A Way of Seeing

A WAY OF SEEING


This room is an echo –
echo of all my dreams. The actor
waiting for a role. The preacher listening
to silent voices, expecting
tongues of flame. The fields
are tumbling
down towards the road. Alone,
that’s not like loneliness, a brightness

flows from distant murmuring.
Approaching friends, or strangers even.
The valley is alive, the room
is echoing
with hope. Pain falls
a victim to its own dis-ease. The room

is light; the light reveals
my will to see. It enters me.

I dwell
in brightened shadows,
ignoring shadowed light.


Malcolm Evison

A Question of Balance

A QUESTION OF BALANCE

Garnering the thoughts
of others, he fails
to find some of his own -

he holds back tears to show
he does not share
the fears others know.

He balances the cost of feeling
against the numbness
of blind fate. He sighs

and calculates the cost
of caring, avoids the sharing
of any others woe.

He always felt that questions
would sustain his growth -
he never claimed to know.

He bought himself
a ticket to ride
then found

he had no place to go.


Malcolm Evison
19 November 2006