Mulligatawny Owl

The Mulligatawny owl, went on its Mulligatawny prowl

Looking for the mice, with that curry spice

They had recently moved into the district

And brought their cooking and cultural instinct

And it was far from the Tawny owl's own taste

But then again he thought I do so like my mouse paste

He enjoyed spreading it on his bread at home

Up in the tree where he lived all alone

Apart from some squirrels

And a brace of rabbits

Who dug under the roots

As was their habit

And the squirrels always said how gross

That he eats these mice

Because they liked to boast

They only ate the finest acorn from the oak

And this they kept as their private joke

And the owl stayed at home

As he heard their chitter-chatter

He thought those pesky squirrels

What a clatter of skitter-scatter

They make as they scurry up and down the trunk

He wished he could sleep and that he were drunk

But he remembered the mice

And thought what paradise

For tonight when I awake, I'll go out and hunt

Meanwhile the mice were down in their holes

Cooking up something nice to share with the voles

And the word got around that some special creatures were in town

And the smell of their cooking it wafted on the coals

And oh what a hullabaloo it caused

When the mice came out with their mulligatawny soup in their paws

And fed the other rodents in kingly sized portions

Just as they would do on the Indian sub-continent

And everyone said: oh thank you so much

For this food you have prepared which we eat for our lunch

It is really more than a mouse should do

To prepare for ourselves such a delicious stew

So the Mulligatawny mice went home

All gleaming with pride and warmed to the bone

And it was getting late in the morning so they thought

Lets go to bed

So they did just that and went and rested their heads

But when the day began to turn into dusk

They awoke, inside them with a hungry lust

And looked in their cupboards and checked in their pots

But they were all out of their precious ingredients

What we need one said, named Meg, are some nuts

We could ground them like the almonds we brought with us

And add with them eggs from the chicken huts

Which we stole, said the vole, with a certain kind of distrust

I say what we need are some Lentils then said Jo, and Nel said

Lets try the Farmstead, I'm sure we could go

And inside the kitchen cupboards - I know a backdoor in - 

We will find jars of the stuff, though they're starting to thin

While others sourced the carrots and the onions from the field

They all went about preparing for their evening meal

And now for the spice, all the mice rejoined

You don't have to ask twice, that is one thing we purloined

Meanwhile the Mulligatawny owl, went out on his second Mulligatawny prowl

And he was quite peckish, infact a ravenous raptor was he

All tied up in his excitement, he quickly flew out of the tree

And he scanned all around the horizon and the field

Searching his line of sight, his eyes on his meal

There were foxes abroad, and hares boxing in furrows

And square looking toads, and rabbits peeping from burrows

And up in the sky the crows criss-crossed overhead, 

they were on their way to the parliament, like ministers of the dead

And the owl wandered on his path softly winding

His feather beat quiet, like raider in deciding

Cutting his way through the cool gloaming air

With his razor sharp claws, hanging like knives right there

I'm looking for a mouse, have you seen him? Who Who?

He lives in a house, like an underground zoo

And it's full of the vermin, the pests of the field

And I'm the pest controller come to pick up my meal

I'm looking for a mouse, have you seen him? You Hoo?

The type that is a louse, a degrader of twoo

And do you know him? Who who?

Do you know him? You Hoo?

If you see him, do let me know

Or next I'll be coming for you!

Quite unbeknownst to the terror from the air

The mulligatawny mice invaders were scouting their lair

And had found a few good portions of carrots and peas

And were carrying them back home, when who did they see?

But the little vole who came running up to them to plead

Please go home mice, before the Mulligatawny owl makes you bleed!

A Mulligatawny owl, how can that be?

Is he as fast as a fox or as quick as a crow

Is he as clever as a cat, or as slow as a cow

As dumb as a duck, up the top of a gum tree

Oh fee, fie fo fum

Who's afraid of this owl? How come?

Not me said Nel, not me cried Jo, well as you see said Meg

We aren't afraid so

Neither should you be, in the grand scheme of things

This owl is not a threat to us

He is but a nothing

Well the owl kept flying on his aerial comb of his surroundings

He was an ace pilot

Quick as a wink, if he spotted a mink, he swooped on lonely vole

But this doesn't make a meal he said as he swallowed him whole

No what I'm looking for I cannot seem to find

There is a scent of stewing, of the tempting kind

And If I should follow it back to its source

Surely then I'll make my meal full course

So with his eyes he scoured and with his nose he sniffed

And with all of these powers an owl knows what he's whiffed

A Mulligatawny mouse he cried, and his big eyes opened wide

A Mulligatawny mouse whoopy, A mulligatawny mouse I'll have for my tea

And the Owl swept down from the sky and landed near the house

Of the Mulligatawny mice pie, and he said to himself

What's that I can smell cooking

But a Mulligatawny sauce I know well without looking

And who's that I can hear with my great owl ear

But a Mulligatawny mouse tea party coming near

And just as he predicted the other mice of the field

Were trooping their way to their evening meal

Which they planned to share with their mouse pals

Well that was as near they got when they saw the owl

It swooped down upon them, a white flash from the air

And Nel was carried off, Meg cried where's Nel she's not there

She's not here either exclaimed Jo with a growl

Oh it was that pesky, white-winged, mulligatawny owl

Meanwhile Nel was being carried off into the night

When she came to, she saw white feathers and an imposing sight

The Mulligatawny owl's beak protruding in front

She wanted to cry, but then she thought up a stunt

From her mouse pouch, she brought a pawful of spice

And then she lifted it to her snout and blew on it twice

And the powder flew up into the owl's beak and nose

And he sneezed - "A mulligatissue!" and released his great toes

And as she did fall Nel felt with her paws

And brought out on top of her a pair of her draws

And so slowly she floated back down on to earth

With her knickers as a parachute she knew what brief life was worth

Slowly she looked around from her clump of nettles 

and could see nothing in the pitch black, but felt unsettled

What else could be lurking in this patch of ground?

Could it be a fox or a cat or even a hound?

And which way was home, oh what a curse!

But at least now alone, with the owl it was worse

And to come out-unscathed, wow it was true

She couldn't believe what she'd managed to do

Just then a shrew came up and sniffed

And said are you that Nel, who the mice all have missed?

Nel said why yes I am she, now show me the way home

For so grateful I'll be, now I'm not out here all alone

When they arrived, the Mulligatawny stew was cooked

The others in a search party had been out and looked

But they soon met the shrew and their beloved Nel

And they toasted her return and rang the homecoming bell

Well what a story Nel had to tell

As they ate Mulligatawny soup by the old bell

And the Owl who was angry and hungry what's worse

Had to go home to hear the Squirrels chat - his curse

And if there's a moral to this story then let it be

That Mulligatawny dinner with a mouse is not free

And every lunch must be paid for, every grain has a price

Whether eaten by Mulligatawny owl or by three blind mice

Octopodimore roundabout

 Octopodimore roundabout

Is just about what an Octopus shouts

When he thinks it is too busy on the roads

While he is eating Spaghetti

While talking to a toad

And this kind of activity can be a dangerous thing

Especially if the toad begins to sing

Because like Pavarotti he loves to sing of things

That get his gilgotti and make his microwave ping

So he replies it's like Spaghetti junction round here

And then a Baloney Sandwich suddenly appears

And says Bologna, Bologna, well what'd I hear?!

Stop talking Baloney, you know there's nobody near

And he don't count - hey keep your hands on the wheel!

Mr Octopody you're making me feel kind of queer

Well I can't blame you, said the toad

I'm always telling him to keep his eyes on the road

Eyes on the road? Which eye may I ask yer, asked the spider

Which ever one you can, answered the eight legged outsider

Hey man, why are ya trying to push in here?

Can't you see there's plenty of room for the four of us?!

No five, cried the Beer, well would you look at the head on that said the toad

Then the Octopus started sipping it, the sandwich said "Mind the road!"

