Wind

I hear your low undertone as you prepare for your next gust. Roaring traffic noise and rain against my window pane. Leaves scatter and it doesn't matter whether home or abroad your power reigns and rocks the crowns of the most majestic trees. Then a low undertone and no more….

Seal

Swimming sublimely in the surf

Environment is everything when you're 90percent blubber

Although on shore you look black and sleek in your wet suit rubber

Life is full of little wrinkles.

The quiet one

I never thought to look for you,
In the heat of the moment.
It was all about survival, you see.
Getting by.

In all the press and clamour,
No one looked to you,
The quiet one.

Your thoughts shouted louder than our words,
As you sat in the corner.
But no one took heed to your call above the din

I wonder how we would have fared,
Differently if we had cared.
What insight gained,
If we had strained,
And studied between the lines
And the look behind your eyes.

Joe Morriss
26.6.2015

Crack a smile

You knew me when I had no words.
Between prods and jibes , I would grin.
Behind that smile,
Was all the things we could have been.
Whether we lived it or not,
The life was all there in you,
Believing in me and for me.

A smile that cracked the bars of the prison mask,
Talk about the small things without breaking the dam;
You keep them all with you,
Like a grandad with a pocket full of sweets.

I just got tons of grief behind these walls,
And a skin as thin as ice.
That's why I need this mask...

But for you, I will always crack a smile.

Childhood

I had a childhood strong and fair
Not a care,
Golden hair.
Summers were long and warm
With laughter and adventure,
You were there.

Then came independence
And with it, choice
A loud voice
Silent yearnings strangled by curious cravings
Precious flowers picked and discarded
Unpardonable sins
Left un-reprimanded.

Subtly suffering asserted itself
Days turned on their head
Self image dead
No rest in bed

I had a childhood strong and fair
Not a care
Golden hair,
I turn now to look
But you're not there.

Joe Morriss
2005

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

Beginning of March

There was a time when hope was in vain
It never ceased to freeze and rain
Sleet turned to ice and then back again

The barren womb of Winter lay
Forgotten by flower 
Untouched by sun's ray
The bare branch blew
Day after grey day

Then the season shifted
Certain changes came
The shelving of rich hearthside legends
The talk of many a muffled walk
Like the sap which surges through stem and stalk.

Like a sign of life
The sun shone that day
An emblem of the everlasting
Lambs leaping at your coming
The Lark signing its skyward longing.

With face as yet unseen
This spring-child comes
Yet we hear his heartbeat like distant drums
And though the hope of many dies
We face the day with faith filled eyes.

Joe Morriss

March 2008