Soft blows the Heaven's whispering wind
Saying nothing yet still something's heard
Like notes of a once -elusive Spring
Warbled by Winter's solitary bird.

And sudden my mind in gay abandon
Trolls the paths of a distant day
When twice five years -not a moment more
Innocent upon these shoulders lay.

There was, then, a summer's place
Daintily nestled upon a hill
Where many an hour of pensive thought
I'd spent it's 17 hoursIn silence warm and still.

And nights hazy mists remember
Dwelt on street lights dim and low
With old men safely picking steps
Along gently sloping roads below .

Silent tiptoed the nightly rain
On sloping roofs and tender eaves
Entranced I'd see the pine trees sway
Sigh to their moist rustling leaves

I was fashioned ,to me unknown
By Grandfather -stern and tall
Whose tales of ghosts and djins that walked
Would hold my nightly hours in thrall.

In a verandah bare of face
That gazed upon a leafy vale
Of bards and poets and heroes brave
He told me many a moving tale.

Shadows danced on mountain paths
That wandered lost into the glade
Where nestling pines defying the sun
Cast a softly scented shade.

We knew along those winding trails
Many spots, most quaint and small
Where from the bustling crowds we'd flee
That thronged the town's central Mall.

The summer days were mostly warm
But sudden the thunder darkly rolled
Shivering along those neon lit streets
Stood silent doorways wet and cold.

And when the summer skies were spent
And lightning's flash no longer flared
Like mushrooms from the forest floor
The windows popped and people stared.

Prudence sought a moment's stay
But with that evening's siren call
None waited for the roads to dry
It brought the crowds onto the Mall.

Many spirits of past generations
Daily meandered thru' the town
And people dressed in Sunday best
Traversed that road up and down.

They came to see and to be seen
Boys and girls- the young and old
The warmth from seeking eyes dispelled
The damp and sometimes chilling cold.

When the shops had shuttered down
The dark bade 'night to man and beast
The music played in private rooms
Of friends gather'd to dance and feast.

Lightheaded from the evening spent
Before the first light of the morn
We'd sing to all those silenced streets
And await the breaking of the dawn.

Dreams oft born of that haze
Left many cheeks a blushing red
Hands were held, some glances shared
Some words heard without being said.

Oft the highpoint of those months
Came when Auckland's fete was laid
With rosy cheeks in neat discipline
Stood girls in brown and yellow plaid.

Many a smoothened cheek that day
Was with fragrant cologne splashed
Many a heart that day was captured
Many a hope that day was dashed.

Many an hour was later spent
Designing chances again to meet
Many a tongue learned by rote
Words a chosen one to greet.

Another place no less famous
Lay some distance from the Mall
Whose quiet greys with hints of red
Adorned the girls of Tarahall.

Just glimpsed faces, names unknown
Drove the boys to patient wait
Roads that somehow chanced to pass
By Auckland's or Loretto's gate.

Many a summer there was spent
Away from cares of school and books
Many a moment cherished still-
Stolen touches in secluded nooks.

I grew to manhood in that town
Of carefree summers bright and free
It's many summers since last I went
Its people and its sights to see.

The ghosts I left still roam the hills
Some wizened -others grey but well
They seek another lad of ten
Their spells to cast -their tales to tell.

Oh Lord, Your Child needs now an heir,
Just one bright star to guide us where
Wise men gather, not mere fools
Content just being the Devil's tools.

You'd sent Him once this world to mould
Thru' words of love and tales He told.
I had no chance His hem to hold,
No time to watch that dream unfold.

For I was born a shade too late
Not to His world but one of hate.
Where man with man with violence deals
The poor one starves, the rich one steals.

Truth is crushed and lies are told
The honest cower, the corrupt are bold.
Where ideas born of shameful birth
Make deadly mayhem a cause for mirth.

Where teachers teach the tomes of hate
And men decide each others Fate.
Where rapes become a daily game
Played by men in your name.

Where wounded streets scream in vain
For a healing touch to dull the pain.
Of man's assaults in the name of God-
Where children play with gun and sword.

Where crystal skies are staunched in grey
From funeral pyres and life's decay.
Where Earth bereft of flowering seeds
Just holds the graves of man's misdeeds.

Where widows wail in stark lament,
Their men are dead their lives are spent.
The mother seeks a long lost child
Amidst a ruined world turned wild.

