Looking glass

 I went into nature to see the birds

But all I saw were the crowds of people

So I went to the city to see the steeples

But all I saw were Empty streets

I went to the moon to look at the stars

But all I saw were parked up Tesla cars

So I went to the stars to see the universe

But all I saw was infinity run in reverse

So I went within to find myself

But all I saw were others reflected there

So I asked the others what can they see

They said behind the mirror they could see me

The story of two monks

They said he was book bound,

And that he was bound to die

They said he was book bound

But in the morning the pages would dry

Well now brother my heart rests on the book that you have left behind

Put your vest back on, take up your oars go back for my book you must find

They said he was book bound,

And that he was bound to die

They said he was book bound

But in the morning the sea gulls would cry

Oh father Cadoc how could I ever

Have forgotten the book of your pride

Just don't make me go out on the water

I am exhausted and the sunlight has nearly died

They said he was book bound,

And that he was bound to die

They said he was book bound

But in the morning the mages would sigh

Now then Baruc you will serve your master?

Make your way down to the water side

There is still light and you can avoid disaster

Return to me my book, before the ink on my page has dried

They said he was book bound,

And that he was bound to die

They said he was book bound

But in the morning the pages would fly

And he left his quill in the ink well

And in the quill the ink did rise

And when his pen was full he put its tip to paper

And he continued to write his next lines

They said he was book bound,

And that he was bound to die

They said he was book bound

But you must read between the lines

And so Baruc went back out on the water

In his sweat and the tears that he cried

For he was more than wet from the river

And with a shiver set back out on the tide

They said he was book bound,

And that he was bound to die

They said he was book bound

But you must read between the lines

And brother Baruc went into the water

He pushed his boat out into the tide

And he fought the storm that ravaged each quarter

And he fought the thought that he might surely die

They said he was book bound,

And that he was bound to die

They said he was book bound

But in the morning the soothsayers would sigh

Oh master, my master, why have you forsaken me

These 8 miles I row for your pride

I pray to God the sea serpents won't awaken seas

And drag me down where the river bed lies

They said he was book bound,

And that he was bound to die

They said he was book bound

But by the morning the wagers would lie

After many long hours of rowing his river boat reached Flatholm's side

And he staggered up to the hermit's hovel and returned with a book in his hand

Oh curse this old book and its pages, I curse this book of his pride

And he thirst for water for ages, but he set out in his boat for Barry's land

They said he was book bound,

And that he was bound to die

They said he was book bound

But in the morning the driftwood would dry

And the darkness drifted all around him

The moon was beginning to hide

Yet his oars kissed the waves that would not drown him

Except for the cursed book by his side

They said he was book bound,

And that he was bound to die

They said he was book bound

And in the morning his mother would cry

And upon the horizon a white squall was gathering

Then lightning split and he was swallowed inside

The blown sea fog, and wind waves were lathering

That whipped up the sea's grog to infernal chide

They said he was book bound,

And that he was bound to die

They said he was book bound

But in the morning the sages would cry

In a sudden swell the book fell far into the stern

And Baruc reached down to gather it

But the sea dogs wave did slather and spit

And in a snarling bite snatched away his free oar

And as he hugged Cadoc's book to his chest

His boat was rocked and spun asunder

In the thrashing maelstrom and thunder

And overturned the book went under

But bobbed up on the otherside

Oh father, father your book was harder

To hook than my journey to paradise

And I lose faith that in my task I am a failure

But in my heart I know God must be on my side

They said he was book bound,

And that he was bound to die

They said he was book bound

But the notes in the margins would dry

And Baruc clung to the keel, with Cadog's book his achilles heel

And he could begin to feel numb cold seeping into his limbs

And through the outrageous winds he held the book fast

And fastened it with bowline strings to the hull

But time and tide wait for no man, 

And soon seawater had filled his lungs by the brimful 

