https://soundcloud.com/victoriamosley99/nostalgia

Time has no essence

it rolls over us

like water,

eroding features:

my face becomes

the rift valley

my body meanders

from curve to curve

exposing former

civilisations.

My loves have

carved striations

on my heart, &

nostalgia replaces

passion.

Who are you

to care?

And who am I

who once was there?

Lustrous

like a spring garden.

Do you remember then?

I’ve heard you spin

your tale;

you lived your dreams,

you seem exactly how

you used to be,

& I’ve brought forth

generations,

become biblical

in my stories.

Hindsight is a

two-edged sword

it cuts us down

to bite sized

morsels:

what might have been

if you & I had danced

one dance together.

I always chose

the hardest road

the brittle stones

made holes in shoes

& broke my bones

but now I hover

on the brink:

Time has no

substance

it’s sunshine

turned to storm

summer worn

to sleet

sand between my

fingers

until we disappear

players sung to sleep

chasing the mystery.

https://soundcloud.com/victoriamosley99/dragons

Down deep

beneath the loam

of mesmerising sleep

my dragons lie.

They crunch my bones

they burn my eyes

& every day I drag

myself from darkest cave

perambulate the ebbing tide

of life.

The more the years

flow in-between

my vivid child

returns to me:

her features frozen

taut in fear, her mouth

an O of scream & there

is nothing I can say to save

that deeply damaged

part in me.

So many twists & turns

a thousand words of love

I strained to hear

that somehow floated

out of reach.

Another heart

another sea, of which

I bear no part

immune in subterranean lore

an odyssey without a shore

Elektra & Antigone.

Down deep beneath

the loam of sleep

my dragons snore

with flickering eye,

they feed on memories

they stretch their wings

in phantom skies,

they moan of ego’s

spurned, & knights

with melted swords

they sing of love

that’s undeserved

they gorge on grief

& ride a canopy of storms:

they bruise my mind

with fevered images

and promise nothing

but the song of stars

our one last flight.

In my beginning

there was night,

a summer garden

the scent of roses

& you singing

a lullaby.

The garden still

exists: I’ve seen it

in photos, the roses

a legacy to your love

on my way to the shops

I stopped, came across

these great blousy beasts

& their sweet pungent scent

brought you back to me.

In my beginning

before the storm of evil:

I can call it that now,

although at the time

I had no words;

in my beginning

there was love.

It’s summer again

reminding me

of starlit walks

you tall in your

homburg, your suit

impeccable, like those

old movie stars.

A man & a child

traversing empty streets

over the railway bridge

& home again where you lay

me down to sleep

in the moonlit garden.

A unique kind of man

not the ordinary variety

you ranged the seven seas

brought back exotic gifts

I followed you in dreams

it always seemed to me

you were my guardian angel.

I’m waking now from sleep

so many years & leaps

have passed: you left me

suddenly one September

carried off by lightning;

no time to say goodbye,

no last absorbing hug,

a chasm in my heart that

never heals.

Now time’s done this to me

I’m lost from myriad paths

I could have leaped:

but summer’s here again,

I walk the city streets

& the roses with their scent

still bring you home with me.