Month: August 2016

The darkest corners 

Watching as the predator he is 

Hunting without sound or movement stillness his companion 

Inside his head the voices clamour seeking 

Like children to be heard above all others 

Yet the quiet one who shrinks catching his sight 

Or does tonight call for a sporting chase 

Hunt the stronger win through struggle? 

They will all fall where he places them 

Always he is justified saving them from obscurity 

He is angered that his work brings their faces 

Closer 

The ones who are unknown he gave a face, a name 

Never grateful for his help with immortality 

One day he will stop when voices say enough 

Or when glassy eyes stop floating in dreams 

When the compulsion to help them is gone 

Although there is a long way to go for perfection 

And only he is putting himself last 

If they could see they were chosen, special 

Not victims but queens of his passion 

The blood pooling from the latest queen harvested 

He sighs at his sacrifice always his 

Work to be done once more 
Ailsa 

©AilsaCawleyPoetry2016

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Filter the view 

You look at me in black and white like a newspaper page 

Flat and with no shades 

Every little detail beginning to blend or disappear 

To a basic short itinerary 

Peel back the shades, leave the scent trails 

Left by someone faceless before you 

What can you really see? 

My verdant hills of lushest green high and forbidding 

Yet changed little over time 

My purple carpet with so many hues 

A flooring of purest amethyst  

My yellows brilliant and dazzling to the eye 

Citrine to pop among other gems 

Look a little closer and more colours you’ll see 

Like the red of the bloodstone 

Flowers and berries are all a part of me 

Can you see me properly? 

Have you picked out the jewels here for each to enjoy 

Please take care, let them endure. 

Give your admiration, awe and respect 

But as you found it leave it 

And tell others to be sure. 

Ailsa 

©AilsaCawleyPoetry2016

Katrina 

She cannot believe the words she is hearing 

The assumptions made about who, and what she is.

Where are they looking? 

Then she feels for a moment that her ruse went too well 

Her mask too inscrutable 

Shaking her head, Katrina sighs 

So long trying to be accepted, acceptable 

Doing what they said 

Tell the truth and be yourself 

And she watched them back away into corners 

Their faces pinched, closed even wary 

This different one not the same as them 

She peeled away the parts that didn’t match the pattern 

They all followed the same one 

Till she could bear no more and had to let the pieces return 

To where they belong 

And she stands proud like beast set free from a yoke 

This is me she says without fear 

Well maybe a little but not enough to stop her now 

Not any more 

She hears words of what they assumed she liked 

Imagined how she thought or felt 

She laughs loudly the melody new and unfettered 

Finally she is free from expectations 

Katrina will be unafraid from now only herself. 

Ailsa 

©AilsaCawleyPoetry2016 

Rainbow hunter 

Hunting in the shallows she waited hoping 

To catch the fish this time or even a glimmer 

It swam deeper sensing a needful presence 

She needed to know it could be caught 

Caressed a moment less than a heartbeat 

Set free again to do it’s thing 

She wanted only to look and wonder at it 

Up close to know if the scales were brilliant 

Like captured rainbows glowing in unison 

Or if it’s coat was murky grey and eyes dead 

Lifeless like the voice she sometimes thought she heard 

Or rich and melodic and full of the deep waters 

Gurgling and laughing 

She will return tomorrow to stand in the icy waters 

Feet planted apart on rocks and blue with cold 

Soles cut from the jagged edges which she ignores 

Too determined to notice 

Tomorrow then she will return and the next day until 

She sees if the origin of a rainbow and a pot of gold 

Really start and finish together 

Here in the cool mountain river.
Ailsa 

©AilsaCawleyPoetry 2016

The pairing  

Her body undulates in pleasure as her lips taste 

The succulent greenery she holds 

Marvelling at the smooth exterior tough to bite 

That hides a secret core of lifeblood 

This she thinks is a secret she must share 

Watching the asp carefully draw near 
Her love watches her languishing at the tree base 

Feeling not the rough torn bark 

As it scratches his frame 

But a smile plays across the cherry red lips as she 

Unwittingly closes her eyes as the fruit touches her mouth 

Sighing in pleasure of a newness discovered 

Not yet shared 

And he wonders how to make that smile return 

Even for a fleeting moment 

To burn onto his memory when she’s gone as she will 

Maybe she’ll return but he is never sure 

And that is the addiction 

Hissing knowledge the asp quickens silent and stealthy 

It also is hungry and needing 

Her arm drops the fruit remaining as it strikes 

Her movements startled it to bite

And the smile he saw gone forever 

Or so he now dreams it….
Ailsa 

AilsaCawleyPoetry2016

That look 

He gave me that look the smile askew 

The face of knowing what life meant for sure 

Dark eyes warm pools full of everything and nothing 

As I misread their intentions 

For the fun I saw it was laughter 

For caring read any emotion but that 

You were capable only of doing what was expected 

Of giving out details many untrue 

Just for cheap laughs and a drink 

To join the crowd by proxy 

Alienated unless you were the entertainment 

It took a long while to see how desperate you were 

You craved attention never given 

Unless you gave the crowd of howling apes 

Your soul on a platter bowing low 

Begging their laughter and admission for moments 

The door always ready to slam shut 

Always the jester with an “anything m’lud” 

Laughing at others knowing you’re next 

Just for a while the insecurity fades 

As the donkeys bray loudly 

Each more afraid than the last 

That next laughter he’ll be under the spotlight squirming 

While they have you little jester 

They don’t turn on themselves like the animals they are 

One day a pack member will see through the haze 

Of fun and frivolous friends 

He’s the one with sense who has heart 

I hope you were one who did the same 

For your own sake 

Far away from their sideline it’s simple to see 

Step back and then run 

For your sanity before you become them 
Ailsa 

©AilsaCawleyPoetry2016

Sand timer 

It’s slipping slowly, faster, slower as my head spins 

No regrets at closing this chapter to turn the page 

Not a person forgotten in the whirling maelstrom 

As the vortex sucks me through after nodded assent given 

Am I supposed to feel every moment? 

Some are gentle goodbyes falling like dew on grass 

Others don’t seem to have registered yet 

The gentle I will miss but the ones who make braying farewells 

My heart says they forget you when you turn away 

So the ones who give gentle hugs and words of meaning  

Are the ones I will hold close knowing through changes 

I can meet and greet again 

Sand pouring through the timer faster than ticking clock 

To make new building blocks 

Pouring forth to meet me and hold me 

As the sea meets the shore 

It numbers nothing now but instead set me free 
Ailsa 

©AilsaCawleyPoetry2016

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