The Screen that Hums

Tags

Celebrity, Communication, creative, isolation, Life, poems, poetry, Relationships, Television, The Screen that Hums, TV, verse, writing

With the TV on
And no-one home
Does it matter that
We’re all alone
With the dramas and
The lives of those
We’d wish to be or
Are glad we aren’t
To dip in and out
Of colours loud
Where death rings tears
And heroes bleed
But we’ll see them all
Again next time
In costumes grand
Or just like those
That reflect our lot
In kitchens where
Machines that feed us
Ping lap-top sustenance
Remind us of the
Lives that we could lead
Behind the screen
That hums and moves
In steps more constant
Than our own or those
That move our hearts to bleed
Or cry out in our heads
For the credits to roll
Once more.

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2000-2020

Return to Dust

Tags

creative, lyrics, poems, poetry, Relationships, Return to Dust, time, verse, writing

It’s a slow parade

That passes through this town,

Faces hung so low

On every one a frown,

It’s a darker night

Than those we knew before

Still wind still so cold

No breath behind the door.

 

Can’t write the future

Won’t even try,

Can’t change the past

Was born to this,

Came here staring up

Towards the sky,

Soon found my feet

Forgot the kiss.

 

Learned how to wander

Far from the place,

It all began

And how I lost,

My sense of time

My sense of space,

And felt my fire

Turn to frost.

 

Grew so soft inside

A thicker skin,

My wisdom died

Upon the bough,

And those who came

Would not come in,

My amber heart

It kept them out.

 

It’s a slow parade

That passes through this town,

Faces hung so low

On every one a frown,

It’s a darker night

Than those we knew before

Still wind still so cold

No breath behind the door.

 

Can’t write the future

Won’t even try,

Can’t change the past

Was born to this,

Came here staring up

Towards the sky,

Soon found my feet

Forgot the kiss.

 

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2000-2020

 

The Closeness of Circles

Tags

Connection, creative, isolation, poems, poetry, Relationships, The Closeness of Circles, Truth, verse, writing

How long did it take –

A day, a week, a month –

To realise

The width of a circle

And all that moves within

Touching always from a distance

Too safe, too sanitised

Too little revealed through

A door ajar

A netted window

Flickering – half a picture

Brush strokes on a hidden canvas

And all that falls from sight

The things that we

Are told we need

The things that we

Can do without

And the music that still plays

Sings so loud and brings

The circle closer still.

 

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2000-2020

 

Passing Cars

Tags

creative, faith, Friends, Life, lyrics, Passing Cars, poems, poetry, Relationships, verse, writing

All this will end

And you’ll forget me,

Not what I’d hoped

But how it will be,

All this will go

Like clouds in Summer

What once was real

Now just a number.

 

Spent half our lives

In passing cars

Our faces pressed

Against the glass

Down long dark roads

In search of light

 

Parade ourselves

In colours bold

Or shades of grey

The mirror’s call

A brief sojourn

Along the way

 

All this will end

And you’ll forget me,

Not what I’d hoped

But how it will be,

All this will go

Like clouds in Summer

What once was real

Now just a number.

 

Aim for the crash

That shakes us free

A roadside fall

Into the arms

Of someone else

We pray will see

The road like us

 

And some we’ll leave

Along the way

And some will burn

Like dying stars

And some we’ll wish

Had stayed awhile

 

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2000-2020

 

Remember Me

Tags

creative, poems, poetry, Relationships, Remember me, Transience, verse, writing

When we passed upon the stair

My eyes raised up and yours so low

Our faces never met like

I had always dreamed that they would

Those days so distant, lives away

Nights of noise and dance and drink

Regretful sun-drowned hollow hours

I strangled each and every one

Behind the mirror-glass I saw

The landscapes painted at first light

When dawn’s soft lips still bore the kiss

And hands that brushed became a touch

But in the palace we had danced

Limbs and fingers grown like vines

And far below our bodies writhed

In forgotten corners dark

The truth grew flowers in your heart

To hide the weeds that choke me still

And when we passed upon the stair

I wished that you had

Remembered me.