They said he was book bound,

And that he was bound to die

They said he was book bound

But in the morning the gulls would cry

While Baruc was drowning, Cadog was frowning

The wind was blowing a gale outside

But he kept on writing, with his candle flame fighting

The storms breath breathing as his ink it dried

They said he was book bound,

And that he was bound to die

They said he was book bound

But in the morning the wreckages would testify

When finally the dawn broke in the morning

St Cadog saw Baruc's body afloat on the tide

And he went down to see the ship wreck, the flotsam and jetsam

He said a prayer, salvaged his book and then went back inside

They said he was book bound,

And that he was bound to die

They said he was book bound

But by the morning the pages would dry

Baruc's body was buried in a tomb on Barry island

And St Cadog went back to his hermitage on the Flatholm side

And as Cadoc read his tombe on Flatholm island

He thought the only thing that's true was that the Word had never died

They said he was book bound,

And that he was bound to die

They said he was book bound

But now ink on the pages has dried

B and Q and your eyes so blue

 I went into B and Q

And thought I recognized you

But I walked past and just looked in your eyes that smile

And I followed my master

Like a dog sniffs disaster

And took a right in the gardening aisle

These green machines were doing nothing for me

So I sauntered along to cements

Feeling heavier there than when I came in

I suddenly realized what gravity meant

And you and your green eyes

Oh they could have been blue

You and your eyes so Blue

Standing in the entrance to B and Q

Well I padded on down to the show room

Where the kitchen cabinets leant

I pulled out a draw just like a show groom

Who was trained to advertize kitchen equipment

But it was there I felt myself grow older

When I felt a tap on my shoulder

And in its cold grasp, I thought with a rasp

This must be my final judgement

But it was only Armitage Shanks

It was only a blast from the past

It was a chrome sea horse

Who reared up like Napolean riding a dwarf monument

And I knew exactly what it all meant

Oh and you with your eyes so Blue

Still stood in the entrance to BandQ

And gave me a glance, and I thought here's my chance

I must seize the carpe dieum day

And I had a light bulb moment

And swung right down the carpet way

But as I felt the piles, the tall and the short

I thought well if this was a flying carpet

Then Aladdin is a good sport

For I would be reaching for the futon or the duvet

Because these would be a pain in my ass anyway

Oh but you with your eyes to blue

Were still standing in the entrance to B and Q

Still on next left was the lighting

And I remembered I needed a bulb for a lamp

And it was bright too bright for the sighting

While outside it was so cold, wet and damp

And yet I bought the bulb it was E27 

And it cost me all of five pounds

Five pounds a guy said, that light bulbs gone to your head

No its filament is a good buy on environmental grounds I said

in reply, as if I knew exactly what it all meant

Oh and you with your Eyes so Blue

Were just about still standing at the entrance to B and Q

And finally when I'd bought my Bulb and left the queue

I walked over to you and said hey I think I recognize your face

But you didn't take your mask off to my surprise

So I said well actually I think I recognize your eyes

Oh you with your eyes so blue

Standing in the entrance to B and Q

And you said I used to work on the tills at Smile

Oh I said that's it, the one at the top of wind mill hill?

And you said yes that's right, and then I said hmm hum

Well I'll see you later, you know and I left a bread crumb

And you picked it up and your eyes they smiled

You said see you later alligator, I said in a while crocodile

And I thought how long can this awkward scene go on

Becuase one of us has to leave soon and you work here

So I guess it will have to be me

So I said bye

And I walked away onto the rainy night pavement

As if I knew exactly what it all meant

And Oh you with your eyes so blue

were no longer standing in the entrance to B and Q

When I had to come back 45 minutes later

And get a refund on my light bulb,

because in Tescos it was four pounds cheaper

And I felt in B and Q it was oversold 

So I said you with your eyes so blue

You've probably finished your shift at B and Q

and gone back home, well at least I saved

money honey on my environmentally friendly lightbulb 

And then I stand in the rain outside B and Q 

And I cry why, why God why? Why you?

With your eyes so blue, can go and give me so much pain

Yeah you, with your eyes so blue

I wanna cry out your name, but I never asked

Oh you in the entrance to B and Q

Why did you never take off your mask?

