Barry Middleton Poems

A thing of beauty is a moment's grief;
the kiss of earth is but a fantasy.
For beauty fades and dies without relief,
a perished rose in frail mortality.
...

invaders have arrived
they do not hail from outer space

they are invisible
...

with hope the spring anticipates
the world was a road to everywhere

I basked in the glow of a sunny day
...

My only solace is poetry,
for death stalks my dreams.
But I may turn to memory,
to know my life was blessed.
...

once a garden
now an enemy
her tears are exhausted
...

the winter drought is like a spear
no rain will fall till June
my eyes conceal a final tear
as clouds obscure the moon
...

free will is a great pretense
a grand deceit
as if our petty choices
turning left instead of right
...

on the dark side of the planet
a hungry child is crying
a soldier falls in war
a young girl is enslaved
...

before the universe existed
possibility waited
and quietly held its breath
...

I grieve for myself
but in that grief
I grieve for the world
...