Love and, Oh, Lackaday!

Walking With Willie

Luv, at the time i was walking with Willie
we weren't mashing, nothing of the sort
he held my hand, turned and said
"Doris, i want to court you"

what'll Dad do, i thought
get mad, tell him to get lost?
"there's better than you in store for her"
he might smartly rhetorical
and Willie, what'll Willie retort
bein' a cobbler's lad?

no, Willie's a billet do, a ticket of goods
he's smashing!
he held my hand like a proper pal
turned and proposed, just sesame beaucoup

luv, whatever Dad and Mam may purpose
i stood and gave him my heart, savoy fair
when you get a brave dare like that, take it
luv, i'm walking through life with Willie

©Laurie Ashton, '99 ['86]

If No Love's

If no love's better
than any love
don't blame me
if free of love's
better than love
don't blame me

you provide more
i provide less
we both disagree
if sane love's
lost malcontent
don't blame me

don't blame me
don't blame me
stop asking
more of a heart
that's a dead fire
you're stirring the ashes
for nought

spent love's not a liar
we both should agree
leave it alone
leave it alone
at least we're free

©Laurie Ashton, jan 24th, mm

To M., from the North Shore

Across the harbour
lights of downtown city
blinking
into tardy sleep

i, at my window
seat for contemplation
by fantasy of beckoning pen
reach out to you

a restless mood
in fellow-feeling
with those transient rays
bright wands
that play in squiggles on the water

so you, my dear, are present in my head
held luminous or else
by turns extinguished

go to bed…? no, i linger
chastened and sombre
whilst wavery beams
leap from the darkened waterfront
to show
how naked under this evening sky
my hopes can fly
or fall
both high and low

©Laurie Ashton, 1964, revised mar 4th, mmi

top

fragments

one empty word
fills the void

the curse
a skull whose hollow
cranium
conceals a few drops
of last night's rain

funny how being thirsty
i drank from your stagnant pool
and in my delirium
took the fever for love

©Laurie Ashton

top

That's Summer

Summer's around the corner
with yellow roses and canterbury bells
Summer's an honour
like holding your hand
while I'm murmuring 'Very wells'
that weren't planned
we agree simply and spontaneously
That's Summer to me:
your smile
and how you have a look that tells

©Laurie Ashton, mmi

top

My Memory is a Garden

my memory is a garden
that cannot now grow
flowers
and the weeds
are rank
where once you walked

i love the weeds
for they too
are never looked at
twice

my heart's ease
begs
by the sidewalk
of your attention

wild flowers
still grow
where once we walked
and i pick them
one by one
in case you pass by again
and think
those stupid flowers!

©Laurie Ashton

top