Don't drink and drive cried the beer, I've too much to live for cried the spider in fear

So now you're afraid of a little alcohol, hey man I'm no light weight I just want to keep my head clear

Well its too late for that said the heavyweight boxer, I'm finishing my dinner plate

Then I'm driving to Uttoxeter, you can't be serious Said the Octopus

Yes I am now my gloves are off, I'm not pulling any punches

Hang a left here said the toad with a moan,

No take a right, said the beer in barotone

"Well I thought I was the only one with a voice so deep!"

"Be quiet everyone the Octopus is asleep"

At the wheel! cried Baloney, well it makes me feel lonely

Boy said the Beer I must stronger than I knew

The heavyweight said who do you think you're talking to!

Then he started a fight in the back, but before it got bad

The car had gone off track onto the hard shoulder

Where chips flew off the block

And they came to a stop

Would you like fish with that?

Asked the little chief,

And then the line, like the front tyre, went flat

What have we all become?

I see in your face the lines I can trace

Back to where we used to run

Through fields and streams in our childhood dreams

Oh what have we all become? 

What have we all become?

You knock on my door, but its not like before

Too many years have past under the sun

Oh what have we all become?

We keep ourselves, like books on the shelves

Some change, fade to dust and some survive,

But strange how time aids and still keeps alive

These things in us that remind of someone

What have we all become?

And it just doesn't seem real, all these things that I feel

They just seem like melodies that are yet to be sung

What have we all become?

All the faces I've seen, show all the things that have been

But darling we've hardly begun

Yet what have we all become?

There are roads that cross in the desert, and tracks that meet in between

And paths we have taken, though some are forsaken

And some are rivers yet to be swum

So what have we all become?

I cross my arms and I wonder, I ponder on those misty things

They come in frightening thunder, they strike like lightning stings

As in my mind all their images hung

What have we all become?

I hold out my palms to catch a falling drop, 

And water is like a balm, that makes the pain stop

But the thought still remains when it's gone

What have we all become?

Trying to move

 I tried to move you through the Meer

I tried to love you, that much is clear

But did I tug too hard at your ear

Or did I lug around my baggage of fear

Who is in control, is it me or is it it?

I see the magpie and the cuckoo spit

But who is calling the crow to quit

Is it why I forgo all kinds of shit

I paid my penalty, I paid my price

So why still the enemy lives in paradise

I bought my ticket, I didn't ask twice

Yet still you'd give me plenty of your ice

What is there that I forgot to tie

Was it your cross I bear or mine

Do you sing where the leaves dry

Or stop and bear the tears I cry

I have been where you are sitting

There were many reasons for my quitting

But they all stem out of a fear of committing

And it is clear it's the atom I'm splitting

It will explode in my hands as a bomb

It will unfold like the sands I comb

It will turn up in the sea shoal tombes

That are read by all the fish headed blondes

And I am leaning into their wake

From the ship of all my mistakes

But I am yet to climb aboard

Oh what is life about my lord? 

Four Years

 Well you know four years in a lifetime

Is not so long

When you’re a child your heart and legs are strong

And then you grow older

And you do school too

You know four years in a lifetime

Is just something you do

 

Four years in a love life

Is like writing a book

Its full of highs and lows

And you become easily hooked

And some days it gets so bad

You just can’t let go

Four years in a love life

Is still just something you do

 

Four years for a swallow as everyone knows

Is from the summer haze to the winter throes

And they sleep on the wing, and they follow rainbows

Four years for a swallow, time flies just so

 

Well four years for a beggar, will beggar belief

For the places he sleeps on edge of the streets

And on top of park benches, or under shop windows

Fours years for a beggar is like trying on clothes

 

Four years for a thief doing hard time

Is like stealing his soul, behind steel bars that bind

But if you steal a heart then you ought to know

Four years apart, is four years left behind

 

Four years for a king, when shadows climb his walls

Fours years of silence, when dark times befall

And his castle becomes dreary, and his heart suffers no fools

Four years for a king is like a trouble that calls

 

Four years for me, is not four years for you

Four years for a crow, is not four but two

For she flies ever straight just like an arrow

While time like a river meanders below

 

And if I were you, then my four would be two

And if you were I then my two would soon go

Down into nothing, when the sweet wind blows

Four years is a nothing for the flowers of the meadow

A Telling Time

 I've been out the back of the wrongside of tomorrow

And I've gotten back what I beg, steal or borrow

And although I might lack the eyes to see through sorrow

When my tears dry, where they lead I must follow

And nature cried in the heartland of the sun

The creator tried to bury what he had begun

But bring forth Mary, bring back Jesus the son

And all of those quarries of moon rock by the ton

They fill up my stocking, they go knocking at my door

They slide down the bannister, of the memories of before

And pull open the cannister, the rocket ship that endures

Through space I'm now the traveller to a love I adore

I see her in the gardens, in the pearly realms

Where queens walk in the park under the boughs of Elms

And who knew their shoulder sparks would hold tight the helm

As the nation's ship goes sailing, though darkness overwhelms

She is my Captain, I am her slave

And as we go sailing through disaster, I try to master each wave

But if someone throws me a lifeline, I know it's myself I must save

And in the process rescue all my hopes and dreams from the grave

Three blind mice

 It was blindingly obvious,

But I didn't have a blind thing to do

I didn't have the first idea, not muddied nor clear

I didn't have a pot to piss in

Or a cross to bear

But I had you in my horizons

And I will plot a course there

It was like the blind leading the blind

Down a blind alley trying to find

Their blind spot, caught on the trot

With a pig's hoof and blind to the truth

The proof was in the pudding

Of the third eye and when I swallowed it down

I saw I was a spy, who had been taken over

By a consortium of lies

About the epoch and blind-sightedness

That covers up our eyes

And no I can't look the truth in the face

Who ever could stare direct at our race

And say yes I love this or no I hate that

Whether we are compared to a pig, or compared to a cat

We are animals in the frame just the same

Except Darwin could never remember his name

And Hamlet made such otherwordly claims

That for his weakness to be blindness, was enough to shoulder his blame

And Oedipus rex he couldn't complain

Of the virtue of truth telling

The blind and the lame

The good and the bad and down right mad

Who married his mother and murdered his dad

A Brief Encounter

 I saw this pair of Y-fronts talking to a pair of frilly knickers in a railway station café

I thought it was strange, then the mist cleared and I could see

The set had rearranged

Now the Frilly knickers was giving the Y-fronts a wave

Must you go Frilly knickers?

I'm afraid I really must...you see your Y-fronts and my Frilly knickers

They really can't touch, there is...just...too much at stake.

You are married then? To another pair of Y-fronts?

Yes darling, but of course and so must you be too..to another pair of Frilly knickers?

I'm afraid that is the truth, sad but true, she is shopping as we speak I expect

in Miss Selfridges for a pair of bloomers

Bloomers, Gosh!

Yes, don't I know it.

And do you have children also?

I do...oh but my dearest Frilly knickers what we have is so special

Surely we mustn't let our chance slip away?

You must let me go Y fronts. What we have had was wonderful, but I must get on this train

Last train to Goring Streetly, about to depart.

My darling I shall never forget you

You will always be close to my heart Y-fronts

And I shall also keep the memory of your face, Frilly Knickers, close to my Y-fronts

As she boarded the train

I thought what are the chances?

I must have walked in on a remake of 

That scene from A Brief Encounter 

Worn out pieces of trash

 If you are sure you found them

If the motor turns or claims

Then the service that will start them

May turn a key inside your brain

If you stand with both arms folded you know

You're sure to stand in vain

But if you stand with both palms open

Then here's a hoping they'll be your refrain

Don't stick it to the Major

You know he doesn't care

Don't stick it to Jimmy carter

When you know that he won't barter

No you know his name

His name is on the lion's mane

His name is in the working bane

In the living pain

And dying drain

That flushes out apostles from imposters

And the dossiers from the monsters

And it brings all the monasteries to the brink of disasterous

Corpuscles who wait in corpus Christi forums

Or museums of rust

And anti-trust fund babies

Who run around with rabies

And curtain off the Habeus Corpus of the law

Until we all say you cannot touch the spirit anymore

And they die in the gutter of what they utter

As the trains roll on in utter contempt for the law

And the politicians splutter their gonorrhoea swollen spores

Over the poor and cough and cutter up

The fish heads above their doors

Who stand guard for the hard sailors

Who've gone left their wives in the arms

Of those they implore to do more

Than they would in their plaices

But not so yellow as their soles, they sold

For a quarter of a penny more

And this is the quarter of an hour mark to heaven.

