Runaway (Poem)

Photo by Adrianna Calvo on Pexels.com

Footprints along the strand
stretching off to nowhere

A beach all my own
save for curious gulls

eyeing from Hesperides’ skies.
Kernow was never so lush

or windswept; are they bells
pealing on the breeze, like

lost Lyonesse beckoning
to this broken soul?

Maybe heartless time is melting,
melding; I run and run

into the gelid ocean, the two
once twain — now consumed

Copyright Francis Barker 2020

Haiku: War’s Hollow Victory

losers and winners
Photo by Hasan Almasi

Haiku copyright Francis Barker 2020

Are there ever any real victors in conflict? When so many people die, who wins? The idea of war is even being projected into ‘space’ – a star war. War appears to be an endemic human condition. I dispute this. The lesson of war is to avoid it – period.

Tanka: Light of the World

man standing on stage
Photo by Brett Sayles on Pexels.com

We watch you salute
The rest of us are crying
A light has gone out
The riderless horse breaks free
His saddle is refitted

 

copyright Francis Barker 2020

Tanka: A Life

trees in park
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

We have paid tribute
we celebrated your life
You were my neighbour
How we put the world to right
a world that’s emptier now

copyright Francis Barker 2019

Poem: April 2

daffodils3

No longer will I bore you with my
mother’s life, and how I wish I could change
the way of her death. Thirteen years

is a long time, abridged by events that
just happen down this road. Though more
and more, this life seems impersonal, like

watching a new born lamb, sweet
to touch and then later to taste. How does
this lover turn carnivorous at a stroke?

And the lamb, like its mother, is a mere
vessel – when you’ve seen one, we all
know how we’ll react. So don’t get me wrong,

but Mum, you were a function, a role you
played so well, and no matter how
I embellish your memory at this time – well,

there you go, I have done it once again