New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve

I won't wait for the Midnight turn

My Christmas candle still burns

And the cats tuck their heads in to curl

Into shapes of sleep framed by fur.

This is the moment I take

Into next year of noise and mistakes

These halycon minutes, now made

By creatures, contented and safe.

I am one of them too

So I pray with silent gratitude

The night crowds will shout loudly soon

But my candle lights up the whole room.

 

Copyright LJ Ireton 2017.

Hatchlings

Hatchlings

They do no wrong.

They hatch, they cheep

And start to look around

At scattered egg shells

And matching eyes, set

In hatchling soft, soft, down

That we replicate as fluffy toys

And put their image on sale

As they are killed and thrown as trash

Because they were born male. 

Copyright LJ Ireton 2018

Snow Day

Copyright LJ Ireton 2017

Watching

Watching 

Watching 
Sea creatures

Of the deep on TV

In awe of their complexity
They build a community
These tiny fish 

Coloured with intellect

Yet humanity's disconnect

Puts them on plates

Eating

The stills of reality.

Copyright LJ 2017

Thorns Haiku

Buy Haiku and Cinquains here 

Fireworks Haiku

    
    Man-made shooting stars

    Bend their sparkling willow leaves 
    Bow before the Moon

 

                     Copyright LJ 2017

Milk

Milk

Get up little one

I've licked you clean

You can stand now

Stand by me.

Your eyes are mine

My milk is yours

Take shelter

Under me.

I call to you

Because the men

They take you

Stay with me

And on my own

All I know then

Is the space where

You should be.

 

Copyright LJ 2017

OCD (3)

OCD (3)

You stare
Your eyes say done
Your brain says not 
So you stay

From the fear that you failed

You must undo the knot 
In your brain
To breathe easy
You repeat
And repeat 
And you do it again.

Copyright LJ 2017

Life

Life

 

If we saw life as children do,

Light would let the spectrum through

We’d find surprise in tiny things –

Flower petals or fairy wings?

Sand would become sparkle dust,

Forest dwellings wanderlust.

We’d seek the unicorns in the trees

And feel their magic in the breeze –

See all the animals as miracles too,

Offer them tea cups, as children do.

Copyright LJ 2017

From Eden

The World is a Cat

The World is a Cat

The world is a cat –

Her belly, the ocean

The land marks her back –

A forest in motion

The waves of the moon

Are found in her eyes,

The stripes of the trees

Run down her side

In one perfect jump,

Fierce and softness collide

Yes, the world is a cat –

Fire and water, combined.

Copyright LJ 2017

My Ark

My Ark

There need be no flood,
 No water around  
For me to build my ark.

There is danger enough

On the expanse of our ground

For me to make a start.

No spears, no knives, no guns

No greed

Will come aboard this ship.

All kinds of kind

Will sit inside

While man’s cruel reign still drips.

Copyright LJ 2017 
 From The Gold Leaf

Rain

Rain

Lines form at the windows, making the room a prison.

The water distorts our view of the trees 

Who are drinking, 

Freely outside.

Confined we find our imagination

While Nature pours hers from the clouds

Who are feeding

Minds and fields alike.

(From the Eden collection)

Copyright LJ 2017

Time

Time

Distract myself,

I must

Distract –

To keep

The train of time

On track –

For thoughts of you

Make all time

Stop –

Which keeps me from

Where you are

Not –

I'd push you 

Far 

From my own mind,

To keep you 

Close 

To me in time.

(From the Eden collection)

Copyright LJ 2017

Wild

Wild

We live inside, you and I

But you are wild.

Eyes like planets filled with fire,

Fur that's lined with stripes of tigers.

We live inside, you and I

I look around;

Man-made walls of brick and plaster,

Stuck behind a barren flower.

We live inside, you and I

But I am tame -

Because you bring the outside in 

And your wild keeps me sane.

(From the Eden collection)

Copyright LJ 2017

The Ghost that Plays the Keys

The Ghost that Plays the Keys

I prey upon your silence

Said The Ghost that Plays the Keys

Icicles where fingers were

Ride on a phantom breeze

Of melody, heard long ago

Heard now, but somewhere else

Like inky smoke through memories

Left on a cavern shelf.

Each pause, each breath is music

Still, as each echo believes

Mist can still be magic

Said The Ghost that plays the keys.

Copyright 2017 LJ