Category: Imagination

Two selves

She is watching but cannot be observed in return
Hovering at the woman’s left shoulder
Like a sentinel trying to warn through soundproof glass
Walk away from this
The woman sometimes catches your scream on the wind
When the frustration of her futile situation angers enough
But she is mostly deaf through choice
Because she heard a question
How much longer will you accept this offer of nothing
Before walking to find something?
Again and again she denies the left hand road
The different ways to turn for fear of…..
What?
You?
Herself?
Him?
Maybe none of these but they mask it all quite nicely
Eventually her head will quiet enough and she will hear
It will be as though she sees the other woman
Her old self,  or maybe the new
And the one to bring her peace from her fears and storms
Was within all along and by her side
Her voice of reason will guide her through

Ailsa
© AilsaCawley Poetry 2015

Twisting on the hook

The woman extracts casually what she needs as he watches in fear 
You must know it was harmless….he begins
To whom? Her eyebrow arches as no reply is heard
Pulling the cloak tighter she says quietly people can be broken 
There is a price to be paid, when we carelessly cause hurt, 
The scales weigh and measure the blackened removed heart 
You expect to hurt, cause pain, destroy and casually stroll away? 
His mouth opens and closes like a goldfish in a bowl, but no words 
What I have here barely covers the amount required to mend your damage 
So how do I get recompense? Her blackened nails tap finely on her chin 
She stands a slight woman, and smiles in a way he cannot comprehend  
What appears to be a ball of fire barrels forth from her widened jaws 
Freezing cold it hits him, where he is twisting on the hook and he is still now 
He opens his eyes and is in a different place, his own bed 
But her voice rings in his head recompense, recompense, recompense 
A dream, night terror, yes
But not the lonely trail of blood down his chest….

Ailsa

©AilsaCawleyPoetry2015

Water Land

She has swam these waters too long now
Borne their storms with faith it will get better because it has to
Doesn’t it?
Remaining hopeful that a balance can be struck
Between her time on land and her time immersed
Her need of the waters is rising an almost instinctive craving
To just swish through the waters
Losing the land
But regaining the fluid of her beloved waters
One last time, one last hope
Slipping through her fingers like sand through an eggtimer
The grains are running out and she could never stay
Forever
What it was always fleeting yet not
As she glides into the dark waters with moonlight reflecting
She takes a final look back to nod goodbye
To free herself
Her tail flipping as her life is restored
The mermaid leaves the land of Man knowing
To stay would destroy her
And the moon glows to give her blessing.

Ailsa
© AilsaCawley Poetry 2015

Danny the food thief

Written tongue firmly in cheek after seeing a friend’s dog is again caught stealing the cat’s food.

Soulful brown eyes regarding the giant above
I didn’t mean to do it but the lure was too strong
They get such good food and I just wanted some
Before I know it the plate it’s all empty
I swear Mr Giant dad I just wanted a taste
Could smell it forever and my legs found such haste
Please Mr Giant dad don’t look at me so
I’m ashamed of myself, I mean cats food you know
I’ll try so hard to get over this minor addiction
But please don’t tell my four legged friends as we go
Around the block,  of this tiny weeny affliction
Or my street cred will disappear and my reputation will die
That’s why I am widening my chocolate brown eyes.

Ailsa
© AilsaCawley Poetry 2015

Yowling at the moon

Why shouldn’t I cross the deliciously cool grass?
Towards that orb in the heavens that watches me
It’s face knowing and I want to share my secrets
In rhythmic musicality only it can understand
For it’s face is locked on mine
As I pour out my core unreservedly
To human ear it may make no sense at all
But the moon it listens to soulful music
The joy, pain, heartache in the same breath
Beating out everything
Wanton and joyful,  quiet and soothing
Till every last essence of me is shared wholly
And I am once more on the earth with the grass dewy underfoot
I am connected once more
But I am earthed and stardust equally
Calm and sated I bid my confidante farewell
For now

Ailsa
© AilsaCawley Poetry 2015

Little Miss Roses (II)

