The cat my neighbour keeps

The cat my neighbour keeps now is my friend

No more will I scare him off my garden

For I have seen the fleeting mouse scurry around

And I have made my peace with my former foe.

Regreso de la montana espaciana

Regreso de la voz, del edificio
Regreso de la voz, de la manera
Que supo dar a luz por vez primera
Que supo ser cabal desde el inicio

Regreso de los fuegos de artificio
Regreso del rugir de oscura fiera
Asi la vida nos viene desde fuera
Asi la muerte ejerce fiel su oficio

Oh espiritu poetico que cura
Oh espiritu tanatico que duele
Oh espiritu que en suenos ya perdura

Verso volcanico en medio de la nieve
Verso que llora, sangra y suda
Verso del combatiente cuando muere

Morning in May

Morning in May: what a delight!
The grass is green, the sun is bright
and as the train speeds past the canal
this sight is good for my morale.

Just then I see a smoke column rise
and the blue sky in two slice
power station, standing tall
it makes me feel so very small

Arrival into London Euston

The playground, bare
The old park lane
The biking postie
The bowling green and its small pavillion
The cranes supporting tall structures
Amidst the rows of terraced houses
- A brand new stadium in the background
The grey, red blue tube train carriages
Heading for their first tunnel of the day
The playground, bare
The church spire
The train, reluctantly slows down
The signs that greet the Northern visitor
- A spray-paint job, proclaiming "hello, shitbag"
Grey pigeons on the grey platform
Forever under cover
The rush of people into the concourse and down the escalators
Scrambling for change or for an Oyster card or for the shortest queue
The silent journey into a packed underground
The bustling square with its enormous lions
And large numbers of pigeons

Office romance

(Try reading with a "Billy Connolly" accent)

What have I got to do
to get closer to you?
I've tried making you a brew
and loitering outside the loo...

Parque

Cielo azul, nubes blancas, verde ladera
Todo lo veo desde este cuerpo, desde estos ojos
Con esta espalda que se recuesta
sobre una banca de ocre madera

Et lux in tenebris lucet

Y la luz ilumino las tinieblas
La luz del amor, desnuda como una lampara
Colgada del techo en el cuarto donde hacen los interrogatorios
En peliculas de espias o detectives en las que actua Humphrey Bogart

Y la luz ilumino las tinieblas
La luz del amor, como el tren que penetra el tunel
Silbando a cien por hora, creando un vacio a su paso
Una presion que hiere los oidos. La urgencia del viajero solitario.

Y la luz ilumino las tinieblas
La luz del amor, como velita en pastel de cumpleanos
Cuando cumpliste seis y el mundo era cosa de tres kilometros
La distancia del amigo mas lejano – y habia que ir en auto a recogerte

Autumn days

In autumn days the sky forever grey
The garden fence, brown or almost red with new panels-
A summer's endeavour, like the few remaining berries
Hanging from our neighbour's bushes
Uncollected, uneaten, gathering dropplets of persistent drizzle
Waiting to whither fully and be washed out
With the first strong rains of October
Praying perhaps to be gone for good before the short dark days
Should find them, left behind and forgotten

Haiku

The luscious foliage
Flocks of birds
Dreams of the trees in winter

Arte poetica

Musa que gimes desesperada
con el furor de la tierra arada
en la que siembro ya mi semilla -
agricultura de maravilla

Musa que gimes con alegria
sobre el trigal al final del dia
en ti celebro feliz jornada -
agricultura sobre mi amada

Be kind

Be kind to every creature
and hurt no living thing:
Pick up the lovely beetle
and chuck it in the bin!

At the end of the day

At the end of the day
Somewhere along the way
We had to push the envelope
Pull out the hymn sheet
And sing out of the box
All together now, once more
Dear friends once more
We few, we lucky, phew!
Who drank the mountain dew
Under a sky so blue
All the trees made invisible
In the proverbial forest

We are all on a journey
At the end of the day
Sailing around the bay
Hoping to think or swim
And to do so on a whim
To feast on bread and butter
After the horse has bolted
And I again have been sorted

You have neither heart nor mind
I'm not one-eyed, you are not blind
You are not cruel and I am not kind
Your words speak to me but not of love
They do reveal to me your treasure trove
Your voice is always coming from above

Haiku - winter morning

Old hotel roof
Dawn rushes in
Crest of a wave of fire

Haiku

No spark, nor tinder
Only the warmth of fire
is remembered

A road is built

A road is built
by cleverly conceiving certain journeys
the rest is just measuring obstacles
flatenning the weaker ones and
working above, around or underneath the rest

but roads are neither trips nor destinations
and if you feel a new road will bring us closer together
you'd be partly mistaken

A road is built
by craftily harnessing hope and distance
and weaving them together on the landscape

The rest is up to us.

Disparate romantico

Come share with me the open road
and be my love, while love will last
and under heavens overcast
pedal our bicycles abroad

Come sail with me in the same boat
and, tied together to the mast,
head for the storm and leave the past
in some remote part of the coast

Come for a walk up the green hill
the rainiest weekend of October
to enjoy with me fog, hail or thunder

The two of us won't sit still
if you will let me be your lover
till death -or fate- put us asunder

Blank page

The four restrictive corners of the page:
A field to be ploughed
A sea to cast your net in
A desert to journey across
And to get lost, discover or explore,
Colonise, inhabit, cultivate,
Runsack, loot, take by storm
A clean bed, empty but waiting
for weary sleepers or contorted lovers
The ultimate frontier, the last space

After a night in town, with Jack Daniels

On nights like this Death cannot come too soon
as I lay awake, on my bed, in my room

and hours fall on me like drops of rain from a leaking ceiling
they quickly form a pond, around me first,
eventualy inside me, a deep well of bitter water

When I wake up, the neighbours' grand oak tree has been blown off its roots
Taking with it half the garden fence, some of the roof
and the new concrete garage - now reduced to rubble

Atop my own roof my grandfather's weathervane
spins wildly and triumphant
having conjured up a storm

How much my life has changed since I met you

Corte una rosa

Corte una rosa - la que mas queria
la de mas color, la que mas brillaba
corte la rosa que mas me importaba
y fue porque la sabia ya perdida

Corte la rosa que perdia la vida
y la entregue a la mujer que amaba
senti en mis manos que suave temblaba
mi roja rosa de mi se despedia

Hoy mi jardin brilla bajo la luna
mientras mi amada a mi lado yace
y yo despierto recuerdo a mi rosa

Cuando al fin duermo, mi buena fortuna
me regala otra, que en el jardin nace:
una nueva vida aun mas hermosa.

-----------------------------

I cut a rose, the one I loved the most
The one most colourful and bright
I cut the rose that to me most mattered
and it was because I knew it to be already lost

I cut the rose that was losing its life
and gave it to the woman I loved
I felt it tremble in my hands
My red rose saying farewell to me

Now my garden shines under the moon
while my beloved lies by my side
and I, awake, remember my rose

When at last I sleep, my good fortune
gifts me with another one, born in the garden:
a new life, yet all the more beautiful.

Romantica cantata - 20 anhos despues

Mi coraza es mi corazon
que es al mismo tiempo
mi casa
mi ventana
mi puerta
y mi cancion

(e.1985)

My armour is my heart
which is at the same time
my house
my window
my door
and my song

(w. 1985)