Month: September 2023

YESTERDAY’S DREAMS

The dark red dahlias seem always to be the last flower to give in to the
onset of winter with their big shaggy heads, firm stems and dark strong
leaves, yet often when they have given up, one small daisy appears,
sometimes even with pink tingeing their tiny petals, as if in complete
defiance of the frost.

 YESTERDAY’S DREAMS

This garden is in retreat,
Dark red dahlias heralding the end.
Yesterday’s dreams already lying down
With their heads on the pillow. 

A hard frost killed the pale roses.

But this garden acknowledges no retreat,
Defiantly flowering one final daisy.
Today’s dreams already on their toes,
Waiting to get a move on. 

                        ©2019 Gwen Grant

REDUCING THE DISTANCE

REDUCING THE DISTANCE

The haughty stars
Keep their distance
Even as we
Reach for them.

That’s O.K.
We never grew up
Thinking we could have
All that we wanted.

We would just like
To borrow
A little glory,
A little love
To see us through
The days in front of us.

Not going to happen.

Like everything else,
Love and glory
Lie closer to home,
Living quietly in each other,
Well within reach.

        ©2021 Gwen Grant.

DO YOU COME HERE OFTEN?

Those Palais dancers never had to bother if they were good at talking
or not because there was only one question anyone asked when they got
on the dance floor and that was the title of this poem!  Followed briskly
by ‘Where have you come from?’

DO YOU COME HERE OFTEN?

Dancing was never better
Than when they danced together.

She stood on his toes,
He trod on her heels.
Sent her twirling around
Then forgot to catch her,
So that she whirled across that floor
All on her own,
Bumping into other dancers
Like a car out of control.

When she found him again,
He was thinking of leaving.
Thinking maybe they should
Have gone for a walk.
Seen a really good film,
Perhaps gone for a drink,
Done anything, rather than dancing.

But then it was the last waltz
And he held her tight,
Her head on his shoulder,
His lips close to hers,
Their kiss tasting sweet and wild.

Very, very slowly smooching
Around that suddenly lovely floor.
Loving the dance,
Loving each other.

Glad they had chosen to come dancing.

                ©2023 Gwen Grant

  THE LION MAN

 Watching an archaeology programme that looked back to the 1930’s , it showed an old
site in a cave, where an archaeologist was carefully gathering pieces, slivers, almost
splinters of wood, when excavations had to stop.  Everything had to stop  because threats 
of the Second World  War were gathering.   Later, when the bits of wood that had been
found were  put together,  this most beautiful Lion Man who had been in hiding there
all the time appeared.  The moment I saw him, I fell in love. 

     THE LION MAN

This lion man
Is so beautiful
It makes my heart
Tremble.

For in its
Wrecked and lovely
Countenance,
I see
The endurance
Of all
Born from darkness
Into this greater darkness,
Where every soul realizes
Its aloneness.
Its bitter,
Bleak,
Irredeemable
Loneliness.

Yet lovers must love,
Words fall
From loving lips.
Hands touch
Souls
Courageous
In their enduring,
Gentle
In their laughter,
Resolute
In their bold living.

Only compassion
Can bring
Light
To that darkness.
Only hope
Inhabit those frozen
Wastes
Of aloneness.
Only love
Create the Lion man
In us all.

                      © 2019 Gwen Grant

PRIVATE KEEP OUT!  by Gwen Grant
published by Penguin Vintage  Children’s Classics
available in paperback and as an ebook