The travelling soul

In the hotel lobby, down the old country road

They say how are you Bobby? Be gone by the time the cock crows

 Well travelling is my hobby, by them it's well knowed

For it's alright by me, I have no fixed abode

No fixed, no fixed, no fixed abode

Through this old lobby, where the cold wind blows

I'm not searchin' for diamonds, not searchin' for gold

I have no place to hide them, I have no fixed abode

There's a sign in the night stars, my true path I am showed

To listen to night jars that sing in hedgerows

And if what they sing of is iron bars which the caged bird knows

Well I'd rather breathe the free air and have no fixed abode

I hear them calling softly, down the old country road

They call to me often, where the sweet waters flowed

Where the lakes are like mirrors, and the sky is rain-bowed

And the shadows of my mistakes, they weigh a lighter load

For in the give and the take, they leave me no fixed abode

No fixed, no fixed, no fixed abode

I walk past my old college, where my friends and I strode

It's a path I walked often down a long memory road

And I look to them for answers, but now they speak a foreign code

They say the past's walls are like a prison, instead try livin' 

at no fixed abode

no fixed, no fixed, no fixed abode

It's a house on the hill, It's an mirage I am told 

But in its pursuit I am willing to give up pieces of gold

For all things time touches, it will bring into its fold

Like the beggar on wooden crutches who has no fixed abode

But the beggar is still a king, so long as promises aren't sold

And the king is but beggar if his dreams are only of gold

It's the place that time kills, but its road will lead to hell

I don't know if it be God's will to keep me sheltered well

But in my heart I am still, though its beating does tell

That I am afraid still to have no fixed abode

no fixed, no fixed, no fixed abode

It's a face in the crowd, and a case in a court

Yes it's a man who once was proud, but now amounts to nought

It's a bitter taste in the mouth, after drinking sea salt

Its a soul in a river, washed out to sea

So he must be a sailor or King fisher, or else all a quiver he will be

He'll get the sea sickness, and he'll long for his home

But that would be a wickedness, for there is none, he's all alone

He has no fixed, no fixed, no fixed abode

They say yes he was one I once knew well, now time's have past

And it's like looking down a well

And I look for my future but only hear my own echo

Calling don't put away your suitcase for you'll have no fixed abode

no fixed, no fixed,

No fixed abode

The address where I leave my hat

Is at no fixed abode

No light to guide me, but the light of the road

The address that I live at, is no fixed abode

No fixed, no fixed, no fixed abode

The home where I'm living

Is named No fixed abode

I go where I'm getting,

And I get there alone

No two cents to rub together

There's no blood from the stone

If you take what I'm giving

Then you'll get what you're owed

Just come and find me

I'll be at no fixed abode

No fixed, no fixed, no fixed abode

I'll meet you at the sign posts upon the crossroads

You go your way as I heard the cock thrice crowed

I'm going my way in the direction of no fixed abode

Now Jesus was a traveller, at least that's what I'm told

He walked many miles down the line which he toed

And there were few that followed him, but some who he rowed

Then he walked upon the water but had no fixed abode

Is it better to be travelling, than that you should arrive?

