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Black swan, black swan,

What you have done

White swan's heart is burning

For you, it’s longing.

The black swan’s message deeply stings

After it spreads its gracious wings,

Don’t follow poisoned gales

That wraps your mind in misty veils,

I’m not who you see

And with who you want to be.

White swan’s emotions go indigo cold  

Its decision now is black and bold

With a twisted heart, it sinks in a river,

Where it feels no pain forever.

Ivo Bierands

31.05.22

When the sun stops shining

 Above my head in a warm blue sky

 Hiding itself

 Behind grey, mindful clouds,

 I take my blooming heart in my hands

 And let it shine as bright as the sun

 Over me wherever I go,

 Endlessly.

16.06.23

The pastel white moon stared at me 

From the cosmos-blue sky,

Through a frosted window,

I opened it as far as I could,

But not wide enough,

It resisted my desire

To see my guest's face clearly,

I observed the bleary circle musing.

If I could I would come and hug you

You lonely night rider,

I would wrap you in woollen blankets

To keep you warm from the frosty winds of the universe,

You could tell me your sweetest dreams 

That were written in the glittering stars 

More than four billion years ago.

27/04/24

I invented the blue smile

The smile you have to pay

If you want to have it

It has its bye-bye blue properties for indigo rainy days,

And you’re welcome blue emotions you want to keep them 

Sky won’t be such blue as it used to be,

But it will be blue the way you wanted them to be

Framing around golden sun rays.

Your black sadness  will blend into Oxford blue, fading into ultramarine and aqua blues

Making you feel reborn again.

Your summer night eyes will see the things

At the same colours that will be never the same again.

18/05/24

I am writing you a letter, my child

On a white sheet of paper with an ordinary pen in blue.

I remember you wished me a safe journey 

With a voice of late spring breeze in your lush evergreen branches.

Thank you for that, 

I arrived safely in China.

Thank you for blooming at the end of May,

Thank you for rushing to share your charcoal white 

Uprising starfish bells before I go 

Leaving you surrounded by sunflower plants,

Gooseberry and blackcurrant bushes.

I want to tell you something,

Beautiful,

I took you with me in my travel bag,

You bloom now in Beihai.

Your snow-white flowers talk to me 

Whenever I look at them in the photo at you

Bringing me back home with you.

Yours sincerely,

Ivo

I fold a letter in a half,

And put it in an aquamarine envelope.

I write on it

To Japanese Azalea

I kiss it before I post it back to England

Throwing into a dark green post box on a sweltering street.

26/06/24

Beibu Gulf greets me tonight after eight o’clock

Coming out of its shores

Splashing big silver waves

Far into the Silver Beach

Sky black scattered with dark grey clouds

Too high,

Unreachable for the gulf.

I smile

And dress off in my swimming pants

I let its huge wild hands cradle me.

I hear its voice whispering to me

It wanted to come to my home tonight

And play with me

It missed me these long nine madly hot boiling days.

I missed it too.

Now I let the waters of Beibu Gulf

Wash me as its baby.

And washes me with joy

My feet, my legs, my waist.

I plunge into its warm hugs

and it washes my hands and arms

My face, my hair and my body

With its salted

But love-filled water.

I return home and sleep tight like a baby

Until the sun is rising on the horizon

Six o’clock morning.

I muse about my little boy Elvis,

I have to get up and be ready

Before he opens his beautiful chestnut brown eyes.

29/06/24

It might seem that I work for no pay,

But I’m not.

I’m paid by Elvis with his endless love

And I don’t understand where from

Such a little heart gets so much love to give.

It burst over me like a waterfall

With hugs and trust,

Laughs and fear of losing me.

More than eight hours a day

And more than five days a week

I’m cascaded by his unconditional love.

It's continuous and everlasting

Making my life meaningful.

15/07/24

I feed the soil with the peals of vegetables,

Egg shells and love turning it with a fork over and over,

It does not resist thanking me with its softness

As if enjoying a quick-lasting moment.

