Lunar energy

And what about the energy of the moon?
Who also lights us, who also prowls
The darkened horizons. Renewable as grief, you are
Friend to love, scholars and owls.

To thine own self

‘Well, dear son, what advice can I give you?
Befriend your children and don’t waste time;
Don’t bank on others but be there for them, and, listen carefully,
Remain able to be moved by your own life.’

No biology Sunday

There’s no need to dwell on it, on spermatoza,
Our monkey forebears, or the striving womb.
Let’s be civil and European and have a cup of coffee
And tour the stylish cul-de-sacs our history has made.

Mentioned in dispatches

Cupid split the field hat of the soldier at the front
With a judiciously shot arrow. And the soldier
Roared forth weapon high, headgear exactly split,
Swore to settle Cupid’s hash and got blown to bits.

Our neighbours

At the end of my corridor, in some corner of Berlin,
Is a German who knows about the Tao. He could help you
To be unflinching and watch the seasons pass. That Germans
Can be found like this can be put down to chance.

Contrast

It’s good to leave when you can come back again,
Good to leave the place you love. As a child
Hops from the duvet in winter then chills itself,
And leaps into the arms of bed again.

The meeting

Love is the sun and moon looking at each other,
The sun with its triangle eyes, the moon its crescent glow.
Love is the sun and moon
Learning who each other are.

Running a Northern Soul night in Arkansas, I think

‘Of all possible fates this is surely one
Of the most likely. Sure, the kids are into it,
And the grooves offset the desert – but when
That wind racks up, it feels a long long way from home.

The modern duke

Not inheritance has ennobled him, but the bounty of his age,
The books – all books -, the endless films and tunes
Carefully selected by his degree-awarded taste;
The modern duke at the window, observing the day.

Flim

Flim, I heard you long ago
Through a doorway in Edinburgh.
Your player noticed me intrude;
Rapt, our union sealed.

‘Flim’ by Aphex Twin.