This is dialectically opposed to forgiven, 

Gibbons of gibbous moons

And loons and ducks and geese of all Canada held spent

In the arms race with the moose

But she went on the ice and drowned in a barrel twice as tall as

The tallest apple bobber and then she felt

Like she might explode, she smelt it and then she did it

COVID Coracle 8 or 9? 20th November

 Today I had early lessons from 7.30 am again, and my bum felt so sore, that I had to lie down for my last lesson. I honestly don't know why more lessons aren't given in bed or from a bed, it really is much more comfortable in my opinion.

The main thing I find that is hard is getting to sleep with this pain in my ass, I think somehow I deserved it, perhaps it was for coming hre in the first place.

So Today I slept in after my last lesson which finished at 10.30 am -I slept until about 1500 and then start to think how to solve the pain. So I phoned up the Hungarian Doc -dr Maynart - who quite rightly proceeded to check my credentials as a Hungarian resident - in general he seemed fed up to hear from me - who I assume he thought was another stupid bloody tourist asking for help, and really he can't give it until he knows you have a Hungarian health card - though he seemed to take a somewhat obnoxious attitude as to condescend to me, slightly as if I were  a child - like he simply couldn't understand my name Scully - it was virtually impossible to spell it out for him, and his rather brusque and bruising attitude made me even less sure of my telephone number - so each of these things I had to repeat several times in English and then I tried saying them in Hungarian but found I have forgotten most of my Hungarian knowledge through lack of use.

It is not really so useful, but anyway he got to the end of his questions and then I noticed my TAj - Hungarian health card expired in April this yearso effectively I am not insured, except I pay tax and should be - but there was a pandemic and I left the country. 

The second thing I did was to book my train ticket from Luton to Bristol on Sunday, that was worrying me - it leaves me a very small window inwhich to find somewhere else, and if I need to I suppose I could change the ticket back again.

The thing is accommodation here probably won't be ready until January and then if it is I need to survive here until then.

So the other problem if I choose to stay here is how do I pay for extra stay, when Natwest have kindly cancelled my card as they suspect fraud and re-issued it to a UK address? This poses a problem as my Hungarian money is nearly all gone. I could ask for it to be forwarded to me and stay here or I could just return back there.

If I go back there I will need to continue with care work - unless I get the car park job - in which case I'll have moved slightly forward in nature conservation ladder from volunteer to car park attendant in what ten years? - ok the last 4 years I haven't been trying but still that is a hard slog. Still it is worth it if you want to work outdoors.

Then again here - there seems to be a potential job through some company in Batorbágy near Etyek Budapest. And then I could stay put here. I would need to pay another 300 pounds roughly, but from my UK account and that could get me to January when I could move into Ágnes's house, and then I would still need a job to cover it.

I miss the rain

 I've walked along the lonely roads

I've walked there time and time again

But I don't know what those old odes

Have to say of pain

All I know is: I miss the rain

I've stepped upon the merry-go-round

Gone round time and time again

But I don't know who's wearing the crown

If it's the king or someone insane

All I know is: I miss the rain

This old Earth is dry of course

And it's rivers dry and dry again

And I don't know if I am worse

But the good I try to retain

All I know is: I miss the rain

And is it that you can here it coming?

That lonesome whistle train?

Is it that you see me thumbing

A lift with you again

All I know is: I miss the rain

A signal left in the box

A feather on a weather vein

An individual case of chicken pox

A letter sent in vain

All I know is: I miss the rain

Each single drop is some full stop

Each trail is a wagon train

And it rolls on until it pops

Up upon a desert plane

All I know is, I miss the rain

A change it must be coming

As the moon begins to wane

For I hear the sound of drumming

And the soldiers march in Spain

All I really know is: I miss the rain

Covid Coracles 7

 So last night - being the 17th November I heard back from the car park job with the RSPB and the fact of an interview on the 23rd. For me I was really happy about this. It is a move away from teaching - but I could still continue online teaching I think or just cut it out altogether which would be a shame, but perhaps I am finding it rather difficult to use computers so much. So anyway I had a morning lesson early from 7.30 - it was hard to want to do this so early but it is work I suppose. The thing is it is only two lessons per week.

So then I was more free - I tried to feel motivated to study - well to make these English articles which someone else very clever has written and then I pick out the interesting words and make gap fill exercises based on their definitions. It is fine and it was by adam Rutherford - he loves saying how Humans are animals - and very closely related but then at the same time we are not - this is my overall impression - basically we share many genes or DNA sequences with a cuttle fish or a shark or a chicken, but at the same time he refutes the apparently alt right psychologist ....who says we are all like lobsters - and we have an in built hierarchy. So basically this is all the same kind of thing connected with gender bias and equality of work roles for men and women - there is the point blank concept or belief that we are all equal - this is the fact that we should all be treated equally - and then there are those who don't think that who sue evidence as they see it to prove this from Science - like the lobsters- then Rutherford comes along and says yes but lobsters also urinate through their faces which is obviously also disgusting and any way you get the idea. I actually think even if we find all this proof both sides of the argument - it will still divide people because proof and the truth are things that are in doubt internationally - we each have a right to believe in something or at least you have a right in a free world or country, the fact is in these free worlds the liberal agendas flourish and in the countries where there is no right to believe anything you like then people are scared to say what they think and that is like it is in Hungary.

        I see this because if I look at responses in face book - there is not a great free discussion - people are afraid to say what they actually like because of being criticized. I also felt somewhat criticized today -18th when I said that the police made me feel a bit nervous because they carried guns. People acting in a certain way makes me feel nervous - not the guns. But if you add guns into the equation then you add the risk. If you encounter somebody who has a screw lose and they are unarmed then you are not as worried as if you encounter them when they have a screw lose and they weild a knife or carry a gun.

So getting back to the 17th - I did some more on the climate change application too and then Mate the y guy from next door and shares the same birthday as me except 6 years earlier he was bringing in wine and offered me some. I had had a fairly sedate birthday and so I thought why not and found my self famished so I over drank, mixed it with left over birthday beer we discussed the house, smoked a bit and then I left him to write his book. After this I watched a film about police actually very good - called End of watch about a tough US neighbourhood with a high mexican population and people traffiking and two cops who were best buddies and discovered some bad things that it would have been easier for them to look away from, but obviously they didn't because that is why they are heroes and they do the right thing.

Anyway actually I watched that the day before I think - it doesn't matter -so I definitely also watched Avengers infinity wars on the previous night and then last I watched avengers End game. Then I cooked some potatoes, beetroot and carrots or undercooked them ate them and at 330 am woke and had diarheoa for an hour. The result was I felt ok for a bit did some work wrote a poem, went back to sleep for an hour got up at 7 ish cooked some leftovers but more fully and ate that for dinner. After this I had a lesson with someone  yes. Around the middle of the day I realized I needed a shower and while doing so discover pain in the ass I felt was indeed a thrombose haemorrhoid. It is still with me now as I write and so I may need to lie down to write.

Covid Coracles Blog 6?

 Saturday I filled in RSPB Ham Wall car park job

Sunday I applied for Climate change officer in Glastonbury

Monday was my birthday spent in Quarantine. Rather a difficult situation, but mostly nice, my room is small, but I had some lessons in the morning. The Chinese student was sick when I called her so that was cancelled. A bit of a relief actually as I find it quite difficult to speak with her at the moment. It may be my patience - she is very nice, but I get the sense I speak too fast, and I find it hard to teach below intermediate level students. The lesson before that was interesting and with a Hungarian student who is an expert in water melons, and we previously discussed Mary Reynolds who was the youngest person to win the Chelsea flower show and had a film made -Dare to be Wild - no actually that was last Mondays lesson so actually it was on the meat free diet and the impact this can have on climate change.

