Hold that glance

She looked at him
There was no longing there

     An old classic on pages so yellow
     The creases on the cover and the dusty feel
     Every word still vivacious with the zest for life
     It still has it magic, its razor-sharp wit
     The maidens still pretty , the bells still peal.

     The paper so crisp , it threatens to crumble
     Yet the turf for the army's thunder
     The ink, so faint she strains to read,
     Still weaves nights of cold air laden
     with treachery thick and mysterious wonder

He looked at her
There was no longing there

     The yellow so bright, its almost golden
     A half-open bud, posing as a flower
     The scent so deep, there's substance there
     Compliments the smell of the musty paper
     All at once - potent, sweet and sour.

     So young so fresh, yet so proud
     The pollen within the promise of life
     Breathing in every shade that's hers
     His eyes never the green thorn saw
     For the petals alone cut like a knife

What if

What if what I call blue is green to thine eyes
And I call your green blue, and so do you
If my sky was the colour of grass to you
And what if this wasn't limited only to hues

If a ripe fruit tasted to you as a sour one to me
But we both called it sweet all the same
What if the mirror showed you what it did to me
And it was 'me' to both. What a weird game!

We'd talk of the same things we loved
The sky at sunset and the lemon tart
The words would be the same as would the names
But what we loved, poles apart

Stars on the Wall

She looked at her walls, let out a sigh
Rectangles of paper, garnished with dust
The blazers from school, kites in the sky
Points for the book she thought, write she must

Scraps of paper, that’s what’s left
Caught and stilled, from yester years
Reminder of what you can’t have any more
Coloured paper and long-dried tears

She stood at her window, t’was a clear night,
Stars emboldened, for the moon was shy
The studded firmament, quite a sight
She smiled and let out another sigh

The twinkling specks had whispered to her
They were flashes from light years away
Caught and stilled a million years ago
And yet, over cheer they held their sway

She wiped the dust off her own stars
Times change, and people depart
There’s no going back to them
But the old pictures warmed her heart