Dark Nights of the Soul Oh darkness You breathe quietly as you stalk me You present yourself as a presence missing- not attendant Darkness without you I am not. You're thrown at us as a badness, a sin as a dark night and yet it is the dark night where we find our secrets where your quiet breath draws in unison with mine where our bodies greet with singing so fair so chaotic so uncontrolled and yet so balanced. It would surely be to look into your face the suns ignition, the nova of the stars Gypsy Gypsy My spirit chases you The chains hold me only by limb And I'll never let the winter set in my heart Sprint deer prance When spring cracks her egg You've made it I love you As you grew legs strong You found the door Rusted lock held you no more You found the gold It glows And lights your face behold I soar in my dreams My dear love watches crying And its all I can do To stop the thing from dying For us to run We must have in our arms The sacrificial dove The art of life is not to sit upon the crest of a wave But to crash into the rocks and suffer the pain in the cave Without the ceased locks Never will we see The joy of loves serenity Hold hard we never will For the wilderness in me it would kill Above the clouds we rage and twist and rip from our back the weighty shrouds and bare our soul to be kissed The Eagle and the Dove Love dove is used to dying The dove survives to sacrifice Over and over again crying Head thrown back offering her life Eagle perches nearby high Beady eye clearing on sight At the swirling twirling in the sky At the lightness and deftness of flight Love dove carries her heart In a white silk purse under her breast In a rickety little wooden cart Its durability constantly put to the test Eagle watches still and quiet The usual kill taking a pause For detect he a dove who will fight And bleed to death for cause Dove tired of repetition of death Intuits eagle pausing on kill Listen she does to her own quiet breath As he draws from restraint of will The cycle of need and supply Is in question here on this different day The faith of dove need not die If eagle keeps his talons away Dove comes closer to he His seasons of conquer halt On fascination of she Naïve` from the earth this salt To kill her is his own demise To love her, appetite is whet At distance in case he surprise Her, and he by breaking her neck The eagle and the dove Must stand apart For dove to remain in love To prevent eagle from piercing her heart He watches, eye flicking Curls his talons over a branch And waits, suns and moons ticking And long does she to meet for the dance The scars under the feathers Of eagles belly his script of proof Those small love doves are made of leather And can permeate sharp beaks and talons aloof He bides his time and saves his urge And allows the dove time to evolve And her pattern of end to becurbed That allows the purpose of their life to solve Eagle knows about dove Dove senses the eagle And what he has on love A couple more stripes close to regal                 Helen Norton October 1999 The Compromise Along way from where he needed to be Different eyes, realities worlds apart do see While my brother looks for grace in the sun I seek holiness in the fear that I run What if and when she takes the reign They will see me for my policy of pain I can't work with the feeling of a gut! In terms of accountability it wouldn't cut I live in service of an order from above Spare me from emotions and intimations as petty as love She can't be me, that black eyed fiend Complications and miscalculations always deemed To belong to her apalling glowing organity Shatter my order and drive me to insanity Begon tail, you reek of confusion But lo - you or me, who is the illusion? THE PAY ADVANCE Ice maidens shudder when you breathe We needed you, why did you leave The corset of air you freely take Was not for us for prides sake Dam your stony hearts to hell At the bottom of the world under the swell We’ll remember you in our last faded thoughts And become poor bloody hero’s in your courts That will cry at the useless waste Of mortal souls denied a death of haste Your frozen black boots march above And would crush the head of the wounded dove We die for you oh mighty one And never more our eyes upon the sun Cross our hearts and hope to die Not for us to ever know why Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum Well wait here now until you come. CHICKENS ON ROOFTOPS - Vanuatu Dresses with frilly edges                         Rustling around their salamanders Machetes with very sharp ledges Swinging beside their commanders Single cigarettes on a counter top Chickens on a roof and trees Crabs from your flyscreen may drop And tidal waves covered