Startled ears
burst sleep wide open
absorb
merest leaf drops
thumping heart
coursing blood

Intense
hyper brain
listens
juggles, categorises
filters, screens
extraneous
backdrop

Eyes strain
search light
seek the unfamiliar
scan
beyond the camp
through the trees
dense bush
ssshhhh

Hear nothing but clouds
slipping quietly by
half a moon
half light
half gloom

Poised on adrenaline
high alert
half paused
half screaming
fear bites
identifying grizzly sounds

intense
in tents

Fall softly?
Maybe. Maybe not.

Surely?

Absolutely.

Being born into is like leaping out of…
Committed to an unknown journey, but with tools.

Is there terror in being born?
Fear or knowing?
Unconscious?
Had I known what I know now, would I have done it?
If I had seen what was coming, would I have been keen?

I saw parachutes this morning
I saw the short sharp flight that is our lives
The leap
The growing awareness
Eyes wide.

No matter what altruists say
Seldom do they get their way.
The truth of life
is not so funny …
the whole damn world
revolves on money

Sex, bucks, lust, power
and greed
seed the world’s affairs…
and fears.

Distrust, destruction, bad deeds
are the status quo
called normal relations
Fixed behind the smiling
Diplomats of nations.

Strife, war torn
Souls born of fear, in fear
Minced, mixed humanity
Mired, mucked
Forlorn, futureless

Feeble people
Safely slotted, noted, counted
Safely out of sight
Safely condensed
hidden

page five
lower column one
Mere words
blah blah
Thankfully not us

Not our nightmare
Not our despair
Out of sight
Not our concern
Beyond us,

Our shame
safely condensed,
hidden
behind the cornflakes
Meaninglessness

Mere words
blah blah