One last dream
Hi, welcome to my Blog.
This week’s Blog has a numbers focus – my “magic” numbers as it were – plus a couple of extra pieces for good measure.
In the early morning waking a little early so you can have an extra 30 minutes under the duvet is great!
One last dream
One last dream before breakfast.
Before the increasing purr of cars
Passing to work and school.
And the wood pigeon calling out of silence
Joined by the chorus.
Toast and dressing gowns blended
With the kettle’s steam, water on coffee grounds.
Switching power on to the rooms
Hums and relay powering back.
Curtains opened, letting the garden in.
One last dream before the question
”when is it morning?” is answered
And the new begins again.
Strange.
How I wake through the night
But it’s not yet morning.
And on morning
It seems permission to sleep;
Safe till the bedside alarm sounds.
Gently rolling over into
One last dream till then.
Forty Lines
Forty of coke to choke all sense,
And forty of nights in wilderness
This is the number when life counting down begins,
T minus 40 ‘til the engine sings.
Forty dollar bills equals two twenties,
Bag up the groceries and put out the empties.
This is the number of married years, just five to the ruby,
Ten short of the golden, unless divorce hands you the booby.
This was the punishment we got set at school,
But the lines were set by some pedantic fool.
As if writing would change us
Plus the slaps and the rule.
Forty in the thirty zone to make speed cameras flash,
Equals august heat relieved by swimming pools
Splish and splash.
Took a hundred then spent sixty,
So I’m now strapped for the cash.
I thought heard James Joyce say:
“Forty shades o’ green, but not yellow
Went to Mass on Sunday then beats the wife
– the quare fellow!”
What else could forty be but, finds you crisised
Mid way ‘tween hell and heaven.
The guitar you dreamt of at sixteen’s
Now played by that old man
Who looks like your dad. So sad
Just blasts out rock to reggae from 5:15 to 0:07.
Forty’s the task, but more rhyme I haven’t any
So I’ll just finish, almost like Jimmy Dean,
Forty distilled into twenty.
For Twenty Five
I’ve eaten my bread with bitter herbs
As my days and hurts passed over.
Ups and downs, clouds cross the sky,
Not all pigs in clover.
But I’ve got a constant blessing
A constant presence there.
You alongside always
With love to give and share.
We’re four months approaching
Then comes our silver year.
In forgetting to count all our days
Lies our happiness there.
No way out except the blues
When you’re lonely
Alone, no one left around.
And your feet seem to stumble
No direction on the ground.
You’ll find the way
From Darkness’ noose
No way out except the blues.
Got no money
No idea just where it’s at.
Landlord stops listening
Took your keys back.
You’ll find that way
We all can choose.
No way out except the blues.
No way out, blues gives release
For after tears, then follows peace.
And sleep will take you along the way
To that future, brighter day.
When you’re lonely
Alone, no one left around.
And your feet seem to stumble
No direction on the ground.
You’ll find the way
From Darkness’ noose
No way out except the blues.
Thank you for reading, till the next Blog, keep well and safe.
Regards,
Louis
This Blog and all contents, copyright Louis J. Casson 2016. Poems / lyrics taken from: East Nashville Vibe (in preparation, 2016) See you in the big time (2011) The dreams police do not exist (2014)