There’s one special moment during your day,
When you can be honest and open and true,
And that’s the moment after you roll,
With your one special lover and you,
And your words should be coated with honey filled love,
And then luxuriantly spread,
But in that moment with peace in your heart,
This is what you might whisper instead,
“Do you still have that concentrate mouthwash,
I think you should go to the doc,
And where’s the closest taxi rank,
And I hear you’ve been ‘round the block,”
Also, “I think the condom I used just broke,
And what was your name again,”
Just beware, you should not say this,
Between you and your most intimate friend.
The Long Sleep
I had been sleeping too long hours lost
in a dream of deep dissatisfaction down a well
lined with failures
Its depth had silt of regrets and self- disgust
getting back up was a slow progress an eagle flying
In a vacuum, reluctant awakening like visiting death
and finding it hard to leave.
This time of the year makes me nervous it is called
the festive season, where to eat Christmas lunch,
will there be a hotel that will take us in
this fake friendship with people at the next table
cheers for the New Year that begin with arguments
at the taxi-rank.
Dreaming would be so easier with a log fire at home
something to eat and a glass of wine and the believe
next year will truly be a better place
The Journey
From petrol station, conurbation,
Queuing traffic moving slowly,
Taxi rank and railway station.
Glimpsing horses, grazing cows
By winding rivers, straight canals.
Open farmland, working ploughs.
Motorways; long distance coaches,
Post card village, pond and green,
Packs and snacks, hurried lunches.
By scenic route and shady lane,
Thru’ darkening forest; silent trees,
Ancient site and sunny plain.
Over bridges, under bridges,
Hidden valley, windy moor.
By the oceans, passing hamlets,
From door to distant door.
Barry Stebbings
3/4/2016