By Scott Bailey © 2014

Where my heart does dwell
In misty old woodland dell
Where wolves and stags roam

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Green river long
Green river wide
Green river deep
Rolling on by
Thoughts dropped in
Like pebbles of time
No ripples betray the loss
Of a thought
Carry them far
To the distant sea
Maybe one day
A stranger will see
Them on a distant shore
And set them free

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Made of crystal
So clear
It can hardly be seen
The breadth of seven men
The height of the clouds
The top unseen
Inside
Sparking and crackling
Impossible
Bright and pure
It is filled with
Starfire
For miles around
The land knows no dark
Ever
The question might be asked
Why it was built
Were there anyone around
To ask it

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Trees
Shifting
High winds howl
Whistling, screaming
The trunks are strong, sturdy and hold the ground

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

In an old tractor tyre
A circle of friends
Dwarfed and reverent
In that magic time
Between day and night
The twilight
With new-born stars twinkling
And potential enchantment
Humming in the deep blue sky
Disappointed by the call
To bedtime

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

The heart is the drummer
The lungs a violin
You bring on a timpani roll
That rumbles to my feet
For you I am an orchestra
Though I often clang and clash
I hope my humble melody
Might catch your heart
In a dance

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Rain falls down
And I like it
All around
In the air
Soaks me down
To the bone
Washes sorrow
Far away
Those who eyes
Despise the weather
Don’t know joy
In the rain
A day’s a day
Weather’s weather
Drink it in
In every way

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Consuming and not creating
Planning and not making
Thinking without doing
This is the path they took
Into the undergrowth of
Tape and law and greed
So now in panic
They are fighting their way out
Cutting, cutting, cutting.

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Bubblepot the cat
Decided it was enough
So stole mankind’s keys

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Everyday
Everyday
The wistful mist
Rolls on its way
Following
The winding trail
Along the twisting
Shallow vale
Rolling down
From dew green hills
Pausing by
Abandoned mills
Sinking slowly
To the sea
Dissipating
Energy
Underlining
Morning green
Making bursting
Life serene
Until it rises
Into the air
Joining with
The clouds somewhere
Becoming one
Losing shape
From narrow trail
It does escape
Now no more
Gone away
Now no more
Gone away

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Take out my brain
Drain my dreams and aspirations
Remove the need for rest
The requirement to switch off my thoughts
Make me a robot
And everyone else
Will be happy

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Watching him dance
Watching him move
Sometimes tired
Sometimes in the groove
But always with the zeal
Of four years of age
May it always grow
May it never fade

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Once I was a seed
Bursting with potential
Waiting to spring out
From darkness into light

Once I was a sapling
Fresh and green and quivering
Stretching up with hope
To the bright blue sky

Once I was a tall stiff tree
Sturdy, proud and strong
Branches reaching all directions
Roots dug deep and true

Now I am an autumn leaf
Tossed upon the wind
My direction is not my whim
When I land…

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Hunting or hunted
Running through trees all my days
To find a still rest

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

The shock of the ShadowMask
Silent in the street
Where did it come from
To whom does it speak
Does is tell of blood
or does it tell of talk
Does it say charge on in
Or careful where we walk
The starlight high above it
Does not stir a spark
In those deep black orbs
Those eyes so wide and dark
So tell us now oh ShadowMask
We send this plea to you
We forsake all other thought
So tell us what to do

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

So it grows
The discontent
Of fiscal winter
Even sceptics grumble
But will it tip
Will we finally
Drop our stiff letters
And stiff upper lips
And revolt?
Or sip a cup of tea
Settle back
And vote for the best singer/dancer/skater
Instead

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Light that hurts my eyes
Bright yet darkness in disguise
Leaving me dazzled

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

In a growing desert on flowing sands
Sinking down into dried oasis
A market thrives
Rich men and women trade
Food for souls
Hot air for agreement
And everyone dances
While the sands sink
Everyone laughs and sings

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Grey Wolf pounding
Across the hard packed snow
Fierce heart pumping
Hot against the cold
Breeze like blades
Cutting headache pulse
Scent of blood
Fires instinct deep
Frost hangs shimmering
On the shaggy pelt
Grey Wolf coming
Endings will be dealt

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Patience stretched as tight
As a humming steel wire
Wails at just touch

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Rivers break their banks
Fields awash, people panic
I love the wide wash

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Standing on a high hill
Green fields rolling away beneath my feet
Off into the hazy horizon.
Strong breeze blowing through my hair
It exhilarates me – makes me feel
I could step forward and fly
Yet
It is nothing to the way you make me feel

Laying in the sun
In the lush deep grass
Sparkles dancing on the water
Blue skies in great expanse arching high
Warms me – happiness safe in my heart
Yet
Cold compared to the warmth you bring

A word of praise from peers
Or reward for long hard work
A beer after a trying day
Shoring up my worth
Yet
Nothing makes me better – more the man I should be
Than having you by my side forever
My love
My wife
My Rachel

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

The rich man on Thames has a sunken garden
Water so deep the duck house has floated
Away
So now
Money is no object for their relief
And the satirists
Whet their knives

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

With melted heart she went down
Gutted, drowned, futile fighting
But fighting
Carrying out her crafted purposes
What more can we ask

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Heaven’s holy light
Roving bright light a searchlight
Burning upturned eyes

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Bobbing in the dark
Tossed on hell’s furious waves
Seeking safer shores

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Slash of black on white
Ink scar scored in pain
Indicting words inflame
Passions in the hurt

The pen defeats the sword
Words echo strong down time
But numbers drown the words
Blur and blot the ink

The echo fades
Singers sing
TV lulls the wise

There is
No more
Surprise

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Jiggly was a little worm
A cheery sort of fellow
But whenever somebody brushed his skin
He would yowl and howl and bellow

For you see poor old jiggly
Was a ticklish kind of chap
The slightest touch had him laughing so much
That his head was all of a flap

So he asked all his friends to help him
Get over his terrible curse
Before he drove them all mad with laughter
Could they his affliction reverse

The sheep all got together
And knitted a long woollen coat
The wool was too itchy for his tender skin
And the fur got stuck in his throat

The spiders spun him a shirt
Of the finest silken web
But he ended up sliding all over the place
And his spirits lower did ebb

The mice they wrapped him up tightly
In leathery leaves from the ground
But they bound him so tight that he took a fright
And rolled all around and around

The parrots extracted some rubber
From the heart of the rubber tree
Then coated him with a thin smooth layer
Which fitted as well as could be

Now the young worm was happy
He could play with his friends at last
But as he wriggled among them quite happy
Their faces all looked so downcast

For they missed the wonderful laughter
Of the wriggly giggly worm
That filled their glum days in magical ways
Like a good but infectious germ

So he cast of his new rubber skin
Baring his own to the air
And everyone tickled the giggly worm
And jiggled and laughed without care

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

The insane and the dim
The slow and steady
The clever and obnoxious
The bigot and the playwright
The whiner and the wino
The liar and the gambler
The killer, the explorer
The saint and the giver
The healer and the cook
The listener and the teller
The buyer and the seller
The ruler and the subject
The freeman and the slave
The lover and the loner
We need them all
Each a danger, a potential bomb
But given the right time
The right place
The right circumstance
Each can be the one to save us all
To shine
To save
So do not be so hasty
To wipe them out

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Gone
From me
Innocence
But always close
Always in my heart that innocence lost

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Nothing you can do
To ease his pain, then you feel
Like you let him down

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

He is cool
And brave
Respectful
and respected
Men follow
Women swoon
Bright words from
His tongue bloom
Visionary thoughts
Mould the world
Strong and graceful
Effortless with grace
Steadfast, trustworthy
True, through and through

Yet
Where is he?
Not on our screens
Not in our books
Not anywhere that
The lost boy looks

There is a void
for our boys
So they fill it

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Shameful behaviour
Disgusting is the message
Relentless at men

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Education grows
Crime statistics are falling
Just saying, that’s all

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Changing times and names
War and scandal and divorce
Mother reigns again

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Debauchery swells
Lazy Princes and mad Kings
Produced and Empress

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

A renaissance across the land
Throwing off the far-flung shackles
For new ones closer to home
A new white dawn

Grabbing the holy riches
Gold crosses forged to swords
War in all directions
An empire to rebuild

