Poetry

The Queen

The Queen

‘The Queen’ – Ahmarnya Price

In her tower
All forlorn
A Queen, she stands
Looks to the land

Her heart
It longs to be reborn
Upon a breeze
To find release
From a life of solitude

Servitude
Dissolves in vision
As arms, they rise
To bless the skies

In the light
Of indecision
She grasps the door
And asks for more
And wakes into a world unknown

So many things she should have said
So many things she wanted to
So many things that she has seen
So many times she needed to

Collapse into the arms of peace to find
That she is kind

© Kacey Patrick 2004

The Queen

Revised and recorded by stringmansassy for Dragonfly (2004).

Frond

With single touch
I shall unfurl
A frond so coiled
Unwind, uncurl
One vertice stroke
‘Long lines so bound
Down spine and bone
Til soft place found
And with one stroke
Surrender comes
To all life’s vice
All will-be-dones
With one caress
A soul is found
Neath frond so coiled
Unfurled, unwound

© Kacey Patrick 22/6/2015

Little White Clouds

Little white cloudsLittle White Clouds
Light as cotton candy
Catch us as we fall

Little white clouds
Soft as soft embrace
Catch us as we fall

Little white clouds
Floating on the wind
Catch us as we fall

Little white clouds
White as dirty snow
Catch us as we fall

Compassion all but left us
Integrity retreats
Humanity, hands held high
Justice bids defeat

Little white clouds catch us
Catch us as we fall

Little white clouds
Suspensions in the air
Catch us as we fall

Little white clouds
Interlacing like a blanket
Catch us as we fall

Little white clouds
Of singular persuasion
Catch us as we fall

Little white clouds
Intermittent vagabonds
Catch us as we fall

Gratitude, head bowed down
Love sheds salty tears
Morality, the first to leave
Conscience lives in fear

As we fall from grace and favour
We fall in space and time
We fall to false not candour
We fall to rob life blind

Little white clouds catch us
Catch us as we fall
The great descent of fallen angels
Little white clouds
Catch us

© Kacey Patrick 2015
(suspended in the air – 10/3/2015)

 

The Mirror Pool

I came to you
To watch
To watch you drink
The small, the grand
The young, the old
The hunters and the hunted

From plain and wilderness
Mountain and savannah
From the far reaches, you’d come
To surround a single body
Calm and still
Clear
Translucent
A body of life
To refresh and to replenish

Humanity, it circled
An ever revolving scholl of two legged beasts
Revolving
Contemplative
Without threat
Without malice
In circumference of wonder

A single droplet rippled
A single point
Followed by circle
After circle
After circle
Concentric mirrors of the last
Singular reminders of the infinity of life
Birth to death
To death
To birth

And you, each and every being
Your heads were bowed
As if in understanding

I too, knelt to join your throng
From my two legged magesty to four
At once an animal seeking succour
At once, merely another creature
One small creature
In the cycle of the earth

 

© December 28th, 2013
Written: Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA)
Inspiration: Cai Guo-Quiang – Falling Back To Earth

The Kiss

The night is old and still I am not sober
Sweet intoxication lingers on my lips
Bursting forth
To conquer oceans of alone

A look
And at once, a flame
Warmed that part
And pricked the layers most exposed
Filled my dreams
And banished thoughts which sought to chain my heart
To the rocks of vacillation

From glance to touch
The sequence retains no form nor function
The passage blurred
A convoluted series of frames shaded with desire
Laced with passion
Each an enigma
Each a mirage
Each an apparition

But I did not see
More felt you, as you moved
Your presence
Increasingly near, drew me in
And my perceived self
Iron filings
A million sharp and brittle fragments
Descended, with such alarming force
En masse
Determined to satiate desire

The kiss
Tender, it was not
My alarm
My hesitance, was
For one brief moment
Reflected in your eyes
Like the hover of a hummingbird
Before sweet nectar is all consumed
Then the dissolution of space
Between limbs
Between lips
Between reluctance

How long did passion last?
A minute …
An hour …
An evening …

Sweet intoxication lingers on my lips
Bursting forth to conquer oceans of alone
The night is old
And still
I am not sober

© Kacey Patrick 2013

‘The night has passed and still we are not sober.
In the garden of the heart the feast goes on.
The nightingale sings and the lover and beloved are entwined into one.’

Rumi (Quatrain 1257)
Translated by Maryam Mafi & Azima Melita Kolin

The Rose

A rose in bloom in a gardened room
Plucked by hands so fair
A table laid, preparations made
The rose is placed with care
A shy ‘hello’, eyes search to know
If the other feels the same
A shy ‘goodbye’ met by hopeful eyes
A rose exchanged
A promise made

A blushing face neath a veil of lace
Her hand, passed on, entwines
And with reverence placed on a tome of grace
The rose encased inside
Eager words are spoke and emotions choke
Her lover’s turn of phrase
From this day on, two lives now one
A vow exchanged
A promise made

As seasons pass, first child to last
A family two, has grown
And each head blessed with the words that press
The rose, now chestnut brown
Between ivory page, the rose it fades
Each child, with wings, takes flight
All that remains, great love yet pain
A rose exchanged
A promise made

Some years on grandchildren come
Support a man so frail
With weathered hands, upon the land
He lays the rose now pale
A story is read about a life well led
The lovers’ rose in bloom
From the book of grace with scented space
Their rose exchanged
Their promise made

© Kacey Patrick (2013)

