Travel and travail

The morning sun sparks in the east

The salty sand dry and crisp

Already warm as I walk across the breach

And whisps of smoke skip

From fires liong lit

The first step of many

And many steps becomes a mantra

The day hard as it is long

And longed for rest among the throng

As we travel along

Alone or in a crowd

The loss is felt

As if home was not ours

And the hours and days away from

All that we knew which has now gone

So our journey is longing

And believing

That wholeness awaits

And the eternal city

Will open it's gates

To a wandering son

The Earth beneath the blade

Is blood soaked soil

Unyielding to toil

Red as the setting sun

Parched valley of bitter dreams

Yet each promise I hear

Rings in my ear

So i cut deeper and find hope springs

The torrent rises

To meet my tears

Uncertain future

Broken past

To be with you at last

Is all my joy

The fruit of loves labour

adorns this wilderness path.

Joe Morriiss

October 2018

Saying goodbye to autumn

Oh hello autumn

You took me by surprise

I mean completely

I was absorbed in sunlight hours

Then right before my eyes

The fading hedgerow

The trees I noticed briefly

Were beginning to rust

Why was it such a shock

To see your annual demise

Oh dear nature

Dont go

Don't grow old

You're crown is tarnished

I was engrossed with the gold

Fading sunlight

Slants toward evening

And the gnats buzz with less vigour

The surge of Summers health has all but vanished

And shadows cast a leaner figure

Drying and brittle foliage

And the silvering of age

I watch with sadness

And try , and try

To accept this stage

Oh autumn

Frail of hand and week of eye

I try to understand you

All I can do is cry

The brightest colours

Come at last

A final giving of your life filled heart.

Come then

Your here

I cannot deny

The sun sparkled so briefly

Beneath your youthful sky

But the signs are all there,

Oh dear autumn

I can't say goodbye.

Joe morriss

September 2018

Child of the wilderness

The long awaited breeze

Breathes on a parched land

She is in the desert

He takes hold of her hand

The earth moistens it's cracked mouth

And fills her lips with sheeting rain

Levanter from the south

Carried her off in captive pain

She is a child of the wilderness

Light of touch and deep of hue

The scorching sun shines through braided tresses

Woven in  blood Scarlett and baptized in lapis blue

Hiding in the outcrop of the eagles Rock

She drinks her fill of the brackish spring

Strength returns and runs amock

Through racked burning veins

It's a wonderful thing

Here a garden is planted

Gracefully granted In the heart of her trouble

The ground cleared of rubble.

An oasis starting to bear fruit from healthy root

Her saviour is embraced by loving arms

As he arrives on the back of the wind

His train rests neath shaded palms

Then the journey home begins

I heard tell of this as the fire pit embers rippled in the time between dark and light

When the playful breeze tugs the the tent zip

Where tales of that which is just and right

Bring strength to the weary Traveller

Unravelling my blanket

I looked up at the starry wilderness

Find me I whisper into the night breeze

For I too am lost

Joe Morriss

August 13th 2018

Hosea ch2 v14

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