Message in a Bottle

There is a song the ocean sings
It is the harmony of everything.
The lion's roar breaks on the sand,
The melody of windswept autumn leaves
Dances shore to shore

Frothy steeds draw liquid gold
Across fields of deep blue-green.
I sent you a message in a bottle
Metaphorical, allegorical
And then I lost my soul to sunset
On that chilly Cape Town beach.

*Rhiannon Oset* © 23 July '10

Moments In Between

Isn't it strange how the sun I'm watching set off our coast

Is the same sun that has just filled your sky

It's a pity that horizon isn't as close as it seems.

Isn't it funy how the autumn leaves I'm left with here scuttle

All a'rattle and a'quiver

While your summer leaves sing their songs

All a'rustle and a'shiver

Set in motion by the very same wind that carries with it all our dreams.

Seas and miles and continents apart

And yet together

In these moments that are shared

Moments within time

The times when everything is just the same and yet

So undeniably different;

The moments in between.

*RhiannonOset* © ­Aug '10

Surface Glance

Appearances fade with depth
Gaze inward 
The tears unshed, lick softly, 
Watery flames at the shores
Of her soul. 
Home of her heart left quiet in 
Gilded cage. 
Her love is superficial - 
Ths cage has a single key 
Its title is Bravery.

*Rhiannon Oset* © May '10

Ebb & Flow

White horses,
Over fields of blue & turquoise-green,
Canter ... gallop ...
Racing onto sands of desert brown
And back again

*Rhiannon Oset* © May 2010

Pennies in the Wishing Well

Questions posed
Unanswered remain
The seas surge endlessly

Questions asked
Answers restrained
The clouds curl ceaselessly

Overcast thoughts
Oceans of solutions
We still throw pennies in the wishing well

*Rhiannon Oset* © May '10

North Facing

Gentle soul with heart refined,
Ageless beauty please remind
How you give and teach and love,
With all you’ve been granted from above

Musical hoofbeats dance around;
Breathing softly, snorting sounds.
Dance with me and mould my soul,
Fly with me and make me whole.

Your strength beyond belief belied
By glowing compassion that is the eye.
We’ll waltz together through infinite time,
My soul and yours intertwined.

Teach me all that you can, all that you know
I want to learn, I want to grow.
Show me grace & courage & how to be kind
And I will try to see you, I will try not to be blind.

Grant me the wonder of the rushing wind
As we soar and my head begins to spin.
Grant me your love dear Horse
Though you would have mine regardless, of course.

*Rhiannon Oset* © '08

Work in Progress II (Untitled)

My heart lies crumbling, crushed, alone;
Weary of perfunctory, persistent pounding
Against impervious, immovable stone
My heart lies weeping.

My heart weeps love flowing, fluid, fleeing flight.
Like a burn victim’s scorched, seared shell
Seeps through dessicated, desolate dermis … tight
My heart lies drying.

My heart dries, shrivelling, shrinking … small
Insignificantly isolated retreating, receding
Yet exceptionally, extraordinarily enthralled
My heart desires love.

*Rhiannon Oset* © July '09

Azuzephre, Pon & Zi

Work in Progress (Untitled)

Salty tears spilled down my cheeks today
As slowly pieces drew together.
Too long I've been too far away
From a land I only know in freezing weather.

Unforgiving, dry, desolate ground
Belies a life that courses through;
That winds its way through Karoo sound
And twines and twirls around desert views.

Stumbling hearts navigate their way
Over black-tarred snakes for hours;
To find the music that holds sway
Over Karoo days and within Karoo showers.

It rained today & washed my soul
Ice-cold, bitter tears from above.
Pieces of myself, that lie scattered, become a whole
As I return to the desert that I love.


*Rhiannon Oset* © '09

I...

Page after page
Scrawls in chicken-scratch scribbles
Words flit - jumbled.

Gaze out of
Moving windows - searching for a meaning
Articulation escapes - writing

Over right shoulder
Glance & smile - meandering thoughts forgotten
You smiled - silent

Page after page
Written thoughts cannot express a smile
From you - overwhelms

Drop the pages
Forget the verbosity - for that clichéd phrase
Will have to do.

