Remember me to Montgó

I gaze across our Montgó valley
to misty far Sierras,
watch the early blush of morning
expose their virgin beauty
that daytime will hide in
blues and erotic purples.
Almond groves and fields emerge
as rising sun wets softer hills,
an echo of her waking body
that used to herald dawn.

Smoke rises from a lazy fire,
a stroke from an artist’s pallet
unmoving on the canvas sky,
only to vanish in an instant
to become another memory.
An image of Javea bay unfolds,
shimmering in a frame
of aromatic pine and eucalyptus,
a hint of her intimate perfume
that fired our time of love.

Rasping crickets and cicadas,
noiseless now in Montgó forests.
Bees no longer hum their flight
through jasmine-laden air.
A dry rose falls silently
in the dusky evening shadows,
while hibiscus fold their petals
to cocoon their daytime boldness
as a homage to her allure
that filled so many nights.

Grapefruit ripen on a tree,
pomegranates, red with jewels,
olives blacken getting fatter.
Mangoes offer subtle flavour
and oranges promise with their juice
a celebration of abundant life,
while thyme and rosemary beg
pick me, squeeze me, taste my spice.
I mourn my fragile woman
who rewarded every day.

Wall

Pebble over pebble,
circles placed by tiny fingers
in younger times,
cradled by a mother’s love.

Stone over stone,
thrown with abandon
in carefree youth,
bonded by luck.

Rock over rock
knocked into place
through tears and joy,
held by first love’s kisses.

Brick over brick,
carefully placed in neater rows
fashioned in the time of roses,
cemented by memory.

Boulder over boulder,
heaved into position
with anger and salt sorrow,
concreted by determination.

Plank over plank,
higgledy placed with artless abandon
the day before time stopped moving,
paling without nails.

So she built her escape,
keeping the past in its buckled vest,
the new in smoked glass jars,
wary of loss.

www.mirage

Waves of timeless thought
fill endless lonely hours,
while ghosts of loving memories
rest grey and heavy
in the shadows of my mind.

As magic through pixeled air
float images and words,
a mirage of a future world
where hope and fresh desire
inspire much warmer thoughts.

The latent desert flowers
washed by sudden rain,
have the same enormous power
as they burst to fill the emptiness
with coloured waves of hope.