Dragonfly Smoke
Susan Sowerby
A shimmering, delicate, mortal
Vanishes like smoke
Fleeting beauty gone
A cruel cosmic joke
I live in the middle of nothing
For nothing everything is
A thought in a dreaming mind
Who cares nothing for this?
My hectic head, aches for sense
My heart begs rest in non-sense
Between the two, I learn to dance
Nature’s religion - Balance
Upon a tight rope taut with stress
Embracing a pilgrim’s loneliness
Yearning for wings with the power to express
Freedom’s wild restlessness
In a stormy search for the core of love
Below I’m told, is as Above
Eternal truth of futures past
Is found anew,
By each,.
At last.
##
Vampire in the bottle
Susan Sowerby
Once you danced, sweet princess
Holding fast your man
Strolling hand in hand
But now Sherrie, you dare not look
Into your lovers eyes
You see a mocking stranger there
Wearing his disguise
Grief shatters you, why should I care?
For I’m the new ring master
I crack the whip and you will dance
Faster Sherrie, Sherrie, Faster
I love it when you mirror me
It triggers sweet despair
He beats you when he cannot face
My dark reflection there
How can he partner you, Sherrie?
While he is slave to me
Another swinging marionette
Upon my brewery tree
Just a slight of hand, my sweet
No time for social graces
I’m out of the bottle and he is in!
I’ve cleverly switched our places
The tune is mine, and I say dance!
Your man is yours no more
He can’t resist my dominance
Sherrie, you’ve lost the war
Oh! Help me quench a vampire’s thirst,
M’dear, what can I do?
His wine red blood is not enough
For now I yearn for you
Sherrie I’ll take you there
Sons and mothers wives and lovers
All makes tasty fair
So drown your sorrow little one
Your every need I’ll meet
Come to me, my sad Sherrie
Your flesh is young and sweet
###
The Search of the Fool
Susan Sowerby
Life has meaning I haven’t found
'Its Tirra Lirra River' gets me down
So I walk the streets a friend to hale
And meet a man without a pail
Who milks a cow which sups up ale
From a huge and crumpled horn
I ask of him how he will drink
Without a pail, without a sink
What he’s about I cannot think
He cries
‘Sit down and hear my tale’
‘Once life had meaning,’ comes his sigh
‘Then looking on the world one dye
I saw its meaning by and by
Is only what I give it.’
Assaulted by that meddlesome thought
My mind lies empty holding naught
I cannot think of what to do
So I sit and talk to you
Meaningless.’
‘Is such a thought of any use?’
I ask of this strange recluse
‘Exactly!' I've already said
'What use to be alive or dead?’
His words needle me
I sit and stare a little while
Completely blank and out of style
My new coat dabbles in the dirt
As he milks his cow another squirt
And gazes wisely down
Say I, ‘I’ve sat here long enough
I need to go and do my stuff
Yet don't know why I’m doing it
I feel I’m just a senseless twit
Going round and round and round’
So if you see an odd little man
Who milks a cow without a can
Do not stop, don’t ask him why
Hide your questions, walk on by
Or you’ll never be the same.
Tomorrow I will pack my bag
Roll my blanket, strap my swag
And walk out in the empty day
To see if I can find my way
In a world that’s lost its Meaning
###