The toad in the hole

The toad crawled into the hole
Deep in the coal
He went down the mine
Out of the sunshine
Just to recline

But for a thousand years he slept
Like sleeping beauty
Oh what a cuty
But ugly

After this time
Such a crime
The Earth was finally eaten by the sun
It got so hot
That chaos ensued
Asteroids tumbled
Meteors flew

And a rock the size
Of Manhattan grew
In the telescopes of the brave last few
Which spelt out armagheddon

When this did happen
Much of Earth was flattened
And the face of the earth grew a frown
The other side
Which faced out to space
Was shot clean out like a crown

Now in the meantime
Old toady was sleeping
Such a deep slumber
He did not hear the thunder
Nor rending of rock
Nor the earthquake shock

But finally he stirred
And began to want to go outdoors
Only to find no escape by his paws

The dark coal face was not much companion
But if only he knew he was in space
He would much have preferred its abandon
Than to instant oblivion

So he waited it out
And he waited, and he waited
Until as if it was fated
His rock touched down with a crunch
Onto a new planet, just before lunch

Needing some breakfast
The toad packed a punch
Of several G
But at least
At long last he was free

A crack appeared through the cold rock
And a strange blue light
Shone down in a shock
His path opened up
So he climbed out of doors
Following the blue shimmer
As effect follows cause

Onto the funny, sandy, yellow surface
That wobbled like jelly
Under the cold coal face
The horizon looked like
a labyrinth's spectacle
He was spell bound by the perfection
and by a large obelisk receptacle

Just knowing he was the only one here
It occurred to him he was still living - what a miracle
Against all odds, on a floating sod of earth
A mere toad who had trod, an uneventful road
Became perhaps the last remaining earthling
In the whole sky of stars that were twinkling

What must his family think, were they proud?
Perhaps...the question fell silent
although in his mind it was loud
Where are they now? and for that matter
Where was he?

As far as he could see
This planet must be free of all life
The next thing he thought
Was that he ought'a find some water
So off on a hike
This son of a pike set
It was not long before he met
Another monolith sort of cliff
Then he saw a fountain pour from a rock
Just as in a water-closet when someone pulls out the cock

It looked fairly strange
But then he re-arranged
The fragments in a kaleidoscopic sky
The clouds that looked metallic began to cry
And their purple rain
Fell on his brain
Until he thought he might die

From a far off field a strange dark shape lurked
It was in the guise of a hovering wraith
And with a quick jerk, he turned
To see himself returned to the rock
Which to him had given birth

The wraith was outside in the cold swollen sky
Waiting for someone to speak with him
Just then a passing fairy happened to land upon the dairy
Of the black lead cows who were happy with good mirth

Our hero exclaimed, Mighty Fred I am named
And let spill his story of Earth
A quiet long time passed after his words
Had been gassed
And he thought perhaps the Wraith had gone home

"Well can't you explain", said the Wraith with no name
"Why on Earth you chose my planet to land on?"
"No I cannot, by Saturn's rings, provide you with those things
I have no reasons why for my rhyme
I am a toad, stepped out of time
From an age of strong sunshine
To this strange planet of metallic worth"

Just as the toad was speaking
The purple rain which had been piquing
His mirth, gave some kind of birth
To a black beast which within him had been sleeping
Suddenly he grew, like mountains from a shoe
Many feet in foot hills, those that don't measure mole hills
And whole-heartedly he knew that he was new

What stood before the wraith now
Was a Black Prince that was leaden like the cow
And it proved that indeed from small things may come surprises
And if sleeping beauty slept
This was something she even did not expect
Since the toad's ugliness was not kept
He was no longer an earthly reject
But a Prince among the Wraiths of the Galactic Bowl
Then again this was the story of the Toad in the hole

Six Flicks

It seems like a gossamer of design
Like a needle in between the
Feeder and the spine
Like a tap root pulled up
Or a bean stalk to climb
Its a special condition
Of remission in my mind

There are six flicks showing at the cinema
Seven crooks in the books waiting at the bar
And I don't want a be a liar
But I just burnt down the cas ba
For the manageress was indistress
Over the painting of the tar

I fell through the floor
Eiffel true but but poor
In design of the infinite
The night and the sinews spent
And twisted in the age of someone sure

I courted the dream of an Geronitus
He laughed and split coconuts with his
Master's whip
He held in his hand the candle for the vandel
He held under knee the key
And he fell from the plinth
Where they dug up his bones
And framed them as me

I saw you wish in the harbour
And heard of love fish in labour
She drew up her wings
And spilled out her things
Until I saw all the stone babies of earth

Of course the river was rough
And its worth should have been reason enough
But asylum I found none
In the guise of a nun
The phylum of trees left me
Pith in my gun
And it all went silent after the big bang
And the trees swooned softly
Under a dying sun
As the Cathedral bells tolled
For the breaking of the day
When Christ walked on the eggshells
Of all the sinners that he had saved

And it came like this
In the fourth and Fifth
Centuries of New Palestine
The choirs of angels sang to briars
And the sandboxes refilled themselves

Of course they did he said in a moan
The loveless ponies had shelf proofed the stone
And the stone had hardened to a roof of rock
That was built upon pillars of sand

I cut the bone and marked myself
Dug a new grave and filled with my doubt
Earned my chrysalis turned
Off the water spout
And suffered the chains of freedom

Song of a New Man

The fisherman’s line he throws

Into the river its cast

I had to let it go

I had to let it pass

The rain hangs its bow

Across the sun’s looking glass

But I had to let it go

I had to let it pass

The sedge lay down in the flow

They lay like tired grass

I had to let them go

I had to let them pass

The gulls were gliding low

Across the fields of glass

I had to let them go

I had to let them pass

She stood white in the snow

And all Christmas seemed like a farce

I had to let it go

And I had to let it pass

Jesus came in tow

He sat in the midnight mass

He never let me go

He never let me pass

The river runs so slow

And then it runs too fast

I had to let it go

I had to let it pass