 

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2000-2020

 

Last Night

Tags

creative, dreams, Last night, Love, poems, poetry, Relationships, verse, writing

Last night I dreamed that

You had dreamed that

You had passed the hours

Making love with me

That day the sky had turned

From grey to white to blue

And every moment flowed

With crystal kisses like

The freshness of the waterfall

As unending as the hours that

Grew between us

And my eyes saw through yours

Each splinter of a heart which

Touched a spark in you and

You saw all you mean to me

These things that have no words

These things that move between us

In breaths as silent as the waves

Last night I dreamed that

You had dreamed.

 

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2000-2020

 

Open Door

Tags

creative, loss, Love, nostalgia, Open door, poems, poetry, Relationships, verse, writing

Walk through that open door

And I’ll pretend that I

Have never seen you before,

Your chestnut hair it frames

Scattered days upon the floor

Makes me think of distant times,

And all the things I never owned

Like fire and hope and love

Your voice sweet in the blackbird’s song,

A heart, a ring and other things

That lay like flowers

Their tears upon the winter ground,

Footsteps through the morning dew

And in my stolen dreams

Each moment brings me back to you,

Makes me think of silent days

Your eyes behind my eyes

And all the joy you ever saw,

I’ll cut away the creeping vines

And I’ll pretend that I

Am worthy of your gifts

If you’d walk through

That open door.

 

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2000-2020

 

Islands

Tags

creative, Islands, lyrics, poems, poetry, Relationships, verse, writing

Put out the flame

Because I did not feel the cold

Didn’t think that I

Would ever need it again

Never thought the Winter

Would fall so hard

 

Watched the horses fly

Flailing tails in the night

Kept my hands to me

Tight-lipped choices

Deep within my pockets

Dressed again in white

 

So come with me, stay with me

These bridges I burned

Will never be built again,

Run with me, sing with me

Your voice on the wind

Is all that I need

 

Lay down in the water

Like you once told me to do

Didn’t feel the currents move and

Wash me out to sea

Hands upon my shoulders

Take me down again

 

So come with me, stay with me

These bridges I burned

Will never be built again,

Run with me, sing with me

Your voice on the wind

Is all that I need

 

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2000-2020

 

Summer Died

Tags

creative, Longing, loss, Love, Memory, nostalgia, poems, poetry, Relationships, Remember, Summer, verse, writing

I remember the hurt

When the Summer died,

And words fell worn like leaves

The look in your eyes,

Oh, I remember the fall

The hole in your eyes,

Silhouettes on gallows

Against the sky.

 

And I would walk, walk with you

Beyond the edges

Beyond the fringe

Live  all your secrets

If you want me to,

And I would dance, dance for you

To a silent tune

Played by your heart

Run with your shadows

If you asked me to.

 

And I would love, love you still

Beyond the words

Beyond the lips

Hold you forever

If you needed me to,

And I would leave, leave for you

When the air was dead

And nothing rhymed

If you asked me to.

 

I remember the hurt

When the Summer died,

And words fell worn like leaves

The look in your eyes,

Oh, I remember the fall

The hole in your eyes,

Silhouettes on gallows

Against the sky.

 

But if you’d stay, stay for me

Just a moment

A moment more

I’d turn these tears to wine

If you asked me to.

 

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2000-2020

 

Second Skin

Tags

creative, loss, Love, poems, poetry, Regret, Relationships, Second skin, verse, writing

But does he hold you in the night

Like I held you in the night

With his body laying next to yours

Like a second skin?

And does he kiss away your tears

As if they were his own

To leave you feeling pure and whole

Like I tried to do?

And when the darkness falls so hard

Is the hand you reach for mine

Although the only one you find

Belongs to him not I?

And does he hold you in the night

Like I did once before

And does he tell you all the things

I used to say to you?

And does he mean the world to you

Like you still do to me

With silent words that speak so loud

Just like a second skin?

 

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2000-2020