Aishiteru

*Rhiannon Oset* © 30 September '09

Of Full Moons and Farewells

The sky was a lilac breasted roller this morning
With the moon cradled against his chest.
He soared above two mountain peaks
And dipped and rolled from east to west.

I had to pause and wonder
At the imagery I saw
At the conjuring of magic
The striking beauty at its core.

A sense of peace settled all around
Shoulders heavy with a sad decision made.
So I smiled a thank you silently
As I final farewells bade

That lilac breasted roller flew quietly above my head
With precious cargo embraced in rosy dawn;
Two small souls carried within the moon at peak
Held close to a heart; taken to the place where souls are born.

*Rhiannon Oset* © '09

Dawn

Silent moonlight ballet
Through dust streaked windows;
Tenuous steps
Across the cold kitchen tiles.

Starlight flickers, stammering,
Fading from azure-black skies;
Fragile celestial reflections
In clear, blue, tear-filled eyes

Flamenco dancing sunlight,
Slashed across heavens fading to cerulean-grey;
Confident strides
Etch their mark over warming kitchen floor.

Soft luminescence dissipating quietly
Stark glare cavorting with glee;
Fire reflected and captured
Within one solitary salt-water, crystal clear tear.

Eternal dance partners, infinite waltz
Lovers at war, a battle of light;
Never to meet while they vie for their time
A moment on the stage made of sky.


*Rhiannon Oset* © June '09

 

Self Exploration

The rains fell; 

Cascading cloudburst
Splashing crowns upon the dry, grey earth.
 

Pieces of the self lie scattered, 

Shattered,
Washing away in the salt-water flood.

Dispirited and drawn out to the sea
Slivers and shards pulled every which way.
Distant echoes of memories left incomplete;
Still the rains fell like tears from the sky

Swept up onto sun sparkled shores
An island of solitude,

Of grieving despair...

Where, now warmed, 

The self will begin studying
Itself: all of its pieces in vast disrepair.

Rediscovering fragments
Examining the cracks, 

The fissures, the lines...

It will draw itself together and learn
This complexity is held together 

With far more than glue.

Someone will walk over 

That sand speckled beach
Someone will see the self and the beauty it keeps

Despite the fractured façade 

And tentative smile
There’s a fire behind her blue-grey eyes.

And she will discover the joy

Of being kissed by the rain

Of being herself once again
As she is loved by the sun.

*Rhiannon Oset* © 23 June '09 

(edit 3 Septemeber '10)

Poetic Canvas

Periwinkle blue skies
Reflect in grey irises;
Violet flecked & cold …
Flicker.

Ochre tinged, bronze desert sands
Mirrored in sienna gaze;
Fragmented chocolate & warm …
Burn.

Slate grey soul searches
Cautious
Calm copper soul observes
Impetuous

Azure-blue sparks flash
Electric
Amber gold embers explode
Ardour

Periwinkle blue skies
Reflect in grey irises;
Violet flecked & soft …
Intensity.

Ochre tinged, bronze desert sands
Mirrored in sienna gaze;
Fragmented chocolate & smiling …
Sensation.

*Rhiannon Oset* © May '09

Theft

A lion stole my heart today
And he didn’t have to try.
He rolled around – a cat at play,
He’s made art of being sly.

I sat, in awe, and watched his breath
A rise and fall so slow.
His comfort a result of death
This hunter with no bow.

*Rhiannon Oset* © June '09

Betrayal

Midnight blue feathers float
Ever onward toward the ground.
Each stained at the quill tip;
A red-brown remnant remains.
The Soul weeps.
Every shattering blow delivered
Sets fragile vessel shuddering.
Shiver after shiver looses violently
Feather after feather, parts of the whole
The Soul gasps.
Words like sledgehammers
Assail the heart within.
The last of the plumes fall
And the heart breaks...
The Soul screams.
She opens her hands;
She raises her tear-filled eyes.
The fire fades and ice returns
Trust is lost, she was betrayed.
Silence.

*Rhiannon Oset* © June '09

[IN]Sanity

The Shade of Night enfolds me and I lose myself.
For fear of what I'll find, I will not close my eyes.
I step through the gate of Stars before me
Into a world of quiet splendour that screams of magick.

