At the Rainbow’s End

Inside the rainbow live the faerie folk, laughing, happy, free
Shimmering, gossamer wings and cloaks drifting silently
But they are just protectors of the Master of Camouflage
Taking on the rainbow’s hue, lost in the spectrum, stalking slowly
Eyes ever-turning, constantly searching, he takes in all he can see
Invisible, invincible, he moves in the rainbow ever-changing, tirelessly
Lost in the colour, a slow moving shadow, a phantom hard to see
Sometimes he stops. I can feel him – he’s looking for me.

Voices like wind chimes, whispering, gently, merrily, softly
Dressed in glowing butterfly wings, the faerie folk run swiftly
Pulling the rainbow's colours behind them, swinging across the sky
Over mountain and hill, valley and dale, over the river and down to the sea
While the Master walks in the rainbow, ever silently, ever slowly
His eyes ever watchful, swinging like searchlights, move restlessly
Stronger than night time, unchanging as day, moving inexorably
Closer and yet closer - the Master, he is coming for me.

The faerie folk conspiring together, end the rainbow's march abruptly
Sliding down the gentle colours, they reach the river's end and gently
Part the many-coloured curtain so that there, in the river-rainbow arch
The Master, the Chameleon, changes to his true colours fleetingly
And thus revealed, his might mysterious, his splendour for all to see
The search is nearly over, I watch as he eyes me steadfastly
His beautiful golden tongue darts out, strikes my soul and impales me
Then he is once again the rainbow’s shadow and I, the rainbow trout, caught
At rainbow’s end by the Master, the Chameleon, in that place lost to thought,
Can do no more than surrender to the Master completely.

The Sea of Galilee

The eyes that see through history
Look out upon the Sea of Galilee
Waiting for the Fisherman, half unconsciously
Over the still water the imagined fisherfolk
Call and talk with easy cameraderie.

Cast the nets, reel them in and cast again
These lowly folk, friends of the Fisher of men
Salt cracks their lips, sun burns their skin golden
As the long day crawls by the boats ride the waves
Heading home at last, the last catch taken.

There He stands alone where the land ends
A meal cooked with care and love for His friends
Calm seas, good catches and safety He sends
Out on the water where storms take lives
He keeps them safe, against harm He defends.

Look through the palms out to the sea
Imagine walking on water the Man from Galilee
Captured through trees - symbol of the Trinity?
It must be more than coincidence that there are only three
That wonderful miracle some are yet blessed to see.

Lives Lived In the Rainbow

Lives lived in the Rainbow,
Dreams coasting on colours,
Hearts hostage to fortune,
Red, gold and green for you,
For me turquoise, indigo and blue
Destined to meet in Brigadoon.

The Rainbow walks in lands of dream,
Shifting, shimmering, faerie folk
Live in her ghostly colours,
Joined by those of us who meet
Only ever in the Rainbow’s sheen,
Hidden from the gaze of others.

The Rainbow moves and leaves the shadow,
Then quickly she glides from within the rain
Visible fleetingly to mere mortal eyes, and
Ever-shifting performs her dance across the land.
The artist’s soul soars on the wings of the rainbow
Delighting to be with the Faerie folk again.

Colour me with berries, red as the fire
Colour me with kumquats, orange as the sun
Colour me with honey, yellow as gold
Colour me with melons, green as the grass
Colour me with cornflowers, blue as the sky
Colour me with blueberries, indigo as the depths of the sea
Colour me with plums, violet as the amethyst,
Such is the Rainbow’s mantra, her softly whispered refrain.

Rainbow and her faerie folk laugh in the rain,
Dance in the sunlight, spreading her magic again
Oh how I long for the Rainbow to deck me in her hue
Cover me with colours, lose me in shades of blue
Circles red and yellow, those she’s keeping for you
Let’s meet in the Rainbow, fly on her wings
Live in the mystery, see what it brings.

The New Day Dawns –it is the Age of Aquarius

All my life I have lived within the shadow of the colour of my skin
In a country where no one of darker hue was ever acknowledged as kin
In a place where forced removals and alienation lived by my side
Where because of race, colour and creed, access to the vote was denied.
A place where guilt stalked my conscience as surely as freckles colour my skin,
Where my pigmentation guaranteed me a host of untold rights
Where, because of Caucasian heritage I was amongst the “whites”.

In the years of my childhood I fleetingly went to a “mixed” school
Then the apartheid government flexed its muscle and imposed its rule
The suburb was declared a “coloured area” and school moved away
We said goodbye to friends and hoped to see them on another day
Because we were so very young and innocent we did not realise
It would be nearly forty years before we could look them in the eyes
Stripped of our humanity, the government made us objects to despise.

My parents were born and grown before the apartheid laws ruled the land
Before it raised its evil head and tore the fabric of our country apart strand by strand.
And even though the colonial rule was discriminating of class and creed
Of the separation and classification into us and them there was no need
The values and mores of truth, justice and equality, and, above all democracy
Were part of our childhood and our youth and our parents’ everlasting legacy,
Brought up to believe that the only valid measurement and standard was decency.

But we lived our lives in this bitter, twisted environment where difference was to be feared
Under rulers that followed those who disagreed, swiftly making sure they were not heard,
Our friends went to die in far off foreign African lands for causes never known
Those who returned came back bitter and afraid, innocence and youth had flown,
Kept apart by laws whose contravention could mean death
One either fought the might of the oppressor or saved one’s breath,
Convinced that one day the wheel would turn and we could all stand together, not alone.

Many packed and left, taking memories and prejudice packed up in their bags
Deftly erasing memories of shanty towns and hungry kids dressed in rags
Going to new Caucasian countries where there would be less opportunity for hate
Of those left behind, some fell into the racist trap, devastating those less fortunate,
Taking a perverse pride in perpetrating acts of cruelty to horrific to enumerate
But were exposed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission under our beloved Tutu
In horror we listened to atrocities committed secretly, worse even than those borne by the Hutu.

In small but precious ways we tried to break the rules, help those with nowhere to go
Regardless of creed or colour, waiting for the horns to signal the fall of the walls of Jericho
Treat all with respect and human dignity and, most of all, with a sense of equality
Building bridges tiny block by tiny block, reaching across the racial divide
Deprived of common language, the task ever more difficult but never set aside
The day our new democracy dawned and the queues to vote stretched for miles
My mother said for the first time she felt proud to be South African, her face all smiles.

But the gap between the haves and the have not’s like a cancer grows
Now the creed is status and the colour money – across all races it shows
Xenophobic attacks left populations of the displaced to tremble in fear
Samuel from DRC lives in our garage away from hate – it is safest for him here
But today the face of the world has changed in ways hard to understand
An African American president elected in America will change more than just that land
For the first time in history the Western world has opened it eyes and
Voted not for race but for democracy and the measure of the man.
In this troubled country, we with our bloody and horrific history,
How important this step is, is something we can truly understand.
For liberty, freedom and equality in this precious moment in history,
I raise my hand……thank you to the land of the brave and the free!