Pause For Poetry:
Michael Hawkes /70

If You Want It Darker

A poem by Michael Hawkes

March 18, 2024

just wait a sec’ and see
how completely glum and gloomy
your sunlit world can be;
grimmer still and starker
than reality T.V.

Leonard saw it coming
from afar and took a dive;
and quit counting on his lucky stars
to keep the song alive.

No more playing to full houses,
no more propping up the bars;
no more lovely swooning ladies,
it’s the end of oohs and aahs.

No more playing up to Dylan.
No more harping on the blues,
No more loving unions
without heartbreaking dues.

He’s on the way to meet his maker
with a serious intent
to serenade the nubile angels
‘til his spirit’s truly spent.

And if he finds that heaven
gets as dark as Mother Earth,
he’ll be welcome here in Montreal
the bright cradle of his birth.

15/11/16 – Hawkes

Feature image: Archie Fineberg

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Michael Hawkes - WestmountMag.ca

Michael Hawkes is a survivor of all the world’s wars. He learned (and loved to rhyme) by torturing the hymns he had to sing at school. A retired West Coast fisherman living in Montreal since 2013, he is an unschooled Grandpa Moses writing an average of five poems every week.