So this vegetarianism idea she also previously prompted me to watch The Game Changers which tries to repain the male stereo-type Macho man because he eats meat into it being acceptable for him to be a vegetarian. That is a good thing and I watched this on my birthday- and for that day I felt a renewed resolve to become a vegetarian - I found it such a convincing film, but alas these feelings don't last. It is probably lacking the echo chamber of friends or simply other humans being on your own so long - that a video can influence your mind to the extent you do not want to listen to your own body - and in fact that was exactly what Brigi said who works here, when I went downstairs to meet the police I think. That it is a dangerous thing to watch these kind of well marketed films. The other one I watched was the social dilemma and that was similarly disturbing and not so inspiring. I mean it made me want to quit facebook. Because of how everything is tracked and it is polarizing society because it is only providing you with your friends who think like you. One advantage of Hungary is that people here are very different from me - and many facebook friends here are from very different backgrounds and I feel I have a much broader range of options here -although my British sensibilities come up against harsh realities.

There are clearly times when it is important to stare and stand your ground - such as if an angry dog is attacking you - or maybe a bear...I think at least - and then the occasion in 2018 here when a Budapest man who seemed crazy and I was staring I think just at the size of him and the fact of his appearance and evidently clocked me - I was on a bike and then he some how engineered it for his dog to collide with my back bicycle wheel as I was turning the corner across the erzebet street and Jokai something or other and he was on the crossing any see Ballad of a Budapest cyclist for this https://scullychristopher.blogspot.com/2018/11/ballad-of-budapest-bicyclist.html

Anyway I can't remember where I was  oh yes - so the fact is this quarantine has been pretty ok generally - the police come everyday -sometimes in the evening mostly in the morning in the past few days - and they are nice and friendly. The thing is today - and it did not effect me too much - but there is one police guy who came before with two recruits or at least more junior officers and they said please show us ID - which no one else had done -since they call my number and ask to see me -but this guy wanted to see my ID -I didn't have it on me as I don't normally show it. So a slight delay I have to go all the way back up the stairs to get it and come down - they are all down their smoking by this time and I show it to them and I feel there is this intimidating presence to this policeman - then today 18th November two of them are back but with a military soldier who is carrying a gun - I do not really notice this since I just go straight out and hand over my passport - but the receptionist looks actually visibly pale and a bit frightened - I think just the presence of a soldier there when it was completely unnecessary for the job.

    I think this is why I mentioned it on facebook - I felt a little nervous of these people -this specific guy who was very serious - I wonder whether he is pissed off at having to do this job. In the UK police are not going around enforcing quarantine so strictly - they are eating donuts and drinking coffee. Then again there are a lot more of them probably and there is nothing to do. I don't think policing means throwing your weight around unnecessarily because that is plain bullying and intimidation. Perhaps Hungarian police are stretched, but really what is going on for them to police, hardly anyone is out on the streets - there is a so called night time curfew in which everything is shut -and yet they are acting like they in some kind of police state and all the rules of decency break down - I think that is slightly what I find frightening here -there is not a web of decency among people that I can understand that means when normallife of commerce or picking your kids up at school goes - there is not much of a community left. I am sure my saying Hungarians are not decent will put peoples' backs up but I am not saying that I am saying that there is a common level of human dignity that I know in the UK or have grown up to believe exists between people and I just haven't had that experience here - I mean maybe I would feel it if I had grown up here. The fact is being an alien here somewhat is trying to navigate so many pitfalls of social graces and customs - if I say police authoritarianism then people will spout the rule that police must carry guns and they are accompanied by soldiers as part of supporting their work. The question of can citizens be trusted to stay in quarantine is a whole other thing. 

For me it is especially weird because I have no sickness, but perhaps it would be weirder if I were sick being visited by armed police.

First time/Last time

 I tried it first time, since an hour ago, first time

Since an hour ago

First time since I let you go

Oh first time since I walked on the moon

First time since I came back too soon

I loved you first time, oh but did you love me too?

I loved you first time I saw you in the bar

First time with your arms around that jar

First time, but was it the first time you got into my car

First time since the time before

First time and since then I loved you even more

First time

First time drilling for your heart in the room

First time I asked if I could borrow your broom

First time I watched her move in your womb

First time I saw a baby born on zoom

First time a zombie president won a district of doom

First time for me, but was it your first time too?

First time I got an electric shock

First time the floor boards knock

First time since I looked at the clock

It was my first time I turned my key in your lock

But was it your first time oh my lover my friend

Now I'm so sad this is the first time it must end

Last time I bit my lip on the spoon

Last time I walked in while you were starting to swoon

In no time did I hear the cock croon

It was the last time for him, was it your last time too?

Last time I knew just what to do 

Last time I noticed you doing it too

Last time we were both breathing on cue

But it was nil point to the monkey

And nil point to the zoo

Last time I stuck my hand in my wallet

When I pulled it out it was like it had come from swallet

And I don't know if you knew about it too?

Was it the first time for me, the last time for you?

Fresh Air

 Out of whack, hay stack

I'm in a field without a meal

In the can without a plan

On the straight and narrow arrow

I'm in a jam with a little lamb

Down the pan and far from real

Making an appeal

To an orange peel

Too much to grind its rind

I'm asking it to slip and slide

Off the edge of the tide

And be my bride, be on my side

In the war to end all wars

I've got my Goat, but whose got his?

Is it yours or is it the Kid's?

I've asked you twice now I can't write

The potato blight has blotted my ink

And I can't think inside the sink

No I can't stink on the brink

Its in my brain I've got the grain

Its all this toil in the soil

Washed down my drain with the rain

In the forests of the night

Its off the leaf and suffered relief

It's dripping, tripping donkey brief

As Ehor, or Elron, deltron, electron

Mastercard poor

American express, is useless, unless

You can self-express first

I don't mean breast milk

But the best silk or satin sleeves

When the shore rises and you can't believe

Your luck to be where you were born

Inside the truck driving through the storm

And suddenly bright lights are torn

From the dawn's hue, as cascading

Valleys of thorn criss-cross in virtue

Of being new

Or solidarity of what we've all been through

Before, before the storm

There was no time

And 

We wait it out

And give up doubt

Because somewhere, somehow

We must come out

Into fresh air

Lucio, Lucio

 Lucio, lucio

Like a tornedo, coming on

Sweeping through the town

Lucio, Lucio

Everyone makes roomeo

Can I be your romeo

I don't know if I'm so strong

Lucio, Lucio

The times That I see you so

Far from the brink I know you're gone

Well Lucio, Lucio

Life's no joke you know

You gotta take the bull by the horns

Before it's all gone

Lucio, Lucio

This feeling does ever grow

Like the ferns and evergreens of the garden

And who can hold hands with the poor understands

How fleeting life can be deep in his bones

A love story

 Well I once loved a woman her name it was Bess

I asked her to marry me, of course she said yes

And we had many children, and we had lots of fun

And we rested by the river when our day was done

And the windmills kept turning, and sea was a froth

And the haystacks were burning upon the hill tops

And I saw in her eyes that she loved the soldier

And I saw in her stare she wished I were older

The little ones grew up and they visited the fare

And they asked all around for the crown of the Mayor

And he came and gave out bread and fine ale

And we drank it all down until the barrels went pale

Well I knew my first love was above all the rest

I knew when I married her, I had married the best

For she never looked down and was always well dressed

And I walked proud through the town for I'd married my Bess

And she saw that I loved her, she saw it so true

But did I kid glove her, the only woman I knew?

