Virtually Gone

I get so e-xcited

And e-nthusiastic

About e-mail

And the internet.

The world wide web

Is wwwonderful

It clicks wwwith me.

Now all the time I’m

.(dot)communicating

casting my .(dot)net into

the information surf;

thumb out on

the super highway,

desperate to move

forward – slashing

all my links with

real life,

virtually e-xisting,

balancing on-line.

But I’m not

.(dot)complaining

because real-I.T.y

no longer is

a site I wish

to favourite.  

Fear of Flying

I am not scared of flying.

But I do fear when

Unexpectedly

The flying stops

While I am miles high

In just a thin

Tubular coffin,

Suspended in the air

By nothing.

When gravity

Petulantly

Reasserts authority

And life expectancy

Plummets like

Steel from thirty thousand feet.

Don’t get me wrong.

I know the odds.

Road journeys are

Statistically far

More dangerous.

I know the possibility

Of tragedy is slim.

(But then I knew the chance

That monsters dwelt

Beneath my bed

Was negligible,

Yet still I could not sleep.)

I suppose I really dread

That moment when

I realise what’s happening,

That soon I will be dead

But not quite yet,

That chance to think

Of all the things

I’ve not yet done,

To picture those I

Have not loved enough

Or love too much

To leave without

At least goodbye.

And as the terror

Digs its panicked fingers

In my soul

I’ll know that all my striving

Comes to this,

My epitaph,

“A life far too soon finished.”

Copyright Rupert Madeley 2010

Understandable

“This is not easy,” she sighed.

“I understand,” I said.

“But it’s over,” she confirmed.

“I understand,” I said.

“I do still love you,” she breathed.

“I understand,” I said.

“And I still care,” she whispered.

“I understand,” I said.

“It is not you,” she promised

“I understand,” I said.

“It’s just that,” she stuttered.

“I understand,” I said.

“I cannot cope,” she confessed.

“I understand,” I said.

“I am not ready,” she declared.

“I understand,” I said.

“So it’s all right?” she questioned.

“I understand,” I said.

“We’re still friends,” she concluded.

“I understand,” I said.

She smiled and kissed me

And turned and left.

I wish I understood.

Copyright Rupert Madeley 2010

Loss

I have no clever words to paint

The image of my sadness

Nor crafted phrases to portray

My sorrows sombre face.

She was my joy, my everything

The keystone of my wholeness

And now she’s gone that edifice

Collapses in it’s place.

And as I sit and stare my eyes

Become her vacant windows

Which tragically will never frame

Her precious face again

And through these empty spaces

The fracture in my heart shows

Until they fill with tears

Like glass covered by rain.

But strangely this raw livid pain

Is something that I cherish

And cling to like the dying embers

Of the evening sun.

For while these final flickering flames

Of her still cause such anguish

The endless freezing night

Without her here has not yet come.

Copyright Rupert Madeley 2010

Love

If love was air

You’d be my mountain top.

However hard life’s journey

There I’d stop

To rest and feast upon

That fresh, clean, vital spirit.

Renewed I could go on,

My strength restored by it.

If love was warmth

You’d be my sun drenched beach.

The perfect place to sit

And soak up each

And every golden ray;

To find peace deep within

And glow with happiness

The radiance that love brings.

If love was water

You’re my ocean blue.

I’d dive into your depths.

Immersed in you

I’d be content,

Your cooling waves around me wrapped

In such a close embrace

That never could be matched.

If love was music

Then you’d be my song.

A lilting melody

So sweet and strong

I’m filled with hope.

A tune with magic to impart,

As its rhythmic pulse

Beats time with my heart.

If love was life

You’d be my everyday,

Each step, each breath,

Each heart beat on my way;

My very substance, all that goes

To make me me;

The spark at my centre

Defining what I’ll be.

But love is love,

And you my love are mine,

So my heart overflows

With joy sublime.

Our lives, like two cords in one rope,

Entwined together.

We will face our future

Joined in love for ever.

Copyright Rupert Madeley 2010