Heaven’s Tears
 
      The stars that tremble in the sky
      Are unshed tears in heaven’s eye.
      What put them there so high above?
      It must be unrequited love.

      Tears for those with feelings fated
      Not to be reciprocated,
      Doomed to fight a siren spell
      With no coins for the wishing well.

      In vain they struggle to be free,
      And now that prison beckons me.
      So darling if you care at all,
      Tell me - or the stars will fall.

                                 -  Michael Shenton

              Disconcerting Eyes

     I looked into your disconcerting eyes
     And was once more disconcerted.
     My words were lost among the stars
     And silence fell like tears.

     Now is the time for sad reflection
     When I lay awake and miss
     Those disconcerting eyes
     And the lips I didn’t kiss.

                            -  Michael Shenton

                         Wonders

    I searched the wonders of nature
    For visions as lovely as you,
    Found snow-covered peaks and waterfalls
    And roses with sequins of dew.

    Then taking my palette and brushes
    I captured the joys that I saw,
    And hung all the canvases on my walls
    Till the walls couldn’t hold any more.

    Surrounded by these many splendours,
    My dazzled mind held in their thrall,
    I spent several hours and didn’t feel
    The pain of your absence at all.

    Alas all my beautiful pictures
    Began to dissolve in the night,
    And walls once again stark and empty
    Greeted the cold morning light.

    I thought of you then and remembered
    All the treasures beyond your sweet face,
    And I knew you were one of the wonders
    That nature could never replace.

                                   -  Michael Shenton
 

                   Rings and Things

    If thoughts propelled by hot desire
    Could leave my mind on wings of fire
    And burn their way into your heart
    We two would fuse and never part.

    My hopeless dreams would all come true
    And I would share my world with you
    And you would lift the clouds from me
    And I’fd not write sad poetry.

    But love can’ft always win the day
    When rings and things get in the way.
    I yearn but know it cannot be.
    The flame must die to set me free.

                                      -  Michael Shenton
 

     Many years ago the body of an unidentified woman dressed in black was washed up on the beach in Bournemouth.  All that could be discovered about her was that she’d been a nurse.  It seemed likely that she’d simply walked into the sea to end her own life.
    Deeply moved by this tragedy, I wrote the poem below for the Bournemoutth Echo.
 

The Lady in Black        

    Nobody knew where the lady was born;
    Nobody knew why she’d been so forlorn
    Or why when she died there was no one to mourn
    The Lady in Black.

    Nobody knew where she’d lived out her life,
    Nor could they say if she’d been someone’s wife
    Though after she’d gone speculation was rife
    About the Lady in Black.

    She walked out one morning to look at the sea,
    Saw the wild waves and the gulls flying free ...
    And thought of the things that never could be
    For the Lady in Black?

    Perhaps there were problems she found hard to mention
    With tricky solutions beyond her invention.
    At last now in death she has got our attention -
    The Lady in Black.

    We may not discover the reason she came
    To our town where her fate was this posthumous fame,
    And maybe we’ll never be able to name
    The Lady in Black.

    But all should remember this nurse’s last day;
    How much did she give that none would repay?
    We owe her at least a sad moment to say:
    Farewell to the Lady in Black.

                                                                     -  Michael Shenton

     My Humorous Poems, Verse, Songs, Etc

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