Upon Layered Souls

As tiered as in lyrical verse
Thoughts linger in layered repose
Recessed in memory shaped as
A Bonsai painstakingly pruned
Intrinsic limbs of solitude
Hang lazily in altered state
Buoyant transitions of stratum
Void of cognitive dissonance
Photographed images shaping
A lifetime of moments we shared
Eclipsed by a passing notion
Draped in a moonlight serenade
We gaze with longing wonderment
Through the eyes of a layered soul
Our destiny shadowed mirrors
Prophesy of things before us
Stepping stones pattern our journey
A heartsong forever embraced

copyright 2009 Don MacIver;  All Rights Reserved

Immortality

You said you would never leave me

But now I have to let you go

Here for much more than a lifetime

Your eternal heart and soul flows

 

Memories through the ages shall pass

Long after all the sad goodbyes

The tears I shed in agony

All the sweet songs and lullabyes

 

Live this never-ending journey

Through life and through death evermore

Blessed by a kindly existence

Move forward as never before

 

Cherished each moment you gave me

The memories shall ever be clear

The love and gentle words spoken

All things that you ever endeared

 

For all who have passed before us

In our hearts you will always be

The song and the life and spirit

Essence of immortality

 

 

copyright 2009 Don MacIver;  All Rights Reserved

Impasse; Heart Burned

An arid desert canyon staged
Our place of union, juxtaposed
Awkward words and glances questioned
Destined journey, feigned misgivings
Safety in numbers, background noise
Our intent surrounded, silent
Eyes searching for cues unspoken
Grazing touches electrified
Senses resisting urgency
Another drink, inhibitions
Clashing in a frenzied turmoil
Ever closer still are we drawn
Dare to go there, not in this time
Far removed from reality
Yet passions drive our restless souls
Undetected we make our leave

In a darkened room save moonlight
Spilling gently upon silence
Curtains stir in a midnight breeze
As we fumble, explorations
A sudden kiss signals further
Acquaintance meeting approval
The night was ours for all taking
Arousal mapping destiny
By morning’s light new beginnings
Unclear as our questioning eyes
Looking for signs of assurance
A mistake we shall not embark
Your smile wavered unsteady
Cautious laughter ever your way
Yet for now, per chance, overlook
The wrongs that I wanted so right

The months passed us by in favour
Clandestine, we met with each chance
We dined by candlelight seeming
In rapture for all that could be
Yet the cautious distance you held
Between us precariously
Left me wanting for answers cast
In avoidance or so it seemed
The hours passed and days grew long
Your intentions unbecoming
My observances at impasse
Naive, my heart burned yet again
You scorned my disfavour outright
Dismissed my affections, uncaring
Spurned, not more than occassional
Pleasures your only intention

copyright 2009 Don MacIver; All Rights Reserved

eaux de parfums…a brief encounter

A tapestry of cobblestone concealed our every step

Drawn to one another as polar opposites

Hastened breath misting in opacity by night’s coolness

As we navigate awareness of our destination

Meandering pathways of Victorian translation

Chamfered elegance, hands groping blindly bidding guidance

Moonlit hollows of darkened doorway cast forbidding shadows

Closer, closer, feeling intensely anxious of juncture

Rounding corners failing to yield to our expectations

Whispered beggings for chance meeting exhaled in wonderment

Wanton thoughts excite with every hurried stride, forsaken

Perspiration’s trickle cools our heated forms, dripping

Traces of fleeting presence, ever closer must we be

Wait…there beneath soft lantern you pause in anticipation

Our eyes impale the other’s in poignant consternation

Paralysis overcomes as our discreet forbidding

Slowly now our tempered cadence, measured interference

We still proceed to closeness in angled accentuation

Our gaze locked in readiness as lions poised defiant

Heartbeats in runaway as each moment wroughts new meaning

Now droplets fall in seductive pleasure, penetrating

An already moistened clothing, chilling to heated skin

Wind’s blanket surrounds our greeting as with eaux de parfums

Your fragrance now unbearable, we twist with elegance

Gazelles in frenzied union bound as lovers now conjoined

A kiss, to linger, bittersweet with each passing moment

Oblivious to else surrounding, bid you fond farewell

Till next we meet on darkened path in shadows our sweet sorrow

copyright 2009 Don MacIver;  All Rights Reserved

Her Name Was Ayana

Although the names in this poem are ficticious with respect to the accompanying photo here they nonetheless once belonged to beautiful young children of Ethiopia. Subject of this piece are the millions of hungered humanity who have perished out of starvation and its endemic disease. Pockets of African regions have been besieged by drought and poverty to the extent that human survival is precarious to fatal. Life hangs in the balance there as hungered mouths and outstretched hands want and beg for morsels of food and droplets of water. Drought, global inflation and armed conflict complicate an already desperate situation. International food aid has brought relief, largely from the US yet hunger remains for many a daily struggle to defeat the ever-present threat of death.

Tears and desperate prayers simply weren’t enough…to save Ayana.

