Collected Love Poems. Brian Patten

with the body speak, its senses known.

      There is no frantic hurry to love

      Or press on another one’s own dream.

      This much I know has changed,

      What was once wild is calmed,

      And quieter now behind the brain

      May throw more light on things;

      And what starved for love survives

      Whatever shadow it hunted down.

      Taking what love comes makes

      All that comes much easier;

      Something buried deep selects what our shapes need;

      The smaller habits it allows to breathe then fade,

      Leaving the centre clean.

      Tonight I will not bother you with excuses.

      If owning separate worlds means pain

      Comes more easily, and hurt

      Remains a common part of us,

      The silence is best; it will allow

      All doubts to strip themselves.

      Then whatever’s seen will surely

      Be seen in its own light,

      And whatever is wanted be wanted

      For more than wanting’s sake.

       It is Time to Tidy Up Your Life

      It is time to tidy up your life!

      Into your body has leaked this message.

      No conscious actions, no broodings

      Have brought the thought upon you.

      It is time to take into account

      What has gone and what has replaced it.

      Living your life according to no plan

      The decisions were numerous and yet

      The ways to go were always one.

      You stand between trees this evening;

      The cigarette in your cupped hand

      Glows like a flower.

      The drizzle falling seems

      To wash away all ambition.

      There are scattered through your life

      Too many dreams to entirely gather.

      Through the soaked leaves, the soaked grass,

      The earth-scents and distant noises