I kept her and gave her my hand that was strong

To hold onto the plough for the whole lived-day long

I gave her a house and a coat so warm

I protected the house, battened down to the storm

But one day something changed and she turned the screw

And it blew off the roof of the only home we knew 

A finer man with a house grand and a soldier sworn

Returned to claim the title to which he was first born

And he threw out the farmers and brought in new ones

He said the old timers are over, on this land they are done

And so into the streets us tennant farmers went

To beg for our scraps of work, on the land we were spent

And our families they shivered in the houses of the poor

When the rich folk all abandoned us, to us they closed their door

But we kept on looking into that gleaming, golden sun

That rose in the the morning the same for everyone

And we knew that our time was not at an end

And that soon around the corner there must come a friend

So we waited and we worked, we whistled and we chewed

And the little ones grew stronger for their parents gave them food

And we drank our cup of ale at the county fair, 

And we yelled when crops did fail, for in truth we fought despair

And then the winter struck and we were caught in storm

The taverns were stocked with ale, but their beds could not keep us warm

And so we moved camp and trudged a while through snow fall

But God in his infinite mercy sought to keep us from biting maul

On and on relentless, the night winds did wail

Calling for our souls, but in our hearts we did not fail

Even though little Tommy fell back, and his eyes began to close

We pulled him closer to us, put him back upon the road

For only in our trust in God could our love also be strong

Together through the wilderness, our hearts they were in song

Though cold did bite, and bitterness might cause our lips to freeze

We knew full right, His merciful right was in the end to be our ease

And through trial and tribulation, there comes the victory fare

That we conquered all adversity and came out with love to spare

But never rest in complacent arrogance, that you have got somewhere

For always up the mountain we must push the thinning air

Finally my family, it came to breach the gap

Between restless uncertainty and the icy trap

We found a lodge abandoned in the dead of night

And such was our condition we entered without the right

Some matches and some fuel were left and a few husks of corn

But after fire and melted ice water we felt ourselves reborn

The corn it made for a soup, with the remainder of our provisions

And we slept well that night, though wolf pack sightst appeared in our visions

In the morning we could see our humble barn was made of strong lumber

And although the wind did blow we felt revived after our long slumber

The outside was of a scene of delicate majesty

In the background were high mountains, before us a river ran free

And salmon leapt inside the stream, as our hearts slept inside our dream

And certain then were we that this place would make our family home

I set to work teaching Tommy how to fish, we sharpened long poles

And hunted the shoals of fish trapped in artificial rock pools

And Maisy and Bess they went out to look and forage for mushrooms

They brought them back and made a soup, and soon had made up our bedrooms

The lodge looked beautiful there, it really resembled a home

And we were happy without a care, and we were quite alone

Only when night came did we fear the wolves and made our fires strong

And Tommy and I soon constructed a high fence, like the walls of Babylon

I found wild wheat and so made the feat of planting it within our compound

And within a few weeks, as the spring ice leaked, their seeds took root in the ground

And happy were we when finally we did see the first green shoots begin to grow

And that was fifteen summers back and now our wheat fields are all a golden glow

Because we had followed God's ruling hand, and followed our own hearts too

Love led the way out of shadowy lands to the promised pastures where life grew

And I look back now in memory with the wisdom of passing years

At what joy we have had and given more thanks to the good times than their due

While we remembered not to dwell too long on the bad times of tears

For they can impact and detract from the true path by which to steer

So keep up your spirits young man for the fires of heaven are raging

And they are calling you to follow the plan of God's war which he is waging

Against all evil, against all sin, against anything but the virtue to win

And fight for the right to meet the king, and live once again in his kingdom

Timeways

 If she could have waited, if she could have stopped

And seen what she was walking into

But that plate glass window

Of the future

Hit her square in the nose

She could see through it

But she could not touch the otherside

It was a bar to her outside world

And memory works like that

Memory of the event

Of the frame, the piece of time we call now

We say instant

But what is our concept of time  - but based on memory

And what is memory but an image, a sound or a smell

A taste, but what does it evoke

But a time,

So is time the conscious experience of the thing

Or the thing itself in space

And is time the bundle of emotions

Felt at her embrace

Or the unachievable other, the perfection in its place

Our idealized psychological conception

Of all the unrequited desires that we trace

Or our own projection of ourselves

Onto that other person's face

So what is time?

Why can the reality of now not be returned

Through some alchemy of science and art

To that sacred past

That hallowed space in youth

But it never can because in truth

Everything we have we lose

And yet light can travel at such a pace

That time seems not to pass through grace

And in this quantum intuition

Is where God and love can trace

And cross paths to weave a whirl wind

That connects beings across this great divide

So that feelings cannot hide

And all the martyrs who have died

Are reborn

And all the loves that ever danced at dawn

Are sworn again, not in vain

Nor in anguish or the pain of fear of loss

But to bear the cross

Of knowledge of this truth

As lightly as they bear the touch of rain

Upon their shoulders, on their roof

And in the soldier's heart

In the solders of the circuits of his brain

The electrons rearrange

And he sees her as if he always knew her

And always would in this way 

Once upon a time machine

 Once upon a time machine, I went walking 

In the bar

The bar broke bent

And shape-shifted

And time was called done

And after hours I slipped forth into the dead of night

The streets they were a dirty, empty of all the time of light

I asked the bobby on the beat could he spare the time

He looked at me from his high watch

Said I can spare you none

I asked the guard did he try hard to kill the time he had

But he was bereft for the time left

Had for him turned out bad

Next I walked along the road and met a friendly horse

He neighed and said of course I can because time is what I'm owed

I'm too long in the tooth and I'm in the knackers yard

If you are wise oh son me lad, you'll mind your time and guard

I moved on down with a whistle

Until I heard its answer spoke in vain

For I had come to the station

And at the platform stood a train

What time have you? I said aloud, the driver said quarter to eight

But I was speaking to the train said I, the driver said then you'll have to wait

This train has never been on time, this train was always late

Whether you asked it a question, whether you showed to it love or hate

The train will always arrive, just when it chooses to

And no man's watch can determine when it stops, not me, nor him or you

So with this explanation I looked up into the sky

And saw there bright circling birds above

And diamonds sparkling high

How long, how long must I wait

Before time shows me her hand

I'll hold it now said time to me

And with that time dropped her sand

And the hours seemed to pass in the glass

As I did tumble and fall

And night and day exchanged themselves

Like books upon their shelves

First I read the beginning lines

And then I read the end,

And all that I could see was time out of mind

And I knew time was my friend

So eventually the time did stop

The sand it ceased to fall

And I was stuck like a cuckoo clock

Poised, frozen upon a wall

I knew if I should step out now

My shadow would not follow

But what had I to lose,

But the lost time blues

So I did grit my teeth and swallow

The time is now said a voice

This what you must master

And know that in each time you have a choice

You may choose order or disaster

But none who know the outcome

Would have it any other way

For unless you are Cassandra

Then the future must seem a haze

Life as art

 My prediction is we will all stop wanting

To be artists, because unless you are a millionaire

There

Really is no point in even pretending

You stand a chance

Against the closeness of killing time

That comes after you like baying dogs

And the train tracks of certain logic

Lead you on

And on in inevitable perfection

If you could only stay on the tracks

But there is some self destruction that leads you off

Whether the road is cracked

Or that you have hit the road

With your hammar of art

To break up perfection

Into shattered pieces of life

You try to put back together

In your own collage of life

Then walk over these "Tombstones of damage"

That lead you onto the next precipice

And they say life is art

And Art is Life

And "the moving hand writes"

But we know not what it writes

And who holds the brush

And who paints the light

Or tells the birds to sing

Or ever wondered about anything

Bloglog 2

 14th November

Today I woke up feeling more refreshed and listened to radio 4. There was a nature documentary on Roseate Tern on Coquet island - someone who was the warden there speaking about being humbled by the force and power of the sea. It made me look up the island and the RSPB and then I saw an advert for a job on Shapwick Heath near where I come from and have lived most of my life. So I applied this morning. It was as a car park attendant, but you know actually I think that it would really suit me, I love being outside, I like meeting people and I think that nature reserve is fantastic. It did used to worry me being a local there and seeing how many cars parked up there and along the road side, but since the car park that has significantly solved the problem. There will likely be increased traffic flow along that road over Christmas, if there is not another lock down, but I also expect that people will still want to get out.

I think overall it has to be good that people visit these reserves, because we need to protect the environment, but also stop peat digging due to the carbon loss. Ironically if there had been no excavation there would be no wetland reserve probably. Also ironically there must be quite a lot of carbon emitted by all the people driving there cars to go and visit the reserves. Perhaps it would be more fuel efficient to organize a bus or coach there, but that is probably too much investment and planning. There also used to be a train track running down there, so could there not be again a network of more fuel efficient or electric trains that run on solar power or the like that ferries people along the track and saves all the cars?

Anyway, perhaps all this is pie in the sky, or pipe dream thinking since I am currently in an attic room in Budapest.

Little Hawk

 Little hawk, little hawk, little hawk

Flying between the trees

Hovering while I walk

But which one of us is more free

Am I your shadow

Or are you mine?

Little hawk, little hawk, little hawk

Through the rain and shine

Cows in stampede

Farmers call their yell

Cattle clang and ring bells

Down the slope of green

They come pell-mell

But you little hawk, just swoop up

Into the trees and watch

So content with your skill and your speed

You can stay balanced on the edge of the cup

While it spills the whole river out

And your eyes will scan for a trace of what's strange, 

You are a hunter little hawk, out on the range

The slightest movement in a field of grass

Waiting for the shrew or the dormouse to pass

And then down like a dagger, like a streak of pain

Down with your claws to strike your game

And that is the life of the hunting hawk

All ways at work, not a wing beat in vain

Making your way across the field where I walk

Little hawk, little hawk, little hawk in the rain

Roof tops

 You know that I can't shoot you down

I can't pull you down today

Yet all my life you have been hanging around

Like cloud on a rainy day

So what is it that you want from me?

To confront me?

Or make me pay?

Because I was not who you wanted me to be

Well I can't be that person anyway

So can't you leave your sky to me

You know it is my sky too

Why do you want to try to frighten me

Into trying to be somebody new

Now I look out from the roof tops

Across a city scape

And All I see are the places people stop

When from their lives they try to escape

You can reach your roots

In the garden

But only upward can you be closer to God

So hold on tight 

To the concrete thoughts that harden

And go out, follow where the angels trod

Bloglog13th Nov

 Blog log -Friday 13th November - I arrived 3 days ago on the 10th into this hotel/house named SXXXXXX HXXXX in Budapest. It seems interesting, and nice staff - the one I have met named Brigi offered to do some shopping for me, while I am in quarantine.

I do not know why I returned to Hungary, perhaps it was a divided sense of loyalties, perhaps I have become more attached than I thought here. Probably I feel more independent here living away from my home environment.

It is a hard one to grasp because it is also more lonely but because of that I feel I must challenge myself more, and I enjoy the challenge.

I teach online and this is going ok from here. There are the odd clients who do not see things from my perspective  - anyway I need the money right now so I can't or should not complain if their wife hangs around the screen also.

Besides this I am living in a small attic space and I am not meant to go downstairs to socialize or cook - so I order food in the evening, which is nice but unhealthy - I feel I am getting that way. I have borrowed a stove which makes things easier - to make a cup of tea for example.

The guy living opposite seems a bit strange. He has been friendly but I have been more guarded. Perhaps I went a bit far - he just seems a bit imposing.

This morning I started a new fitness regime - online video workout to strengthen core muscles. I am hoping to keep it up.

Last night I watch Once upon a time in America by Sergio Leonne and starring Robert Deniro with a musical score by Ennio Morricone which has a beautiful theme -called Ampala-my choice about the girl called Deborah who rejects the protagonist David "Noodles" Aaronson.

It was a very long, but inspiring film. So I did not go to bed until 1pm then woke at 4.30am and so I'm quite tired, and have my first lesson soon.

God Bless America

 Young blood

That built a nation

Disaster and infection

Leads to reincarnation

And swallows swoon in the pale afternoon

After the dust has settled on the moon

And God bless America

The swollen prides of immigrants

Who rose up from the gutter

The tongue-tied eyes of star crossed lovers

Who dance their way to stardom

Far away from freedom

But God knows they tried

And God bless America

The half lights dim, inside the gym

Where boxer sits and cries

The titles won, the lovers lost

Still stardust swims in his eyes

He used to walk along the coast

And kick the pebbles there

But now he hosts and gives toast

To others younger fare

And God bless America

And all the ghosts that haunt his house

Might fill him with despair

If not for those, whose sunlight rose

And cast away dark care

God bless America

And her only son

Who could not forget the burning flame

The torch of marathon

And carried it for his first love

Even though she had moved on

So God bless America

Until their race is run

Jade Rust

 In Quarantine, in Budapest

In an attic, like an insect

Spider, beetle, buzzard, bird

Crawling Heath cliff all overheard

I'm in an attic, no panic

The pandemic, is claustrophobic

It doesn't like being indoors

It is downstairs, outside

Roaming the moors

Like a giant invisible monster

No one can see it, before

It is on yer

I arrived two days ago

In the zombie fields

Of project x

In the mouthguard mountains

Of the south

The police woman made me fill out the form

I said I'll stay inside to keep warm

She said 10 days, I said 2 months

She laughed in my face, said now fill it out

Twice, 

so I did, with the lid of the dustbin

Lifting like a mouth

Swallowing trash and flies

And outside everyone dies

That's what they tell you anyways

But in here we are safe

Alone but together

As the human race

To face

The greatest of our fears - death?

Yes, but no

What I mean is being alone

We don't like it 

Can't stand it

Need some others around

Just the sound

Just the scents

Of them hanging above ground

We are Humans

And animals

Not an isolated species

We need this connection

Coracle Chronicle

Like Coral Conic

Like a cone a funnel of all comic verse

Swallow it down, medicine for the hearse

That reverses through the universe

Until it finds a parking space

Says this will do, we'll drop you here

Two dollars twenty

What I say coughin

No coffin, he says look boffin

Use your head work it out

I thought you guys were meant to be smart

Well duh! Yes I said

But be reasonable

You've left me in a remote corner of the galaxy 

Where I don't know where I am

And you expect me to cough up some change

Like it was a leg of lamb

Now don't get bent out of shape man

You just been in that attic too long

Try seeing the long view

The big picture

You've got a front row seat to the end of the universe

Shipwrecks

 Take my hand

The rough sands have deserted us

Take my hand

The lover's candles

Burning us

The dirty tricks which lick

The skull

Have been moving down the barrel

Of the gun

That shatter all innocence

In the breaking of the dawn

And colour the shark's teeth white

And paint the rose blood red

And all the swallowed Edens

That the man walks through

In his life

When he is back on the street and alone

Where the deep black loam of time

Seeps into his soul

And she says to him

Take your time

And the Angel flies away

She leaves on a train

And it begins to rain

When in their way

They say goodbye

All for one

 Oh you are living the lowlife

You should be living the highlife

You should finding a fine wife

Before you're too old

So step into my old shoes

Throw off those tired blues

You should be getting some good news

And get used to those

You keep saying you're down and out

When what have you got to really complain about?

