"Pequeño Soldado" (Little Soldier)

Pequeño soldado, my true north,
You orient my world and set it forth;
Whenever my hope is gone,
I think of you and march on!


Pequeño soldado, my guiding light,
You taught me love and how to fight;
To me you know just what to say,
You never have too little to give away.


Pequeño soldado, my inspiration,
You're spoken of from nation to nation;
Who would've thought that a little boy
Could wield power so lightly from joy?


Pequeño soldado, you will be known
For freeing hearts when you have grown;
For now your skills you will refine
By practising them on freeing mine!

I've since realized that in Spanish most adjectives come after the nouns, so I've actually come across as saying "Soldier Little"... though there was in fact a "Stuart Little"! Ay ay ay... the joys of learning a foreign language.

"Nuestra Amistad", un poema por Maycol y TS

Finally worked out the Spanish translation of "Our Friendship". This goes out in the mail to Maycol tomorrow:

Nuestra amistad es como un cuento
Que lei solo escuchas pero
No lo vez asi es contigo;
Solo te veo en fotos y leo lo
Que me cuentas pero no te veo en verdad.


Nuestra amistad es como el sol sobre mí
Ilumina mi mundo y
Calienta mi corazón; Cuando veo
La puesta del sol es porque pido el sol
Para enviar mi amor a su salida del sol.

"God Thence"

He flies at the Supreme Command,
Not stopping to think or doubt,
Into the direction where
God's sleeve stretches out
—God's merciful hand.


They descend with lightnings
Submerged under the stratus,
Whose flapping motion unravels
Unevenly dispensed justice
—God's silver wings.


She rises to the occasion
Trailing a blood-dirtied gown,
Telling a grand story of battle
For the everlasting crown
—God's inexorable passion!

"The Ghost of Bampfylde"

The ghost of Bampfylde is who I am,
By the clear, swift creeks I roam.
My loved ones lived south of the dam,
My story in the hearth of home.


The attics of boyhood hid secrets
Only the brave dared to know;
No thrills satiate the palates
Of hijacked pubescence for show!


Before boys grew up a crisis struck,
From which men were keenly made:
Damn rascals turned from shooting ducks
To chasing after girls with braids!


Without any training love debuted,
Hormones started a new trend;
But quickly came a news most skewed
Of heartbreak beyond any mend.


No-one ever told those teenaged boys
That with joy sorrow must come,
And sorrow marched without a noise
To the beats of a dead man's drum.


In their old age all these men wondered
About things they could have done.
In their rues they deeply suffered,
But none knew why, not even one.


If only they could see what we ghosts see
From beyond the graves that enslave man:
Death does not end a lifelong esprit,
Oh but a heart unbridled surely can!


So with regards to the matter of life
This is what a spirit has to say:
To end the wars of your inner strife,
Honour your love—and forgive now—today!

Haiku: Smuggled Love

like a smuggled torpedo
smoked in spain
my pain is no longer local

Haiku: London when he cries

sorry letter
c'mon, bruised pride
new air
disappearing world
rushed breakfast in
a different city

Haiku: The Carnival Prince

fairy floss machine
tired midnight in empty carnival
the clown transfigured

Haiku: Dark enclosed

dark enclosed
concrete garden
no way out
of a song

"Season"

You supplanted morning with a kiss:
Like a rain that never ceased;
I can't forget, to say the least,
A love as sweet as this.


You poured me wine from the dew,
And loved me in a season—
Still I can't supply a reason
For the season that is you.

"Our Friendship", by Maycol and TS

Our friendship is like a book I read.
I hear of you but I cannot see you.
I see you in photos and only read about the things you tell me
But I cannot see you.


Our friendship is like the sun above me.
It lights up my world and warms my heart.
When it sets on me
It is because I ask the sun to send my love to your sunrise.

"Pepi's Dress"

Pepi lost his favorite coat,
In which he kept his secret.
He took his apprentice by the throat
And almost blocked his gullet.

"¿Dónde está mi chaqueta?" Pepi shouted,
Not ready to loosen his hold.
For his virtue Pepi deeply doubted,
And he feared the coat had been sold.

"Perdóneme, profesor," came the weak reply,
"On my mother's grave an oath I pay,
And to you I dare not lie,
But your missus gave it away!"

So Pepi ran to the marketplace
With half a head and all seriousness.
He sought till he was red in the face
And couldn't find his beloved dress.

Then came a beggar with one glass eye
Asking Pepi to buy him a cena,
And Pepi noticed under his tattered bow tie
The velvety fabric of his chaqueta!

"¡Ay, caramba!" Pepi roared,
"¿Donde tu encontró esto?"
And the coat he at once restored
Without spending a single peso!

"No-man wants it, no-man loses -
En los desperdicios de un hombre rico.
A poor man gathers if he chooses,
And I should've hidden it under my pillow!"

For earlier today when Pepi was away
His wife had opened his bottom drawer.
She found in said coat a huge dossier
Of shameless letters from a whore!

"A Little Lullaby"

I guess this is all there is to it:

Little star, little star,
How you twinkle near and far.
Have you ever wondered why
Time goes by, time goes by?

Sing along, sing my song
As you twinkle all night long.
Till I wake to sail the deep,
Time to sleep, time to sleep.



Little boy, little boy,
Though you're like a rusty toy,
The time has come when you may
Sail away, sail away.

