If I don’t weep for your children
How can I weep for my own?
My heart is no greater than yours,
It is not more tender, more loving.
If I do not know your pain
How can I cry for myself?
If I do not recognise your love
How can I know my own?
My love is no brighter than yours,
The bird of my love flies no higher,
The well of my love is no deeper,
The child of my love is not more precious.
If you don’t want to dance
Don’t come to my party
If you don’t want to dance
Then just stay at home
If you just want to chat
Then go and find a tea room
If you just want to eat
There’s a chippy up the road
This one’s for the dancers,
The stampers, the vampers,
The whirlers and the waltzers,
The ones who do the polka –
I want a bit of bee-bop,
Hip hop, a slut drop,
Some stamping and some tapping,
Some bootie being shook –
Come and do a slow dance,
A pole dance, the pogo,
Come and do a step dance,
Flamenco or a jive
You can do a circle dance,
A square dance, a line dance,
Or wiggle like a hippy
In a corner, on your own.
I don’t want spectators,
I want participators,
So if you won’t be dancing
Just stay home.
–
Her body’s never naked
It’s draped in expectation
Her legs scrawl a manifesto
Her breasts write a slogan
Her face may be hidden,
Paralysed or painted;
Her shout must be whispered,
Her friendship must be tainted.
Her weakness is exalted,
Her wisdom is inanity,
Her biology’s a mystery,
Her pleasure is profanity.
Be wary – you will ride
Into the distance.
You will cross galaxies,
You will swim through
Bright coronas,
You will break yourself
On marble, on granite,
On a lock of hair.
Love is an infinite power –
The fine root that finds its way
Through rock, through concrete
Through tarmac; the sweet drop
Of water, that eases through
The invisible gap; the first note
Of the symphony; the last chord.
Love is an infinite power,
The rising, singing lark –
The fox slinking along the hedge –
The hand that grips yours.
Love is an infinite power,
And we are finite,
Bounded in time and space,
And yet we hold within us
An infinity of stars.
I do write poetry. I set this up for NaPoWriMo, just to challenge myself, really. Should be fun!
Sarah writes poems 