Open Art Gallery Cafe

Love Song

I want to give you something

that can never be taken way

I want to give you sunbeams

and solid rock foundations,

- a sense of your own worth

in this magnificent tornado.

The red sun burns through the morning,

like your eyes burn into my heart.

If I had my way,

I would kiss your lips

a thousand times a day.

C Harfleet

******************

Living in San Agustin was written in Columbia, where I was living up the mountains outside a little Marquez type village. It was thick exotic rainforest vegetation. You were always in danger of friendly hippies and local people who delighted in visiting you unannounced and prepared to set up music and entertainment and exuded relentless friendliness and goodwill for hours on end.  for me 10 minutes would have been sufficient, so I would hide.

Living in San Agustin

Green wet shiny Elephants’ Ears

-leaves holding giant raindrops

bigger than a shot of rum.

Ducks swim, waddle,  hiss, have sex.

Hummings birds fight with territorial aggro.

Mud slide, dead leaves, rich compost,

Dog alert, salsa drifting across the valley.

Bamboo roof hiding shy spiders

Mountains so familiar they look freshly drawn.

Visitors arrive and I hide to preserve

my soft velvet cocoon

and evade the wide embrace of friendliness.

****************

I used to teach tough maladjusted teenage boys in London and grew very fond of their strutting strident veneers. My favourite seagull sits on my balcony reminding of those boys.

My favourite seagull

He spies me,

Appears from out of space

Like an aggressive angel

Relentlessly alighting

Strutting his stuff

Stares me out

-         he s probably even ‘cussing me mum’

-         and I swear he’s chewing gum

-         I dutifully present his meal

-         he stares at me dismissively

as  out I bow, secretly smiling.

Christine Harfleet

*****************

Claro is a favourite Spanish word of mine – always said with such conviction – meaning of course or certainly.

Uncertainty

Claro—a word of fat satisfaction

I long to say it in context

‘of course’  or ‘surely’

But there is so little certainty

That I get no opportunity

And have to wander through the coffee bushes

Murmuring to the birds

- claro.

C Harfleet

In my travels I have encountered many waterfalls – South America and Australia being the most dramatic, but some of the smaller ones are just as exquisite.

The Waterfall

These things I know are true.

The sea is perfect and inconsistent

The sky is flawless and everchanging

Rocks are tremendous

Pebbles are exquisite

Rain is gentle

And the majestic waterfall

Continues single mindedly

On its own sweet way.

C Harfleet

Pain is an experience we all encounter, in many different ways, such as mental torture,  heartache, indecision, empathy. This was written as a description of these diverse kinds.

Pain is…

Sharp shattering of glass

Tight splintering ice

Slow crumbling of ancient bricks

Endless torn petals of the blood red flower

Relentless washing away of pebbles on the sealine

Urgently wind blown sands of the dunes

The mountain’s slow subsidence

Glowering menacing storm clouds

Blood flowing, dripping, seeping.

And yet, throughout,  the sun shines.

C Harfleet