- After the Last
- Carry Me
- Chasing Visions
- Christmas Reverie
- Last Night of Stars
- The Rose of Jericho
- Selene’s Boat
- She is the River
- When the Earth Stands Still
After the Last
Here at the last,
My love.
Soon to that vast
Unknown.
So close to the summit
But slowing.
Whispers urge your going.
Give up the fight,
My love.
The night can be friend
Not foe.
Some battles are won by leaving
Or letting go.
Roots will come greet us,
Weaving a blanket
Midst rock and loam
And forests will feed us,
Serving a banquet
Of seed and cone.
Never alone.
And when it’s my last
My love
I will hold fast
To love.
And dreams of embrace,
A gathering place
Where roots will come greet us,
Weaving a blanket
Midst rock and loam.
And forests will feed us,
Serving a banquet
Of seed and cone.
Never alone, never.
Never, never, alone.
After the last,
My love.
Dedicated to all those that have lost a loved one and to my father, Alasdair Macdonald. Oct 10, 2020
Chasing Visions
People often wonder
Why I look so tired
I’ve been chasing old sweet memories
Memories of you, scattered and few
I’m chasing them most of the time
Clouds are now invading
Memories once sky blue
Midnight visions once in colour
Now black and white and fading from sight
I’m chasing them most of the time
Sometimes I’m lucky
Here in the night
I see your brown eyes
as my memory takes flight.
Carried away in visions of yesterday
And I’m with you one more time.
Nights I lay awake
Daylight finds me dreaming
Cause I’ve been chasing old sweet memories
Memories of you, scattered and few
I’m chasing them most of the time
Sometimes I’m lucky
Here in the night
I see your brown eyes
as my memory takes flight.
Carried away in visions of yesterday
And I’m with you one more time.
Christms Reverie
Early morning winter, Forty-first and Vine,
Modern day minstrel plays carols for a dime.
The song becomes a memory when it takes me back,
Way back home, home for Christmas.
It’s been so long. How I’ve missed it.
Needle hits the record, December late at night,
Spinning forty-five plays a crooners delight.
The song becomes a memory that quickly takes me back,
Way back home, how I’ve missed it.
It’s been so long since I went away but now
Feels like yesterday.
The dream is a feast for the senses:
Crack of fire and waft of pine.
Lucky are we that a song can beat its wings
And take us to these things so dear.
Snowflakes on the windshield, frost is on the ground,
Radio plays as I head into town.
Christmas songs take me home at last.
Last Night of Stars
Last night of stars
Shroud is descending
Black is invading
Canvas and frame.
Sweet child of twilight
In your nest made of iron
Come out from the shadows.
It is time for our passing
and your dawning.
Take this next breath with me.
Fill the night with your melody.
Star-light dimmed and shuttered moon,
Sing them all aglow.
At last.
Last day of whispers
Silenced by tremors
Songs in the distance are thundered
Then mute.
Last child of Autumn,
Last child before the storm,
Restless tides of fear may drown us
You must rise to meet them
Take this sacred breath with me.
Fill the night with your melody.
Sirens shrill and rumbles deep,
Sing them all to silence.
At last.
Last night of stars
Shroud is descending
Black is invading
Canvas and frame.
Sweet child of twilight
In your nest made of iron.
Come out from the shadows
it is time, it is time, it is time.
Sing it all to silence.
Moon Ravens
Out of the shadows.
There in the east,
A tempest of wings,
A gathering shroud.
I lay here and follow their path through the clouds.
Moon Ravens, silver then gold
Lit by the moonlight.
Moon Ravens, hovering low
Covered in starlight.
Drifting like ashes
Down through my window.
Oh so softly
Whispering to me.
There’s no one that could deny
All those spirits of the night.
All my senses, all my reason
Overtaken by the wing-ed apparitions.
Into the eye of the black-bird I fall.
Hair into feather.
Talon from nail.
Cloaked in a raiment of
Black, jet-
Black-char-
Black-er than sleep eternal.
Into the Shadows
Life at our backs, distant and fading.
Taking our path to the moon.
Don Macdonald
Feb 2020
The Rose of Jericho
One leaf out of the fire
West wind taking it higher
One year after forever
two hands coming together
And now their roots are protected
And green is starting to show
For here there's life unexpected
Like the rose of Jericho
Oneearth, something has shifted
One left, soon to be lifted
One skin just like another
One night, flight undercover
And now their roots are protected
And green is starting to show
For here there's life unexpected
Unfolding like the rose of Jericho
There are stories carved
In rings so deep
But the lines thought lost
Have been found complete.
Where fire cools
In bright night skies
Where desert winds
Sing lullabies
Were stones can move
With featherweight
An open door an open gate.
Poetry by Don Macdonald and Allison Girvan
She is the River
She’s comin’ up strong,
been’ comin’ up long,
out from under.
She’s on her own time,
and breakin’ the line,
bringin’ her thunder.
She is the river
and the rushing in of everything,
and she’s the ocean,
breaking walls of stone,
and ancient castles.
Catching the falling.
Hearing the calling.
Out here in the deep,
deep current of sleep,
she will come find us.
She can ignite
a hurricane flight,
she can unbind us.
She is the river
and the rushing in of everything,
and she’s the ocean,
breaking walls of stone,
and ancient castles.
Don Macdonald Sept 2019
The lyrics are about the power of the female spirit.