Fight for love, all for love,
Voyage to that distant cove.
Lest you're lulled by mermaids' cry,
Sail on by, sail on by!



Little girl, little girl,
Dry your tears now, precious pearl.
Though you're let down by your fate,
Love will wait, love will wait.

Guard your heart, search your soul,
What was once part will be whole
When you see his triumphant sails—
Love prevails, love prevails!



Little boat, little boat,
In a sea of woe you float.
Time stands still as you wonder:
Home yonder, home yonder?

Surrender all, abandon all,
Journey to your port of call.
Led by a secret from eternity past—
Home at last, home at last!

"Little Star"

The missing stanzas from "Little Boat":

Little star, little star,
How you twinkle near and far.
Have you ever wondered why
Time goes by, time goes by?


Sing along, sing my song
As you twinkle all night long;
Till I wake to sail the deep—
Time to sleep, time to sleep.

"The Rhyme Apocalypse"

Quick, Mick, kick!
Heck, Jack, pack!
The shit is hitting the fan!
So run, it ain't no fun!
No, Jo, just leave 'em and go!
Find a safe place and stay low!
My, Ty, what's with the sigh?
You're gonna be blown sky-high!

"There Is Danger In Love"

There is danger in love, and it lies in the will
Of one so drunk in the rumor of greatness
That love is enlarged and all its bridges burned,
Not knowing nor ever allowing a lesser life resumed;
Yea, I once trod a realm of desires so defined
Where men were perceived as lost in the submission
To love's wildest demands, slaving and encountering,
Only to be strangely cited for gallantry unknown
By a fearsome order completely distant and familiar,
Rising against fortified walls of condemnation.


But let me be drunk in love than sober in safety
Or wade in heaven's marsh than stride in hell's atrium!
For what joy is there in love if it cannot be
Paid in death?—My love is dead until it dies in love!


Why does man favour security over the hope of triumph?—
Would he not court the danger that is love so that
What makes love glorious also befits its pursuit?
If a morbid fall comes in the stead of glory,
What of it? Tell me love is too small to fight for
And you shall hear the last of it. Love mayn't be all—
But all that one seeks to venture in pure love shall
Withstand all; still love desires all, and shall
Consume even hearts that day and night bleed sulfur,
And in the face of all odds be made complete.

"It Was Very Good"

It was very good—
Your loving me.
It did no last but
We thought it would, didn't we?


It was very good—
You helped me see
What I couldn't
If you didn't love me...


Then I understood.
And it was very good.

"The Golden Streak (The Rise of the Adiós Chorus)"

Some men have it if you looked
Against the evening shadows of
Their purified walks - that crystalline gold
Like burned honey or virgin oil, cast
In the light that diffused a rough silhouette
Into deep tangerine.


You catch fire when you play
In harmony with him, stroking drums
And shouting in unison with
That morbid Adiós chorus -
Though the crowd gathers
The fire spread despite of it;
You answer life's profoundest questions
In his quietly approving presence
After a long drawn-out sigh
Perfected in pitch and tune.


The young is lost in the throng of
Human activity in pitch black street,
They always learn a moment too late...
But you'll never find wisdom in night -
At best, polite telephone messages
Exchanged out of salvaged traditions.


You let your face be kissed
For an affirmation you never reject
Not because of the residual pride in you,
But a walk to the cafeteria
With instruction whether it's plain or white
Never felt this dignified -
For what satisfies more than
Knowing to be known?
In the matter of changing songs
I never doubt your capacity;
For it is always right to trust the selection
To the old - the mightily wise!


And the chorus gigante sings on:
Adiós, adiós, buenos hermanos!...
Adiós, adiós, buenos hermanos!...

To the lasting memories of Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer y hermanos, who paid me a brief but grand visit in dream. Words are scarce and all fall short of capturing the divine streak of their music.

"Young Lovers For Life"

Twenty years he's lived,
The last five loved the girl who's been
In and out of his twenty.


Day their carriage fell, she whispered
She's glad to die by his side, then
His arms felt like wings taking flight...


When he had just turned nine, he said
At the end of a swinging-rope,
"Just don't let go!..." And she never did.

"An Old Grudge"

Exactly two years after she disappeared,
A serious rebound and
          two unsolicited calls later,
She paid and turned around
          and there I was,
In a shop where she bought tea.


"...How's your mother?"
She just stared,
Looking for rescue that wasn't there...


Two years ago I would have bought
          anything she said -
If she would only lie to me
I'd forgive her...


"I lied about my mother..."


"I've forgiven you."

"Picturebook"

The Thursday he was screening
He saw her in the crowd
     avoiding eye contact.
Somewhere else
A waiter slipped him a note
     and a courtesy:
     "She heard you tonight."
She handed him a picturebook when they met,
Declared it "the only thing I didn't
     pack up from his room."
Two days later she was
     sunning in the park
     with a man -
He
     looked on.


Thursday after that firefighters prepared
To leave the scene of a misdemeanor -
A reel had caught fire and
     set off sprinklers
That wrecked the machines...
As he recouped himself, a boy nudged him
     holding a picturebook -
               and asked for autograph.


In a hushed corner of the city
Among gravestones
A visitor leans back against a
     marble cherub
Preparing himself to
Read
But sobs
     under his breaths instead.