Signed copies of books available.

Signed copies of "Love is a Dreamer" and "The Echo of Heartbeats" are available price £10 GBP (or equivalent) inc. p+p. using Paypal.   Please send requests to      alangilbert@ymail.com        giving full postal address. Thank you. 

Don't Upset the Birds

Mrs Wintridge wore a beret

waddling along the street,

tatty coat with missing buttons

ragged slippers on her feet.

In her garden was a fountain

where the birds would come to play,

Mrs Wintridge didn’t like it

screamed at them to go away.

Then she fell into the water

all the birdies gathered round,

saw her splash and cough and splutter

chirped while Mrs Wintridge drowned.

Fathered friends are bathing daily

drinking water as they will,

in that fountain in the garden

where a berets floating still.

Copyright© Alan Gilbert 2011.

 Copyright© Alan Gilbert 2011.

Poets

We are the poets

The scribers in verse,
  

To some we're a blessing 
     

For others a curse.
      

Our life's a mosaic 
     

Of meter and rhyme,

We fall to depression

And rise to sublime. 

Once it was said  
  

We are slaves to a muse, 

Who love us or leave us 

We are here to abuse.

One minute earthbound

Then soar to the stars, 

We either have naught

Or the planet is ours. 

If I should be starving 

In some distant land,

A slum garret in Cairo

Or a squat in the strand
. 

Don't come to bail me

It's painful but then,

If I free fall to hell

It's all grist to my pen.  

Copyright© Alan Gilbert 2011.

They Did

And did they cry to that all knowing God

When gas and shrapnel filled the fêted air?

They trampled broken bodies in the sod

And all the world was sickened with despair.

And did they prey in shelters underground

While all around the shattered city fell?

They dug for hours for children never found

And wondered at their sin to earn such hell. 

And did they bow before mysterious ways

While suffocating in that poison shower?

They fell like weeds most innocent of days

But knew no chosen mercy in those hours. 

And did they sing in thanks that all was done

While dancing on the terror stricken earth?

Their promise was, the prize of peace was won,

Today our dead bear witness to its worth.  

Copyright© Alan Gilbert 2011.

Honeysuckle Wild

Weaving softly through my dreams

As gentle as a murmured prayer,

While I the wide eyed sleeper feel 

Her essence in me everywhere.

There is no shallow in her eyes

No lineament to less extol, 

She moves enticing lips to mine 

And breathes her music to my soul. 

Too soon the jealous Eos spreads

Her fingers to reclaim her throne,

And with the scarlet blushing dawn

The dreams recede I cannot own. 

Though I inhale her autograph

Left ne by this natures child,     

The sweet perfume of ardent love 

Bouquet of honeysuckle wild.

Copyright© Alan Gilbert. 

Daggers and Sapphires

Daggers and sapphires

Range the world over,

Bright heart of crystal 

The beauty of blue.

Steely edged wishes

With painful reminders,

Of weapons concealed

In a lie that seemed true.  

The flash of the gemstone

Will dazzle the sunset,

Turn red tinted skies

To a pale cobalt hue.

But the glint of the blade

Like a flame in the moonlight,

Brings pain to the many

And joy to the few. 

Copyright© Alan Gilbert 2011.

Charm

You took my hands

Though they were cold,

Redeemed my body

Young for old.

Returned my silver

Hair to gold

And said it was a dream.

You stole the shadow

From my eyes,

Replaced the dark

With starry skies.

Then softly laughed

At my surprise

And said, “ Inhale the theme”.

You kissed a smile

From every frown,

Our bodies danced

In eider down.

We fell so deep

As if to drown

In passions racing stream.

Copyright© Alan Gilbert 2011.

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Falling

As months side into fall

Dull evenings gather in.

October’s bedroom chill

Creeps under summer spreads.

Downhearted flowers droop

And huddle from the wind,

Lawnmowers reminisce 

In ramshackle leaky sheds. 

Dew glistened fallow fields

Are strewn with natures lust, 

Drab rich fecund accretion 

Snags on hoes and rakes. 

On arboreous city streets

The force fed shoppers throng,

Dragging weary feet through
Wind flotsam golden flakes 

Night Feed

The city's heart beats through the night

The arteries still oozing blood,

That trickles through the urban streets

To meet the dawn and be a flood.

The hangers from the twilight clubs

Dance homeward in the dizzy street,

And sluggish dregs on subway trains

Rub bleary eyes and trampled feet.

The mewing of romancing toms

Gives voice to jealous backyard dogs,

While in a garret, bleary eyed

A bedsit hack is feeding blogs.

The night watch on the juggernauts

Are owl eyed and diesel fumed,

As thousands dream their way towards

Another day to be consumed.

 Copyright© Alan  Gilbert 2011.

How Wonderful the Night

How wonderful the night
When long felt passions meet,
The touch of silk on silk
Caressing hands and feet.

The thrill of clouded eyes
Anticipation of each touch,
Shared sensual ecstasy
Was never felt so much.

How will the pleasure fall?
From hands or lips or ice,
How pleasing to the heart
To practice such a vice.

Copyright© Alan Gilbert 2011.

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

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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"