Airbags Deployed

Way ahead

was dark

drear

dismal.

Couldn’t see

for miles

for fog

for yards.

Rearview

mirror

wipers

not a thing

was working.

Steering

blindly really

auto on.

Road bumps

turbulence

or what

you will

were all

too willing

too available

too there

just there

right on it

Thud!

Like that.

Visibility

was down

a downer

anywhere

was nowhere

seen.

 

Where

clarity

the RAC

some squad

that rescues

travellers

on call saint

sojourners’

pre-demoted

christopher

for all

de

mot

iv

at

ed

still the

motor

running

though

seatbelts

fastened

odds were

looking

dire.

Pitstops

on the way

no chance

or chances

risky.

Pelted

window

panes

pained

by tears

blurring

visual

hope

to steer

car

plane.

But miles

of belted

journeys

undertaken

experience

desire

to land

to reach

other side

of void

airbags

deployed.

Test

passed

again.

Whetstone

Spit and rub,

hone the cleaver,

sharpen

surgeon’s scalpel, your knife,

circulate moisture

border to rim,

glanced instruments

worthy to slice

 through leather-bound carcass,

the toughest of flesh,

diseased

or virgin pure,

unanaesthetised,

we cope, we grimace,

we lather,

so we endure.

Compacted grit,

bedevilled,

measured,

quarrier’s immortal bone

stropped metallica,

purposed, wet,  

abraded life

against dry whetstone.

Rotate the edge, buckle not 

when dryness 

halts, grinds progress

in task,

double-sided finish

separates blunt

from acuity’s  strength,

perspicacity sharpened, unmasked.

 

The Rose

Seek the flower not the thorn;

Therein lies sweetest nectar.

Sharpest points protect the self.

Who else will be protector?

Dismiss the gore that razor pierces,

Blood merely proves thy worth.

Look deeply to the core of flower,

Where manna, taste thereof.

Sometimes Song

Sometimes I understand

Everything about you,

Who you are,

Where you are coming from,

What lies hidden within.

Sometimes I look in your eyes,

Deeply knowing,

I hear your song.

Straight to my heart

The melody begins.

 

Sometimes I wonder,

I shake my head

In disbelief,

Lost in muddied waters

At what I fail to see.

Sometimes searching through pools

Clouded by errant thoughts,

Caught in spirals of gloom,

Chasing your mind,

While you flee.

 

Sometimes I do not know

Anything about you

At all.

Nothing transmits,

Error codes find fault.

Sometimes I want to give up

Lie down,

Forget,

Begin again,

Revert to position default.

 

Sometimes you shut yourself

Away from me,

Leave a bank of unknowing

Nothing credited,

Deposited, withdrawn.

Sometimes I fail

In all efforts to reach,

To breach the divide.

Sometimes there’s nothing,

Save forlorn.

 

Sometimes all hope

Descends into abyss,

No bliss,

Nothing computes,

We’re lost.

Sometimes a ray shines

Faintly,

Partial illumination

Protects, averts,

No need to count the cost.

 

Sometimes we go on

In the face of all.