Stardust rising

My own small tribute to the inimitable David Bowie

And he fell to earth this stardust man
To help us find the way
Of moving forward beyond prejudice
But for more than just one day
Kept telling us to be our own heroes
Has anyone listened to his message yet
How many more clues do we have to get?
Showed us we can change the visage
Even the essence of who we are
This man who asked if there was life on Mars
Reinventing himself without any fear
Proof he was always going to keep learning
All the way through this Lazarus kept returning
You know that he’ll never go beyond those stars
See him shining there this man of stardust
Of powder,  paint and circus clown
Telling you all to see if you must
The difference an open mind makes and heart to match
Read the message that goes with the pictures
And thank you Star Man for your chapter
Neverending. Nevermore.

Ailsa

©AilsaCawleyPoetry2016

Deep water still

She’s confused at her emptiness feeling..
Like the sea dredged of all life
Only the murk floating around her face
Clarity long gone
But it shouldn’t be this way and she’s fighting angry
Though you’ll never know as it’s hidden
Behind a rock and in the gloom
You choose not to notice
None but she can ever enlighten and pride tells her
In an urgent voice to say nothing
Bury it away for raw disappointment in you
Can take her nowhere but down
To the bed of the ocean where you dwell
Waiting to cause pain
So she smiles and dances to lift away from the author of doom
And forward to forge clean new waters

Ailsa

©AilsaCawleyPoetry2016

To walk away

And I try to wipe the cry from my face
Before I can be seen broken
Breathe deep my head says calmly interjecting
So I follow the command
How else can sense come from mayhem?
You didn’t say the words I heard
Even shake my head to convince myself
And lose the battle
Numb from words I have to believe are spoken in desolation
I remember long ago words of love or whatever it means
Had taken them as shielding walls
Oh how wrong
You can’t feel as a puppeteer only pull control strings
Watch as the tautness makes you feel warm
It’s all you feel
Deep down I know this but I have to pretend
I am in control until,  until I’m strong enough
To walk without a glance back

Ailsa

©AilsaCawleyPoetry2016

Mercurial Mairi

She arrived slipping out from the wall it seems
A liquid flowing form so mercurial
Yet I’m drawn to speak with her as if an urgent need has arisen
What exactly troubles you child, she asks soothing,
This place
Exactly what she emphasises with a smile
Encouragement or amused by me I cannot tell
It’s stealing me
How can it get into the very depths winding
Like Ivy it is surrounding me from all angles
Ahhh is her reply
Her grasp cool on my arm
Be still child,  it is not predator and prey we discuss
Don’t you feel it,  the difference here?
Nodding without a word
It’s the gods,  yours,  mine,  any, none
They have answered your call do you see?
They take something first to be sure you don’t feeeel it, hmmm
It’s a sense of something shifting,  slipping
When they’re sure they take other parts if they need to
What do they take (eyeing the room like it’s at fault!)??
You feel your heart shift first
Your mind following after if it needs to imagine
Some hearts are more logical resistant to impulse
Tell me child,  where does your heart bide?
Where can you find wildness,  desolation,  beauty and more
Do you feel peace and tranquillity and everything more
Do you see storms and run away or need to stay
See light play in morning and evening and magic dance in the air
Tell me child,  where else can you fare?
I nod you’re right is it really that simple
As a tap on my shoulder
Whose voice tells me we’re going are you ready?
I’m just….
Talking to that wall I know,  first sign of madness he laughs
Looking back she is gone mercurial mairi
Like she never was there…..