Well the way is unravelling, but I'm still alive

And I'll get where I'm going, in the end I'll get what I'm owed

When you see the rainbow glowing,  at no fixed abode

No fixed, no fixed, no fixed abode

Will you buy what I'm selling?, well they call it paradise

And there is no there telling you, open your eyes

For the train is at the station, and so you better climb aboard

But you'll never reach your destination, at no fixed abode

At no fixed, no fixed, no fixed abode

The mountains are rising, like suns in your eyes

And I see by your story, that hard travelling has its price

But we'll know in the glory that the road will entice

So be where you are going at no fixed abode

no fixed, no fixed, no fixed abode

Octopus complex

 I've got an octopus complex

I want to have 8 arms

And be able to feel

The things that I feel

I'm sure I can come to no harm

I've got the octopus complex, doctor

It came from my mother who was an actor

She over dramatized events

Like when we went camping it got too intense

I spent the next 8 days in bed

That's how I ended up with an octopus in my head

I've got the octopus complex something bad

In fact I think you can blame it on my dad

He spent every penny he ever had

On making me as many enemies, so sad

And now I can only keep 8 friends in the world

Well I should have had the oyster complex

And fallen in love with a pearl

I've got the octopus complex, and I wish I didn't bother

But it all started out with the birth of my brother

Ever since then, I've wanted to control other men

And it's left me with this feeling I must control them

So I became an octopus teacher, but it turned out I was more of a preacher

And told them God was an Octopus, and man was only a creature

I've got an octopus complex and I blame it on my sister

She was born 8 years before me, and each year is like step on ladder that leaves

Poor me

On the bottom rung, always trying to climb up

So I become an octopus and then I can drink tea from a cup

And sip soup from a spoon and eventually I'll run for president

But probably not until next June

I've got an octopus complex, where I think I am a man

When actually I'm an octopus just tryin' to do what I can

And it's hard tryn'to juggle life work and money

Mix in with that bills and loans then things ain't so funny

Well it's lucky I've got 8 hands to handle all the telephones

But only one mouth to speak from when I'm on my own

Yes I'm an octopus I must confess, that's why you've found

Lobster claws in my draws and shell fish in my stationary

They are only snacks, that they don't serve at Greggs

And it's been hard tryin' not to over satisfy my woman in bed

There are many things an octopus can do better than a man

But thinking himself something better than the rest of us

Takes an octopus man

I've got an octopus complex, I want to shake every hand

And greet every low down as if he's a great man

But when it comes to the over compensating attention

When I leave a group of people I squirt ink in their direction

How to make friends and influence people

Just come to my church hear me preach

Under the Octopus steeple

In the museum of modern love

Well I am walking in the museum of modern love

I am talking in the museum of modern love

In the museum of modern love

Well I am all alone in the shadows

I am all alone in the dark

In the museum of modern love

Where cattle are calling and bees are buzzing

Down the walls of the palisade

In the museum of modern love

In the museum of modern love

Where our hearts are art on display

And they are kept inside glass cabinets

Waiting for a visitor to pay

To see them in the museum of modern love

In the museum of modern love

You can see them, you can look but do not touch them

Yes you can see them every day

And the liars/Lyres are calling in the shadows of the walls

And cherubims are singing as their plaster friezes fall

From the museum of modern of love

Where the paintings are hung down the darkened halls

And the thunderbolts of ancient Gods

Crack and splinter the backs of winter wonder statues

And the pairs of footless shoes, and handless gloves

Stand or lie on plinths where majestic black horses trod

In the museum of modern love

In the museum of modern love

Venus has grown back her arms

And she is in the arms of Mars

Who's stolen hearts and cars

And the policewoman is throwing

Off her uniform

And Mr Universe is looking at David's statue

Like he is no good at sport

As if love is just pumping blood

Through an Iron heart

In the museum of modern love

And the curator is pulling down the curtains

Crying let the light shine in

And the dust particles settle on the quantum heart

Who says am I here or am I not?

Am I the air or the arrow shot?

Am I a wave or am I a dart?

In the museum of modern love

And so take your ticket and come on in

But keep your coat on, for the cold gets in

And the men falter, and the women win

In the museum of modern love

Where Picasso's poltergeist is thin

And slips between the paper leaves of the magazines

That are left on table tops in the gift shop

Where you can buy back a postcard of your heart

On your way out of the museum of modern love

Give them a flitch of Bacon

 Give them a flitch of bacon, ya hear

And send them on their way

They've been married for a whole year 

And they wouldn't take back a day

Carry them aloft our shoulder

They are young but will grow older

And as they say

Give them and inch and they take a mile

Oh give them a flitch today

Give them a fllitch of bacon I told yer

Put it on top and carry them all over

Town and sing out, raise merry shout

Give them a flitch today

If they've got a flitch, they won't scratch that itch

So give them a flitch today

Toad

 It's six o'clock in the morning and the church bell is beginning to toll

The towns folk are starting to get up somewhere between the yellow

musk of street light and their first coffee cup they are reborn

And I turn to you and ask are we what we were once?

And you look askance and say the heroes are in us

And they run out of the page, through drawings on the stage

And I must ask what is this age, but kettles and fans that switch on

And electronic devices, which never suffices our needs, our wants

Where is the human intimacy, where is the human touch?

And you turn to me in your sleep and say why must you ask for so much?