in seas Jungle rules invite the opportunity From both sides of nowhere land Offer a fool a very small immunity To decline the promised gold to hand Vanuatu has its own device It came long before Tosh and Ghan Along time before promises and rice It comes from the time of old woman Old thing time of forever he see It sees the sparkling trinket on their tongue That when they go to take it, never free Will come chains and pain for their young That doesn’t exist for they snap their jaws Over the taker in his need Kill his future without a pause Just so he can spread his own seed Get real and come to the lights They screech at chief and village Yes, please join our fight Celebrate our crime, rape and pillage Send the people to shining promising city Give them a new law to abide That’s when you should hang your head in pity When you said it was for everyone you lied Nothing of moral rule is applicable To the power of government bureaucracy As it presents a picture of despicable And laughable guidelines of hypocrisy Your crimes are closer to see Thank goodness you are only naïve` And the wisdom of the people can still be free Your timely removal no one will grieve Evolvement is inevitable for all There are lessons there to heed When the writing is clearly on the wall It would be best for you to learn to read. Helen Norton March 2001 - Vanuatu A Thousand Horses Passed Bleary eyed I dragged across the room To the opening on the southward view I heard them calling from within my dream But they had crossed the line I knew Dashing past they neighed and whinnied Tipped with white manes and black eyed Challenging my sanity they took their forms Not the sea, no not a wave in disguise A thousand horses, Neptune’s steeds Stampeded through the water like seals But that they were not with manes a wash Sparkling crustaceans and coats of teal How will I convince the document and cynic? That they passed by me in full view The secret herd, apparition and tears of Venus Broaden my grip yet split me in two I see you there and feel the panic For if I draw away my stinging eyes You will be gone taking your gold Leaving me to report the great day a lie If I leap will you catch me Or can you only touch me in heart Will you shatter to froth and spray? The minute I chain you to my cart Am I in Grace for this wee minute? Should I thank the lonely night? For at least one small blessing The gift you give by this sight. Norton©2003 Athanasios Deep inside the window pane Far back in the room in a fold of dark If you shelter your eyes from the rain You will see me there lurking. Standing against the far wall Looking back at you Waiting for angel to call To take me from this darkness I show no surprise When the last song for the day Brings tears to your eyes For another one is gone I know when a bird is swallowed By snake, cat or man It sang each day twas allowed As bold as it did - come what may Your love reaches into my soul Through the noise of the mob Past the bells final toll And I catch it in two hands I will not know more than what you give I have no more than my offer No greater exchange while we live Will be known to loves archives If we pass the rights of romance On to the cutting floor Neither of us can claim the dance Of what the gods had in store For I was designed for your embrace And have waited far too long To feel the preordained kiss on my face That told me at last I was home. Helen Norton 2003 (image: Lovers in a boat) My Terrible Angels in Paris Oh my terrible ugly angels Who chained ye atop this tower Coated you in grey and took your power My fine-bodied animals made grotesque Your slender grace twisted to serve Over our fears your claws are curved Dragon pet banished to silver skies What have you seen down below? In centuries of blood and Gods foe I clamber and drag my pitiful heart Up these thousand stairs that end with you Take it now – it’s sacred and naively true Honed well under 700 years of emotion The property of Eros not poison or dead Nor bitter – however a little less red My darkling angels feast heartily tonight Upon this little sacrifice from human soul Let it beat in you as the bells do toll And then I will re-enter your stone The wings we gave you sealed from life Will loosen and spread with loves fine knife Shattering with the force of the innocent The blood of belief is to imagine all Including my passion to see your chains fall Now fly away far from here – free With the feast of Grace nearer to thee Paris – my terrible angel. Helen Norton July 2004 Ants and God Ants and God All the answers are within the ants So to fools great and small Beyond your hymn, prayer and chant Is the crushing blow to end them all Your destiny is complete on