Flesh and Blood – a poem from 1998

I was asked to write some words about love
To put to a tune that would woo the dove
But I was mute, struck dumb and silent
Without your soul inside my pen

So I wandered in the fields of frost
And felt the cold touch of loss
So I could learn the feelings of
One who knows about love

But all I found was myself
Sitting idle on a shelf
Like a forlorn tin soldier
Cast in metal, never growing older

And when the bells struck midnight
I returned alone
Weary of the awfulness
I found inside myself

Now I wallow in self-indulgence
And spare no expense
To keep you I’d gladly sell
My eyes and every other sense