An early October sky nourishes my soul

With smouldering spillage of gold

Turning it into breathtaking milky silver,

My eyes get blinded for a milli-second 

As I take with them this quick-lasting beauty.

I send to the sky my visible breath through the crisp air

As an appreciation of the gift 

That the sky gives me this morning.

05/10/24

Lightening in the sky goes off,

As quiet as silence

Hiding behind clouds,

It suddenly paints patches of the black sky

In orange and brown.

A growing silver moon stands distant

Tonight over Beibu Gulf

Wiping sweat off its pure buttery yellow face

Using grey fluffy clouds

As if waiting for the thunder and storm

Cool down the air.

Beibu Gulf  is raving tonight

Sending massive waves to the shore

I walk in

And enjoy its wild touch

Letting it wash me clean

Away from the sins I have done

Any time of my life.

17/06/24

My neighbour had a funeral ceremony

A few doors down the road

On that warm November day,

Black suits,

Black cars,

Eleven o’clock night

Black eyes,

The next morning

In his silent front yard

Crashed Famous Goose whiskey bottles

Two different colour women's high-heel shoes

Hanging as an evidence

Of raving sadness 

A day before.

15/11/24

If I don't make my dream come true

While I’m here,

I’ll take it to Heaven

And I’ll turn it into snow-white sparkling stars

For humans on the earth to enjoy

During dark hours.

26/11/24

Slowly falling birch leaves turn into gold,

Ashes from a burnt-out fire as silver linings on wondering grey clouds

Comfort my mind,

Clattering uneven noises somewhere on the street

Echoes as the devil touches drawing black cat’s footsteps

In my dreams, 

Troubling my blue soul from glass-fragile sleep,

Making me see fear in a sparrow's glittering black eyes

While it’s knocking on my window that weeps ice-cold tears,

Trying to escape a milky white and stormy December day.

27/01/25

My day fades into dusk

Becoming darker and thicker

Slowly turning into a night.

I search for the vanilla stars in the sable seibl sky

As a memory from a just buried bӘrid day in the universe

Finding only muted, blank clouds,

Thick indigo approaches quietly

Drawing in the window blue hour 

With a snowy egret’s egrc feather  

As a remedy to save my salted soltid tears.

I’m terrified of facing another day

Which will be as bright as silver lings 

From the remote clouds

Because I’ll need to attend its funeral.

02/02/25

Navy green forests with a tender breeze 

Coming from their lungs, 

Dark blueberries with sweet and fruity touches

And birds with their cheerful voices

Take me back home,

Where I used to lay myself 

In a vast stretch of blueberry plants 

To look at the pure blue sky through the eyes of a forest,

Which used to appear spotless of cotton soft clouds 

As a reflection of the never-ending blueberry ocean 

That used to hold my body 

Letting the sun caress me

With  its gentle and warm hands

Stretching them through beautiful gigantic-sized trees.

Ivo Bierands

04/02/25

Red and silver beads

Run roaring through the twisted grey veins 

Making this city breathe,

Colourful images dance with no voices

Flashing and changing in a set-up sequence

Bringing massive pitch-black canvas to life

And mincing my brain,

Promoting me to get lifetime deals,

The damaged moon tries desperately

Illuminate whole universe 

Stretching its arms for the never reaching stars,

Sable clouds with rusted silver linings,

Turn creepy 

Covering the ugly side of the reaping hook,

Airplanes, satellites and spaceships 

Are battling for a space in eternity,

Leaving Blue Hour with no space 

To come and soothe this unnerved world.

06/02/25

Grandad, tell me your fairytale 

Before I shut my eyes,

About the blue city 

Where a cat throws caramel sweets 

From sky-blue roofs,

Where a magical elf lives

In a cloud-white house

Down a moss-covered hill.

Narrow steps and long steep staircases

Decorated with rainbow flowerpots

Make this city alive

Created by your mind

Were you and my grandmother 

Never die,

But all of us swim 

In the ocean of ever-blue love.

10/02/25