Dismal Muse

I thought I heard a melancholy muse

Murmur sad songs to a weary soul,
When life's uncertain tide was on the ebb
And nothing in the spirit could console

Her doleful strain was hanging in the air
That ice besprinkled dank November day,
Marooned upon that fog enshrouded moor
I listened and my will was sapped away.

"So many loves the world will never know
Ten thousand blossoms perish in the seed,
The tangled weeds and nettles overgrow
With razor thorns that cause the rose to bleed"

Were they benign shadows in the gloom
Distorted sound of creatures in their lair,
Or some scowling spirit sent abroad
To cast such mournful music everywhere.?

Copyright© Alan Gilbert 201

Reflected in Blue Eyes

As stars reflected clear in crystal pools 

Dance as evening breezes stir the air,
So your eyes as mirrors of your heart
Sparkle with the love that's burning there.

As the crescent phases of the moon
Tinge autumn nights with lunar mystery,
So the smile that plays around your lips
Promises enchanted nights to me.

As the sun that warms the buds of spring
Smiles to greet the waking earth below,
So your beauty stirs the life in me
The sweetest aspect I will ever know.

Copyright© Alan Gilbert. 2011.

The Silence was Bliss

Tami and Jason were born to be lovers

Met in the park in games with the others,
When he first saw her smile
Their story began
That night in his bedroom
The images ran.
All heat and confusion
No sense to all this.
His thoughts were exciting
The silence was bliss.

As Tami saw him her heart started falling
Romantic by mature her future was calling,
As she wrote in her diary
Alone in her room,
She drew at the bottom
A bride with a groom.
Then she drifted to sleep
Still thinking of this,
Her dreams were of loving
The silence was bliss.

Love is a flower that grows in the sun
One Friday in May the two became one,
They spent time by the ocean
Their first time away,
To the rhythm of breakers
Two bodies at play.
When sleep came upon them
In one final kiss,
As night closed around them
The silence was bliss.

Now in the rooms they rented from others
Furniture given by fathers and mothers.
The world closes upon them
Soon making demands
There is industry round them
But none wanting hands.
Stung by every refusal
He would rage about this,
When he slept from the drinking
The silence was bliss.

Daily his anger would reach a new height
Looking for reasons to argue or fight,
When he lashed out and hit her
She was scared for her life,
With his hands at her throat
She struck with a knife.
Though she'd acted from terror
Had never meant this,
There was blood on her hands
But the silence was bliss.

Copyright© Alan Gilbert 2011.

Stills from the Dream

I'm cradled in dream
In a passionate slumber,
She covers my body
And eases my mind.
Just before sunrise
She kisses me softly,
Leaves me with smiles
Of the sensual kind.

Whenever I falter
She flies to be with me,
Lays her love on me
As soft as the rain.
She reaches out to me
And turns me to face her,
A smile from those eyes
And I'm living again.

I see her cavorting
In mists over water,
Her laughter rings out
In songs of the breeze.
I feel my heart skip beat
When she is beside me,
I'll hold het forever
Then beg a reprise.


Copyright© Alan Gilbert 2011.

The Ballad of Pacos Pete

It was a slow dog day

At the end of May

In the silver star saloon.

The place was as bleak 

As a dried up creek

And the lazy clock said noon.

The barkeep stood

As a barkeep should

Waiting to pour a drink,

But things were slow 

It was long ago

Since he heard a dollar clink.

There was a poker game

That was pretty lame

Just the usual bar room flies,

The Savana kid 

With Pecos Pete

And Sam with the shifty eyes. 

At the back of the room

Near the brass spittoon

A lazy hound dog lay.

He looked like dead

Till he moved his head

First thing he'd done all day. 

Bout as wide awake

As a booze soaked snake

He opened a weary eye.

The room was aghast 

That he moved that fast

And they kinda wondered why. 

Then they heard the sound

Of hoof on ground

A horse out on in the dust.

With a rush like that

When the beer was flat

You can bet that barkeep cussed.

Then those no good curs

Heard the clang of spurs

And their eyes was open wide.

When a bat wing door

Hit the bar room floor

And a stranger stepped inside.

He were six feet tall

In his boots an all,

As wide as a piebald mare. 

He had a scarred up face

And his guns in place

With a shock of coal black hair. 

He stood a while

Then gave a smile

In an aunry kind of way.

He said, "Pecos Pete

Get on yer feet

I'm the law an yer gonna pay"

"For the things you done

While on the run

With The Sundance Kid and crew.

I got papers here

And they make it clear

There's a bounty out on you" 

Well Pecos drew

And the bullet flew,

The worst darn shot in town.

Took a ricochet

Off the barkeeps tray

And the stranger’s pants fell down.

Well you can't look tough

When you're in the buff,

So the stranger turned and ran.

Guess he won't get far

In the desert thar

But he'll sure get a real good tan. 

.

Copyright© Alan Gilbert 2011

http://www.facebook.com/alanspoetry

Ways She is

As child, she comes with impish grin

And teases me at start of day,

Then reaching, takes me by the hand

Urging me to come and play.

To run through fields on summer days

Or chase the butterflies that dance,

Then search for fairies in the wood

Who shy away from human glance.

As girl, she comes at night to me

With flashing eyes and winning smile,

Then coyly turns to me and asks

If I will stay with her a while.

At times she takes me to her room

And shows me pictures of her dreams,

Moons and stars from mystic worlds

That shine in vivid reds and greens.

As woman, ever close to me

Tells me she will always stay,

Knows the words I love to hear

And sings them to me every day.

She reads me verses from her heart

That speak of things a poet should,

And every day she teaches things

I knew, but never understood.

Copyright©Alan Gilbert 2011.

From, "Love is a Dreamer"