Jars

A jar for love
A jar for joy
A jar for solitude
A jar for hope
A jar for life
A jar for seeking truth
A jar for melancholy
A jar that holds one tear
A jar for saying sorry
A jar for all you fear

Pick a jar, take it down
Which one will you choose
A jar for every nuance, every purpose, every mood

Pick a jar, take it down
Choose one from the shelf
Take only what you need to truly find yourself

Ancient jars of mystery
Hold tales from long ago
Jars clear and fine with crystal lines
Hold secrets never told
A jar of brass for courage
A jar of ebony
Holds the darkest thoughts and dreams
Of who you might have been

A jar for strength and fortitude
A jar to test your faith
A jar which holds compassion
A jar of rage and hate
A jar for every story
All regrets, all love affairs
A jar for every child
Who’s whispered magic to the air

Aubergine for passion
Cadmium seeks a friend
Azure blue for all the days
When sorrow never ends
Scarlet whispers promise
Vermillion keeps you safe
The jade looks to serenity
For calm and quite space

Pick a jar, take it down
Which one will you choose
A jar for every nuance, every purpose, every mood

Pick a jar, take it down
Choose one from the shelf
Take only what you need to truly find yourself

© Kacey Patrick 2013

Performed with Linsey Pollak – ‘An evening of improvisations’ – Maleny, May 2013.

Miss Mia Rose – For Mia

Miss Mia Rose of chestnut hair
Of brightest eye, complexion fair
We gather here with joy this day
To bring you love, to bless your name
From this day forth as you explore
The fun of what life has in store
As you grow and spread your wings
We’ll watch with wonder, what life brings

Miss Mia Rose of flower name
Of loving heart, of kind refrain
May you be forever blessed
May angels hold you to their breast
May laughter be your life long friend
If sorrows come, may soon they end
May magic be with you always
Love, light and music fill your days

Miss Mia Rose we come this day
To bring you love, to bless your name

On the occasion of Mia’s Naming Ceremony, 2007.

© Kacey Patrick 2007

What Would You Have Me Do / ‘Milonga’

I dance as though I’m dreaming
Our hearts are so revealing
My lips they long to speak it
The longing lies beneath it
Embarrassed eyes down-turning
So little said in yearning
As hearts and heads keep falling
Love seems to find its calling
To ask is this completeness
A feeling from the nearness
No more a love forsaken
A heart has been awakened
We seek and end to longing
What would you have me do
Love me so deep
‘Til light returns once more

Hearts lost in situation
Embraces long mistaken
Look to your eyes I find it
The knowing lies behind it
To cherish all remaining
A heart is not distaining
Flight to a place uncertain
But shame has drawn the curtain
True words are left unspoken
So many lying broken
While tears they keep on falling
Lives have divergent calling
We seek an end to longing
What would you have me do
Love me so deep
‘Til light returns once more

In time we cry to remember
The dream our hearts thought forever
The dream of passion together
As love finds time rewinding once again
Yearnings no longer forgotten
Our arms they reach for one embrace
What would you feel in a moment
If love was caught out of place

If hearts were lost and never found
What would you feel if you were near
What would you find, what would you fear
A heart still beats when love is broken and undone
‘Til light returns once more

I dance as though I’m drifting
I wonder what you’re thinking
A heart it seeks reason
When love discovers treason
Our bodies keep implying
The fear we keep denying
That love has been forsaken
No more to be awakened
New love is so revealing
In time it comes concealing
What could we find tomorrow
The joy, or pain and sorrow
When hearts they seek belonging
What would you have me do

What would you feel if you were near
 What would you find, what would you fear
 A heart still beats when love is broken and undone
 ‘Til light returns once more

© Kacey Patrick 2004
© Music: ‘Milonga’, Jorge Cardoso

Text written to ‘Milonga’ by Jorge Cardoso, as performed by The Saruzu Quartet.

PLAY  The Saruzu Quartet: ‘Milonga’

Tears of Joy

A storms draws near
It bears me down
Upon a field of green release me
And lightness comes
But answer this
How a heart can bear to hear a child’s prayer

This child of light
That bears the name
From a time of fear release me
And tears of joy will fall
So take my hand
And we’ll walk together towards the light to find
A new day has come

And tears will fall when it comes

What may befall, a ravaged land
A time may come, it’s close at hand
All life will cease to be the same
For all we’ve done we’ll feel ashamed

A child to hold is to believe
To give us hope, help us to breathe
To choose to live, to choose to change
To choose to fight and mend our ways

A child of light has entered here before
To guide and to prepare for what’s in store
So take my hand
And we’ll walk together towards the light to find
A new day has come

To strive to seek and not to yield
To strive to satisfy the needs
Of one so young, yet so unfurled
To all that’s said and all that’s heard

If to believe is to make you strong
Embrace a child and we’ll all move on

For all that’s come to pass and all that lies bereft before
Will centre on this moment like never …

For, if to believe is to make you strong
Embrace a child and we’ll all move on
In our embrace they will be the change
And we’ll find what’s lost and we’ll rearrange

And tears of joy will fall when it comes …

© Kacey Patrick 2012

Music © Aaron Hopper ‘Intense Spider’/Andrew Veivers ‘Noroeste’
Lyrics © Kacey Patrick ‘Tears of Joy’

This text began as lyrics to a work by The Saruzu Quartet – ‘Noroeste’.
It evolved into Tears of Joy and was performed for the first time by stringmansassy at the National Folk Festival (Canberra), Easter 2012.