The Romantic Charter by Stewart Stafford

The Romantic Charter by Stewart Stafford

Eyes dazzled by romance’s shine,
Hostage suitor of Cupid and you,
A willing disciple of St Valentine,
With pierced heart of rosiest hue.

Love is the next world’s currency,
All wealth we must leave behind,
Call it the discarnate treasury,
A repository of delicacies dined.

Even if adoration sours on the lips,
Or toxicity springs from intoxication,
Nothing erases the first steps of bliss,
Or can demolish memory’s foundation.

© Stewart Stafford, 2024. All rights reserved

This Elixir Smites by Stewart Stafford

This Elixir Smites by Stewart Stafford

How dull the rose’s painted lustre,
As bees gossip, all mistrust her,
Window taps on stormy nights,
Aphids swarm as suckling mites.

Once buds entwined at Nature’s hip,
Now cleft in two and water-dipped,
Glass-twisted strangest shape,
Mauve-petalled mausoleum draped.

Neglected drops in muted drought,
The bloody thorns scratch about,
A lush finger in withered point,
Pruned stem of glum conjoint.

Cataclysms from petty faults arise;
Reflection pardoned in imperfect eyes.

© Stewart Stafford, 2024. All rights reserved.

Pilgrim’s Progress by Stewart Stafford

Pilgrim’s Progress by Stewart Stafford

Solitary steps in silence grim,
As waters lapped the lakeside’s rim,
In our time, before and aft,
Magpies cackled, crows laughed.

I drew level with a miasmic curtain,
In vapour folds, to views uncertain,
Sound grew thick in compensation,
I took each step with trepidation.

Sweet breath wind, fog dispersed,
Marvelling at the ground traversed,
The garden path to a shelter trite,
As hailstones on my windows bite.

© Stewart Stafford, 2024. All rights reserved.

Season’s Bleatings by Stewart Stafford

Season’s Bleatings by Stewart Stafford

I’m looking forward to Christmas,
As Nostradamus dreaded prophecy,
In place of war, famine, apocalypse,
I see spending, coveting and family.

Wandering through warm déjà vu,
In new ways with usual-faced folk,
Fat in an absent winter wonderland,
Goodwill to all men as you go broke.

A fever dream or a deep turkey coma?
St. Nicholas dripping presents around?
An eviction notice to vacate sobriety,
Consumerism and consumption unbound.

© Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved.

Weekend Wildlife by Stewart Stafford

Weekend Wildlife by Stewart Stafford

Praying mantis tapped out code,
On waste ground down the road,
Legs, wings and antennae spread,
A walrus mugged a pensioner in bed.

A chameleon joined in the mêlée,
Effortlessly cool, a saurian Pelé,
Mimicking every backdrop around,
Eyeballs akimbo, tongue on ground.

Then a herd of Ibex from Iberia,
A yak stampede from frigid Siberia,
Bomber squadrons of high Cockatoos,
As the rest liberated the nearest zoos.

© Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved. 

Necessary Equals by Stewart Stafford

Necessary Equals by Stewart Stafford

The grandest hearth cannot warm,
Once grave chills touch the aged,
The beggar donates his last coin,
At a counting house of the well-waged.

The giant is meek and misunderstood,
As the slighted short one grows fiery,
Life’s spun gold pawned for pennies,
The stricken strive to buy back entirely.

In old age, winter shadows lengthen,
As babes on tiptoes crave growth,
So-called leaders spit out patron’s lies,
As a street madman roars his frank oath.

Opposing siblings they are, but needed,
Fellow travellers orbit on a path seeded.

© Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved.

Finite Navigation by Stewart Stafford

Finite Navigation by Stewart Stafford

Happiness is but a harbour in a storm;
Greater tempests lash far-off docks,
Gauntlets to run to the last port of call,
Never a permanent plateau of nirvana.

Life’s weather patterns pivot and feint,
Everything beyond our fingertip reach,
If we go off course with coins on our eyes,
The rocks of avarice pace in ocean spray.

We set sail or get driven from our sanctuary,
Shelter granted at the behest of strangers,
Captains of our ship, La Mirage, wave dancing,
Mates and blood as crew, fish and fowl companions.

© Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved. 

Winterland by Stewart Stafford

Winterland by Stewart Stafford

Obelisk columns of a wintry afternoon,
Bony fingers of nascent green in June,
Pink snow clouds kissed by fading sun,
Dark gold streets, hurry home as one.

Shared body heat tenderises life so tough,
Fusion shelter from gales so rough,
Windows scream, a voyeur’s peek inside,
Lovers dismissed with wailing to chide.

Darkness claims stragglers of day,
Wrestles all an eye sees, stealing it away,
Sleep whispers drowsy promises in our ears,
We two, melding – strangers from our fears.

Photo and text: © Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved.

The Reaping by Stewart Stafford

The Reaping by Stewart Stafford

Paint a nostalgic landscape today,
A harvest gifted once in this way,
Stranger’s yields come to pass,
Only that season’s memory lasts.

A fallow field to revisit in time,
Golden reaping of a private mind,
As gleaners, newcomers gather,
Reminiscence thickens to slather.

As the body grows old like the land,
With crop circles on backs of hands,
In solstice, your seed does replenish,
Past where scars of life can blemish.

© Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved

Lady Shaded G by Stewart Stafford

Lady Shaded G by Stewart Stafford

This thorned rose is a perfumed pox,
Rumours dog her as contagion itself;
Breeding cherubs with batons sinister,
Her trail leads to noblest chambers.

Mothers warn sons not to mount,
This mare of the rampant night,
With dead eyes of a dark frontier,
Her black dress does smother all.

Fair Tiffany’s skin flashes with iron,
Once seen, wantonness shadows,
Shady whispers inflame her temerity,
A rock for purple ships a-crashing.

© Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved.