those locks

those locks

Bronze portrait of Alexander the Great. (ο Μεγαλέξανδρος) circa 150 B.C – A.D. 138, image courtesy of Pinterest

in seeing
his locks
of red hair
a face as
young to
match
its glow
i saw
that youth
might be
a kind of
metal
bright
in the eyes
of the old
who covet
it,
an armour
some move
comfortably
in, an armour
that should
give its
wearer
a head of
courage,
all fury
and gesture

estuary blues

estuary blues

A blown afternoon on the estuary as picked up by Big Cat

nothing else
the light still known
pushed along the water
in slivered blue and grey
toward the hulls of
moored yachts
launches turned into
the stammering wind
of an afternoon
waiting the next
rains from across
the estuary

the houses over
the road from the shore
the streets further back
are an empty head
where nothing’s
remembered
only a number
a family name
a child
poor at school

loyal to the tail

loyal to the tail
                 by BIg cAt

‘Ensconced’, Big Cat by LIttle Cat

’tis true,
was so
comfortably ensconced
with my head in the
hammock of his hand,
when the waters of
mid-night crossed,
but slipping through
the cat-door and
smelling the fresh
bunches of starlight and
hearing the roar of the
silent street, on wings of
paw did i make my
46th run to join my
aqua-friends* and
relish the found
crystal of this
fine day.
such nights i wave
the given ease aside
with flourish of my
furred banner,
waive the warmth
of human hearth
behind, ever
loyal to the tail,
mastered by
the tale

*gulls and ducks that gather by the Panmure bridge, 1.1 kilometres distant

may 2019, june 2020

Copyright ©2020 Peter Le Baige.  All Rights Reserved

The music is from a performance by Martin Schröder (Trumpet) and Hans-André Stamm (Organ) playing Cebell, Air & Fanfare by Henry Purcell in concert on 20th September, 2015 in Sint-Pieterskerk in Turnhout, Belgium.