You know you make me want to scream and shout

When I hear you say that

Why don't you get on a rocket ship

You know the sky is the limit, init

You could on an upward trajectory

Stop all this business self-reflectory

You're not the only one in this room

There is an elephant and a witch with a broom

She was sweeping up hair from a loom

When she pricked you with a spindle

Now she's sent you into a slumber

But no worries I've got her number

I'll ring her up on my pile of lumber

And roll her down the hill

The light is on

 She is out there living it large

Painting the town pink

Downing some drinks

Before hitting the road

They are all fired up

Each other they goad

But she's not the same

Although I think I can claim

Felt she was a more sensitive soul

Well I can cajole

And keep on parole

Her flame

But I wouldn't wish to

Be

The dark wizard in his tower

Casting magic spells

To control her

I am no bar roller

They are out in the city streets

Where the light meets

The pavement in excitement

And rain puddles splash under feet

And voices go crashing like

waves in the deep

Somewhere out there

As I am somewhere in here

In my room

Though it is no great gloom

It is a lighthouse of news

That shines on and off

As the world's news is like doom

There is some hope at the end of the tunnel

Some flash of light

I can catch in my funnel

Like a spider

Like a web through out the house

With little bells that tinkle

Jingle and jangle

When she walks back in

And my light goes on

In the loft

And her care is so soft

But tough

And I haven't had enough

yet of love

Quarantine

 You better get ready to quarantine

If you wanna

See your family today

Let me tell you friend

That is has an end

But you've got to get ready today

We are living inside this bubble

Within the heart of the tube

And it is a little trouble

When you start seeing double

Through the hubble space telescope cube

I've seen these four walls

For longer than St Paul's

Has experienced his road to Damascus

But well I'm in isolation

With some fascination

At what these four walls mean to us

I've seen them again and I consider them friends

they are made of such visceral stuff

That one may go wrong on the road to Babylon

As if you hadn't suffered enough

And old Armagheddon was the end of the world

But perhaps it was only the end of the beginning

Because where we are hurled, whether a boy or a girl

Is into a whole new world that's worth winning

So take flight todary, spread your wings fly away

To Rome or the new Jerusalem

For unless you're a crusade, you should be well made

For the life into which you are winging

There will be shocks a coming

Andd rocks will be flunging

And flood waters will surely rise

But if you hold the the course true, and steer with the corkscrew

Then in the end you will open your eyes

Not going out (covid coracle 6)

 So I guess that is it,

I'm back in the square

There's no going out

I'm not going anywhere

And anyhow anytime

There can be few leaves on the vine

For the day is picked

From the tree of time

Well I'm not going out

And I'm not staying in

I'm forced to remember

All the places I've been

And it's not like December

No it's no kind of sin

If you forget November

And all the faces you've seen

Well I've got a party to get to at four

But it's not here now anyway, anymore

And I'll be late, if I stay, and I must stay I'm sure

I met a lot of people on my way through the door

But that was outside in, now I'm inside out or

At least I know beyond doubt, that out is in

For I put on a pout and stick out my chin

But it's not use complaining about the trouble I'm in

For the inside is out and the outside is in

Lighthouses

 Well I think I told you 

All about the day knots

They tie yourself up they do

But nothing like the night hots

It's like the spiders are walking over you

And they tickle your throat

Or like the shudder

When someone walks over your grave

Well I thought I told you

About the night hots

But they are nothing compared to the evening cots

They snuggle you up

In a wrap of contentment

Like you are a baby, they never meant it

Like you were the crack and they were the pavement

I think I told you about the evening cots

But they are nothing compared to the morning rots

They stink and the swole

Like a sewer's wide goal

Full of scores and points and winning joints

That creak and appoint a doctor to you

Well I think I told you about the morning rots

But why don't you see for yourself 

The noon tide tots

They play and they fluster

Like filibusters who hold kites to

The age of the middle roster

And then the curtain falls

And they all run back home

Well I think I told

you about the light house

That was where I spent my time

Lights going on and off

Warning and the rolling of the ocean

Outside

Rainbow

 Now you see me,

The birds have flown

And I can see the blue dome

Up above the clouds so high

Like a rainbow in the sky

And crows are flying to the boughs

To find shelter from rain sloughs

And all the fresh fish of cuttle shore

Are raining now on my front door

I asked you once I asked you twice

If this was our earthly paradise

But you said boy

Why must you be coy

Perfection is a reflection

Of inner joy

But imperfection

Is the sign of inner peace

So try to accept what has been given

And let your suffering cease

And the rainbow comes out 

Shoots under the weather cock

Like a scarf around the neck

Of St Thomas' Church steeple

All the bold bally insects

Go buzzing in the sun

And the men and women are free again

And the birds start to chirrup again

As they know the rain clouds

Are on the run

Budgens Sent (Covid coracle 5)

 Standing in the queue outside

Budgen's post office

A man arrives in a mini

Painted like a cow

I point it out and how

Interesting it seems too

And a rock chick woman

Says it's a pig, and I say a choo!

A man says how dairy

And I say I beg your pardon

Oh I see you're punning free

And this is no place to bargain

One pun a day says me

Is all that I can manage

And he comes back: that's udderly awful

I say you've reached your punnage

Now more and more people want

To join the queue

The man at the front says

Are you for the post office

And if you're for the shop

Go on through

Though he is no charmer

He gets the job done that's all

While a lorry driver steps

Out his cab and asks is this

The toilet line -how cruel!

No, we say there is no queue for fuel

So, this is the only post office

Open in the whole of Wells

And we must all decide

To use it on a Monday noon as well

There is one lone teller

Standing at the stall

Fighting with the tillage

And telling his parcels one and all

When I have sent my tube of paintings

To my sister in Australia

I come out to some applause

The Rock Chick 

Who is the character

has held them all enthrall

And she is entertaining

You would want her on your side

If you ever were complaining

About a public service suicide

Because that is what this is

This crisis of public planning

Why we were queuing outside a petrol station

Being chaperoned and served

By chaps who make one unnerved

Because they've left their personalities at home

Oh for the kindly British post office assistants

Who had the time to talk to you like you were a human being

Rather than like motorists, who have just filled up their tanks

These skin-headed bozos don't deserve our thanks

Although they probably didn't expect to take on this extra role

Why not reserve it for a person who might sing a sweet carole

Perhaps they could chirrup like a cockney sparrow

And keep us all in good spirits while waiting

Rather than left examining our own bone marrow

Maybe play some music outside to keep the troops entertained

Anything but the rather banal forecourt that is rather inhuman

and pained

Cathedral city

 We are transformers

Now I am a robot

Now I am a cathedral

The ghost of a 

Cathedral

The wall of stone

The forest like a father

Mysterious alone

The sky like my mother

Hole punched through the dark

With these imperfections

That allow through the starlight spark

Give me the chewing farting cattle

The bending pole of mars

Magic mushrooms on the hill top

Just don't take away my heart

I used to have you

Now I know not what I lost

nor why I ever wasted

The chance at love's cost

4 am bookshelf

 It's 4 am and I am

sleeping on the shelf

My book cover slips, I take a dip

But I can't recover myself

I know I fall, against the wall,

I know I'll hurt myself

But I must read between the lines

On my pine bookshelf

There are few bees who follow me

There are few victory posts

I cannot tell if I know full well

If I have rights to boast

There are but steeds with rights to read

There are but colts and gelds

I know full well my otherselves

Are left on old bookshelves

I seize the day, but suffer not the attacks of fools

Who fool themselves and others into thinking Life is cool

Of course we live in times and places

Of a covid rule

But what I can abide the least

Are references to school

I see the shadows and wait a while

For the sun to go down

And every romantic fact

Speaks out from each new fangled part of town

That England is never dying

But only in an image of ourselves

That what we seek are romantic acts

Reserved for our book shelves

Covid Coracles 4 -Corvidness

 Ravens and Rooks keep the castle

They hold the castle keep

But the black crows, in thorny rows

Can catch no feather bed sleep

They chatter and they cajole

They caterwaul and holla

They cat-call through the wooded deep

And in the tree trunk hollow

They scratch and they nuzzle

nibble and they peck

They pick fights with black night

Until the owl turns on her neck

Until the cows have all come home

Until they roam and roost in loam

And clay and mud and sticky chrome

Yellow of metallic piss

Yet the hill fort still squawks and portcullis

Gates are dropping

The drawbridge is drawn above the moat

And the Bishop's eyes are popping

The Egrets stalk about the cows

The herons pose alongside crows

Pretending in their statue clothes

To stand for liberty and freedom

But under them the corn storks do not grow

They rot after their heads have rolled

And all lie down like dominoes

Arranged like iron filings

And who is the rich magnet

Who has attracted their maze gaze?

