Of times up and down and the seasons

 Six months in the dark, six in the light

Three months to feel the spark

Three to see the night

One that's never ending, one that never leaves

Another is a beginning

When an old one wipes its sleeve

And sheds a skin

Lights a match

Turns the light on within

The feelings snatch

Their times to breath

A new light entering

Hope it knocks upon closed doors

A willing them to open

And a miser may not let them in

But the child who has never spoken

Speaks yes come in, and feel the warmth

The glorious blazing hearth

and all health and gin

Bring the family in

And have great cheer beside them

And outside winds turn on the world

Deep mercurial forces move the tides

Moons creak

and shake

And mother nature gives birth

To Spring like a virgin bride

And suddenly the child is born

Out pops a little lamb

And all the neighbours overheard

The words I am, I am, I am

And into the corruption, this amalgamate of man

The human genius for destruction

Flitters like a moth to the flame

As moon beams shatter ice structures

And scriptures go down the pan

And icebergs clash upon ocean swells

In darkness over icy hells

But nothing but the rising humpback

Sings his song on and on

And breaks through the ice sheets

To breathe fresh air anon

And on and on the turning goes

No it never ends

Until we are borne dizzy on our toes

And collapse into the arms of a friend

Who kisses our cheek and mops our brow

And sets us off dancing again

So turn, turn, turn like the ships prow

Upon the rolling wild ocean

Farewell to the Ghosts

 Farewell to the Ghosts

Whoever I have loved

Well I was caught dreaming

Sleeping through this life

Death catches up with us whether we like it or not

But farewell to the Ghosts

To all those I have loved

Farewell to the Ghosts

Whomever I have loved 

They who left me dreaming

In this life's swaying sea

On a lullaby so seeming

The eye of all beauty

We cannot hold on to all that we have loved

But we must let go

So farewell the ghosts that I have loved

Farewell to the Ghosts

Whomever I have loved

And they who loved me

May they fly safe above

And never return except to say to me

Don't spend your life dreaming in lost memory

For life it is for living, so take up your hat

Say farewell to all those ghosts

And move on after that

Who knows where it may get us boys

Who knows where the wind will blow

Through tropical islands

Or through cold winter snow

Farewell to the dreaming of this lives dreams

Farewell to hopes dashed like waves upon the shore

Farewell to those things lost to memory

And if I should meet the ghosts of my ancestry

I hope to say farewell to them

In the glory of the moment

When the sun goes down

Farewell to the Ghosts

Of my neighbourhood

All those faces of my childhood

I wish them on fondly into the afterlife

And hope they'll be there waiting when I die

So I say adieu, not farewell,

I say au revoir until our cages have been opened

And out we will fly

Up to join the spirits of those who live in the sky

Farewell to all the ghosts

To them I say good bye

Pomegranite Sundays

 