And there is something courageous about the act of rising

Something that habit gives the human and it can be surprising

How automatic, as a rabbit, wakes and leaves his tunnel

We all must stir outside our door down the street side funnel

Somehow the bell demands, in a deep sub-conscious seat

Where we obey a call to arms to protect and serve on our feet

We all must be standing in order to carry on

And though our road may be demanding we can hear our victory song

So stirring, rousing, rebelling we go, defying all the odds

Defiantly defeating, all the squandered times repeating

The capricious acts of the Gods

Yet with our feet we give thanks, to cows and fields and cowpats

And mud, and stone walls that define the boundary lines

Across which we call dogs and cats

And men with umbrellas and women in hats

Rain on the fellas and gals 

The boys and the girls in wellies

That splash

And so long as this can carry on

Then Wells can too

And I will wake to take to the road

And send up my prayers of thanks

To the toad with the lily wet flanks

Who sits like Buddha in the wayside

Before he crawls back under his stone

Hawk Talk

 Well it needed to happen, that is for sure

The eagle has flown

But there's blood at his door

And as he does roam

There's the rub I am poor

But rich to have a home in The old Silvermore

The kestrel flew down to my hand

But quickly I saw he was a friend

And we talked like two hawks

Of life and our work 

As we walked out over paths wend

And the places we knew were many

In the hearts chapters we dropped a penny

Down the well of memory

To hear it echo what you meant to me

And I can hear your voice still

Ringing through the years

And she flew like a siren call

Like a screech through blood boiling skies

And it took a wrecking ball

To knock down all the cloud castles where I lie

And if there is some bird I must let fly

It is that of your ghost

Feather bed where I lie

Make a nest for my last post

But I cannot accept that I quit

Through this artificial bull shit

For Brexit is a lie, the truth is goodbye

Is hardest to say when you really mean it

Making Hay

 Are you going to ret and scutch?

Are you going to build and bind?

Are you going beat them?

And will you flatten the threads of the flaxen kind?

Do you need an old thermometer?

To break the bridge of the old geometer.

Who is measuring his toes.

While the grass grows

Under his feet - it's a vomiter

 

Have you sawn the hill in two?

Have you toed the line?

Have you sown the seeds two by two

Crossing country with the country wine?

 

Is it a stain in your pocket?

Is it a thread of your cloak?

Will it pull south if you dead head it?

Who is getting your goat?

 

Oh, the pheasant beaters know it

Yes, they howl, and they grown

When the pheasants they show it

Bear their bleating breast like a crone

 

And ringing through the trees

Goes the shotguns report

Staggering to my knees

I clutch and I moan at the sport

 

And yes, I retch 

when I see the flak in the vetch

And I feel a pea through my sleep

Though my bed is six mattresses deep

 

So, will you ret it, for one more year?

For one more time

Will you scutch and bleed, and tear at the reed?

Will you beat it? Can you ever beat time?

 

But the hands that rock the cradle

are the hands that hold the plough

And some like Cain's on Abel's

Were blood stained after breaking a vow

 

And the lines on the palm of the peasant

Are like the streaks in feathers of a pheasant

They are red and brown, and deep and proud

Like his furrowed brow, under sleeping clouds

 

And what will we make with the flax fibres

Roll them and mat them in to webbed spiders

That cling and they brook their tenuous hooks

And settle in new arrangements their atoms

 

And lattices and matrices 

That mother nature's intricacies

Have patterned

And pat them like patter-cakes, break them and flatten

Them down

Like tortoise shells hunkered

Like the dense pellets of owls

The egg yolks that bind the albumin

In the year's photo albums

And the favourite jokes of friendship

That sadden when they've gone

Oh, make the ties that bind

As strong 

River out of Eden

I was running up the riverbed dry

She was naked lying in her bed

Her stones had not bled, and she could not cry

Her dress of water was locked in store

And she was cold lying on the floor

 

I ran up the Biddle combe brook

And it gave to me a sideways look

Who are you to trample on my bones?

