Poems - JP Melville

Saga of a Journeyman 1980’s   jp melville A quest hopes ultimately for reward Though the search provides only clues Leading us further along our road, Dark path inviting us in, With knotted roots over which to stumble Beasts lurk behind each moss stained tree Chasms beyond the lip of age worn gullies Opaque black dampness Swallows the sight and imagination Dissolves the grip of sanity. Life’s forest Gross vegetable malignancy seethes with creeping vines Rugged trunks conceal time worn secrets Jagged undergrowth With spines and berries of erotic scarlet Bitter poisons Ermine black blue and virgin white Overhung with impenetrable lattice of leaves and limbs Through which rare moonlight, stars, or daylight break Like inspiration, token reminders At places far off the path Velvet shafts of light Illuminating snaps of forest in transcendent aura. Alone he must struggle, grope, stumble and crawl With but intangible vision

The Moon 29 november 1982 jpmelville On a broad hillside covered smoothly with snow Strewn myriads of her diamonds sparkled before open night. Her deep woods by, quiet, occasionally coldly crackling Through the sharp clarity of her lucid voice, open night. She spoke without words in wild night. I drew her breath pure in wild night. With awe I received her fair touch in wild night. Cold to my skin, in wild night. Washed in the light of her pale beauty’s grace, Alone in heavy boots and long woolen coat I and the hills about me stood, still, Her calling through the silence, night, To hers sheening, mine reddened by frost I lifted my face, Heart pounding blood, eyes moist with warm tears, in silence, Night. What words spoken she shares at night When I stand alone in her wilds Others before me have known But I am not jealous For I have understood In silence Night.