The morders

And mooders

The loud owls toot

She is dying to take the valium

And dad is like a snake lying in his bed

Hissing like a kettle

Who has the mettle?, he once said

He asks them to train the zoo

We she the he's and for

they

The mother, who has taken the pomegranite

seed in her mouth

And is gone for the winter season 

Into Hades, Underground

But she has gone and it has taken too long

She is not coming back

The pomegranite shells and skin

lie bear, discarded on the spring grass

That grows up around it

But she , she is nowhere to be seen

No she is not coming

The seasons come, the summers

And her mother Dementia waits in toe

In step and rhyme

In the foot prints of a life

Upon time's shore

That are pressed

Then a wave washes over them

And they are no more

Like so many memories of this earth 

She has lost, 

She is left with the memories

Of the holy ghost

And walks through springs flowers

And meadows that boast

While she walks through April showers

With her mother's ghost

Fire dancers

 How can I say I'll miss you

When you were never really there

Just a ghost of someone I was meant to love

But loving fell into disrepair

Like a Hamlet and his father's ghost

I have suffered very much

From the slings and arrows hurled at my post

But you I never truly lost

You never were a real father, you had

Some place better to be

And if you see me foam at my mouth 

You'll know I'm mad at you dad

Was I meant to have all the answers

Was meant to make do with what I had

Oh well you would know I was a dancer

Through the good times and the bad

And if you should ask me,

Whatsoever I learnt

I'd say its better to be a fire-dancer

Than to stand still and get burnt

And if you should ask me

Whomsoever have I loved

Well I would say some women

But my heart yearns for heaven above

For there really is no living

Unless looking for the holy grail

And there is no sense in dying

Before you've set out on life's trail

So keep your hope in answers

That fall like manna from heaven

And keep yourself a dancer

As you step on seven to eleven

Yes and keep yourself a winning

And never think that you have lost

When you've loved so many women

Well what's another log to get tossed

Because we all must walk over

Those burning coals in the end

And we must all be fire-dancers

And in the final answer you'll find a friend

Because we pull each other through hardship

And storms upon the waves

And we know nothing but friendship

Is the salve by which we're saved

If I hadn't met you in my tracks

 Well I was on my way

On my way to the bank

I was about to rob the safe

The foreman would have me to thank

For the headache when he awakes

Oh everything was going to plan

Yes it was working like a charm

Oh everything was going smoothly

Until someone triggered the alarm

And I was running nowhere, I was never looking back

But then everything worked out differently

Soon as I met you in my tracks

Yes and I saw you at the station

Yes I saw you at the platform too

And it was like we never had spoken

I didn't know what in the world we coming to

Yes I would have lived quite happily

Without the inviting the family

But then you took me out my hole of black

Yes things would have worked out differently

If I hadn't met you in my tracks

The storm it was raging on the wild sea

And my heart it was wailing out in misery

And I knew nothing but heartache

And the weight of history

And it was looking like my ship would never break

The chains of slavery

But then you touched the scars upon my back

And oh things would've turned out differently

If I had never met you in my tracks

Dreams in your hands

 It is your duty to oppose 

What is going on

Don't be fooled into thinking

That you are wrong

You have to fight for what you want

To stay where you belong

Every minute you are alive

Live the whole day long

I hope you understand

I leave my dreams in your hands

There are witches in the forest

Fixing your demise

But you must do as you have promised

You cannot miss what's infront your eyes

So take what you've been given

And get used to what you've got

Whether it's enough to make a killing

Or even if it's not

It is something in your hand

Which you must take and seize

And never let go

Hold on tight to your dreams

I leave mine in your hands just so

Can't think about tomorrow

Today is hard enough

Got nothing but sorrow

In this squalor of stuff

I threw it all away

So I could walk in your lands

Now I don't know what to say

I leave my dreams in your hands

Fiver

 5 whole years,

5 whole years

Under the mountain of sorrow

Not thinking about today

Staring into tomorrow

% whole numbers dancing along the tight rope of fear

Afraid of falling off the wagon

Into the prairie of tears

And I think of all the ways we used to take each other to court

5 year sentence

Should be all that our excuses bought

Minuteman

Just a minute before you leave

You haven't seen this thing I have up my sleeve

You haven't heard me out, now,

Don't you scream and shout

I'm a minute man without a doubt

Just a minute ma'm I need a reprieve

I need to take a minute out

I need the time to breathe

Don't try and make it out

Like it was only me you can do without

When we both know

Where the vipers breed

Just a minute before you shoot someone

Just a minute before you pick up that gun

It takes just a minute to think twice

And reflect on the consequences of a human sacrifice

We all are minutemen - living on the clock

Don't have no time to talk

Gotta catcha ship, sport, before it leaves the dock

My time is down to sixty seconds

No second hand time to be reckoned

I've only got 60 seconds worth of time

Well whose time are you wasting?

Yours or mine?