—————————————————

Her eyes deeply set in hungered hollows
Soiled stringy hair strands so long ago bathed
Sad vacant stare weeping waterless tears
A smile forever lost, defeated dreams

Ayana birthed a child, name of Dahnay
Whose papa lays silent of malnutrition
Gripped by the plague, sweetest wanton gaze
Prayers for but few morsels he never consumed

Ayana layed Dahnay to rest this day
Emaciated remains, open grave
Scorching sun glaring unforgivingly
As baby lays silent, his mama sobs

Gripped by a poverty, living in slums
Injera flatbread their only staple
Their shelter a mud hut of single room
Earthen floors a place of broken slumber

On blistered foot walking many hours long
To market they carried sorghum and maize
Over parched grasses dry, infrequent rains
Relief by the droplet long ago seen

Bitterness replacing glimmers of hope
Distended ribs skeletal, starved remains
A toxic cocktail of pain, misery
Life’s eventuality, death’s redress

Look into Ayana’s eyes…if you can
Vacant by their witness, her soul bereft
Her heart once torn to pieces, dignity
Ravaged by failings of humanity

Baby Dahnay’s cries sadly unanswered
He clung to mama’s breast, his dying thirst
Left unsatiated, he’d look away
His lifeline to survival dried up, gone

Close your eyes now baby Dahnay, look away
From a life not of your choosing sadly
May your afterlife be more plentiful
Without hunger, pain, and rampant disease

Mama Ayana will be there for you
Where papa awaits, a family again
In happiness always you will all stay
By your hut where once you gathered in prayer

…may the hunger cease to exist some day

copyright 2009 Don MacIver;  All Rights Reserved

Save Harmless Exculpatory Delusions

Lo fire and brimstone may burn as in Hell

Nay where knaves and thieves in deception fall

Lusting for injurious withholdings

Trickery forged by the magician’s wand

Distortion in all its likeness does bear

Semblance of reasoning abandoned still

Psychoses of disproportionate form

Disengaged realities, thus delusion

Would I intercede your malcontent

Nor exculpate your alleged guilt

Acquit, lest I bear feigned innocence

Your pillage of soul without consequence

By the visage of your damning grace

Do I bow in gentle acquiescence

Doth my soul in plundered poverty speak

Of divine interventions knowingly

Predators loom in the darkness of night

Cloaked in shadow yet valid silhouette

Praying on the meek, complacent of woe

A preponderance, new realities

copyright 2009 Don MacIver;  All Rights Reserved

Of Chalice & Sword

Resting high above the village Bamburgh

Stands a castle where knights and kings of lore

Raised their chalice high bidding praise and prayer

Victors of Camelot, King Aurthur’s liege

Sirs Lancelot, Bedevere, Galahad

Knights of gallantry in chainmail armor

Swordsmen of bloodied hand, battle weary

Expounding tales of medieval quest

By the power of the sword Excalibur

Its double-edge raised to a blackened sky

Felling all challenge with swift disregard

The kingdom and its governance upheld

On mounted steed through enchanted forest

Legendary quest for the Holy Grail

Weighs heavy upon battle-scarred warriors

Beyond sandy shores of Northumberland

Lo centuries pass upon Chalice Hill

Where a gardens of tranquil and splendor

Encircles a well head of sculpted inlay

Bearing image of Vesica Pisces

On distant acreage stands “Circle of Stones”

The Stonehenge of Wiltshire by Merlin’s hand

Memorial to kings’ men and war lords

Fallen silent in battle by the sword

copyright 2009 Don MacIver, All Rights Reserved

Allow Me This

But few moments span a lifetime

A fissure sinks unmeasured depths

Solar flares rage from distant sun

As tail of the lion, daunting

Chilled air of morn, mellon drop dew

In glistened meander falling

Speckled doe in placid forage

Draws water’s cleanse, a pristine brook

Mine eyes reflect the shimmering

Ears touched by reclusive silence

Allow me this gift of wanton

Extravagance, not forsaken

Eyes closed, feel heartbeat quickening

Mind’s parabolic mandolin

Symphonic cadence, elegance

Allow me this time, this moment

Be this my forever bounty

Upon prayer I cast forth my will

Lay trust and favor at my feet

Allow me few moments to live

copyright 2009 Don MacIver; All Rights Reserved

What If God Was…

What if God was…your eyes, your ears

Sensing your danger, hear your cries

Would time stand still as peril nears

Saved harmless from our own demise

What if God was…an entity

Vaster than all the universe

Divine intervention, destiny

Trusting His word, in faith immersed

What if God was…our guiding light

Our wanton saviour by His hand

In Him we trust this painful night

Resonant prayer by his command

What if God was…our hymnal song

Life and its treasures, night and day

Understanding what’s right and wrong

Saved from ourselves and come what may

What if God was…reality

Forgiveness, His extended hand

All that we have was meant to be

His deliverance our healing

What if God was…a newborn child

His power our gift for eternity

His blessings nurture, firm denial

Giving strength, life and liberty

What if God was…

Copyright 2009 Don MacIver, All Rights Reserved

Psalm 23; Faith Alone…

Psalm 23 (King James Version)

Psalm 23

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou         art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head     with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the     house of the LORD for ever.

———————————————

I do not in any fashion pretend to know or fully understand biblical readings, nor do I profess any particular faith or specific religious orientation. This writing is strictly and simply put a personal exploration and not intended as an imposition or solicitation of the reader.

During my childhood years I “faithfully” attended church with my family. I would sit in the pew, silent, motionless, mostly observing…the minister’s words, the congregation sitting in quiet attentiveness, some with earnest and meditative thought processes obviously milling through their mind. I never quite felt a true sense of belonging in or to the church yet there were moments, bible passage readings or hymns that clearly left some kind of indelible impression that have stayed with me so many years after not returning to church.

Once such impression came from Psalm 23. It has remarkable clarity, powerfully moving words, a message that I ‘believe’ has somehow guided me in my daily life and hopefully has been reflected in my actions. Perhaps it is this that will become my legacy. It is said that when one does something with pattern and consistency it becomes true habit and without conscious effort nor intention. Perhaps…I should read this writing more often…

My footsteps bear of consequence

A distant path behind me trails

But for these words of eloquence

My forebearance my legacy

Copyright 2009 Don MacIver, All Rights Reserved