George Ellington

George Ellington

23 November 2015

silent hope

a stony breath
bereft of eager life
bequeaths eternity
upon the trembling soul
of this lone child
taken all too soon
from the shores
of derwent water
where once she roamed
full of wonder
and whispering ever
of tomorrow’s
silent hope


in the kirkyard of St John Church in Keswick, Lake District

17 November 2015

the end of the world

he sits
at the end
of the world
striving to see
something more
something
at the very least
tall and true and
immaculately full
of eternity
something
that will sooth
the angry pain
in his aging limbs
and silence at last
the terrible anguish
in his heart


John O'Groats in the Highland of Scotland

29 September 2015

whole

when your breath
my heart caressed
sweetly amended
i
ascended whole
at long last
accumulating hopeful
me,
no longer dissembling
yet trembling and
avowedly anointed
we,
being more than
ever i could
alone have been

24 September 2015

dust

the besmeared merchant sighs
his dilapidated stall shivering
even from the weight of the dust
that covers his trivial wares

useless all but for one piece
one timelessly treasured vase
facelessly reminiscent, recalling
nana’s gentle hands folding the clay

never would he have chosen
but for the direst of needs to place
her final work beneath the sun
shunned by one patron after another

a screaming child races past
a cloud of dust clinging to his heels
which kick at the angry world
with zealous determination

behind the child, lost in his clowd
an elderly woman growls, teeters
blindly rubbing her stinging eyes
as her hip collides with the stall

down it falls, beautiful in despair
down it falls, crashing to the earth
smashing a heart that had nothing
left to hope for beyond simply this

he does not scream, does not yell
does not tear at what remains
of the bedraggled gray mess strung
limply over his sweaty crown

his jowly countenance drips sorrow
into the dust of his finality
his skin cracks across brittle bones
enthroning a once proud man

as a naïve prince of fools

23 September 2015

clinging

there is such decay
in this aging flesh
such pain clawing
through these limbs
gnawing at the fibers
of transient being

and yet we hold on
grasping at perpetuity
while gasping our last
precious promise
of certain intransigence
and desperate need

we seize at vitality
angrily breathing needles
piercing our veins
with chemical inducement
and medical murmurs
moistened with tears

with trembling limbs
we prostate ourselves
before imperceptible deities
touching coldest stones
with sweaty hands as
generations of ghosts

have done before

22 September 2015

banshee

what is it you really see
when first your eyes open
peering through the light
of the slowly ascending sun
falling from the mountains
to kiss warmth across
your glowing cheeks?

surely it is not me you see
leaning needfully over you
ever hopefully attendant
blending my lips to yours
it is not my face at all
but a variant thereof
unconsciously formed

know that in the sorrow
of your declining lips
there is but a specter of me
and in the mournful lines,
in the cracks of your vision
that pierce my rueful being
there is a me that is not me

in your grieving sight
am i a shadow of truth
cringing coldly in corners
fearful of the damning light
longing for the blackest night
and the harrowing cry

of the wailing bean nighe

21 September 2015

life

does protrude from this moment
and indeed from every other
so knobbly nudging me
into one direction
or another
but
i am time
i determine now
i decide each and every
turn from this precise moment
to the pivotal next with the utmost will

17 September 2015

one more glass

stands untouched
upon the mantle bare
the flavor passed
the moment gone

recalling such joys
i’d never thought
to know at all but
for my beloved you

you reach behind
and stroke my neck
and let the touch
of love beguile me

your fingers adept
caress my deepest
soul with hope intent
on one more kiss

and so before you go
a saddening smile
across your lips
bespeak but to me

this simple oath
that before this time
of mine be done
we two shall share

in gentle warmth
and keenest bliss
a loving embrace
and one more glass

16 September 2015

thunderstorm

thunderous cries
shiver the skies
frightening fitfull
Cassiopeia enchained

“oh, beauty is mine
magnificent, divine!”
defying the gods
she had once claimed

but the heavens entombed
this queen to her doom
when her pride
too abundantly flowed

now crash the skies
with her copious sighs
while reaping the sins
conceited she sowed

15 September 2015

when you are gone

the warmth of you
accompanies my day,
resides ever beside me
before me, within me,
it clings to my skin
like the hopeful breath
of an honest moon,
reminding me still
always reminding me
how far we have come
how far you have gone