Ailsa

©AilsaCawleyPoetry2016

Wolven ways of working

The sheeplike face changed to my confusion
As the lupine features emerge as a free beast again
I had to hide from the fears that cause hate
He nods to emphasise his point
If a harmless lamb you see before you or a wolf
What would you choose?
You’re taught from infant to reject all that’s clever
They say I’m cunning,  sly,  so I played
Their game as they like it and won
Did you see me as I really am behind what I presented?
Eyes question my thoughts but lips never move
I heard the exchange in my head
Now my panic sets in and I am certain I’m mad
For since when can an animal shape change?
Squeaks my human brain
Terror strikes your heart as I break the bonds you gave
Turn dead eyes to me dull like a fish that’s sacrificed
The sheeplike face hiding behind it’s sameness
Show me the wolf her difference and honesty
She will warn if she is striking
I take the wolf in the hills as my creature any time
It’s the sheep facade I care nothing for

Ailsa

©AilsaCawleyPoetry2016

Skye skies

The bluish light pulls itself over the horizon
Bleeding slowly and creeping towards me silent, brooding
I see around those who feel only menace
Calming to watch the hues play out
Their tones change with the moments deepening
Reaching like the arms of a giant
But I know not whether you will hold or smother
From safety to menace
The breath catches in my throat as blue,  green,  purple mingle
Swirling like the currents in a brook eddy
Overtaken in a sudden blanket of black
The light of day has gone now
To leave the chill night?
Yes
Looking up I am heartened by the trail above me
The magical starscape map
That can lead me anywhere but will hold me
As it’s willing prisoner

Ailsa

©AilsaCawleyPoetry2016

Sky dance

The whoops and wails, Catherine wheel trails
Descending to land in a dance
And she watches afraid but can’t tear away
As beauty with horror unfolds
What is it exploding in marvellous dance above?
Has it come but to kill or cure
It’s broken the darkness of the skies with magnificent colour
But her eyes make her stay
Such a spectacle in mystical greens holding spectres
Purple gifts of hope entertwine
She knows she should run and hide
For it’s always been this way or you’ll bring on (she shivers)
The end of the world
These are the curses of woman they say
A dawning mind tells her who would know it was her
If it were true….
So she stands tall, taller still braving the storm expected
To find that after effects are simply this
The skies darken to only stars knowing
That she didn’t hide or flee
The most beauteous sight seeing but for now…
Can’t repeat.

Ailsa

©AilsaCawleyPoetry2016

Unmasking the gift

Quietly calm and willing to give of herself
There is no limit to the support offered
Never been told the credit limit is reached
A top up required
A repayment due
To those who are within her circle of trust
Holding up the walls around her hear the selected moments
The times she shares her side
Not just soaking up their troubles like an oily rag
Now? 
She is allowing herself to think and be free
Giving still many a gift
But today she acquiesced that it’s really alright
To need rest
Ask for a hand to hold
In the twilight,  midnight,  darkness
Hell she is deserving and so worth it all
Filled to the brim now her knowing expands
Her learning or her staying will show things
In a wondrous three dimensional way
And she will be thankful for it all now
Her beauty
The type she sees as normal
Has just grown wings to make her fly high
Do I know her?……

Ailsa
© AilsaCawleyPoetry 2015

Peace within the storm

It rages picking up throwing things
Whistling at windows as an angry wasp
Banging
On doors and walls
I’m coming in it’s telling you laughingly
But only when I decide to enter
Cower at my majestic work now my dears
Hurling rain like missiles to break the strongest
And the weak will follow it laughs
Which are you?
And as the lights dim and flicker like fairy lights
I feel a sense wrapping me in it’s blanket
A kind of peace that rolls through me
The details don’t matter
Something bigger has taken the control of everything
I yield to it happily as I can only breathe
Give it my full attention
My gratitude overflows at it’s wild gift

Ailsa
© AilsaCawleyPoetry 2015

Stepping in to time

She steps in,  out,  forward around anything to not speak
Deep in the depths is that hidden away hazelnut
The one with the curse inside
Sometimes she dares herself to pour the secret out
Like a cup of molten chocolate thick and gooey
No longer worried about neat edges
Because it may spill everywhere
How much longer before she cracks the nut and it all
EXPLODES!!
And what then, what happens?
She sighs and watches while she lets the steam escape
Tamp it down a little longer
Forcing the lid on her secret self and making her lips smile
Because she is afraid of something
Herself
She’s getting sick of smiling in the face of her rage
Playing the role corrupt as it is
The nutshell has cracks and she is breaking free
When she is unleashed heaven help you for her storm breaking
Could bring your destruction

Ailsa
© AilsaCawleyPoetry 2015