I'm a minute man

Gone in a minute ma'am

Ready when you are

Leave it to me

I'm a minuteman, just a minute ma'am

I'll be finished in a jiffy, let me wash off this squiffy

And calm down the dog in the pound

Just a minute ma'am, I'm a minuteman, it takes me time

To find my feet, I have to take aim, fire and hold

It's done in a minute that's the thing

Don't try to rush me man, or push the can

I'm a minuteman but I don't have time to spare

I'm on the second hand, down to sixty seconds and

It takes me longer if I can't find my flare

Let me be frank, I've got to thank

My forefathers for getting me here

But I can't be sanct

Tified if I'm ranked among the four

fastest firers in my band

I'm down to the wire, on the cutting edge

If you think I'm a hirer, then I'll cut your hedge

I'll be gone in a minute, and out on a ledge

Ready with musket a ball and a pledge

To protect those I serve

To stand up for our rights

Against the kingsmen whom the minutemen fight

Sun down on the West

 Sun down in the west

With the children breathing fumes

And choking on the China

Porcelaine news

Sundown on the West

And on all existence

As we wander into an uncertain age

Of Tv crews abuse

Sun down on the West

And the factories spewing toxins

In water streams for us to consume

And they it is all for the best

Sun down in the west

With the birds flying backwards

And the fishing lying on their backs

Breathing their last

Sun Down in the West

Oh see this life's lifelessness

We all struggle for righteousness

But are consumed by greed

Sun down in the West and my figures

Crack, are thrown on the wasteland

Of disease

And the scrap yard of broken dreams

Sundown on the West

Men lie broken shoulder to shoulder

Capitalism is not blest

They find as they get older

Sun down in the West

Communism's beast growls

Somewhere in the East

Hungry for the rest

Sun down in the West 

And it is all fools gold

Chasing after what has sold

And what we never really need

Sun down in the West

The promise of a dream

Crumbling in the scenes

Of Mountains and Mississipi

Rook castle

 Rooks in the Ash tree

The tree is their castle

See them move their pieces

Across the green field of play

Surrounding the Magpie

Picking a fight

Pawn to the Bishop

Queen takes the knight

The Rooks are in their castle keep

Black figures move one way, grim-reap

picking and gleaning

All around white sheep

 

And swans in their thrones

Sitting like pearly kings and queens of the ditches

Who's seen their riches?

Not me,

Probably the crows know

And the Magpies steal them

And the Robins chortle

The wrens pip-pip in high pitched alarm

As farmers with pitch forks walk through the farm

 

Still the Rooks are in their castle

Building it with twigs

Collecting, forming parliaments

Of the Tories and the Whigs

Democracy is played out

Like the theory of chess

But in reality, it conforms less

To the rules than to wildness

Where it's all for one,

But in numbers they are strong

These Rooks, these crooks

In their Ash towers they scheme and plan

Their next move,

How can they capture the Queen? 

How can they move into new territories unseen?

Then all at once they will be on your windowsill

Sundown in the west

Sun down in the West

Sun up in the East

We've taken the very best

Left little for the hungry beast

 

But there’s much more

So much more to explore

Yes now we are on the new frontier

And they are riding in on their horses

 

Sundown in the West

In the last of the dying rays

We'll say look how we were blest

Back in the good old days

 

And everyone loves a sunset

Everyone loves nostalgic regret

But there's no time to sleep yet

For on the rise is a bloody pet

 

She's been kept sleeping

Like a dragon under a mountain

But her dormant dreaming

Will awaken in a fountain

 

And the shower of her volcano

Will turn the sky a blood red glow

Sundown in the West

While from the East the dragon's breath grows

 

Sun down in the West

And we hold onto lifelessness

And riches that we seize

In our hands covered in grease

 

For no one here is innocent

We all have blood on our hands

And who are we to call a spade a spade

When we let grass grow over our own graves

 

Sun down in the West

Tears roll down the chest

Of Iron man who tried his best

And Superman's uncle

 

Who are these heroes 

Who have turned to zeroes

In the eyes of those

Re-assessing civilizations

Take the log from out your own eye

Before you point out the stick in mine

Let ye who is without sin cast the first stone

And in the cemetery of all those unknown

I walk to find peace of mind

Away from the city's drone

 

Sundown on the West

All we have are nation myths

Standing up like white cliffs

As the sun goes down over the ocean

The Mars Rover

 Well I walked in the night,

Yes I walked it was so bright

When I walked in the light

Of the Mars Rover

And it seemed like a dream

Oh this planet in the solar stream

That shines its Red beam

Like the Mars Rover

Oh now have you seen

All the things that it has seen?

With its eyes like lasar beams

Oh the Mars Rover

And it comes on oh so strong

Through the dark night and the storm

That blows its sudden winds

Past the Mars Rover

And we all must pray

To see that Rover back one day

When his long journey is finally over

Oh the Mars Rover

Bang goes my head

 Bang goes my head

And I wake up in my bed

Bang goes my head

And I've forgotten what you said

Should I leave or should I go?

