Sea Shall I, Sea Shan't I

 shall I shan't I, Shall I shan't I

Shall I go to sea

Well a blue moon's in the 

Horizon risin

And I need a cup of tea

Shall I shan't I , Shall I, shan't I 

Shall I go to sea?

The Ghost ship's in the quarters sizing

And I can't see the Sea

The skeletons are dancing

The sails move

When nobody's there

The whole

Ship

Seems to go along

Like the Marie Celeste without a care

Shall I, shan't I

Shall I shan't I

Shall I go to sea

I wish you all the luck in the world

But I'm a landlubber, me

Shall I go to the shallows

Shall I dig the deep

If I travel to the shallows

Not soundly shall I sleep

If I travel to dark depths

The night may take my soul

Then shoulds and shants

Shalls and shoals 

Shall surely swallow me whole

Please don't flood my boat

 We shipped it out of Market Quay

In the year of 63

Looking for the catch to lea

The swathes of herring in the sea

We cast our nets and dragged about

Oh and then the first mate did shout

Haul in boys we've hooked a trout

A river fish with a massive snout

But surely this must be a fish king 

For as we hauled him in the thing

Began to thrash and we could see

This river fish belonged in the sea

It was six feet wide in it's girth

And it took six men to hold it's berth

All upon the deck of wood

But this fish crashed through where we stood

And into the hull it went a heaving

Down below where believers were believing

Nothing so big could be landed at sea

Let alone a river trout with a double D

When down on the lower deck where tallow candles burnt

It was in their light that it was not a trout but a mermaid we learnt

And She was huge and heavy and really broke the scales

We knew if we brought her home alive then we'd make so many sales

She was though heavier than Archimedes in the bath

And the hole in the deck she'd made was no cause to laugh

As just then a giant wave came crashing from above 

And filled the hull with sea water and the boat did flood

Oh please don't flood our boat, we pleaded to the mermaid

But she just screamed like a siren and brushed her seaweed braids

But soon she gave us the boot and slipped out through the hole

And yet our boat was flooded and we sang out save our souls

So just remember when you're fishing never land a river trout

For what you think is a fish can be a turnabout

And if she is a mermaid it's best to let her be

At least there's always plenty more fish in the sea

To kill a monster

 What does it take to kill a monster

Can you bear what he is

What he's done to countless victims

Does the victim make him him?

Is he a monster incarnate

regardless of what he has done?

How do we judge a monster

is it only on what he has done?

Or is it on his intent

And therefore sympathy presses in

What if he he never would do

What we believed of him

It is future justice

Or is it past remorse

For things he says he regrets, and yet

He still will endorse

He should be locked up

I shouldn't be drinking with him

For what is it that he really regrets

A life without sin?

What will it take me to kill?

As an individual?

And yet what will it take for 

Justice to deal out

What is right and legal?

Is it what we thought

Is it what is right?

Is it just a string of noughts

On an accountant's dark night?

I'd like to think that a life

Is worth more than a sear

I'd like to think that

I've given my heart to a bear

For what it is that lasts is

The ones what are willing to be cruel

What we know is there are

Those ruthless individuals

But they are few and far between

And yet they make up the scene

Press-ganged

 Oh I once had a dream I was going to sea

But all was not as it seemed this dream within me

The sea took my dream and it watered it down

That's how come I'm singing shanties in shepton town

In Shepton town where the sheep are like ships

And the clouds above us are like carnival skips

Where there's cider in the river and cheese in the rocks

And you may get paid in cheddar or in dandelion clocks

Oh yes we have bullies and boys by the bucket

And then there's their parents who have said just fuck it

Because they roam the town like pirates marauding and taking

What other good folk have spent their free hours making

But don't ask for clew garnets, no point in crime stoppers

the police do buggerall they might as well pull party poppers

because it's all in the rigging, yes everything is rigged

like in the last election how the puppets danced and jigged

So find me a ship boys and sign me up

I've been press-ganged before and drank from the cup

If you bring the rum, then I'll bring the beer

We'll sing the sea shanties down on the Darshill pier

the sociopath's society ball

 At the sociopath's society ball

Oh it's not easy to get invited

But when you do

Everyone knows everyone

I joined the sociopath's society

 And they are all just like me

manipulating, caluating

And they'll invite you round for tea

Come on down, the price is right

We're all having a ball tonight

Make your life like a knife

And cut and kill

And maul

All for free down at the sociopath's society ball

I wanted to join but I thought I'd look a fool

No you can't be a sociopath with that attitude like that all

You got to step out on the debutant's trawl

And land a catfish and bring home your haul

It's all going on

Down at the sociopath's Society ball

You can see kings and politician's stand tall

You can meet floozies and old witches in shawls

You can meet young ones who try to enthrall

You in on their charms

So long as the value is high

They'll welcome you with open arms

And the stakes are all

In the lap of the Gods 

Or the dice that fly

It's no gambling for the sociopath

It's a well thought out move

Calculated maximum devastation

Of those poor entrapped fools

Like a snare is his brain

The comedian

The laughter like a drug

That soothes 

The autistic mind ratchets

Through applause

Not feeling

The reeling

Not knowing at all

But it's all allowable

At the sociopath's society ball

Cholera Hospital

 Empty windows like a mouth agape

A vaccinated vacuum

Glassless pane

The dry taste in the mouth

Bitter medicine for Cholera victims

Is the bitterness of regret

It is the house of sadness

Not easy to forget

 

Elder bushes and nettles grow

Without its walls

Through its doors

The rain runs

Leaching into cracks in the floor

Few roof tiles remain of its once proud mantel

Chimney stacks and triangular wall ends

Sand like pyramids and statues

The relics of a mighty, bygone empire

Only Flat Holm will recover all in time

This hill in the sea sings its reclamation rhyme

When one thing begins

 I came on the wind

And I left on the tide

Well when one thing begins

It means another has died

And it's all without sin

Well except when I've lied

To get in to bed with another man's bride

And the good things hinge

On the bad one's pride

And you may get singed

If you play by the fireside

Well when one thing begins

It means another has died

And I might say that I love you

After you have cried

Just like I can mould a clay pot

But not after it's dried

For when it's made hot

It burns a hole in my side

But when one thing begins

It means another has died