Louisa John-Krol

Nine blue panthers ran you down, roaming an’ gloaming your apple round; our Meadow of Poppies turned brown, and pelicans turned into clowns – Away and Away and Awake: a Retinue of Mandrakes were coming to break over you. Juniper berries will shake, your...

One more day away from Alexandria And night is long to sail – Rolling in a slow procession moved a place, A city fair and strange. Send the felon winds and every gust of wings Toward Bayona’s Hold Over tides of dark I’ll ever know your love An uncrowne...

Alice is falling, oh-h Alice is falling, ohh-h and your cards are all blowing away in a marmalade parade - and your caterpillar is shaking did I hear him say - ? Take your Boots of Snow - Enter The Garden of Live Flowers! Take your Wings of Pie an' fly into...

Dwindling away in the sun, Shivering over Oblivion Lion and Leopard will come, Shuffling on to Aphelion Be my Sister, my Darkness, my Orcus, my Orbit, my Hourglass, my Impasse, my Planet, my Amulet, my Dreamcat, my Daemon, my Distance, my Artemis, my N...

burning, turning, longing, roaming, glimpsing, murmuring, sshh! moaning, sinking, seeking, golden, glancing, gold and green, gleaming, beholding, gloaming, dancing, reaching, seeding, searching, laden, lushing, glistening, leading, shimmering, luring, touch...

Oh, I know him well, I tell myself…. I’ll show what destinies are made of And grow the Oak of Dodona in this hero, Yea so the Argonauts will all sing “Come to your Medea….” We’ve loved we’ve killed we’ve stolen, We’ve laughed, we’ve grieved, we’ve fallen...

Come into these yellow sands, And take these hands When you fall onto your knees, Wild waves talk like bees - Full Fathom Five your father lies, Of his bones are coral made Those are pearls that were his eyes Nothing of him there remains But whispers... The s...

Atho, we go whirling over Atho, we go whirling over, Atho we go… 

Dawn the bare infusion Dawn of wooden hill Dawn the tomb of fear Climb the flight of birds Cling on to beads of rain Go if it's gone, fly from here I don't have no money but I have that distant tree You don't have no money but you have your hidden key Hum t...

They come: the party’s on the road! I never know how Roaming is the Role, and Romeo is journeying onto the snow: The Lie comes, The Lie will riddle my home! A wave will glisten the tarmac, an aeroplane on my mudflap; the Matador’s playing cards while...

But to see them on the pavement or the air drift on nameless mist…. to the ceiling or the stair, out of cages, birds fly south into the Sun dusty pages, hand an’ mind fall into one Fall into one, come in the dark cave where the light is far better than h...

Did I hear you say they’re wandering? They’re rendering the seas and seasons And I hear they are wondering why They would wander to their home in the sky – O’ the wandering, O’ the sundering And for the rendering, the hopes ‘n’ horses When my feet are ti...

Come blackbird and take my soul away You won't keep your vagabond at bay! Your fortress hangs heavy in the tree: Come blackbird and take the soul of me away.... Who will listen into your lore? Will the echo follow your call? Who will listen while you're...

Here, darling do not cry, years will be lullaby; Reach for me over the great grey Sleep – You won’t be lonely, you will see: I’ll be waiting by our Wishing Tree. Green light the castle door, sands of a lost sea roar Set all your merhorses free! You will...

When a golden girl can win prayer from out the lips of sin When the barren bough bears and a little child gives away its tears Then shall all the house be still and peace come to Canterville. A golden girl can win from the lips of sin Come to Cantervi...

Wish I could follow ancient tomorrow to the mountaintop with Oberon – Wish I could fathom Dreams of the Diadem chalices haunted by hebanon – Wish I could jingle Shoal and the Shingle rummage among the lost paragon – Wish I could tarnish those who...

Ceracini dance in me Hear the children playing in the street Where the nut and brown berry speak Ceracini laugh and leap Down the muddling chestnut trees Marble echo under my feet Some were known and some never seen Sister-father, mother me. 

Wendigo, Wendigo, Chimney Row; The cat’s got pistachios but the wind won’t blow! Wendigo, Wendigo, Fall Below; The cat’s got its whiskers but the wind won’t blow! 

Colours of angels, shadows of gold, brushing the oceans, under your soul Cats are Angels, sent from the Void, to rekindle our Wonder… 

Out on the colder mornings, through a city of red snow; Over the arc of reason you can’t tell it whole no, no Contradiction is the Dragon – fly off with the crow! Blackbirds scurry through the snow – windows crack ‘n’ groan. Fly over the fortress, G...

Dancing with him, Dancing in my room Sun and Moon meet, Me and my Dead Groom – Aching over, Aching oh! My dear Setting sail on, Over Acheron…. 

O Little Blue Bobbin’ Bell hey lay-lo, dibble-dee faerie toe, dainty toe – O little dub by the dell, Ho! a Genie with a halo, hey lay-lo, Nay nay no – O Djinn, O Djinn, won’t you play your part? Begin, begin, to open your heart – to Dulcinea! O Little...

