In My Own Words – Page 60 – The Poems of David Garlick

Can any one look back and say

that they have never made mistakes.

Or that their actions, at some time

weren’t foolish and now make them cringe.

Mostly we blush to think that we

said things or did some thoughtless acts.

That seemed so smart and full of wit

but now seem crass or in poor taste.

The rod we make for our own backs.

The guilt we feel for mindless acts.

The blush that warms a foolish face,

the picture of our own disgrace.

But luckily, from time to time,

we also do a few things right.

And taking strength from some of these

salvage our battered self esteem.

David Garlick, Victoria, 1988

Please love me, for whom I am,

crumpled though I be.

Perhaps a wing is bent

or my mind goaled

within a body,

that will never be controlled.

Perhaps I cannot tell you,

in words you understand,

how much I love you.

You are all to me.

Yet all I seek or want –

from life is knowing that

Crumpled though I am.

David Garlick, Victoria, April, 1991

For those who cannot say it for themselves.

My dear friend,

is failing fast before my eyes.

Yet I am powerless to help

him in his hour of agony.

Now, though but a zephyr of©©

that once full gale of zest and fun.

I see deep in his dying eyes

the humor and his love of life.

Then why, must someone, such as he

be slowly dragged away from us?

The answer is a mocking laugh

that echoes through the vale of death.

A thousand times, a thousand times,

that same dread question passes lips.

As down the path of countless years

man marches to his destiny.

David Garlick, Victoria, 1987

Written for my great friend Brian Shaw

Maybe a gift can slowly bud,

unknowing what the flower will be.

A green shell waiting for the warmth,

to bring it forth for all to see.

The warmth of love is all it takes

and faith to wait for what may come.

How seldom is this love or faith

given to those who need it most.

Yet flowers bloom so short a while

a burst of colour, then no more.

Still memories of a scarlet hue

may live for ever in the mind.

Then, a mind, at last set free

from wishing for some distant goal.

On turning inward finds the joy

that comes from doing something well.

So dream for what you hope will be.

Knowing that all the love we have

is yours to help you at a time

when waiting seems impossible.

David Garlick, Victoria, June, 1988