Bang goes my head, it goes

Bang, bang bang against the wall

Knock, knock knock knock agianst the door

And the Sea gulls cry above

The vast waste of sea

Bang bang it goes again

Against the glass ceiling of the sky

Against all the places that I try

To get a job, and bang, bang goes my head

Drinking forever wine

 Drinking the forever wine

I guess we're just drinking the forever wine

Looking into the sunset of our lives

I thought I'd see you tomorrow

But I guess now it'll be further down the line

It's a lucky thing we keep drinking

This forever wine

Sisters of the soul

 Sisters of the sun

Sweet sunshine

Raising a glass of the raisin wine

Sisters of the soul

Feeling fine

Falling forever in love with your kind

Sisters of the sea

Singing free

Singing forever will I love thee

Sisters of the rock

Standing so strong

Standing like Saint Peter after his song

Sing on sisters with me

Hold me in your sweet harmony

Sing on sisters with me

For my brother is moon

Keeping him rising over the sea

Keep running

 Keep on running and you don't turn back

Keep on running down that one way track

Run on into the open, where no fences stand

Keep on running through the broken, through the restless land

And I look down at my feet, at the miles underneath

And I see the foot print laying far behind

But I keep running on in my mind

No there is no distance too far, no place I will not go

I'm gonna keep on running til the stars begin to show

And I will run on into moon shadow, run on over to Mars

Run on like the rover who knows he's roving too far

But I go because I can't look behind

Yes I will keep running on in my mind

Your love is like a ghost ship that keeps following my trail

And I will keep running from the memories of the times that I failed

But it doesn't matter who won or lost only that we tried

And I'm happy if I see your ghost I'll remember to keep running

On in my mind

Running along the shore, running into the war,

Running into a burning building, running the rich from the poor

Running on over the rainbow, running on into forever

Running on whereever I go, I'll keep running on like a river

Running into the desert, and running into the sand

I don't where I'm running to, I just keep running for as long as I can

Animan

Everyone was bitten by a bug

They started crawling on all fours

Then they were bitten by a dog

They started scratching at all the doors

Then they were bitten by the cat

They started meowing after that

And got a lot more attitude

Like West of 98 degrees longitude

 

Next they were bitten by a gull

They then squawked and scratched their skull

Each transformation figured

To make them even bigger in their soul

For as they were becoming more animal

They indeed became more human

Strangely they started to see each other

Far more clearly now they were covered

In scales and feathers and fins and wings

They started to notice the tiniest things

Like acts of kindness, when they could have been cruel

Yes, the mean ones then were going back to school

To learn whatever lesson they had never been taught

And it was a blessing as the like cannot be bought

So, as I say these humanimals populated a planet

And like the new creator they tried their best to plan it

So, there were no more sacred vows nor promises which were broken

Instead they were calm as Hindu cows and more quiet as they had spoken

 

They listen more to each other's words, they tried to mend deep wounds

Like doctors they tended to their enemies with a likeness to their friends

And some how this strange amalgam that had an animal and human part

Was able to quell Mother nature's wrath when she came with broken heart

 

So instead of humanimals they became animans who ate,

and fished and swam

With the whales and dolphins and penguins,

and they hunted with the polar bears

And they died with the deer,

and they sang with the white throats

And their voices sounded so clear,

clearer than a human alone

Was ever able to express,

but with their animal brother and sister tones

They sang their song of existence

For survival was the name of the game

They had to adapt or die

And that they did through The Spirit above

Who was calling them to up the sky

This war don't make no sense

 This war don't make no sense to me

All we do is fight

Now if love was meant to be a war

I guess that'd be alright

But I want more

than always to just fight

Been seeing the planes rush over

Drowning in sight

Dropping bombs on the paddy fields

All through the night

And our love is like tank wheels

Rolling in from the right

And I can't tell you how it feels

When all we do is fight

This war don't make sense anymore

I hold up my white flag

I say I surrender my heart

And you win the battle's spoils

And now my heart's blown apart

You can pick op its pieces from the soil

Where we used plant our seeds of love

Now nothing grows but twisted vine

I can't drink anymore of its poisoned wine

And I don't believe I want to grow anymore

On this scorched land

This war don't make no sense no more

I'm gonna let go of your hand

Pan

How has it all panned out?