Duncan the Fiddler, play for your life! Up from the heather and into the night, You’ll come nae mare to berry nor stamp, You’ll play the ware and we’ll be the dance – Duncan the Fiddler, play for your life! Up from the rivers and over the skies, Don’t y...

I’ve been hovering near the border drawn by Memory and Sound Ever near the Dreaming, calling Elfland: Alam Al-Mithal, Alam Al-Mithal, the Wind and Tallow Like a child with a treasure but no age nor wisdom to protect it – Rare as coral it was stolen, pa...

You want me down darling, let me be! For I am in love with the Lord of a Tree And I’m riding to the good Sir Malder…. Saraway told me he was lithe as the wings of bees But he got his blood from the Mountain – Told me I’d find him in the body of Tree Whe...

Here… Hear Bring your fey favours, loll in sweet sloth; Sleek Midnight savours, vapours of the broth Oberon blinks bees, passing fell an’ wrath – Hang a pearl in every ear! There’s a changeling in the Moon! And your Dream Cat taps the Loom And she’s her...

In your boudoir you’ve been hiding, Lady in the Fortress hiding yourself from the fog – mist will reach you it’ll creep through cracks o’ windows, climb the stairways of your mind Ah mist will reach you, mist will reach you Mist will call you, mist wil...

Wind blows through branches of lost Time sleep forms foam rising to ashes. And as you dance, your hair is on fire tripping, falling, slipping into the ice Moon: in the light of the Sun, hide in your Shadow. 

No more man, than a talkative nymph – Was it planned, you would break the silence? In your hands is no trace of my kiss…. Then the love that we bore Was a mere wave in the storm morning…. But in my Golden Cottage – My Cottage of Gold I can be my own Se...

How should I your true love know From another one? By his cockle hat and staff, And his sandal shoon. He is dead and gone, lady, He is dead and gone; At his head a grass-green turf, At his heels a stone. White his shroud as the mountain snow, Larded...

Hear, Hear, Hear, Here! when we dream, we are gods when we think, we are beggars when we think, we are beggars when we dream, we are gods! Adamis!Diotima!Alabanda! 

Returning home again, where confusion reigns, my resolution caged in endless refrains: There in the distance larks descend, carrying balm from distant lands: and I am the djinn… Should I hide or should I play? Entangled in this fray my fantasies of gain,...

Thought, high in her Ivory Tower Falls in the spinning and weaving of Time And the last of last words spoken is ‘Goodbye’ – Never for you and I!Say when we die: “I can hear your tears and I know that I’m not talking….” “I can feel your fears and I know t...

Stone-breaker lurks in the dirt: Enter Someone who can survive it – Like a shadow of a curved bow, Lapus Lazuli there for show Ninshubar, lacerate your mouth Raise a shout in Heaven for her – She go down to the Seven Doors In the big bright House of the...

And I will disappear And see your smile, And I will tell the fear To say Goodnight – Whenever you’re in trouble I will always carry you There, inside the Bubble I will always be with you 

Maybe I should live on the other side of the wood? well, maybe And maybe my life is lived somewhere else? well, maybe And maybe they’ve buried my thought in salt? well, maybe And maybe I’ve seen the face of a ghost? well, maybe In your room my tune Is...

Once a dream did weave a shade O’er my Angel-guarded bed, That an Emmet lost its way Where on grass methought I lay. Troubled, ‘wildered and forlorn, Dark, benighted, travel-worn – Over many a tangled spray, All heart-broke I heard her say: O, my chi...

Lu-Lu’s not here, but Lu-Lu might hear! Feijoa Faerie, feline-a-lady, hey nonni overday Bryn o’ briar, I’m in a dream jar, a thousand locks to try… Oh, don’t you know gold burns the fire? Oh, won’t you turn the key of the pyre? 

Last night a van with a clown on its back took a one-man show down a windy road. He’s heading down to a woman I know – and the saddest of places I used to go: Rows of books would line the walls, paper souls she had in store, voices lurking in the hall,...

You sway in the lush torn scarf of my life Your hands are the tender bow of your mind You play in the sound of Me and the Machine: No handwriting allowed! No manuscript of older days, No Books of Hours – No calendar of stars, No calligraphy of love! N...

Climb the Ocean Set the Snow on Fire Charm the Water Blind Man and the Star Move the River Comet and the Horn Kiss the Shadow New Moon on the Morn Numb the Wren Tear.... long before Dim the Rim Meer.... warn the Foe Numb the Wren Tear.... calm the Call will y...

Of all the trees that grow so fair, Old England to adorn, Greater are none beneath the Sun, than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good Sirs (All of a Midsummer morn!) Surely we sing no little thing, in Oak, and Ash, and Thorn! Oak of...

No chariot is your pyre No rest is forever – Step out of the Equipage Eos of the Golden Fire! Tithonos in your eyes Your Dawn a broken heart Step out of the Equipage 

Paint the moon, paint your room Paint the inside of you – Paint your hair, paint your words and the Memory of birds – Paint the light, paint the sky and your wild, wild eyes! Paint the wind, paint the shadows of your candelabra. And if… – they pack y...

