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Poems &
Songs
The sea remains
the same
the
coast is different wherever you go
the beach is different wherever you go
but the sea remains the same
to me the beach is bright sun, sparkling sand
warm water and swimming twice a day
bare feet and no shirt
boats and tractors and cicadas as you walk back to the house
I visited a place where it meant a cool respite from the mid-summer heat
away from the city and into the fog
cold winds and surfers in wetsuits
then you drive back into the heat of the city
I saw a film where it meant a wild and swirling tide
with seaweed and rocks and dark water
and a brief swim for the hardy
then up a steep path to a cottage
so when we talk to each other and say beach
our common language fails us and we smile and nod in agreement
not realising how different our concepts are
and I start to wonder how many of our words are like this
the coast is different wherever you go
the beach is different wherever you go
but the sea remains the same
After
writing this I started to thinking that we have in common anything
on
a scale big enough to be god, but the rest we struggle to
communicate.
We used to be good friends once
I
went to visit an old friend
to ask a small favour for someone I knew and just to say hello.
He said, "We used to be good friends once." and
Why have you really come?"
We used to talk into the night
about Buddhism and such.
Haiku
is a form of Japanese poetry that uses natural images and
is normally
based on a 3 phrase form (5-7-5 syllables) two phrases of which are
linked,
and another (either the 1st or 3rd) which requires the reader to make a
leap.
Having discussed haiku with a few people who write themI noticed they
mostly
focus on the immediate impact, but a lot can be packed into 17
syllables, and
a good Haiku can have layers that are not immediately obvious.
breaking
ocean wave
upsetting all the sea life
quiet reflection
Was
written walking along the beach, after an argument.
wave
following wave
where are those that went before?
boy walks with old man
Was
written about the cycle of living and dying, the fact that we will all
die, and what happens after death
Is it a brown thrush
or a juvenile blackbird
old man's eyes are best
Was
written after sitting on the porch with a retired friend, whose
eyesight was failing, but who knew from experience
much better than I did what it really was that we
were looking at. So it's about the value of experience and quiet
understanding.
Shining silver fish
smiling as it swims
bright summer has come at last
Nothing
more to this than an instinctive celebration of summer where I live,
after seeing the sprats glistening in the water as they swam
at speed on the first hot day of summer.
[Musical notation to
be included]
The alien longs for
home
The alien does not belong here
Strange
Incomprehensible
Don’t learn the ways of this foreign land too well
Don’t become a son of the house
Don’t forget
You are a stranger
Lest all be lost
A
song based on the Gnostic “Hymn of the Pearl”
[Musical notation to
be included]
Every day, the Sun
will rise
The Earth will turn and the Sun will rise
Every day the Earth
provides
and you and I receive thankfully what the Earth provides
Every day the Earth provides
The
birds and plants, bees spiders and ants
All working together to order their parts of the Universe
Every day the Earth provides
And
mankind too, has work to do
So why
do we loiter lazily when there’s work to do
Every day the Earth provides
A song inspired by the writings of
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Twin towns (1987)
(if
you can't read it, right click and 'view image')
©
2006, 2007 Jim Kelly
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