lost time's better reprise.

  ***

  Let nature be awake!

  Let it caper; let it shake!

  Bid her sullen sleep adieu!

  ***

  Awake and aglow,

  Beyond the window,

  In which I share heaven with you.

  I Like To Smoke In The Rain

  I like to smoke in the rain,

  I smoke when the weather turns gray.

  Safe beside my umbrella cane,

  Sound from the pouring day.

  ***

  Cool winds rushing through hushed streets,

  Are not there for me, I know.

  Nevertheless they meet and greet,

  The warmth of my cigar's glow.

  ***

  Seldom come more peaceful times,

  To let our worries explain,

  Sadness in a way sublime.

  I like to smoke in the rain.

  Spiders!

  Spiders, spiders, everywhere,

  In the dark and perhaps your hair!

  Crawling beneath our beds at night,

  Their jewel-black eyes reflect the light!

  ***

       Look on the ceiling!

       Is that a shape?

       There's one by the door!

       We can't escape!

  ***

  Spindly legs upon the cover,

  Scratch and scuttle; don't let them under!

  They're on the loose; they're on the prowl!

  Oh my goodness! I feel one now!

  ***

       Another's crawling down the wall!

      The biggest one yet approaches!

       Turn on the light—wait! Turn it off!

       They're not spiders—they're giant roaches!

  Under A Maple

  I spent the night under a maple tree,

  Long ago in a high wind,

  And over the lot did I chance to see,

  A cat prowl for life to rescind.

 

  The Endurance

  There once was a ship called Endurance,

  Through the pack ice did she sail,

  Marked by Antarctic occurrence,

  One time in a killing gale.

  ***

  She was a strong barquentine vessel,

  Designed for uneasy terrain,

  'Til upon ice did her hull nestle,

  And upon ice was cleft in twain.

  ***

  In coldness we must needs remember,

  She holds fast from bow to stern,

  Forever in silent splendor,

  In coldness will memories burn.

  Xiao Mao

  You come to the doorstep every night,

  On a gait that insists you belong;

  You come to the threshold for a bite,

  On a cry that insists is song.

  ***

  And sometimes your wish is granted,

  Though like all good deeds must be hidden;

  And sometimes you take them for granted,

  For you are the mom of a kitten.

  ***

  And sometimes I'm forced to abstain,

  Though no special good comes of this;

  I must turn you out to the rain,

  For no good deed goes unpunished.

  ***

  We've come to the end I'm afraid;

  You must move on with your stray.

  You're a nice friend but you cannot stay,

  Not in this house anyway.

  ***

  But perhaps in my own one day.

  Peninsula

  Peninsula in the rain,

  Of flower gardens misty,

  Let me walk your trails again,

  Let me return to the sea.

  ***

  Blossoming boughs on the wind,

  Always remind me of you.

  Bless me, bless me, I have sinned,

  What now do redeemers do?

  ***

  Peninsula you've never known,

  I love you ever so dearly,

  As the years I've counted have flown,

  Please, please, please, believe me.

  Another Los Angeles Song

  A laugh came through the window,

  Just the way the wind blows,

  And I lay there in the twilight,

  Wondering how it'd be tonight.

  ***

  No idea how, no idea where,

  This pretty music on the air.

  Before I sleep like a lump of coal,

  It wafts, a lullaby echo.

  ***

  Los Angeles is closing down,

  I'm in my loft above the town,

  Lights come on in Beverly Hills,

  The water glows; the glasses fill.

  Looking down upon your streets,

  Los Angeles, one day we'll meet.

  ***

  And some time later I awoke,

  In the dark morning no one spoke,

  The guard at the gate lit up a smoke,

  My hand was numb; my watch was broke.

  ***

  And a girl passed by beneath the trees,

  Going home in the moonlit breeze,

  Perchance to hear, perchance to see,

  Fortuitous opportunity.

  ***

  Los Angeles is closing down,

  I'm in my loft above the town,

  Lights come on in Beverly Hills,

  The water glows; the glasses fill.

  Looking down upon your streets,

  Los Angeles, one day we'll mee
t.

 

  Wind In The Winter Wood

  Oh cold and snowy wind,

  Down from the northern sea,

  Come break and tear and rend,

  At my door all night if need be.

  ***

  For there is a kiss in waiting,

  From a girl in another time,

  And words overdue for stating,

  In your tempest that I may find.

  ***

  Oh cold and snowy wind,

  Sing through the dark, naked wood,

  Sing of the wound I cannot mend,

  Sing of fields in which I once stood.

  ***

  For your voice is all I have left,

  To call back fond memories,

  To a place otherwise bereft,

  Oh cold, snowy wind of the sea.

  Walk On A Windy Night

  I went for a walk at midnight,

  Under trees bare and dry as bone;

  Into the downtown Christmas lights,

  I went for a walk alone.

  ***

  Wind rushing through the garish eaves,

  Carried with it the year's first snow;

  A clock rang out the time I'd need,

  If I felt I should take things slow.

  ***

  I walked by windows of gold,

  I passed under awnings fluttered;

  Through the ghosts of stories untold,

  In alleys of old doors shuttered.

  ***

  I walked for want to be listless,

  And the streets were as cold as stone;

  One windy night near Christmas,

  I went for a walk alone.

  The Pixie Princess

  I followed a pixie princess,

  Deep into a rainy wood.

  I followed a pixie princess,

  Not knowing for whether I should.

  ***

  Her chest was a fragile curve,

  Her hair hung moist with dew;

  I approached her with daunted nerve,

  As she knelt by spring waters blue.

  ***

  She drew in a startled sigh,

  Fast as a silver coin palmed,

  And a light glowed in her eyes,

  And she let out the breath becalmed.

  ***

  I followed a pixie princess,

  Through a forest of wind and rain;

  And with her soft kiss I confess,

  I can never be kissed again.

  April Cantata

  In an April cantata she went away,

  Her love, unchained, let go;

  And the leaves behaved as petals of snow,

  On the wind, the wind, the sweet rainy wind.

  I did nothing but watch that day.

  ***

  In an April