Change, a poem

 Change

All things change.

Not for the better, mind you,
not for the worse. Just different
from the way they were.

I, too, change.

This way, that way, slowly,
imperceptible 
even to myself

sometimes, changing

none the less. Each morning
must be made anew;
each man must wake changed,

as all things.

Stephen Brooke ©2026

Wayfaring Stranger

Here's the take on Wayfaring Stranger, as performed by niece 'Mean Mary' James and appearing in the film 'Hellfire.'

Mexico, a poem

Mexico

A fringe of sea oats and yes, some sand-spurs
separated manicured lawns
from white sand. Beyond, the Gulf,
whispered soft onto our shores,

as it did on distant beaches,
in languages we’d yet to learn.
Texas was that way; Mexico
a little to the left. We would

not swim that far today. Tomorrow
we might seek those shores, swimming,
swimming, into oblivion.
It and Mexico were waiting.

Stephen Brooke ©2026

Count, a poem

Count

I count the shadows scattered by your lights.
Is that one mine? It wavers, fades, to be
replaced by dancing multitudes, each turned
away, each blind, deaf, each alone, each held
in place by faded twins. They move with me,
now growing, shrinking, through our flickering
reality. I guess wrong and again
must count. I count until there are no more.

Stephen Brooke ©2026

All That Will Not Be

All That Will Not Be

To what empty shores might your storm carry me
as I name the stars above this restless sea?
Gaze upon each truth, in fixed forgetfulness,
know each secret sin I must someday confess.
Edging forward now, ablaze then in regress,
crossing ebon fields, points dim and luminesce;
laugh on in eternal cold cacophony,
light my way to shores of all that will not be.

Now in fear I cower, now in ecstasy;
prophets shoulder forth and vie to set me free.
Let them slip me keys to promised doors and gates;
in the rooms of darkness, naught I know awaits.
As the stars grow silent, as each storm abates,
voices of the void take up our whispered fates;
echoes chasing echoes through infinity
fade among the vaults of all that will not be.

Stephen Brooke ©2026 

for some reason, I'm fond of trochaic hexameter 

Got Up and Went, a poem

Got Up and Went

My get-up-and-go
all got up and went
and now I’m old
and tired and bent.
Some days I don’t
feel worth a cent — 
I used to be
such a dashing gent!
But so it goes
when your get-up-and-go
is all used up,
when you reap what you sow.
There comes that day
and now I know
I’ve seen the last
of my get-up-and-go.

Stephen Brooke ©2026

some more light verse 

Wearing Red

 My talented niece, Mean Mary James, wearing red and playing the blues.