Counsellors

Here they come,

Those leeches in disguise.

Devils tongues,

That lick and gently prise apart

Experience

Not settled yet within the soul;

Extracting from it

Bleeding chunks of life

That really should be left alone

To form its essence. 

They pry, and poke,

And suck into themselves

That which,

If left alone to grow

One day might make

A human of some substance.

Reflections

How softly did that girl slip swiftly by;

Without me really seeing,

Though my eye

Lay close upon her each and every day

With varying degrees

Of affection.

And now,

As nature has her way

She makes the passing years

My affliction.

I see,

Each time,

Her smile dissolve away

When catching unawares

Her reflection.

I wonder if she sees

The sadness

Showing on my face

And if she knows

How hard it is

For me

To keep the tears

From starting in my heart,

When every time

I look more closely

At her lovely face

And know 

Each soft and gentle line

Reflects more than 

The passage of the years,

And that those lines

Should be less hers, 

More mine.

The Gardener

The Gardener kneels before the ruined plant;

Breathes softly on her ragged crown.

‘I am the Son of the Soil,’ He says,

‘Please, listen to me now’.

She (dimly) hears the sigh;

And feels the breath

That stirs her ageing leaves.

One gently tug,

The oldest ones are gone.

She breathes with greater ease.

Another, sharper pull.

Cool, spring air surrounds her.

(The Sun has not quite reached this far).

Her inner leaves unfurl to show

The tightest bud of all.

He breathes again, more deeply.

Moisture glistens,

Trickles down,

Bathes parched roots.

The softest touch of warmth,

A gentle easing of the bud

Towards the Sun.

Freedom! From an age

Of wanting and neglect.

A quickening; a raging of renewal.

Another, tender touch,

But firm; to give support

To such intense profusion.

The Sun strikes.

She opens; swells, bears fruit

And dies, content.

‘I am the Lord of the Earth,’

Says the Gardener,

‘And here are the seedlings

Of my secret soul.’