Who has got them singing

Amazing grace?

Is it Trump or Biden?

Is it just that like the corn

They now must lie down

To rest after summer's vitalness

Into a winter of repose

In order to be again reborn

Covid Coracles 3 - tipping the iceberg

 Ok so it's the end of the iceberg

Democracy has been frozen

But now we have the ice pick in Biden

And Trump has gone off again

blowing his own trumpet

But there will soon be too few people

To listen

The Champagne is on ice

The real pain is twice

As bad as that imagined

By those in paradise

But noone can travel there anyway

Under the Covid restrictions

So, so long Saigon

And the paddy fields

They've brought all the chocolate ducks

For the old folks' meals

Well it's been a golden girl reunion

For all that we feel

But Cronos the Titan father

Still eats his young

And cantilever brakes are applied to 

The economy by a prime minister

Who would rather be in prison for petty larceny

Than be the one responsible for this high scale

robbery of democracy

But hold on says Trump- the unfortunate one

You stole my line -that's my one

I invented cruelty, lying and malice

I gave you all the rabbit holes

Like I was your Alice

And you were my mad hatter

who had gone bananas

Down at the Havana restaurant

Where the Mayor of New York

Julianni, he knows what he wants

But it's not on the menu

Only a sting operation

Of the greatest retinue

And in Avenues of pines

Who continue to cross over the line

From Mexico to El Paso

Juaez to Miami

We are sticking to the numbers game

And counting our names

Like we don't know who to blame

And just blame the blacks or the Jews

or the Catholics or gypsies

But we see that is only the tip of the iceberg

It is only balanced on a razor blade's edge

If you really want to know

Who won the election

Just talk to your neighbour

over your hedge

Covid Coracles 2

 The students rest inside the cage

Suspended several fathoms up

In a tower of burning rage

And resentment at the government

The simmering pot is brewed

As Susan goes into the kitchen

She makes a tea for herself and Jude

Who obscurely is dressed as a chicken

Susan it seems is more of an egg

She will crack and then she will beg

Not to be fried

But get scrambled instead

In the wifi waves now exuding

But Jude the chicken

Is happy in her brood

Her feed is flung and her food is chewed

And the pecking order of housemates

Has been established

As they settle down in the hutch to roost

They ought to be doing their homework now

But there are no tutors nor lecturers anyhow

For whom to owe some accountable reason

Their absense or presence or being

They ought to be watching some lecture online

But who has the motivation

To keep inline, when humans and chickens

Are social creatures

Not meant to be caged

In faceless building features

And university is a place

To be free range to experience change

And strange and wonderful things

But no

Not today

They are like string beans

Just hanging around

Waiting for events to unfold

Or for them to be picked

Or left on the vine

But online

It doesn't matter

We are more faceless than time

And if the clock should strike the dreadful hour

When the tower of chickens

begins crowing not to cower

When a cockerel leads them

In a rooster line

Out of the cities

Into the prime

Green pastures

To live new lives

far away from their work

laying intellectual eggs

Killing time

Then perhaps the nation may once again change

As the seasons on the face of the earth

Change the hues of the leaves

And rotten corn storks

die and make room for 

Fresh shoots to grow

But we are all feed for worms

Which all chickens well know

Covid Coracles 1

 The day began the same

They were burning the bonfires of their vanities

Again

The effigy of me

That so many years has passed

Guy Fawkes, of course

Who else jack ass?

I guess you could say I was the virus then

The genetic mutation

From the all English gene

The hidden priest

Behind the scenes

Laying down libations

But liberation must come at a cost

From tyranny

Or tyranny's ghost,

For we all are haunted by those we love most

And everyone must have a ruler

But your God and my God

They are the same

My religion differs in more than just name

But essential truths

Burn one pure flame

That love above all is the name of the game

So as you burn me remember

That love never dies

That a coup d'etat is in everyone's eyes

Even just a twinkle

In the heart but a winkle

That grows

And sucks on the blood of England's rose

A canker, a cancer

A busy bee dancer

That buzzes between our ranks

And stings our flanks

And answers our thanks

With a death watchman's handshake

And the pikes are resting against the wall

The heads on the spikes

Stand on London Bridge

As warning to those who would

hanker for change, or fidget

In the restlessness of revolutionary fervour

My own body in an iron maiden

Dripping Catholic blood of martyrs made

And fireworks fly into the sky

In the Arena of the damned

Under the houses the gunpowder is still stored

Some fuse is lit, by the nations poor

Who rebel and quit

But the crowd want more

No matter who has paid em

Hurt me

 Come on don't you shoot me

Donut don't, donut don't shoot me

You know you are my sugar coat

Ohdon't don't shoot me

I've heard the goat, and I mustn't gloat

But it's not a patch on me

Oh I hear you now, through the crowd

Like a sea

Yes I can hear you loud, Just promise

Don't hurt me

Don't shoot me down, like the other planes

With your artillery

Don't let me burn my crown of thorns

In the burning tree

Oh don't, don't, just please

Don't hurt me

I'm not some kind of a doll

You can pull and push around

You can't eat my heart like it's a cruel art

That makes you feel profound

Oh don't, no don't

No darling won't you stop hurting me.

Hold me

 Where have you gone?

Well, oh,oh dear

Where has it gone, well oh,oh dear

Where did you go

Oh oh oh dear

Where have you gone?

She was down, I saw her go

Down to the river

To drown her woe

Why did she, where has she gone

She is not here

Only the swan

And the swan swims

On a lake so clear

Where has it gone, why is it not near?

Well I went down

Oh, oh oh dear

To the soul town

Oh, oh oh dear

And I saw her swim

In the river clear

Oh let me go, I want to go too

Down to the river

Down to the river with you

Let me write you a letter

I'll write to you dear

I'll write where did you go?

I'll write it so clear

Oh where have you gone?

Oh,oh oh dear

Where did you go?

Oh,oh oh dear

And can I come too

Down to the river with you?

Well she lay down

Oh,oh oh dear

By the river so clear

She said now you must deliver

Your letter to me

You better send it today

For it's too late tomorrow

To say the things you must say

That we don't have time to borrow

So tell me so clear

So hold me near

I'm telling you dear

My letter will bring you but sorrow

I'm going away

I'm going today

I'm going away

I won't be back tomorrow

So hold me so near

Down by the river so clear

And and tell me today

How you will still love me tomorrow

Now I see her so clear

Down by the river she swallows

As she holds back her tears

And saves them for tomorrow

Because I'm going away

And our time I can't borrow

So I write her a letter

But it only brings her sorrow

Body Politic

 I guess what you saw 

When you opened the door

Was me forgetting my name

But I had to be sure

Each time I abhor

The way of getting the game

Sheets fall from the sky

Sheets of rain

And I cry

There in the corner

There must be the coroner

Of England's body in a foreign field

And he is trying to resuscitate it

England is flat-lining

It's fitting to be fit

No it is fit in ways I can never imagine

In ways that leave spectators to gaze at 

Football and rugby stadiums

And young people who fight

With their bodies at night

While in the day they train for the army

And these bodies go overseas for months

And sometimes return in black bags

While other bodies swim in the Adriatic

Or the sail yachts and attend parties

That are quite erratic

With the King of Monte Carlo

But my body has never done that

Perhaps in my mind that is a place

I visit in my dreams

Perhaps I hold a candle for the chances

Down the stream

Or for the memories of times which

Like diamonds gleam,

Gleam in the mud and the dust

Perhaps but in all honesty

I don't know where it goes

My body is this thing

That goes along in tow

And I must keep it happy 

Like England proper must be kept moving

And in good working order

In order for it to function well

Stop the economy and it will get sick

Don't listen to the doctors

They can be dicks

Listen to your body - the democratic one I mean

England proper - the body politic

The Demos or else the mob may rebel

You've got to keep it tickety-boo

Ticking along like a nice choo-choo