Destination moon

Oh moon.
Delicate face still aglow with the pale fire light of sunsets last kiss.
You wait in fragile poise and look down on man's restful night.

Lonely vigil in a cold sky. Every child's dream and every question why
Held in your clear wondering gaze.

Unseen through today's turquoise skys but in the dark void of space you hang in stony guise
Awaiting the sun's embrace which only our earth witholds.

May we never reach you
Mysterious moon mother
Watcher
Wonderer
Tide changer.

Leaving

The wind whips up from the valley floor

And more leaves fall

More than before

I was never this happy or lost

Not since the cherry blossom fell

And I counted each flower as if to tell

How long the spring would last

Then I saw you

As if the whole of nature were a door

Don't leave me to the chill wind

And fallen leaves

Let me see your smiling eyes once more.

Joe August 2017

Cornflower

I wondered what it would be like to wear you with pride

Buttoned close over my heart

With all the others

Ready and blue

To tell of true love

Swaying amid the grasses

The theme of every song

To know love and to keep love

Chase with abandon

Find with purpose

Emblem of the eternal gift

Waking to the dream

Whispering at the stream.

Joe August 2017

February Lamb

Today the grass and sky are shining
In perfect sunny hue
The land soaked clean by Winter's snow
And everything made new.

Today everyone is up and out
The breeze is bracing
Fresh and clean
The birds are busy in hedge and tree
While circling buzzards keen.

Remember this day of brand new life
Revealed from neath it's shroud
With it's promise of new beginnings
And mother of newborn proud

For March is round the corner
With temper hard and stern
Winter's ire has one last blast
Afore the seasons turn.

So when the gales and tempests roar
And the sky's fair face is marred
Remember the day you glimpsed this joy
And let is gladden your aching heart.



Written for my Niece, Dulcie "Hope"

Joe Morriss

Feb 2009

Day Close

Day Close

Turn and face the sunset if you dare.

Don’t look for play of light in air

Or one day’s death to usher in another yet more fair.

Turn and see truth

Truth in all majesty

Unencumbered in strength

Strong over daily oppression – depression

Drawing and lifting besetting frustration

As cool of the evening

Lifts heat of the sunlight

And lulls in the coming

Of darkness the healer.

Turn, see a moment

Never repeated

Fixed in the day as the time of its parting.

Fixed in all time as this day’s departing

Returning no more.

Turn, see peace

The sun and the earth and you

Bound by peace, that companionship not of this world.

Trees wane and fade

The far hills stoop into nothingness

The grass lays back

Still tremor of cypress, awed at the spectacle.

The sun,

The sun pours down his molten end

In a hazy hush at the rim of the world.

The clouds in turmoiled glory

In a silent impassioned ecstasy

Lie near my face.

Evening cool soothing the brow

Chilling the back’s sweat

Hair lifting

With the spirit of that frozen, fervent flame.

Richard Morriss (Zimbabwe)

August 1961

The will to live

The Will to Live

Silently someone just learned to forgive,

While a man with a voice screamed "Die!"

My heart cries loudly "live, live, live!"

And my head turns away from the lie.

We're not all destined for fame abroad,

With stars in our hopeful eyes

But some will find their sweet reward

As the fire of this life dies.

Frustration turns its restless blade

With all its vain intent,

While in my breast the knowledge lays

Of what the master meant.

Charisma fueled by selfish pride

Is like its cousin fame

And only fools who trust in lies

Will fan the rampant flame.

But secret flows the whispering brook

Determined, to the sea.

And when my dreams like clouds have fled

My will returns to thee.

Joe Morriss

 22nd September 2014

Sunset

Silence surrounds the smouldering flame

As it sinks into a sea of burning turquoise.

Across the wide expanse it fans its rays

And on the horizon finds its poise.

A backdrop of burning blue

Scalded into coppery green

Coral clouds licked with crimson hue

Flecked with amber and golden sheen.

Jet trails sparkle and then fade into charcoal

Scoring the bold wash of pastel

While sulfurous wisps of yellow and grey

Hang superimposed then melt away.

Our ambitions and plans and excited thoughts

Hopes in the heat of the moment wrought

Like the cloud, they vanish to obscurity

Insignificant against life's bold reality.

Changing illumination renews its wonder

Causing each gilt edged feature to shine

The colours deepen into a molten splendour

While the fire intensifies as it dies.

As I wonder at this vast display

The subtle change takes my breath away

The expansive love of God's own heart

Requires reflection, not a fleeting glance.

The last light of the longest day fades

And the land withdraws into shadowy stillness

The embers smoulder and ebb away

As the first bright star rises into the velvety darkness.

The fire of life burns with youthful zeal

But passing glory soon loses its appeal

Eventually the darkness will come creeping in

But there is another light which shines within.

Still warm and graced by a gentle breeze

The dusky evening now slips by 

And the river winds its way with ease

While birds fly home across the western sky.

We all will come to that place in the west

Where at last we will find our rest

But far beyond the setting sun

Eternal day has just begun.

This earthly day has come to its close

No light in which to pass the hours

But just as the evening star arose

So shines a brighter sun than ours.

Joe Morriss

21st June 2010

Dedicated to the memory of Mr David Williams - a man with a heart for the next generation.

Sunrise

Here I stand

Alone

save for the sentinel star

A silent witness of the breaking day

And of the receding of the dark.

The city is marked by twinkling lights

In the valley neath its shroud

With orange beads scattered across the remaining night

It rests and waits without a sound

Pale light creeps slowly over the horizon

And the fields turn from grey to green

The Lark is the first to call

As standing horses stir in their quiet stall

A gentle breeze blows fresh and true 

Wisps of white 'cross the virgin blue

Wafting scent of clammy crops 

As trees awake  with rustling tops,  shake off the morning dew . 

A blush of cockle-pink and yellow mixed

Shows above a band of dark damson

Dappled with grey

Scattered islands lonely drift on tepid sky

As if in an ocean far away

All is white light now

And a rush of birdsong announces the dawn

I turn to the East

As the day is gently born

Gathered and grey

Then suddenly lit from below

The expectant womb of cloud catches fire

As a blazing embryo emerges to climb higher

Then the sun swiftly shows his head

Rippling with molten gold

Rises through a furnace of cherry red

And with newborn zeal 

Takes his hold

All nature now takes its true colour

By the light of this bright child

Risen in splendour like a golden mirror

He spreads his crown over the exultant sky

These joys are mine eternal

A new day has begun

My faith has been rewarded

By the rising of the sun.

Joe Morriss

July 2010 

Golden Leaves - all hallows eve

These golden leaves
On all the trees
Make me wonder
If we'll ever see
The Kingdom come
And then we'll run
With golden crowns into the sun.

The gentle breeze
That stirs those leaves
Soothes my mind and memories
Of things we've done
And all the fun
We had while tales around us spun

This is the eve
Of Saints' reprieve
Before their bright eternity
All pain has gone
With God the son
As Christ the risen saviour comes.

Joe Morriss

30th October 2011