arrival But the map snatched from your grip You are bluffed to think its survival Qualified Captain – with no ship You squirm and struggle every day Cry, murder, suffer in the past and now When you came here knowing the way Until you lost it by taking the vow By patience and virtue you’re torn apart Go by the grace of your god Further away from the centre of your heart And serve as fattening for some ego’s wad You lay your head in the dirt Close to the aniseed soldiers in black It is here you will see solutions to your hurt Within their work ever so faintly your track Norton August 2003 Camel Camel Camel, don’t let me down I know you can stay longer Longer than the white of this gown I have torn my bodice you see The lace is ripped and spoiled The white shows my flesh, not purity I have to travel more than day To find the oasis that is fire The king who searches for the way He will know me through a code The stone I strike if it is he Will glow white, as my gown is the road The illusion as I come to pass thee Is two worlds forever there One by rule, the other only as you can see The limit of sight depends on the wed Within the vision of he who looks Comes Anibus at ease with the dead 29 June 2004 Grey Pearl in the Sand Grey Pearl in Sand Your eyes are your heart Open to me, your kingdom Not shielded by your guard Indented into my inner soul They travel with exacting precision Past my petty façade hitting their goal Look in through my grey pearl See me dancing when you do I toss my head and send my skirt to swirl Love me in this secret way What does though do to me Does speak in everything I cannot say What resonance stays locked in my wing Carries forth when gone from day Burning deeply – long past the returning ring Snake bite your tail deep Then glow like hot steel In between the moments you weep Meet me in the deepest sand I hold the cup brimming with gold Your thirsty lips will find my hand June 28 2004 Love as a Steely Rope Love as steely rope I only realise once drawn away How I make love to you While I pretend to look the other way What longing in the film of romance Fills my dreamings The embodiment of you in rapturous dance Whose arms entangled through my own Hold me up from drowning When I face what I have become – alone What light has a steely rope Not dissolving into an illusion When I stumble on gasping for hope What is this love with no physical chain With its translucent nacre coat Surrounding my vulnerable heart – again and again Please love me firmly and true And listen to my purring soul With the honesty of the shifting deserts dew. 1 July 2004 PERSIA Persia, Persia weave your song through me I fall at your feet Never knowing you would ever be free I gave up long ago the search Forgetting you lived forever My dove fell desperately from its perch I surrendered to what could be seen In anger and protest I lay down Bitter at all I knew I could redeem I found you most unlikely in disguise So far away I never could have known Unless Sophia had led me to the prize Dam the laws of regimental day Never can they hold such force As that of the union of fates final way Come back here, come back now Lock into me - dovetail my soul Sew the song - weave the vow Dive into my breast and lock the door Weave, weave, make the rug And deep darkness will come to the shore. Norton 3 July 04 The Storm The Storm Deeper into the storm go the eye Sharpen the sting on my pitiful flesh I stumble from tree to tree as I die Only to reel back away from Bodhi trunk As the bolt of lightning does crash down Tearing my virginal purity into a drunk What is the fate for misery here? I cannot go forward nor back Is it confusion or cowardly fear? Too late now to recount my steps across the ford The river has risen over peaceful state Violence belts down the once calm Lord Stand still – I hear the scream in the storm Hold the ground; pull at her hair Sink your nails deeply in the mud of her form If her roots give way, you loose your mooring Hold hard - yet hold into her Find the rock in Sophia without the blood pouring Stay the freezing night not knowing your tomorrow Sit down and let the rain be your blanket For inside her wool, is a key through her sorrow All you see and believe to be causing your grief Dissolves into a sleet of cleansing That is conditional upon your belief. Norton 25 June 2004 Every Star Could Fall From the Sky Every star could fall from the sky Seven seas drain into the core A thousand prophets with no ‘why’ And one and one add up to four What you see inside this tomb That glows and shimmers with light Exists in realities own womb Not just contained in the night There is no confusion about this It lay open naked its roots deep Heavens and souls