Tall ships grew and multiplied
New lands found and won
The power of word proliferates
Especially the words of one

All the globe within the globe
Sounds echo down to now
Expose the hearts of Kings and Queens
Commoner, thief and maid

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

The invaders became the natives
And the empire grew and grew
Still one tongue ruled, another served
Ambitious chances were few

Once King extended the lands
Far across the sea
A golden time of riches
For those who were still free

In wars the riches squandered
By the lion and the snake
Rebellion loomed open the crown
As liberty crawled awake

So some power leaked away
Through the reluctant pen
That signed the future of the land
Hope was found again

For many years this house ruled
Until the roses clashed
From golden empire this dynasty
To war and bloodshed crashed

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Rising up and crashing down
On the cold, dark northern sea
Through hail and thunder, rain and show
The dark behind we flee

Filled with fear and hunger
From their lands bereft
They gorged their souls on anger
Till nothing else was left

They crashed upon the naked shores
Like children of the thunder
And every wall they came across
The smashed and tore asunder

The burnt the words of holy men
Carved scars into the nation
But also left their words and ways
While singing their elation

Some stayed in the conquered lands
Creating yet more divides
Their echoes ring across the years
In our veins their blood resides

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

The end of dynasties across the land
The removal of a class
The subjugation of a race
Custom smashed like glass

Upon the barest thread of claim
They came to take the crown
Rewrote the laws that bind us still
And all was written down

Here began the deep divide
Between rulers and the ruled
They claimed the justice of the lord
But very few were ruled

So across the short sea gap they came
With sword and shield and horse
Built castles high and mighty
Changing this fair island’s course

Adding new language to our tongues
Enriching and splitting too
Some words reserved for nobility
And some would never do

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Lines upon lines
Red and gold
Standing against
The wild blue bold

A stamps of order
And authority
Here is born
Conformity

Silk and steel
Rules the land
Gifts and death
In this hand

Shapes indelible
Left on the land
Words both spoken
And written in sand

Strength and order
The order of the day
The eagles left
Their order will stay

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Hard, cold and grey
Dull and unreflective
Sharpened for weapons of war
Blunted for tools of toil

Yet there is more
Glowing in the forge
Twisted into marble patterns
Delicate chains and swirls

Mounts for jewels
Brooches for queens
Pins and forks and hooks
A myriad of ideas were born

Flowing from use to form
New forms growing fast
The sword fights, the lock defends
The cauldron holds the feast

Times of war and growth of lore
Times of great halls a roaring
Look past the iron-grey mist of time
To see the colours flower

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

They left a legacy written in stone
Plain for all to see
Yet there are less lucid signs
Discovered carefully

Lines that lay across the land
Tales of times gone by
Showing us in hidden ways
To be read by those who try

The tracks we walked long ago
The boundaries of old
A story laid on every hill
And every vale and fold.

And on our tongues and in our tales
Echoes of the past
Holy places beyond the cross
Beyond a gulf so vast

Shapes and forms from ancient times
Still glimpsed within the heart
Of dance and song and tales that burn
And every blessed art

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

So they gathered through all the seasons
No plan, no goal, no reason
Anyone would have thought they had agoraphobia
Reality, they imagined, could be held back forever

Socially seeking some satisfying Saturdays
Never needing new nighttime neon
All agreeing an admirable agenda
Rich raw results really render

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

The story lingers
on. History casts its shadow
Misty Times ahead

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

I have been put in so many boxes
No wonder I have lost my head
My left hand has lost the right
My heart is by the brown bread
My eyes are somewhere dark and grim
Can’t tell where or when
My feet are tied to a tired path
They wander again and again
But it doesn’t matter
My imagination can fly

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

Brushed by crowded, swaying ferns
The scent of warm loam arises
Silence reigns, no birdsong rings
Signs missed by the men approaching
With their plunder they blunder along
Beneath the high arched canopy
And a new scent mingles with forest smells
fear and anticipation
Smooth and straight and true the shaft
Hard the piercing point
Today the plunder will be reclaimed
The price repaid in blood
Together, in silence, we draw our bows

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams

By Scott Bailey © 2014

A pillow, a rock,
A wage slave and a lover
Is this all I am

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams