words i could not eat

moments from the road

[wordsicouldnoteat]

Rishikesh Night

I heard you calling

out from within the darkness of the night

fragments of a delicate love

sweet and free

 The streets and lanes of Rishikesh were blowing a gentle wind under the blackness of the night sky

The days’ piles of burning rubbish still warm and pungent

Silence danced in the air amongst the subtle sounds of life

All shops and stalls firmly shut, awaiting only for sunrise to beckon in a new day, a new hope

I stood and stretched my back

I breathed in, deeply

An aroma of peace caressed every inch of my body

I tasted knowledge

That harmony comes from belonging to and being in the present, allowing your soul the freedom to exist only in each moment, unattached from the minds game of longing for the past or expecting for the future – to wish for nothing, but only feel gratitude for all you have, to feel at home within and to feel and offer love, for all, with all you are, is a freedom and gift to our own nature, our own spirit, that only each individual can awaken in themselves.

(Rishikesh, India // Jan ‘17)

[wordsicouldnoteat]

Ode to Varanasi

There are words

in Varanasi

that have no sound

they live in silence

even when spoken

You must understand this

Just like its air breathes life into a mans soul

the waters of Benares heal hearts broken by gods’ own hands

You must understand this

Its ghats

older, in mind

than earths own soil

are the arteries in which we find

the gateways

to our inner universe

Just as bodies burn, and suns rise

the city of eternal light

continues to be a beacon of hope

of release

Stories and tales collide so vibrantly

that we know other worlds exist

In the ripples of each moment

our senses devour the bliss

You must understand this

There is no other home

than Kashi

There is no other place

that will free a soul

and watch it soar

As spirits fly

even the dust pays attention

and the indescribable beauty

rises from the stench

You must understand this

Or not.

(Ode to Varanasi // Dec ‘16)

[wordsicouldnoteat]

Truth

The energy I search for

in places

and people

is me

I am that energy

The cosmic wonder

Streaming life force

The beginning 

and the end

The all encompassing volcano of bliss

That

and all else

is also you

(Tomar, Portugal // Aug ‘16)

[wordsicouldnoteat]

At The Lake

We drove on bound by our words The purity that poured from our actions took our breathe away I witnessed, in her eyes the simplicity of life That inside of a flowing love there is no dawn or dusk no questions or answers nothing that resembles any form or object There is, just what is Two souls at play dancing

(Sept ‘16 // Barragem do Cabril, Portugal)

[wordsicouldnoteat]

My Waking Light

Your face becomes my waking light

No amount of distance

can steal your vision from me

No amount of weight that fills my backpack

can diminish the breath you blew on my neck

Every inch of your body is held

within the vault of my mind

ever expanding

with intrigue and passion

and seconds of utter chaos

dense with wonder and colour

Every moment I treasure

deepens this place

At birth it was void

as dark as the new moon skies

Now many years later

amassed are the magical exhales

of life

(May ‘16 // Biarritz, France)

[wordsicouldnoteat]

Pigeons

So many photos of pigeons

In the sun

In the shade

I sit and wait

My days are spent with hope

that the next set of eyes to meet mine

are a journey of adventure

a soul to flow with

a being whose dreams rise where my dawn begins

My footsteps leave no trace on the city streets

but amongst the dusty earthen paths of the wild

traces of me exist

At Largo do Camoes

more pigeons

dancing as they do

through my view

I put away my camera

and sit 

and wait

(Apr ‘16 // Lisbon, Portugal)

[wordsicouldnoteat]

Intendente

The wind started up

gently

erratically 

without rhythm

Lisbon’s skies ushered in the darkening clouds

of imminent rain

then teased us all

with brief, sudden rays of sunlight

that soon, we knew, would disappear all together

Largo do Intendente hung with a haze of muttered chatter

Its murky undercurrent weaved patterns 

from tables to benches to doorways and alleys

Behind each door

stories, I sensed, as intricate as the cobbled streets outside

(Mar ‘16 // Lisbon, Portugal)

[wordsicouldnoteat]

In Sintra

In Sintra

A storm sings close by

above and beside me

angry grey clouds gather

In an instant of their arrival

the heaviness of the past week lifts

I lay a hand on the necklace around my neck

constructed for me by an angel of the spirits

The energy that surrounds me stirs beauty and love

With awareness a calm radiates from the earth beneath my feet

it reaches all my senses 

urging me to write these words

(Oct ‘15 // Sintra, Portugal)

[wordsicouldnoteat]

In Equinox

What I am

Is a walking reminder

Of long since past loves

Moments of pure joy

Beams of absolute perfection

I embody the nostalgia

A longing for before now

With each step

I embed more distance within

From where once romance emerged to dance

To moments I hoped would never end

(Mar ‘16 // Lisbon, Portugal)

[wordsicouldnoteat]

Winter ‘09

Deaths’ magician enters

The wondrous disgust of grief laid bare

Sunken to barren depths

Songs play from the laptop I intermittently stare in to

But where once this music

so filled with nostalgia and intricate warmth

drifted my being to any vision I dreamt of

Now

these sounds awake a hollow

empty

cask of cascading torment

So vibrant

Its’ echoes blind the eyes that before saw only untold beauty

and in their stead all that is left is the vacant dwelling of nausea

So vast

is this darkening space

ships sail upon its ocean

Directionless

Lost

Floating

for what I can only envisage

will be from now

until the burning apocalyptic flames

disembowel the very earth that gave me love

(Dec ‘15 // London, UK)