Tormented, lost her anguished eyes
Gaze in horror as reason dies.
Its place usurped by Hatred's flame
Lit by men who chant your name.

Scarred by horrors they see and feel
Those broken souls before you kneel.
The ****** earth with tears they mark
They seek the light caught in the dark.

Tattered shrouds a silent quest
They call to you for final rest.
Oh Lord let them His face behold
Lend them now His hand to hold.

Night's shadows on blinding sunrays ride
White-maned the moon betrays the tide
The sea in still'd splendour sleeps
Dry eyed fulfilled emotion weeps.

The ghosts of past breathe life anew
Lost words in thoughts their strength renew
Lips strain to speak, there's nought to say
Dull eyed ache holds the world at bay.

Tormented season storms a changing land
Summer's snows they say are close at hand
O Autumn your bloom in mischief peeks
While Spring forlorn her flowers seeks.

Winter garbs the earth in shimmering heat
And lies the truth disdainful treat,
The dirge its merry note extols
Death roams the land, life fettered crawls.

As frenzied mothers their dryness curse
Young children will their parents nurse
Prison bars are freedom's last refuge
Tyrants weep to hasten the deluge.

Smile then you Gods your game is played
And tomorrow's awakening today delayed
Sober man now to the womb returns
Still-born the Child breath mutely spurns.

Gentle blows the wind and ruffles my hair
As from my perch on the hillside
Back to a solitary tree I gaze
Across roof tops and open plains
Blissfully Listless.

There is calm and gentle musical magic
In faint rustlings of green leaves
And the soundless songs of butterflies on roses. Nothing stirs at noontime
When the world is drugged by the Summer sun.

On a remote hillside
A solitary tree casts its shade
Tailor made for my dreaming body
Shadows move and lengthen
And ever so seldom I shift a toe, a finger,
Cool in the shade.

In an azure sky
Faint specks of clouds the sun defy
Effortlessly I train my ears
To trace the flight of a bumble bee
Flitting among the flowers by the pond below me.

Even the waters are asleep and only faintly disturbed
By the wind from the bee's wings.

Far away the faint sounds of traffic
Futilely seek to intrude upon Serenity.
Mirrors of my soul,
Still waters among turbulent times.

Ever so silent the shadows lengthen
And the clouds defiant cluster
Like a child traces patterns
On a wall with a flickering candle
Expressions are traced on the green grass.

Patterns of the clouds' jesting
In shapes of cats and dogs and serpents.
Child and cloud are one – Nature's pervasive spirit

On a Summer's day-
Cloud, I, still waters, and still bodies
Gently ruffled leaves and gently ruffled feelings
Each touched by its own breeze
In Harmony
Different – yet manifestations of the same whole.
Nature.

Perhaps the morrow at last shall bring
A dream, a hope, a lightened way
And old songs, tone weary again shall string
The broken chords of another day.

When dark despair, the morning's light eludes,
Days, dusk to dusk, the dawn's betray,
Then illusion's green the winter's blight deludes,
And beholds a Spring's flowering spray.

Muted lips that stifled, soundless stayed
In whispered breaths mouth tomorrow's prayer
And lost Hope that once had endless strayed
Rests at last in eyes that sightless stare.

Hearts heavy, forlorn burdens done
Light airy moods again grace the day,
Yester nights foreboding shadows shun
Walk by my side – walk along my way.

Peaceful slumber closed lids shield Dreams.
Jumbled memories, flashes of the future
Create a bewildering kaleidoscope of colour in my mind's eye.
And I see myself stark naked amidst swirling mists,
Each particle a symbol of past events, of future happenings.
Uncomprehending, incomprehensible.
Unknowing, perturbed by what may be,
Outwardly I sleep,
The epitome of serenity.

In distant lands, my day's labours done,
When darkness o'er the vale holds her reign,
Like darkened trees to moonlit stars whisper,
Softly yet again I'll murmur your name.
Of wintry nights on snow laden eaves
The fading embers cast their eerie glow,
By the hearth memories surround me
As days come rushing back from long ago.
When along darkened paths I walk alone,
Imagination brings you to my side,
Grasp your hand lest evil chance befall,
And ****** from me this moment's delight.
My time is come and all is past and gone,
The flesh decayed, the mind with age grown lame,
Yet a single ray of hope lights my life,
Perhaps somewhere you too murmur my name.