Cloudburst

The scorched Earth like Savannah

Heat blown grass

Brown and tinder dry

Lies beneath a relentless blue sky

The vapid white mistt of cloud

Soon disappearing as the day wears on

This season is stuck in stasis

No respite from the summer sun

Then suddenly as a streak

Lightings orb wreaks havoc

A rippling bright bolt across the retinal blue

Accompanied by the screech and clap

Of thunders roll

Rain like water tipped

From a bucket palls

In waterfalls from the storm wrecked sky

Hammering the cracked and thirsty earth

Flood pools form and swarm

With streaming eyes

Then it stops.

The riven silver light warming to gold

As the last filligree of misty cloud passes on

Downpour ended

The season is broken

Cool air breathes in through the breach

Heat no longer clammy and jungle close

But fresh and dry breezes sooth the skin

Earth healed again

Joe Morriss

July 2018

Letting go

To reach out to you

Was all I could do

You were the light

I was the shadow

I'm the bone

You're the marrow

Empty like a well

Bottomless and dark

Mask like a shell

Brittle and Stark

Still waters run deep

Hidden depths

A wandering sheep

Always thirsty

The wanderlust caught me

In a gust

A journey

A must

Going home

Free to roam

But am I free?

Are you he?

All rivers run

And laugh

To the newborn sea

That's where I found us

In your embrace

All washed up

Unsure on the sea shore

The vast ocean

Flows beneath

I cling to you

But only a Rock and nothing more

Clinging to the crashing shore

I wanted you

But I still want More

Until I find my home

I will wander

I must let go

And drown

In the depths of my empty heart.

Joe Morriss
June 2018

Healing

I sat alone on the bench.

I felt the breeze

My heart opened to truth

I am a shadow

I am alone

There is a darkness within

I can't go there

It hides pain

I want to walk away

Your gentle hand uncovers

The truth

A frightened child

Suffering the Aftershock

Of deep grief

The difference is that this bench

Where I sit now

Is in the sunshine

The light of your love

Shines brightly

You take emptiness away

The silent scream has stopped

Your healing hand

Has touched my aching throat

And it is soothed, closed , healed

New skin basks in the warmth

Of your radiant sun

No shadow here

I'm not alone

I don't need to leave

Joe Morriss.

2018

A man with a plan

Come again. I missed that. Did I hear you right?

Purpose and a plan

Night after night

I looked for you in the stars. In the sea . In the trees

But all alone I was and had nothing for my thoughts

Nothing for my heart's ease.

The crashing waves. Mono tone

All alone

Wind in the trees

A lonely moan

Eyes to the ground and the litter and throw away life.

Nothing in store for me only this strife.

Promises for good. But where are these if not where I'm stood?

Where I stand is not where they were when you gave them the promised land.

Milk and honey now that's not so funny

Where is this place?

My place?

My soul. My heart . My Joy?

I denied the search for comfort for so long

Convinced it was not meant for me

Afraid of the damage done to me

By broken abusive toxic encounters

Jealousy was the only currency

When I wasn't falling headlong

Through rejection.

So I shut the door on my future

And gave the keys to a fanatic

Now I'm free and finding that the door between me and my destiny stands open.

I clutch at the waving grass of the meadow

A field of opportunity

Basking in the sunshine of faith

Threshold moments like these make me nervous.

I look back across a dark sea of uncertainty

Years of waste

I don't want to take that with me

Time to look forward

Come again. Come again.

With your purpose and plan.

Destined for good not evil

Give me the courage to be a free man.

Joe morriss

7th June 2018

The bough

The wind stirred in the bough

I felt the gentle filligree

Of a thousand blossoms

Falling beneath the gentlest of touches

Your thoughts are greater than mine

But each new bud of inspiration and question

Is teased by the breeze

And set free

To grow and bask in the balmy evening sun

As with every tousle each tangle

Is undone

You're breath caresses my troubled mind

I breath in the freshness and see the vivid

Colours of spring

It's a new day

Come alive

Move with the wind while it's time

Joe morriss

April 2018

Son of man

Before you were king you were a son

You looked up into your mother's eyes

Watched your father's hands

What thing was your muse?

Taught your heart to sing

The song that would carry to distant lands

Son of labour

You worked in desert heat

Son of nature

You  took bitter with the sweet

Son of people

You spoke the common tongue

Son of sorrow

You died when you were Young

Before you reigned you served

You tended wounds of soul and flesh

You felt the pain of your best friends death

How many times was your tender heart broken?

Just to hear your father's voice spoken.

Son of the earth

With working hands

Son of history

Of life's short span

Son of a Nation

Hopes last stand

Son of eternity

The son of man

Joe morriss

25.2.2018

Fresh day

Birdsong in the trees
Blue sky on a winter's day
The morning sun
Blowing away the cobwebs
I shake off my frosty jacket
The air is fresh in my lungs
Ready for life ready for change
Ready to engage with humanity
Diversity unpredictable
False hopes and tarnished dreams
Left in nights clinging cold
Today is an adventure

JM 4.2.18