Can't you see I lie alone

 

I need no other to claim my throne

Or cast about my care-worn stones

I am nature the mother grown

But no other shall me own

 

And in ripples and in childish tides

Her water dress trickled down over her thighs

And filled the dry bed where once she was wed

With its web-locked fingers, and its fluidity spread

And curled in crispness of a fresh salad bed

 

And I leapt like a monkey out of her flow

Her water cress dress would have swallowed me whole

In her water-caress I was a fungi

And I could listen to her glamorous story

Glistening soft as a velvet Jew’s ear

Of how she joined the Gulf stream

To travel away for a year

 

But she returned in the rain clouds

Heavy and all out of sorts

He had left her near the Isle of Iona 

For a Madagascan or Chilean sport

 

So she returned to her hilly spring 

She dressed herself in black,

And she lay in ground waters low in the basin

Of the Mendip hill's cavernous crack

 

She stayed like a widow in mourning 

She lay in a suicide pact

With the stalactites and stalagmites adorning

Her chamber of echoing fact

She called to her own deep reflection

And she spoke with the mirror of the cave

And it said you are the source on inspection

It is only from you we can make waves

 

So, go out into the world once again

When the cold air will not turn you to ice

And be like the river of Eden

That runs out through paradise

A million lives

 I've lived a million lives

I've come and gone

over fires and coals

And my feet have moved swiftly along

As deep sea shoals

I've lived a million lives that's me

I've been to Burundi

And Margate on sea

I've sold the souls

And I know that nothing is free

And we pay the price

For the lives we lead

I've lived a million lives

And stole a thousand dolls

And sold the drugs kept under rugs

That have wrapped up things for me

I've been sacked and I've been fired

I've been quacked up in midnight choirs

And walked on cracked ice

So I know the price

Of the life I lead

I've lived a million lives

They're like the stars of the sky

Had so many women, been in too many bars

I've jacked cars, and I've jack-knifed

And I've been the jack of hearts

So I can say I know the price

Of living this life

I've lived a million lives

And walked a thousand trails

And each one of them has cost me twice

For each time I win, in another way I fail

And you lose what you had to begin with

If you're a gambler, if you're a thief

But I ask you who is the greater conman

The king or the priest?

Do they both know the price of the lives they lead?

And we each move our pieces across the chess board

The Rook to the Bishop

The Knight to the Pawn

The King and the Queen are mutually torn

But do they each know the price of the life

To which they're born

I've lived a million lives that's me

You don't have to ask me twice

I know not much is free

Except this advice which I impart to thee

Please know the price of the life

You lead

Wood for the Trees

I can't see the wood for the trees

Not me,

Oh, I look in the brook

But it comes up to my knees

Well what do I need?

 

You need to look through the forest he said

Listen, how far does the dog run into the wood?

I said, I don't know, he said good

You see he runs halfway, because

He can only run halfway into the wood

Before he starts running out of the wood

You see?

Not really -

Well that is why you can't see the wood for the trees

You are focusing on the problem and not the solution

You have to look through the gaps between the trees

To see the other side

If that is where you want to go,

How are you going to get there if you keep looking at the trees, see?

I said yes

Thank you, Fred

River of Eden

 I was running up the river bed dry

She was naked laying in her bed

Her stones had not bled, and she could not cry

Her dress of water was locked in store

And she was cold lying on the stone floor

I ran up the Biddle combe brook

And it gave to me a sideways look

Who are you to trample on my bones?

Can't you see I lie alone

I need no other to claim my throne

Or cast about my care-worn stone

I am nature the mother grown

But no other shall me own

I looked about and saw 

The folly of the broken door

And just as if the river was smarter

I started to hear the sound of laughter

And in ripples and in childish tides

Her water dress trickled down over her thighs

And filled the dry bed where once she was wed

With its web-locked fingers, and its fluidity spread

And curled in crispness of a fresh salad bed

That springs up after the first rains 

And I like a leaping monkey had to jump out her way

Or her water dress would have swallowed me up

In her water cress-caress I was a fungi

Soft as a velvet Jews ear

And I could listen to her glistening and glamorous stories

Of the time she joined the Gulf stream

To travel for a day and a year

But she returned in the rain clouds

Heavy and all out of sorts

He had left her near the Isle of Iona of course

For a Madagascan or Chillian sport

So she returned to her hilly spring 

She dressed herself in black,

And she lay in ground waters low in the basin

Of the Mendip hills limestone cavernous crack

She stayed like a widow in mourning 

she lay in a suicide pact

With the staligtites and staligmites adorning

Her chamber of echoing fact

She called to her own deep reflection

And she spoke with the mirror of the cave

And it said you're the source so remember

It is only from you we can make waves

So go out into the world once again

When the cold air will not turn you to ice

And be the river of Eden

That runs out through paradise