I shed a tear for its beauty.
Where is this place I go to when I wander the pathways
Within the corridors of my mind?
Perhaps I have found the place we all seek -
Perhaps ... Perhaps I've just gone mad!

*Rhiannon Oset* © 2004

Lover's Soul

Lover's soul tormented and strained,

Rest easy now for you worry too much.

Take heart in the love that you'll find

And may it be beautiful, wild and unbound.

Let loose your struggling mind for a while;

Allow your heart to guide you along Destiny's path.

Seek not your sorrows and woes ... forget all your troublesome times.

So, Gentle Spirit, let go of all your fears ... somewhere hides a shoulder to catch all your tears.

Follow your soul's music down shimmering moonlit paths

For it will guide your heart home.

Then you'll hold your chosen in gentle arms

And he will cradle your heart and beguile you with his smile.

*Rhiannon Oset* © 2004

(Work in Progress)

Charcoal skies shimmer, dawn grows ever dimmer,
Flames burst on far-off hill;
The Phoenix rises

Silent soul a'quiver 'neath the ashes.
Where does this agony begin?
Scratched and shattered it flutters in flaming flashes...
When will this agony end?

Roaring fire, from origins unknown, rages under shadowy glittering sky.
Night dies.
On distant horizon the Phoenix lives... Just one cycle more.

Blazing spirit bedazzles the very heart of man,
Warming centres splintering with cold.
Droplets of fire rain down from cloudless heavens;
Where they land new life begins.

Inferno fading as flames are spent … slowly, slowly, crumbling in deafening silence;
The Phoenix falls.
Behind the mountains the Dragon opens her single glowing eye.

Soothing, opalescent light settles over the remains
Of her lover and her friend.
Starry scales slither over each other; she reaches to gather the cinders,
The Dragon sheds no tears.

Icy chill seeps in while the Phoenix is cradled against the Dragon’s heart
The Dragon watches and Night lives.
Tomorrow … Just one cycle more.

*Rhiannon Oset* © October ‘08

Escape

Wooden blinds pierced

By splintered sunlight,

Already tree-filtered

Yet eternally bright.

Sunrise over a leafy sea

All points and curves and green;

Awakening sleepers

With a kiss on eyes that dream

A living panorama beheld

Astonished eyes alight with a smile;

Features enlivened,

It will remain for a while.

Lungs renewed with crisp, fresh air

As feet rejoice in sunlit dew;

Phantoms in the forest dance

Witnessed by these very few.

*Rhiannon Oset* © June 09

(Knysna a place to visit)

Angelus

Once upon an evening clear
An Angel crossed my track;
Could not foresee the coming tears
And missed the wings of black.

He smiled at me and took my hand
The Devil's Waltz we danced.
The music played by unseen band
I left it all to chance.

As suddenly as he appeared, he left;
I stood amidst the softly falling feathers
Remnants of what was, now bereft
Ghosts of whispers, silent deceptive pleasures.

He walked away that night
yet still I danced the part
As I watched the Fallen Angel's flight
Toward another's heart.


*Rhiannon Oset* © Mar '09

Elusive Emancipation

There was a breeze today;
It carried thoughts of you.
The rain that followed didn’t stay;
It poured memories of you.
The sun came out in subtle rays;
It lit up moments spent with you.
Tomorrow, perhaps, I’ll say
Goodbye to you.

*Rhiannon Oset* ©  Feb '09

A Question of Hope

Dancing Hope skittered through
The shadows, the wastelands, the hearts of few.
She moves and shines and skips around
Within her barriers, her prison bound.

How long ‘til Hope will lose her glitter?
How long ‘til she spits bitter?
How long ‘til her spirit starves?
How long ‘til her grave is carved?

Sleeping Hope dreamed of death;
Of darkness, sadness and loss of Love’s flame.
She writhes and claws with sharp indrawn breath;
Slowly wasting away within Fate’s cruel game.

How long ‘til Hope will lose her shimmer?
How long ‘til she grows ever dimmer?
How long ‘til her life flies?
How long ‘til her eyes die?

Cradled Hope in slumber embraced;
Gently, gently dozing far from sorrow and fear;
So very small, she has almost left no trace.
Love cups his hand to draw her near

Perhaps she’ll wake
Perhaps she won’t

*Rhiannon Oset* © Jul '08