On Havana's white shore –
With each salt-infused whirl
That agitates its border –
Every sand is a potential pearl.
~~~~~~~
THE GARDEN OF EDEN
Come and find me in this garden;
I know not where the hours go.
Palm fronds brush against my cheek –
Lone toadstool, blush of mallow.
They say this is the Garden of Eden –
Rocks of lichen, red yucca.
But I think this is probably heaven –
Birds-of-paradise and vinca.
You will find here a green shelter;
Shade fills the inner sanctuary.
Canaries whistle o'er yonder –
Dew drops on a banana leaf.
Let's be as kids like we once were;
Take my hand, let's go find its end.
Make a wish on a four-leaf clover –
White passion vine, black-eyed Susan.
Heaven can wait if we persevere.
Let my bosom be your headrest.
Morning glories open to the day;
Sure feels like we're heaven-blessed.
~~~~~~~
The Sahara is another vast sea
Of zero-edge horizons
And remote hours of austerity
For "sailors" upon caravans
And the Sun beams mercilessly
And seems cruel to patrons
Until the Wind scoffs haggardly
And reshapes its art of dunes.
~~~~~~~
What a curtain Bisbee has
That keeps Mexico subdued
And influences the lands
From which the Sierra was hewn.
What purple folds keep Oaxaca
As a fortress in the sky
Breaking only in Panama
To let a vessel dredge by.
No courier have I on hand
Except the initial breezes that blow
So a whisper I channel into it:
Give to Colombia my hello.
~~~~~~~
a white-powdered landscape
sunbeams illuminate
nothing
~~~~~~~
El Capitan - you are a joint
Within the Sierra Nevadas
Of punctuated granite -
A sentinel of the ages.
Sylvestris partition -
Beam of silver - or steel -
Are you a step to heaven
Or a capstone for hell?
Stern expression of peace -
Keeper of fortitude -
Of what would you speak?
Would I even understand you?
~~~~~~~
TRIOLET #4
A wider landscape I see beyond;
It beckons to me from afar.
The land has a kaleidoscope dawn
And many wonders that lay beyond.
Run your hands over its grasses blonde;
Catch a whiff of its sacred rose attar.
To a kinder landscape I go beyond;
Someday it will beckon no more.
~~~~~~~
Rabat is a black pearl
Of cellophanic rainbow
Gazing upon waves that curl
And lick a shore little known.
Gibraltar is the dock
Where it steadfast moors –
Enjoying sailboats that flock
The Mediterranean course
Yet Barbary lions live
Not far, in the Rif Mountains –
Golden, assertive –
Their kasbah amid the grass.
~~~~~~~
a stalactite gleams
black water drips
the only sound
~~~~~~~
Many-hued pubs bid me welcome
As would friends on the street
And so does Cromwell Bridge
Where long ago we first met.
I see the fields where we played
And plucked up the kerry violets.
I gaze out over the dark bay
Reflecting our lives as glass.
Memories live but a season
And like a photograph
And erelong, I will be as one
Fading - crumbling fast.
When you are old and banjaxed
Will you still remember
And find there my countenance
Among the leas of Kenmare?
~~~~~~~
Through a break in the trees
Flows a tawny river
Sanding the rock endlessly
As a peerless carver.
The jungle is not seen
In the murky water's face.
The skies do not skim upon
Its delicate countenance.
It refuses the tree's growth.
The rushing seeks to replace
Tribulations for peace
Skipping them away.
Its waters fill my mind.
I remember Zongo Falls
As an obscure haven
For which my heart longs.
~~~~~~~
Great and Rugged Pyrenees
Whose solid presence demands
Notice of lush valleys
And Spanish oaks that dot the glens -
Prevailing winds churn in wrath -
I stop to breathe in them;
You cut the horizon in half
And grip my eye with icy hands.
Your cohort - a mix of clouds -
Can't forever hide your majesty.
Seville looks on from the south;
Andorra sings the victory.
~~~~~~~
Kalimba notes drift out
To my delighted ear
As if the Matobo plains
Were conveyed from afar.
The tines - reverberating -
Complete an ethereal bar.
Each bar - artfully plucked -
Speaks kindly to my heart.