Old Comrades

OLD COMRADES

Wearing the anguish

of old age

like some military honour,

he follows the cortege.

He remembers the Somme,

and how his thoughts

had turned to the mill-girl

two doors down.

Sometimes the dream looms

larger than his life.

A smile emerges, creasing

His well-worn mask –

his sorrow smothered

by her freely-imaged warmth.

Flossie her name was,

now she’s gone –

his death was living,

hers is snugly wrapped in wood.

He wears his grief with pride;

alone, misunderstood.

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

Unveiling

UNVEILING (Draft II)

Some days, a few words
scribbled down in haste,
a simple melody, a subtle
turn of phrase, unclothes

another’s world. And there,
beneath a supple shell, you find
a heart that bleeds;
it seeds itself beneath

the skin, you share the pain,
then seek to radiate the joy
their presence in the world
discloses. Some days you know

that you are not alone. The wave
that rises, through the words and song,
washes away your frown. You share
a smile, a caring strength;

you know your world
can never be the same.

Sometimes, a word of thanks reveals
that we can overcome;
sometimes a body sings the joy
of sharing; sometimes

we simply share
the pain of caring.




Malcolm Evison
06 August 2006