MARK ANDREW HEATHCOTE

 

Tallow In The Snow

 

A candlestick must be lit before you go.

It must be placed in the melting snow.

There you'll watch the shadows dance.

And watch its melting tallow drip, perchance.

 

You imagine all life must quiver in its glow.

Till the wick no longer administers a deathblow

There you'll watch the moonlight meander.

Quicksilver in a river, flaming like an oleander

 

There, too, will you dare touch the orange flame?

And call upon what little beast you sadly tame.

To rage against the cold and forbid it to melt

There too will you open your heart and be smelt

 

Smelted into a fire, liquid gold full of desires.

There too will your fire dance in the briers

Melted ore, put to the blacksmith's many hammers

And then maybe you'll be the cat's pyjamas.

 

There Is A Letter Of Love

 

There is a letter of love.

That cannot be opened in your heart

It is sealed within

You'll be able to surmise its content.

Only if you imagine

It contains no ill will towards you or others.

But how can this be achieved?

It is like imagining a tree adorned with leaves.

After the fall, and dining on its fruit.

Having saved a seed

And grown another tree in its place.

Such letters exist in us all, not to be read.

But to be realised as having blind faith,

The virtue of light and hope,

Never to be sacrificed in the mirage's smoke.

 

Left Only With A Song

 

Slaves were made destitute of their homes.

Their ancestors and their world were left only with a song.

To remember where they came from.

Left with only a song nestling in their breast.

 

The limb of a flowering bough dripping with dew

The fragrance of remembrances, kissing-embrace

The tears of a birthplace that still remembers

 A wellspring of souls chained together without chains.

 

Such songs are not all hearts made of

Such songs are freely sung by creeks and rivers

Such songs are freely sung by the oceans of the universe

That pushes, pulls, and binds all together.

 

MARK ANDREW HEATHCOTE

 

MARK ANDREW HEATHCOTE is an adult learning difficulties support worker. His poems have been published in journals, magazines, and anthologies online and in print. He is from Manchester and resides in the UK. Mark is the author of “In Perpetuity” and “Back on Earth,” two books of poems published by Creative Talents Unleashed.