Missing child

My inner child is missing

please help me search for him

He’s vanished from the neighbourhood

and he’s nowhere to be seen

I called out a search party

but they’re clueless just like me

I’m worried that he’s found his way

into unsavoury company

I’m desperate now to find him

my crazy inner child

He’s the only aspect of my life

that keeps me running wild

I miss my inner child so much

now he’s missing from the scene

Without him life is shades of grey

at the last count, seventeen

I miss his foolish pranking

and those silly made up songs

I’m desperate now to find him to

bring him back where he belongs

but it seems I’m not the only one

‘cos a list is being compiled

of the many other frantic folks

who have lost their inner child

Steve Wheeler © 29 April, 2021

image source

Call me when you're next in town

Call me when you’re next in town

I wasn’t available at all today

Text me or give me a phone call

I’ll try to keep my diary free

Call me when you’re next my way

Knock on the door, shout up the stair

I’ll see what time I’ve got to spare

what time there is to meet

Call me when you’re passing by

and I’ll try to make some time

I’m sorry I missed you a second time

I lead such a busy life these days

and you know that time is money

Let me know when you’re about

and around my neighbourhood

It’s been a long time since we talked

Send me a direct message or some other

social media communication

to let me know you’re passing through

I missed you yet again, and your text too

My smartphone was out of juice

or not switched on, I forget which one

I will try to respond to your message

It’s been a long time since we last said hello

Call me when you’re next in town

Just call me and I'll see what I can do

Steve Wheeler © 28 April, 2021

image source

Let me gently go

The burning embers that used to ignite

our hearts and souls are fading from sight

what’s done in the dark defies the light

as we plunge headlong into eternal night

A chasm is growing between you and me

but still we press on, regardlessly

My deepest fear is that you’ll one day face me

and your eyes will have lost their empathy

Once I could lose myself in those eyes

but now I’m a captive of my own disguise

So drown my fear, and let me gently go

Let me drift away before the dawn’s first glow

So let me gently go

Please let me gently go

You know I love you so

So gently, let me go

Steve Wheeler © 27 April, 2021

image source

Your mind is not all

Your mind is not all

it often may fail

damaged by the ravage

of a life grown stale.

Your mind may be fragile

vulnerable to harm

beyond the reach of

any man made balm.

Your mind is not all,

there’s a deeper sense

of humanity

and of conscience.

Your spirit, the essence

of experience

as you traverse this 

vast cosmic expanse.

Your soul, the sense

of emotional insight

the keeper of dreams

throughout your night.

Your mind is not all

of which you consist.

You are deeper, 

much more

eternal than this.

Steve Wheeler © 27 April, 2021

image source

Elegy

While we are busy living life

it passes us by

like speeding traffic

on dampened streets

We hear the tyres

but miss the blur

the only evidence

the red tail lights

While we are focused on loving

it very slowly dies/ like a summer rose

Its lustrous petals

slowly fade 

until they finally lie

as silky residue 

upon the ground

Steve Wheeler © 26 April, 2021

image source

Reflected (in your eyes)

Reflected in your eyes I see 

four hundred years of misery 

the memories of iron chains 

lives spent in captivity 

Reflected in your eyes I see 

the pain and the fear 

of endless famine and brutality 

Reflected in your eyes I see 

the injustice and prejudice 

of those so blind they will not see 

Reflected in your eyes I see 

the memories of your family 

torn open, never more to be free 

Reflected in your eyes I see 

a yearning for freedom 

and the noble fight for equity 

Reflected in your eyes 

I see a hope for future liberty 

for a world set free from misery 

released from inhumanity 

a world set free 

Steve Wheeler © 23 April, 2021

image © Steve Wheeler

Calling time

Ultimately will come a time

when time is called on Time

There will be no more time

for one more time

and no time will remain

for time and time again

because again will not be seen again

when Time has met its end. 

Time won’t drag and Time will fly no more, 

at the closing of the temporal door

There will be no time to waste or kill

as Time just will exist no more.

There will be no more give it time

for Time will have no time to live.

No more time heals many wounds 

when Time has no time left to give. 

No more once upon a time, when

Time has run out of onces to be upon.

Time is finite, and its days are numbered, 

Time cannot be stretched beyond

its allotted time when there’s no time 

for Time to waste or burn.

When time is up for Time, it will be 

counted out, no extra time left to return 

Time may be an arrow, but one day 

its momentum will be fully spent

No more living on borrowed time, 

when Time is no longer able to be lent 

When Time folds in upon itself

and silently blinks into the void

What’s left will be no distant hum

no echo of the spheres destroyed 

The nothingness, forevermore

the vacuum pervading space 

will not behold its former state

a fleck on the Creator’s face 

Seconds out, the minutes fly,

the hour has come. 

Time’s up. 

Goodbye.

Steve Wheeler © 22 April, 2021

photo © Steve Wheeler

NB: There is a video of me reading this poem on YouTube. You can watch it here: