from PATTAYA TRADER 106 (A)

ALLEGRA ALLEGORY
I was so young then
and not very worldly-wise.
But you were as a rose
to my romantic eyes.
You were my first love found
beneath new-sprung Spring skies.
Yes I was so young then
and you surely too.
The sky over us towering tall
and a clear blue.
The world our oyster
for all that we knew.
Where you are now,
it is a mystery;
and I am like
the poet Shelley
who spies Allegra's ghost
coming out the sea.

DO-YOU-BUY-POETS'-TOOLS-
MINE-LADY?
A Dulcinea or The Millionairess,
and I a Peter O'Toole or a Peter Sellers.
To you, my love, this poem I address.
Of film-makers and of story-tellers
it all comes down to paper and pen.
Tools that the poets buy, my Sophia Loren.

PURLOIN-AND-POCKET-ANOTHER-
MAN'S-HEART-SHAPED-LOCKET-
I-SHAN'T-DEAR
Like an eye on its thread,
forsaken of its socket,
gazed right at me
the girl in the open-locket.
"Pick me up, do pick me up
and put me in your pocket."
You're not mine to take I replied.
By a chain to a heart you are tied.

YES-PRESERVED-BRAVE-BRUCE'S-
WISE-SPIDER
In Robert de Bruce's cave,
washed down by the dreary rain,
find to scale the wet wall
sure tried the spider yet again.
He tried again and once again,
until success he met
as though with an upward freefall
into a silken safety net.

TO LADY LEGS
I profess Mr Silk
far superior to Mr Nylon
and Mr Stockings
more superior to Mr Tights.
Mr Nylon-Tights a squire
to Mr Silk-Stockings, a Sir-Knight.

CHINA'S-CHEEKY-KING-MONKEY-IS-HE
A Chinese monkey king,
over all the beasts you rule.
 But you monkey around.
You're mischievious and cruel
and you've the cheek to wish
over all of Heaven to rule.
And then the Buddha says:
Jump over my hand
to the end of the world
where five pink pillars stand,
and you will have Heaven
at your every command.
 The Chinese monkey king
leaps over the hand
and there does he see
the five pink pillars stand.
"Now I have all Heaven
at my every command."
No says the Buddha,
you're in the palm of my hand.
They are my five fingers
that you can see stand.
They close on you now.
Your wish is not my command.