You were oh so clever you thought all down the line
The line that kept twisting and turning
Desperation for more perfection and yelling it’s mine 
Till inside you only feel this fear and it’s burning.
Yes little miss roses, life’s never so perfect as you want it to be
While you hurt and you hunt down the carers for you 
Or you get offered two things but demand to have three 
Doesn’t matter if it’s right or if it’s true 
You built yourself a problem like children build snowmen
With the fun and determination to succeed 
You had one small blip on your landscape but counted ten,
And then you decided to add in your own special greed.
Did you look before you leapt into your latest fairytale and magic?
Or did you just think now the roses are planted you’re saved
That it can’t turn all human and nasty and tragic 
When you decide to make your peace with the heart you engraved 
Your name with leisurely careless pride 
You’re going to discover the hurtful truth
There is nothing left but emptiness rattling around inside.
Barricade your windows, your doors, hide from the hurt you caused
And when you sniff the scent of the roses you hastily planted
Then will be time to wonder should you have paused.

Ailsa
©AilsaCawleyPoetry2015

Gilded folly

She’d passed days there knowing there was something else

But what?

It was out there twinkling in the night skies 

Shifting on the breeze like tiniest diamond fragments

It sparkled briefly and when she turned to glimpse

It disappeared.

She grew disillusioned berating herself for living in faeryland

And held the golden bars of her gilded cage

When glancing down she noticed for the first time

A key 

Curiosity pushed forward telling her to just peek 

She could always go back pretending nothing had been there 

And forget her boredom of the pretty cell and go back to 

Being pleasing 

Deep down something primeval stirred ,escape maybe?

Pushing through the barrier and turning the key 

Taking a deep breath to force her courage

Took a step

And with not a backward glance but some fear in her depths

She pushed forward anxious to find out

To know what she could be other than a gilded bird

A golden song thrush 

 From her past of building wonderment and disquiet 

To her new existence which allows the real person free

Taking her through difficulties past everything to her own

Transcendence 

Ailsa

©AilsaCawleyPoetry 2015

With grateful thanks and blessings to Michelle Quesada Art for use of her painting .https://www.facebook.com/MichelleQuesadaArt/photos/a.548594798534688.1073741829.548514958542672/552981418096026/?type=3

Dawn procession

Gloom lifting slowly showing a pale yellow light in the distance 

Almost hesitant a lonely voice calls announcing daybreak  

In darkness you waited 

In silence

Almost afraid 

To make that first sound to wake the sleeping world from slumber

You wonder if you really heard that solitary call

So you wait

Holding your breath so long your chest wants to burst

It seems

Closer, clearer, more confident another peep, another 

Till there is a procession that heralds the dawn 

That thanks the world for the day that’s arrived 

Blessing it greatly

For its light, a new hope

An extra chance to be as new in the world

Now you understand the dawning 

It has taken place and inside you feel your soul sing in recognition 

Of earth, nature , the dawn procession 
Ailsa

©AilsaCawleyPoetry 2015

They danced the dance

They danced the dance, one two three, three three, stop…

All change, flounce away partner change

Keep looking back for the sparks fly like fireflies,

To entice the partners to dance again as they will like addicts who need the next fix,

The sparks dance prettily in the sky

They were set off long ago and burned slowly like fireworks 

Chemical reaction, boom once ,twice, three times 

Till they fizzle and die burning themselves out into stardust 

And become the flickers of something that attracted them 

In the first place 

They are sparkle dust, part of someone else’s dance 

Watching them dance the dance of all change.
Ailsa

©Ailsa Cawley Poetry 2015

Mythical hero of never

Walking in with a swagger down the street, loaded with self importance

You carry yourself with the attitude of who shall bow to the mighty me today

I wonder momentarily if it’s just me whose skin shrivels at your touch

Like it’s trying to desperately escape being around you and your damp handshake

As you do that tie up over the pin striped suit you wear as armour of sorts

And begin asking questions that you’ve asked so many times before

I feel like answering a nonsense answer for my own amusement

Two  words in and your eyes have drifted drunk on getting to the heart and core

Herein lies your fatal flaw as you possess of these neither

Just an empty cadaver that glides along you have become a bore

Ailsa

©Ailsa Cawley Poetry 2015