Category Archives: poetry

Ocean Voyage

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Buoyant and beautiful, fragile and fraught,

A life floats on by, it’s yours to be caught.

Focus we can on disasters in store

And stay tied up tight still secure on the shore.

Or venture instead on the unyielding sea

And batten the hatches, but just as needs be

Lest on bright sunny days when there’s nary a swell,

We, in our imaginings, live still in hell.

Storms we’ll encounter, we know that for sure,

But wipe off the salt and then come back for more.

The storms are essential: they help us to see

The days in between for the joy they can be.

 

Stephen Tomkins
24 August 2016
Melbourne

Mosquito Est Morte! (An Opera in the Making!)

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Once my life was so tranquilo
With my hundred sweet bambinos,
Now I’m cryin’ all the time
Because there’s only ninety-nine!
The hand of God (or so it seemed)
Smacked my son and now he’s creamed!

How I tried that hand to veto!
Oh! That heartless huge bandito!
Pay, he will, for murderous deeds:
It’s he I’ll see for my next feed!
But to him I’m incognito
So I’ll leave one huge graffito!

Then he’ll rue his evil crime –
Justice truly is quite blind!
Though my heart will not be healed,
This criminal won’t be concealed!
My banner on his arm unfurled:
“One Less Mosquito in the World!”

Stephen Tomkins
9 August 2016
Manila

Was I Ever Really Here?

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I fixed up the mess that’s my side of the bed,
Including the dent that was left by my head.
But when she wakes up, it will seem just as though
No one had slept there.

In the food court, I sat down and ate
And when I was done, I then packed up my plate.
So when I walked out it was really as though
No one had been there.

From what was my desk, I cleaned out my stuff
Even wiping off the dust and the fluff.
Come Monday, it will be just as though
No one had worked there.

So, one day, when cross the river I go,
And though for a few, it may be a blow,
But when they look back, will it be as though
I’d never been there?

Stephen Tomkins
23 June 2016
Sydney

Carpe Diem (Seize the Day)

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Take some time now while you can,
As living woman, living man,
Because a life is all too brief,
And left unsaid, we, in our grief,
Cling on to things that were not meant
And said in haste before they went.

Rather, choose now, while you may,
To say all that you need, I pray.
Defer not till tomorrow since
(And though I fear I’ll make you wince)
For you, tomorrow may not come
But time to rue things left undone.

Stephen Tomkins
22 July 2016
Hong Kong

 

 

 

Winter Is Cool

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Cutting his losses, the Sun quits the fight
As his silvery glow soon gives way to black Night.
Mercury sinks to his bulb and hides there
And wintery Cold, now, her triumph declares.

Yet born of the harshness of this icy void,
Like debris from the death of some meteoroid,
The delicate crystals drift down from the Sky
Though she’s no longer seen by the sensitive eye.

The tentative Snowflakes send down a few scouts
Then an increasing flood as if pouring from spouts.
They all look the same but, on examination,
Are each one unique and a fine revelation.

Though we complain, we seem drawn to the Snow,
Maybe, deep down, it’s because we all know
That outward appearance is pleasant enough,
But oftentimes that can be merely a bluff.

Stephen Tomkins
4 June 2016
Singapore

 A strange place to be thinking about snow!

Photo credit:
http://www.travellerspoint.com

I Love Traffic

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In silken threads of silver hue,
The clouds drift by as if to view
The chaos raging here below
As to and fro we madly go,
Changing lanes with gritted teeth
And miss by inches sudden grief
To save a second, maybe two
And meet again just down the queue.
Perhaps we should just take a breath?
It’s better than an on-time death.

Stephen Tomkins
21 June 2016
Sydney

Freshly Squeezed

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Squeeze an orange, leave behind
A fragrant shell of pulp and rind.
Life’s pulping plant achieves the same
As juice pours swiftly down the drain.
It seems there is no fragrance left,
This cheerless world is life bereft.
And, sucked inside our vacuum phones,
Together, we’re all here alone.

Stephen Tomkins
20 May 2016
Sydney

Who Needs Feelings Anyway?

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So, how do I feel?
Well, where do I start?
For many long years
I’ve kept chains on my heart.
Those feelings kept captive
Would flow just like blood,
If freed, I’m afraid
I’d just drown in the flood.

The chains and their locks
Are maintained with great care.
It’s really much safer
If feelings stay there.
And though I may yearn
Now to share them with you,
I’ve been burned before
Though they said they’d be true.

Words may be knives –
They’re heard once and are gone,
But feelings remain
And the wounds linger long.
So am I a coward
Or merely pragmatic?
I’m fragile right now –
Could you be diplomatic?

Stephen Tomkins
1 May 2016
Hong Kong

Photo credit:
giphy.com

 

Spoils of War

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I’ve spent some time inside myself,
Preparing my defences:
Laying coils of barbed wire down
And shoring up my trenches.
Just when I thought I’m safely done,
O’er No Man’s Land you soar
And, on my helpless heart again,
Your mighty bombs you pour.

My trenches are all worthless now,
My barbed wire all gone.
Into my heart, you’re free to storm,
Your victory is won.
Is your triumph worth its price?
And does it still taste sweet?
How can love ever again entice,
No matter who I meet?

Stephen Tomkins
20 January 2016
Sydney

The Hermit

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Scuttling sideways, it’s progress I guess,
Bright, shiny shell on, it’s my mode of dress.
My pincers, I click then to let them all see
There can be no doubt: all is OK with me.
But once in my burrow, then off comes my shell,
Revealing my true self, though they’d never tell.
You see, I’m a person and not what I seem,
I’m really quite fragile – no it’s not a dream.
I long to find one who I can be myself with
But all I can see are a billion more shellfish.

Stephen Tomkins
6 May 2016
Sydney

Photo credit:
http://www.fanpop.com