Hope feeds our homes? The Paper Door it swings away and I have fallen into Moontalk… Seems like whirling and the ordinary life is gone! It’s gone and you Step into the other world of feeling, The Paper Door it swings away and I have fallen into Moontalk T...

He is on the stair, he knows you: Take your seats inside the tune. The marionettes are there, listening through you, Human dreams hang in this room. Believe their faces, they know you, Their souls are waiting by their feet To hold your graces, and your...

I Time to climb the mountain my Name is calling, my Name is calling, there's the mountain! mind torrent, boat fallen nine doors and windows, I see circles in the sky shedding death's desire drum the fire on a maze of stairs and wire Chorus you try and deliver...

So, Fame - you always were a dreamer! and you'll go on with your Salamander song - Oh, you always were the river, and you'll roll on, and on... Do you live over the rainbow? Do you live under the river? Diving for gold in your Salamander shoal (o' in the mead...

Shouldn't we go home? couldn't we just sleep under stars? is that a Will o' the Wisp through the trees? seems like we're often led to believe.... oh! those dreams, wild animals hunting in reed ~ Shouldn't we go home? couldn't we just live like the birds? is...

Moon stay: in your eyes I swim… Tune fray: tell me where you spin? Down in the valley of size Where the treasure slips by The roving eye finds – You sway to me: Spin one more day. 

You have traded places with the water You have traded places with the air You have carried sorrow to the fire! Watched it turn to ashes in the rain…. Drift through fields of your sand to where birds sing of their troubles – And the burdens of the denize...

Moon on Talim Ridge, Six in red and One rhyme! Flying Guardians, tails in the Air were feeding the pine-cones. Four hats rimmed in green, Three in paper-bag brown – on the Other Side in a Valley far from here moved with the clouds. 

born of a race of strange things of deserts, great temples, great kings’ 

Bow, your shield’s at ease, How many virtues are these? Count round your pentangle down to three: Which courtesy would you now break for me? Now, I’ll hunt to kill! Your every wish to fulfil. Master’s out, and the servants are all asleep! I’m… your love...

Healer Healer Healer 

It was the dawning of Fifteen Hundred and all my village was at the fair – I’d bought me a spindle an’ bread an’ spice and peddled my garlands for ladies’ hair. I’d rounded the stage of a troupe of players, drawn by the shape of a stranger thing: from gr...

The maidens came when I was in My mother’s bower, I had all that I would The bailey beareth the bell away The lily, the rose, the rose I lay! The silver is white, red is the gold The robes they lay in fold And through the glass windows shines the sun...

I Sleep oh darling our Storm has passed, dream of it all your life though our dreams might only come briefly true they last long after we die II Sleep, my Ocean my River my Rain, safe in the Earth that loves you rest my Hunger, down on the seafloor till I ret...

We grow accustomed to the Dark – When Light is put away – As when the Neighbour holds the Lamp To witness her Goodbye – A Moment – We uncertain step For newness of the Night – Then – fit our vision to the Dark – And meet the Road – erect – And so of...

Can you see the eyes in the sky? Can you hear the sign in the rock? I need a room in which to think – Out on the heath, guiding the leaf Deliver the boon of eternal life…. Can you see him down in the gloom? Through the white lakes of the moon? Will h...

I dreamed of a Statue I dreamed of a Garden that hadn’t a key I dreamed of a Play – in a tree I heard Someone say I heard Something whisper from beyond the grave I heard of a Name – in a cave “You’d better take this key”, said the man in the Valley of S...

The Yarra of Warburton clashing cocoons ripping through the Mirrors of what we see glancing upon the screen of promise Which one is your world? Which one are you sure about? Take all your favourite dreams arrange them in patterns plenty No matter how...

There’s a red briar, in my garden Dressed in fruit she carries but once a year There’s a changeling, in my cradle With a phantom laughter and pointed ear There’s a black crow, at my window With the hollow eyes of a seer – oh! Tell me, do you know the Wit...

If there’s only one thing who knows how to move me it’s grey-blue-green, and it lies inside the Tree! As the years have shown us, we’ll go too far down into the green light, to a space of our own. Sly tree, you know me: I’ll have you…! I can’t say… How m...

Part I: Jinn Jinnee Jinn-Jinnee, O’ Jinn-Jinnee, you’re waiting by the almond tree, I wish you happy, rustling years dancing your smile around the leaves; deeper than the sweet black sea, with genie eyes of golden green, now dive into the dusky eve, Jinn...

Way over the windtorn wainscotting waterwood I saw a butterfly on a bicycle – Way over the windtorn wainscotting waterwood I heard a dragonfly brush your pie. Who loves a life too much to die? Who would make enchanted drops for human eyes? To see the wo...

And here's a world in which I can fly, and here's a lake I skim like a mermaid, here's a world where I'm imprisoned, here's a pentagram of spells that take a shape and burn like fire, and here's a world where I beg for my life, and here's a pleasure scre...

Yellow leaves, come to me – don’t you leave me blind! When the world hums long and loam When the distance bids you roam When the sea turns green and brine When you find your time…. Turning ‘n burning in dream, golden you hold onto me, coiling our fire...