She plays to an audience of one, battered fingers repeating notes that remind her of the summer rain (la lluvia de verano), that fell in arpeggios on the courtyard where the jasmin bloomed. Gone are the flowers (all the colour), yet their perfume lingers in the bedsheets where she surrendered to his overtures, the … Continue reading Audience of One
poetry
Albatross
There is no summer across the swollen sea, just the cold, distant sun-- an unfathomable loneliness between the sky and waves, a wind-blown expressway for travellers lonely, soaring, clipping currents on giant wings, no reason or rhyme for these mariners of ancient time, soaring with the grace and beauty of a million generations-- voyagers of the endless sea. (c) Darren Hawbrook *** Unfortunately, … Continue reading Albatross
The Fires of Virunga
The sounds of the devil come not long after the thunder, (Out of the craters of Virunga, the fire the rains can’t dampen) new guns to wage war on paradise. His serpent uncoils in verdant Eden, Eyes of amber and heart of darkness, the beast they call the mighty Congo whose black tributaries feed these savage … Continue reading The Fires of Virunga
Twilight
Release your mind for a moment let it roam to the imagery of a distant landscape, a place where love roams wild alongside dreams. Picture a wilderness of towering pines and trees cloaked in the hues of an autumn sunset. In the ravine below a stream winds it course toward an ancient lake bed where … Continue reading Twilight
Evolution
Perhaps the light we see is not light at all. Perhaps the glowing remnants of the city we see, Floating on the river like forlorn souls, Are false images bestowed upon us by the gods, Rippling dreams that escape our humanity To flood the oceans and breed the disenchanted wind, For we are not brave … Continue reading Evolution
Music of the Spheres
The lights first appeared on the summer solstice, hovering above the quiet moor. People clamoured to explain their existence: Scientists; witches; religious fanatics; others spoke of visitors from beyond the stars. Some issued them names, occultist monikers born in other tongues and dimensions. They shed their clothes and danced to hail the return of their … Continue reading Music of the Spheres
The Crystal Palace (Snow Kingdom part 2)
The Crystal Palace Palace of the wilderness, such marvel to behold, enraptured by the elegance of this beacon in the cold; Children of the midnight sun to whom hope forever clings, abandoned here in fractal time on flightless, palsied wings. Amidst this frosty wilderness we came upon a palace of ruined spires and sunken domes … Continue reading The Crystal Palace (Snow Kingdom part 2)
Christmas Eve – a haiku
Rest now sleepy head for dreams are fast and fleeting wrapped in tinsel gold
The Snow Kingdom (part 1)
The Snow Kingdom Peaks of ice-capped mountains in the distance slowly climb, long ago the winter came, gripped this land for all of time. Frozen wastelands bordered by an endless sea of ice, Serene, bewitching, guileless climes beneath cold-blooded skies. 'We wandered through this alien landscape, unaware of how we came to be here. It's cold, … Continue reading The Snow Kingdom (part 1)
Father Time
I ask for no intrusion, give no welcome here. The hour is late, Or mayhaps not. Time plays on in timbres unfathomed - that orchestra of woe, winding wood and brass face; a metronomic bomb swaying back and forth; tick-tock – from dawn of time, back and forth, through rhyme and minuet, forth and back … Continue reading Father Time
Blurred Worlds 