PRIMA BALLERINA

Beneath fading lights,
the scarlet curtain rises.
The audience gasp in unison.

Her agile grace, her delicate beauty
captivates our senses
as she gradually becomes one

with the haunting melody,
and now we, too, can actually feel it
pervading the intimate depths of being.

Enthralled, we are inexorably drawn
into her ethereal world

where, for these few short hours

we are in paradise.

FAN MAIL

Let no one who loves be called altogether unhappy. Even love unreturned has its rainbow.
J M Barrie

Standing alone on Tintagel Head
this wild and stormy day,
as Atlantic waves hit fallen rocks
drenching me with spray.

To this inspirational place
I often come to think,
when there's something I'm desperate to say
but reasoning hits a kink.

I'm wishing you were here with me
as it's simpler eye-to-eye,
but I guess these written words must do,
at least I'm compelled to try.



First sight of you on a TV screen
totally blew my mind
into a world of fantasies
of the most irrational kind.

They're distinctively Utopian
and deeply erotic too.
Imagination's exquisite torment
is mine, in place of you.

Irresistible to me, you'll always be
the sexiest man, it's true
there's no Brad Pitt nor Johnny Depp
could hold a candle to you.

Your face will haunt me 'til I die,
it's tattooed on my Soul.
Though in your world I play no part,
I feel profoundly whole.

Wish I could be your confidante,
eternally there for you,
closer even than a lover
I'd be forever true.

Egged on mercilessly
by crazy drunken friends,
I've paused the disc to kiss your lips.
How sad are my weekends?

I crave you from the time I wake
'til I return to bed,
then with night frustration comes
from all that's left unsaid.

But now with innermost feelings confessed
perhaps relief will come,
as understanding is all I ask
not your love to have won.

I could never let you down
nor ever break your heart,
for as we've never been together
nothing can tear us apart!

So if ever throughout your life comes a time
when someone has been untrue,
think of me as the sun goes down,
'cos I'll be thinking of you.

CHILDHOOD

I often think of my childhood with nostalgia
and an intense longing to return
to those carefree days of innocence
and openness of heart, those days
before tutors raced to transform me
into a 'well-rounded' adult.
My fertile imagination thrived then
and knew no ridicule.

In childhood I was never afraid to mention
the mermaids I'd met and befriended
in the 'sea' that was a meadow
of long grass beyond our garden gate;
or the scary pirate ship I'd seen
in the outline of a wind-tossed pine;
or even the marauding Vikings
who leapt from the embers of Auntie's fire!

Interpreting the World was simple then.
There were no grey areas.
I was the eternal optimist,
seeing only good in everyone, everything.
Life was one long adventure of discovery,
each day filled with exciting possibilities
that gave me wings to soar high
like a butterfly, towards the Sun.

My needs were minimal then,
just a trusted companion in the form
of a tatty old teddy bear
who shared my amazing expeditions
to far-off, uncharted lands.
We even conquered the outer reaches
of our back garden once, converting its natives
into new found friends.

They were huge furry bumble bees,
humming their hypnotic mantra
from deep inside the laburnum arch.
There were rainbow coloured dragon flies,
bigger than my hand.
The wasps in yellow striped pyjamas,
just like the ones I'd had for my birthday.
The pretty ladybirds and bright green grasshoppers.

There was also a vast array
of assorted flies - black ones, blue and green,
and prettiest of all, the hover flies.
But my ultimate favourites
were the armour-plated woodlice
who lived inside a rotting oak stump.
How I wished with all my might
they could be much much bigger, so I could ride them!

The highlight of my week
was visiting Grandma's house.
Her terraced gardens reached
as far as the eye could see.
Teddy and I spent many an enchanted afternoon
earnestly searching for the fairies
she assured me dwelt amongst her columbines,
and I could swear I actually glimpsed one once!

Those were wonderful times
filled with golden sunlight, and stars
that occasionally fell from Heaven.
I truly believed that I would someday
find one and pick it up,
then every wish, every dream I'd ever had
would surely come true, so life
could stay this magical forever.

So, if every picture tells a story,
what is this one saying about me?
Did this little girl find her fallen star
and hold on to her dreams? Sadly not it seems,
for I have lost her sense of wonder
in everyday things, her simple happiness.
I have grown so complicated.
I am wary, untrusting and cynical.

I suppose, over time, life's betrayals
gradually erode a child's faith in humanity,
distorting it, cancer-like, into an ugly scar
on the surface of her Soul.
Defences then rise up, encircling this wasteland
like fortress walls, preventing further damage.
The trusting child mutates into suspicious adult.
My Spirit is broken today. I have lost my way.

But, maybe there is still a faint glimmer of hope
because, surely, what once was must still be
in some form, somewhere.
Perhaps if I can only find the courage
to unearth this slumbering child
from beneath these heavy layers of disillusionment,
then I could reawaken her in the depths of my heart.
For she is my Destiny.......

BABE

For Oliver Hardy

Challenging established law

Of scientific mould

That once deceased we are no more,

The truth will now be told.

The entirety of life on Earth

From the moment we arrive

Is bound by rigid barriers

Composed of senses five.

What, then, became of number six

That elusive golden key

To the timeless place where you are, Babe,

And I will someday be?

I think I found the answer, Babe,

While stumbling blindly through

Uncharted depths of consciousness,

The path led straight to you.

Although devoid of physical form

And pulse of beating heart,

Your presence I could not deny

The veil was torn apart.

Now I simply picture you

On a screen inside my mind,

And you are here beside me, Babe,

Our essences aligned.

Before me here is concrete proof

That you once lived on Earth,

A reel of film in monochrome

Induces tears of mirth!

While watching you all shadows fade,

Your infectious sense of fun

Lifts the spirit from the depths

Of darkness to the Sun.

Though you've passed on and I'm still here,

No difference does it make,

You'll always be a special friend

Our bond will never break