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Best Poems From
CHARLES M. MOORE
(1953 june)
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93.
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In the dark alleyway
I felt her smile like the rays of the sun
approaching me I almost felt she would run
calling my name with a pleasuring glee
excitingly glorious she came to me
We talked and we laughed holding hands in the park
a crisp winters morning we felt the ice crack
old friends and old lovers like we just met
remembering times we could never forget
Back in our teens we ran wild through the streets
with friends in a gang and the world at our feet
mischief and trouble were things we knew well
trust was a byword for love that we felt
We became closer and needed more time
exploring emotions we just had to find
that first teenage kiss in the dark alleyway
still with us eternal remembered today
The broken Coke sign flickering in the cafe
we nervously laughed as it flashed Cok each day
all through the winter we huddled and talked
encouraging moments that we couldn't stop
Our friends drifted off somewhere in the unknown
as we bonded closer in love on our own
enjoying the pleasures of body and mind
as teenagers do as they grow through that time
We tried to make plans for the future I guess
but we were just amateurs out of our depth
as the spring came it melted the snow and our dreams
and we stretched our wings seeking different things
Forty years on at the roadside cafe
the Coke sign still flickers as we nervously
smile at each other and remember the day
of that first teenage kiss in the dark alleyway.
Charles M. Moore
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94.
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James of Killie Brau
Three days I wandered on the moor
and still I'd lost my way
I wakened from the night before
among the creeping haze
The dawn was stirring blackened hills
the heather groped my shoes
its twisted stalks and branches cracked
when ever my feet moved
Then from the whisping wavey mist
an old man's form appeared
my heart grew faster by the tick
my legs stood rigid fear
At first it was but greying hair
then head and shoulders grew
from in the flowing matter
the old man's shape came through
And not a stir of bird nor beast
was heard whence near he came
floating through the morning mist
and then he called my name,
'Though art James of Killie Brau,
You've travelled far and far,
You're miles from your homeland,
And where you really are'
His voice was low yet clearly heard
it wasn't rough or spiked
it seemed to echo from his mouth
its smoothness made it bright
I puzzled how he knew my name
I never had seem him
His clothes were strange a whiteish cloak
his face a darkened skin
A boney structured arm and hand
stretched out and grabbed my wrist
its claw like fingers wrapping round
I made my final wish
Then low and smooth his voice rang out
I thought this is the end
'I'll take you where you're known about,
I'll take you home my friend'
He took me leading, like a child,
I stumbled by his side
his breath was never panting
I never heard him sigh
Down through glen and mossy top
he led me on my way
his grip as tight throughout the miles
and then I heard him say
'Sit down here and rest awhile,
Tell me what you see,
On yonder landscape's craggy cliffs,
Where moorland meets the trees'
His voice still low I looked below
and up the other side
I gazed in valley, mountain peek
I scoured far and wide
My voice spoke everything I saw
described in every way
but still I hadn't told him
what he wanted me to say
His topaz eyes stabbed at me
piercing at my soul
his blackish stick like finger
directing me to go
'See yonder on the clifftop,
Above the hanging reef,
Beside a tree a standing stone,
And homeward it will lead'
Although I didn't like him
he somehow held my reins
directing me from A to B
I could not turn away
And yet he showed me kindness
directing me to home
I turned around to thank him
but discovered he had gone
It would soon be early evening
my step was quick and true
up by the cliff and hanging reef
a tree and stone I knew
The weather changing for the worst
and darkness closing in
the cold and damp beneath my clothes
were biting at my skin
I've never seen a sadder tree
no bright or bristling leaves
it stood alone beside the stone
the stone alone by me
Its twisted trunk was small and shrunk
its branches twisted too
they whipped and snapped
when breezes passed
the leaves were greenish blue
Remembering my mission
I looked upon the stone
so I might travel further
on my journey home
I gazed upon the writing
it was hard to make it out
my fingers scraped between the cracks
shaping at the grout
And then like clouds erupting
with some fantastic clash
a thunderous roll of laughter
came bursting in a flash
It screamed at me in agony
it echoed in the air
it was the old man's laugh I heard
and yet he wasn't there
'Look at the stone', it shouted out,
'I'll tell you what you see;
Here lie the bones from Killie Brau,
Of James Mcafferty,
Who wandered for three days or more
struggling to get home,
But from the clifftop reef he fell,
Some sixty years ago'
I didn't understand him
I'm here yet in my grave
for every word he spoke to me
was every word it said
And so he spelled it out for me
his voice was low and clear,
'You have a restless spirit son,
That is why I'm here'
'Now and then you wander,
And I return you home,
For you're the ghost Mcafferty,
While I remain your bones'.
Charles M. Moore
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95.
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Jungle Jim
Jungle JIm was in the shallows
washing out some dirty plates
he came down from his jungle palace
in a tree hut by the lake
He had a parrot for a clock
that never squawked and never talked
it didn't really bother him
for he was mighty Jungle Jim
His memory was not as good though
as he thought it used to be
for where he washed his dirty plates
close by he had his lavatory
And just as he had scrubbed and rinsed
his plates as clean as a new pin
he turned around to go back home
and sure enough he fell straight in
A swim he thought would clean him up
and take away the awful smell
he ran and jumped into the lake
the water was as cold as hell
He shot out like a damned torpedo
the crocodiles laughed at him
he hit them with his dirty plates
well he was mighty Jungle Jim
He went up to his little palace
changed his clothes and had a drink
the parrot for the first time talked
it said 'Hey Jim you really stink'
Jim he gave the parrot water
well in fact he gave it gin
he laughed aloud just as he left
the parrot fell into the bin
Jim went back to jungle land
the day it wasn't going well
I'll have a shower by the falls
to take away this awful smell
He got washed and he got dried
the smell by now had disappeared
then a native girl came by
she said, 'Hey Jim come over here'
Jim went over and she hugged him
such a hug he near caved in
she asked if all was going well
he squawked 'Of course
I'm Jungle JIm'.
Charles M. Moore
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96.
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Let us dance
Let us dance in summer rain
when moonlit skies cast flattering shadows
be with nature once again
skipping through the heaven's meadow
Let us sing the songs of earth
encapsulating all its treasures
clasping life that's seldom seen
and be as one for all its pleasures.
Charles M. Moore
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