Adrift in a storm of unleashed desires
the star-strewn heavens our compass,
guiding us to treasure -troves of enticement
The accomplice sheet smoulders still
in the aftermath of burning passion,
our breath deafening the night
Oblivion takes command
`till calmer waters overwhelm
our tendril bodies
In the discretion of slumber
we discover `neath the stones
of the reproachful river-bed
our forgotten promises
The sun set aflame her tousled tresses
her dance so graceful
her bare feet hardly touching
the startled daisies.
Her white gossamer gown
melted like snow in the sunlight
my dazzled eyes abruptly deprived
of their feast of her seductive smile.
Her reappearance with impatience I awaited
without avail
she had climbed a sunbeam staircase
leading to from where she came.
Her dwelling place I never did find
´though I searched the starlit skies
like a will o` the wisp
I mistook her for a shooting star.
She taunts me still with her whispering
borne on autumn`s mischievous gusts
rustling through the shivering trees
exposing still more their nakedness.
I had again relived the dream
of a youth`s lost first romance,
her promise of a cherished love
on my ring and in my heart the name engraved.
A market aglow with coloured lights
A meteor ablaze in the darkest void
Resuscitates the December day from drabness
Yuletide aromas of winter herbs
Sweeten the crystallized air of frozen skies
Reflected on frozen lakes
Laughter of red cheeked children
Their running noses hurriedly wiped clean
With damp gloved fingers
Choral voices in unison sing
Around a starlit crib
Announcing with carols of joy
A message of love
The curtain falls
The final act
Silence
No applause
The withered flowers cast
Shadows on splintered promises
You follow the flight
Of the sea bound gull
Escaping from a death of boredom
In slow motion
I walk in reverse
To witness your arrival
At my future days of tarnished dreams
I close my eyes to relieve the pain
Laughing faces with piercing eyes
Grimaces of carnival masks
Torment my consciousness
Names remembered with affection
Others long buried
In the foolish attempt
Not to remember
Peals of distant bells
Recall both sadness and joyfulness
Somersaulting my mind
Into confusion
Drops from melting snowflakes
Slide down my cheeks
My lips taste their bitterness
My heart ignores reason
And freezes
My senses are anaesthetized
By the fragrances of spring blossoms
Our separate ways meander into one
The current of life`s river sweeps us away
Coldness ascends my body
I gaze at the winged messenger
I close my eyes again
And hope for forgiveness
The "Days of...." Trilogy
By David A. Thorpe, February 2011
Contact: david.thorpe@huddersfield1.co.uk
Days of tearful clouds
I hoard with avarice
the aura of your presence
released capriciously little by little
on days of tearful clouds
an accomplice of my impatience
to withhold the pendulum
of my empty hours
before I am swallowed
by the abyss of depression.
Days of shadows
Doubts and suspicions
debunked on days of shadows
cast a famine of self confidence
their arrogance
however
impotent to veil their shame.
Days of hunger
You,
who gave me a reason to live
stronger than the thunder and lightening
of a tropical storm
bring light to my days of hunger
yearning to be painted
with the colours of your rainbow.
The Peddler
(of San Pedro del Rio)
By David A. Thorpe, November 2010
Contact: david.thorpe@huddersfield1.co.uk
Horses hooves on cobbled streets
awaken a slumbering village,
the rising sun gently warms the cool Andean air.
ignored by this sun parched traveller,
the greeting barks of hungry stray dogs.
His wagon`s wooden wheels stop their turning.
Wares offered at open doors,
a friendly wink to two small girls,
sitting at their colonial window,
rehearsing their imaginary pantomime,
a grandfather lamed in his wheelchair,
their solitary attentive audience.
Pans bartered by the aged Doña Maria,
her bandaged leg receives his pity,
a farewell touch to his broad brimmed sombrero,
the peddler mounts his canvas covered home,
her silent gaze following him,
to his final disappearance.
He leaves the village by the old arched bridge,
to the sound of St. Anthony`s chapel bell,
the trail to tomorrow`s town
leads high above San Pedro del Rio,
back into the misty heights,
territory of the preying condor.
You stripped me of my composure
I overbalanced
equilibrium in confusion
a storm wind.
You dishevelled my senses
teasing my appetite
with your promises,
like evasive whispers in the silence.
Disguised as a sad truth
you slipped through my looking glass
and in the wake of your aftermath
I search for your hiding place
blown aimlessly like a rolling tumbleweed.
On balmy evenings my thoughts turn to you,
carefree childhood days and bluebells
to decorate our window-sills,
the mixture of dandelion and burdock
quenching our summer thirst.
Never did I taste it again.
On balmy evenings my thoughts turn to you,
under starlight we danced away our youth
in shoes bought new each Whitsuntide,
our footprints washed away by dying waves
to be reborn way out at sea, a Wakes week long.
Never did I paddle on that shore again.
On balmy evenings my thoughts turn to you,
we were never lovers we two, rather in love with lovers,
my companion from childhood to manhood
wife and mother of your daughter and your son,
our secrets hidden in our infant dreams forever.
Never did I dream such dreams again.
Love in the time of patience
By David A. Thorpe, April 2010
Contact: david.thorpe@huddersfield1.co.uk
There she is again thumping on his brain
his throat dry with impatience
reminds him of his thirst for her presence
not quenched by the bitterness of his tears.
On his guitar he strums her song
her distant voice subdues his chords
now out of tune, now in tune again
she now forgetting her repertoire.
Winter rain numbs his sombre face
freezing his sense of direction
friendly foot prints in the silent snow
lead him to messages of comfort.
Open windows, open doors
through which rays of hope
flood his heart with rewarded patience,
even his entire being.
Caged in a snow covered habour
oppressed by grey skies
like magnified frenzied snowflakes
the streets echo their cries
No boats or ships to escort
captives of winter gales
they dive and soar around frozen trams
with white imaginary sails
Learned in a childhood dream
the secret of their speech
they tell of a stranded treasure ship
on a far away island beach
In unison they return to the sea
bearing our hopes and our fears
to be spun as a sailors yarn
amidst laughter and salty tears.
Elizabeth and Robert
(An Elizabethan love affair)
By David A. Thorpe, April 2010
Contact: david.thorpe@huddersfield1.co.uk
Tutored together seated side by side
Child friendship be it in music or verse
Their loving affection was not to hide
With laughter did they in themselves immerse
In youth both suffered they a common fate
For her mother`s love of a debauched king
With God alone their sentence to wait
Jailed he for his father`s treacherous sin
Queen Mary`s death proclaimed: Long live the Queen!
Elizabeth the English realm to reign
Robert as her favourite oft was seen
Aspiration as her consort was his claim
The line between heart and duty too nice
Proof of love bore the name of sacrifice.
She arrived after dusk
without my consent
no apology for her intrusion
she was cold and shivering
I tried to embrace her
but she declined
lit instead a cigarette
an uneasy silence.
I awoke in a drowse
her warmth no longer at my side
she stood at the window
a naked silhouette against the full moon
mesmerized
intoxicated by a yearning
to travel through the night sky
with a shooting star.
She lets him go in silence
motionless
no tears
no cries of repentance
paralysed into a stoical stare
not even blinking
her eyes pierce like knives
into the flesh of his back
her mouth tense
impeding the quivering of abandoned lips
no emotion
no betrayal of her feelings.
He considers returning
pleading for forgiveness
compromising his pride
capitulating to his weakness
abused constantly by her egoism
his decision taken
years, like weights on his shoulders,
disintegrate like broken promises,
a bitter relief
nausea
panic
he sweats in the coldness of his body.
My lips parched into numbness
await your kiss drenched with dew
to end the merciless drought of your absence,
turning my tears to grains of sand.
My heart petrified and desolate
yearns to be flooded with blood
surging with the excitement of our bodies
melting in the fire of erotic flames.
My spirit severed from my soul
evades the betraying light of day
revealing my sorrow
as a reflection in my mourning eyes.
My impatience is chastised
by hours which ignore the dawn
chastised by days never reaching nights
reluctantly giving way to months
unwilling to change their names.
My impatience is chastised
by the years of separation
today I sing again my verses of adoration
with such delight and pleasure
as the nightingale in springtime.
Tears of joy
the warmth of your embrace
setting ablaze my numbed feelings
engulfing my entire body
abandoned in the snowdrifts of the darkest winter
The bitter-sweet togetherness
mocks our happiness of short duration,
knowing that our parting may this time be forever.
Speechless all their
lives
with eloquence
to replace the unspoken
to define feelings
when inhibitions hinder
their expression.
A queen's crown,
a necklace for a princess
in
some child´s fantasy.
Unendless roles in the theatre of life,
heralds of nature's rebirth.
Its a question
of keeping one´s balance,
drifting first in shallow waters,
confidence gained
in the gentle stream flow,
a flash of recalled memories,
the first attempt to swim.
The excitement of being daring,
the anxiety of competition
increase the curiosity to explore
deeper waters and fast flowing currents,
over enthusiasm
leads to a first defeat.
An expedition to reach the other side
adrenalin impulses the quest,
new experiences quench the thirst
for knowledge of this river of life,
testing my stamina
to navigate into the unforeseen.
Contentment warms my body,
satisfied with the achievement
to have conquered the rapids
and come to terms with myself,
bathing in my self confidence
to be a ferryman.
A heap of memories
ashes
your cigarette still smouldering
painfully extinguishing
my self assurance
Smitten with dissolution
petrified
I feel the emptiness of your absence
a bitter acceptance garnished
with self pity
I listen for your return
silence
I am overwhelmed by the irrevocable reality
engulfing by degrees
my self confidence