extremes do kiss Black dogs and white angels will weep The games Zeus played up high With suffering mortals down here Cant analyse away where you pry Nor stop the burning if you come near A warning across your lurching bow Don’t play games with love that’s clear Fairness and justice will show you how To value and treasure the weight of a tear One hundred good men died at the feet Of a goddess coated in gold While I stood there waiting in sleet For one to keep me from the cold Shed they do falling away to sand Standing still waiting here My stone turns to gold in my hand And its then I see you near There is a time when truth will return Then once again the stars will rule The seas at my feet, no longer burn And the crown will be placed on the fool Helen Norton 31 July 2004 He Saw Her They clapped and cried Sang the heroes song Raised the flags up high Day after day and all night long Draped red garlands upon her hair Pinned her with badges of stars And classified her existence as rare Like a spring that flows on Mars Greeks bought gold and gifts Antipodeans built roads and walls The light burns but her heart never lifts For more than this the soul calls The glistening sparkle filled the sky They screamed words of devotion Embalmed and bound never to die The swelling air filled with emotion The pedestal of the idol of their eye Soared into clouds and height Past the judgment of truth or lie No longer a mortal in this light But where is souls anchor in illusion A man heard the undertone call Beneath the jovial confusion And thought to check Psyche’s hall There he found a small girl child Where they saw the courage of a queen A deer and panther in the wild Only through dark eyes to be seen As the sound of trumpets drizzled out He came with an open vessel And invited her to unlock her doubt Not turning away from demons she wrestled For all the eyes cast upon her And all the praise and glory they gave Not one knew the fall of her fur Nor what it was she needed to save He held her hand in darkest hour With no touch or rope to hold She grasped the chance and gave it power Plaited it into her dreams to keep from cold They still clapped and cried Sang the heroes song so loud Yet she was invisible inside To them she might just be a cloud And in this state of no gravity He saw the moon shine Glistening, shining with clarity Across her souls shape divine He dashed across the night And stood afore the real She Declared his miraculous sight And with that she was forever free Seen at last in her true form By only one man who ever would Break the ice in her heart now warm Where no one else ever could Norton 1 August 2004 To Say It So I said it I said I loved him I said it over and over I said it again and yet again I said it and ran out of the room I said it and hid behind the couch I said it in a letter without me there I said it and then tried to take it back I said it and thought it would disappear I said it as his daughter and then his lover I said it to myself thinking I did get it wrong I said it was nonsense and just for someone else I said it must be an illusion that was in the past I said it and waited for him to break my heart I said it and braced myself for a hard lesson I said it and didn’t hear anything in return I said it and it fell somewhere into him I said it and yet could not see where I said it but it must just be nothing I said it from deep inside of me I said it was still just there I said it was so very real I said it was Eros I said it Helen Norton 2004 The Shattered Statue At the bottom of the garden Deeply sweet in rotted leaf What is this? Is it the egg of Zeus' dove? Fallen from the sky Shattered to pieces Some here, some over there Did it break to release My Pegasus into reality I pick up the fragile shells Putting them in a womb net My skirt now becomes Revealing my naked white legs I carry his capsule Forth into the crusher of life To find him In what field the exile hides? What disguise he wears Horse oh Horse! Whinny back to me For I found your once warm stable In the litter of madness choking Its here now in pieces In my ballooned skirt I carry it like found fruit I lay the fragile tomb On my kitchen table Picking up each piece Wishing the shard Of memory would tell me Where he is Horse please Horse Is it your hooves pounding? Or my heart beating If I rebuild your stable Will you come home? Hot breath or north wind Dries the glue Horse white Horse Is that you? Blackened by their whipping Your horn sawn off Your hooves bleeding Come to me - step inside My work - look here! Its done The cracks and scars Where the ink of pain Runs mercilessly Holds bond and treasure The glue is love. Helen 10 November 2004 (image: Making a Bird)