[wordsicouldnoteat]

Today And Every Day

Come dine on the speechless

The horror shock witness

All I see is man kill man

Woman and children laid scorn

Skin tone dictates hate

Borders settled by histories misplaced

Conflicting the mind of today

Spilled blood for wedding dresses

As those that born from mouths that denigrate

Married to the vision of their parents hate  

All I see is kill for kill

Governments that purport democracy

Cloaked in justice deaf to the injustice

Slain the innocent against the name of the invisible

My neck it aches from too much looking

Who to turn to

My trust is withered

Heart is broken

From the TV screen I see

Everywhere I look another body

In rumble and dust

In fear and desperation

Every word I read

Another being like me

Like you

Like your brother

Like your sister

Your mother

Like all of us

With organs and hair

And eyes that see the despair

This being received a life sentence

Of anguish and grief

With power and greed

The hands of the faceless

Dictate their regime on the helpless

While we can only unite and scream

Collecting our meager wages

An offering

To wipe away the pain and sorrow

We feel and see and drown

Within the senseless

Provocative propaganda ignites

Releasing odious distractions

To distrust and suspect

All those that appear different

Neglecting the truth that our blood is all red

Our hearts are all broken

And in the daylights darkness

Where we stand

We see no faces

Just hear the deepening cries

Treat each man as your brother

And each woman your mother

The lines that have been created

By the agendas that serve the elite

Are not ours to live by

Not ours to uphold

Do not listen to the lies told

We the people can only be free from tyranny

When we offer compassion and love and hope

We the people can only be free from false democracy

When we shower each being in patience and honesty

So go take a look at the world through the eyes

Of the expanding minority

Born with dreams and a thirst for tenderness

No different from your own

The only difference that they own

Is that of being born within a space

That another man wanted for his own

(Dec ‘15 // London, UK)

[wordsicouldnoteat]

Seagulls

Porto, the faint gawking of seagulls overhead

My thoughts take flight with their wings

To the salty, fresh air of crashing waves

Cracks of blue sky hidden by puffy embers of grey

Rusting metal, a once new frontier, slowly decaying to a lifeless and unused remnant of a superior past

The streets are brisk and lively under the late September early evening crest moon above, nestled in the skies last light

Soulful figures clamber past, buskers bring light to the darkening lanes, their sounds permeating the cobbles beneath my feet

(Sept ‘15 // Porto, Portugal)

[wordsicouldnoteat]

Do you remember Hendaye?

Do you remember Hendaye?

The sun, it coated me with the glow of freedom

A soft, sweet breeze

A rush, of people, of announcements, of trains speeding past the platform, of since long forgotten thoughts

Inhaling the breathlessness of new

Exhaling the demons of old

I waited

(July ‘15 // Hendaye, France)

[wordsicouldnoteat]

Orchha

There was a sound

It floated in from the depths of before now

An ancient song

So quiet and melodic it captured my breathe

(Dec ‘14 // Orchha, India)

[wordsicouldnoteat]

Jodhpur

The blue edges jut skyward from the mesmeric noises that sing beside

The wind, so fragrant and breathless, wisps through the crumbling air

Children play with ancient ladies dressed head to toe in floating colour

Laughter envelopes the rhythmic hum of honking and hammers

My feet stay grounded, as if held by an impenetrable magnetic force

My eyes stay fixated, with microcosmic worlds of exchanges and acknowledgements that dart past my view

The air, suddenly gentle, brings nostalgia, an understanding, or respect, of times distant from now, with the exact same truths

(Nov ‘14 // Jodhpur, India)

[wordsicouldnoteat]

Your Eyes

Your eyes told a story that elevated my spirit

My soul sat patiently, adoring the light that poured from within

There are mountains, far from where we were, that would weep

just in your presence, waters of joy, waters so free

I held your hand in comfort

The sun sat with us

Wrapping its loving glow upon our beings

(July ‘15 // Biarritz, France)

[wordsicouldnoteat]

Before Lunch

I left the mountains

Disappeared from view

Floated away like the low hanging mist of clouds

Disembarked in the lanes of Toulouse

The autumn rain arriving in early August

Grey skies, outside the imposing ‘Capitolum’

Lingering with the pigeons, street hawkers, buskers and weekenders

Sunday strollers denote another world

Of purpose, as lackluster as can be

Happiness, willed and strangled

I wait for inspiration

My next destination still a mystery, still open for direction

A clue

The scent of a distant land

I have an ache for Arabic streets, Indian alleys, hot, sweltering travel

That offers discomfort and a lesson on every corner

I’d lose sweat, I’d lose the layers that conflict me and be left with an outpouring of love for all beings

All unique and one

My mind tells me this

Piecing together my future

Now, in the present

Rain drops from the sky above

Time to move on

Find lunch, find shelter

Find the next destination

(Aug ‘15 // Toulouse, France)