BROKEN BOUGHS

“Swaying aloft on a warm summer breeze, the life-giving forests of wise, ancient trees.” Life filled leaves of a forest, green, its purest form, now so seldom seen. Majestically reaching so high in the hills, no roots of malice, no hate or ill-will. To wistfully walk among bramble and bush, through wind-swept grasses, so gentle…

AS FLEET AS A LIFE

  To end up alone in a world full of pain, where life has become just a cold dark refrain. To drift along on strange endless tracks on the maps of a mind that is fading to black.   A face; a feeling that once felt so real, excitement that should have felt so full…

THE SPOILS OF WAR

And the troops go marching proudly by as she wipes a tear from her weary eyes. For the one that she seeks, she will never again hold, for he died at his post; he was thirty years old.   The colours fly high on a cool autumn breeze as man and boy march with well…

BATTLE CRIES

The hopeless eyes and tear stained horror of a fragile, far-away gaze. Where once, a sweet and happy child dwelt, till the innocence of life was erased. The tears have dried up, cried out with the pain on battered beseeching hands. Just sitting, bereft, in the remains of a life; in the dust of desolate…

A LOVERS EMBRACE

To feel her warm and gentle hand upon your smiling face, her tender loving caress is like a sweet and soothing grace. Teasing, as your fingers trace a tantalizing trek along her silken stockings as you tenderly kiss her neck. Gazing into enchanting eyes so deep with dark desire, whirling pools of life and lust,…

A LONELY LAMENT

The flickering flame in the dream of your eyes, is a glimmer of life in a darkening sky. But little heat remains to warm the weary hearts of those so slowly left bereft and torn apart. A chill wind blows a tear across the cooling fires, a rain of lasting love falling softly through life’s…

DREAMS OF A LIFE

As a new day dawns and I open my eyes, I look upon a world in painless surprise. A smile creeps across my hopeful face as I lie in bed, my comfy place. A tentative move; a testing stretch but then comes a cough and my face is etched with pain, like a stalker in…

A DARK PLACE

The old clock sets the rhythm of a heart in pain. A body racked with with aching frustration, and the realisation that life will never be the same. * Written by Darren Scanlon, 12th April 2015. ©2015 Darren Scanlon. All rights reserved.

A COLD EMBRACE

Falling into the dark icy deep, engulfed in the bosom of a cold crushing sleep. Wrapped up so tight within a trembling embrace, a chilling kiss on your startled face. The light from above fades slowly from view as the writhing waters welcome you… to their icy womb; such a desolate tomb. And as colour…

A CHILDS EYE

Imagine a world of love and laughter, fun filled days and freedom till after the tea time call or the playtime bell, get back into line or you’ll catch some hell. Imagine a world of wonder and jest, questions and answers; adventurous quest. When time was your own and life was a whim, to run…

A BUTTERFLY’S DREAM

And so to bed, though once it was said that life is just an illusion. Well if that is so, then why, long ago, was my life such a whirl of confusion? A nightmare, a dream or so it would seem, could be life long ago on an endless stream. We are trapped in a…

PORTENTOUS PROGNOSIS

If Mother Nature could speak… I’m the first light of dawn setting fire to the skies, the awe that ends with a soft, sated sigh. I’m the slow, gentle sway of ancient, lofty trees, branches of life filled with wonders to be. I am sands and seas; a warm summer breeze blowing soft, whispered tunes…

THE BALLAD OF THE SINGING STORK

A special delivery is often made, of a loving couple’s sweet young babe. Wrapped in a blanket and dangling out there at the end of the bill of a stork, in the air. Sleeping and happy the babies, they ride through the summer skies as the storks gently glide. Gracefully flapping their powerful wings, not…

THE BALLAD OF BOB THE BUN

Our friend Bob the Bun, just loved to have fun and exciting adventures galore, he’d laugh all day and jump and play and roll around on the floor. Its a very rare sight to see a bun take flight but one day he went flying so high, he held onto a kite by the tail,…

OH, MOTHER

Deep in the shrouding mists of time I search for your smiling face. Mother, tell me, where have you gone and why did you leave no trace? Who will now hold my trembling hand in the dark of the dawning night; the thunder; the rumble of terror on high and the flash of unholy light?…

BLINK

I. A family gathering, a party so bright, revellers dancing well into the night. Everyone filled with joyful mirth, role models all; the salt of the earth. Lost in their laughter with a roof to raise, failing to see the mans cold vacant gaze. Music and singing, they don’t see their guest as his face…

THE BALLAD OF THE SKATEBOARDING ANT

If you’ve ever seen an ant go whizzing by faster than his friends and with goggles on his eye’s, then without a doubt, skidding through the plants, you’ve met my friend Albert, The skate-boarding ant. From the day he was born he was rushing around hither and thither, like a spring unwound. His mum would…

ONE LAST SHOT

The whiskey stains upon the bar tell scores of many sad tales, of love, loss and tragic lives; and drink to drown out the wails. Another dejected, washed out soul seeks solace within the shot glass, to wash away the mournful memory of another heart-broken pass. Another wheeler-dealer, another gambling god, another weary player bet…