In Panborough of the pandemic's

Panhandled attempt

At playing the Pan pipes

Blowing their Pandora's box

Wide open

Panoramic you might say

Pandemonium yes, perhaps

Panic, certainly, by the panful

Pantheons on the terracotta park flooring

Panthers leaping from panning cameras

Sweeping down the Ecuadorian jungle panoramas

And then see Pan, his face a contorted, spurgled

blood-strained grin

As he scours the river for the gold panning

Guinea-guzzling, tin-pan-alley, Pancake-men 

who lay their bottom dollar

Down on a wager they will strike it rich

Ah the itch of the Pancreas, as it exudes its final toxins

And chemical compounds -pancreatic, a panoply of

Poisons percolating through pantopia

It's just like the pantomime of the pangolins

Who started it all

Night at the Silver Screen

 I tried to hit the nail on the head

My hammer was as flat as iron

I tried to shoot the elephant dead

But I ended up killing the lion

I tried to raise an army instead

But I raised a merry day in hell

For it all fell like lumps of lead

From the church roof after a shell

I tried to spell the good

From out the eye of evil

But the cult leader was well

In with the damned devil

I sold his soul to Satan

And he gave me coins of silver

Which I put in the slot machine

And earnt myself a dollar

I tried to get even

And got God on my side

And we went down to deal with them

But our words felt hollow inside

So I spoke out to the moon

Can you give me back my silver spoon

I am poor but with your boon

I hope to take Eve to the movies (soon)

The moon said why good on ya Sam

I said no I'm Adam, Sam's my Uncle

He said why Goddam I didn't ask for your carbuncle

Just go and fetch me a Rabbit ham

And throw in a side of Turkey

I thought 'Why? Who does he think I am?

His private messenger or Mercury?'

Eve said forget it I'm going out with Mars

He knows how to treat a lady, and he drives fast cars

Well I said I can walk you to the moon

But it would be quicker if you pulled on this silver balloon

Eve sort of screamed then in exasperation

And then she popped my hopes and dreams

With one giant explanation

That it was one small step for man to buy her a goddam ticket

But a giant leap for a bozo like me, so I better lick it

With that she stamped her feet, and I licked her stamp

I mean I kissed her boot heels, which made me feel like a tramp

Soon though she calmed down and we got to the silver screen

It was playing a version of the little lost lamb, as if she was my Bo peep

And I said I've forgotten who I am, and I think I need some sleep

She said baby you know you're Adam and you need to count some sheep

So there I was dreaming while this movie started showing

And she was eating pop-corn and I thought it started snowing

But that was just her kisses as they were falling on my cheek

And we were like the birds and bees in knowing

That we were oh so weak

Then the credits started rolling

And it seemed the show was over

And I looked back at the musical score

And it said courtesy of the Mars Rover

That kind of killed the mood

And I drove home in a sulk

Since she said I was being rude

She might as well be dating the Hulk

At that I turned green

And it was just like in that movie we had seen

When the monster goes chasing down the limosene

And they both end up in the river

So with a shiver she said

That makes me quiver

And so I shot her an arrow

I cannot say I missed her by much

But of course her mind was quite narrow

And even if she grew in her heart

I was still missing my extra dart

So I started by kissing, she got up with a start

From the sofa that was leaning over

And it was then I saw the mars rover

He had been hanging around all along

And like a dog I tried to run him over

But he only increased his swan song

Oh for the Martians, the red and the green

Who come down to earth to fight in a scene

That looks just like they came from the silver screen

But in fact it was just an earth man acting so mean

Eve said why do we need an invasion

When we already have our own privation

Of love and harmony and human persuasion

When one will wants to bend the other's to their own

Still I could see the little green man 

Had her all riled up over a bean can

Whether spilt or piled or drained those human beans

Don't add up to much compared to life on the silver screen

Conflict in time

 Well the ring it was broken

And well the geese they had flown

And it was as if we had never spoken

Like a breeze down a deep old well

But if you choose yours over mine

You got know it was just a conflict in time

And I saw the language of token

Being spoken at the grand hotel

And I saw the window was broken

Just like our love cast a spell

Well if you prove you need me and mine

I can say it feels just like a conflict in time

And the fuse was lit in the valley

And it lit up the dark caves as well

And the turn of the shaft of the drill cut the draft

From the miners who tell

Me all about the sun dials that they miss trapped down there in hell

But if you blow out their candle and laugh down the line

You can't stand there and tell me it was too much to handle

When we both know it was just a conflict in time

Yes I thought I knew how you were stuck

Yes I lifted the bell, that hung on your photograph

Of you riding right into hell,

And I rang you on the telegraph

But the operator complained of the knell

When she rang off your voice came so soft

Saying darling well why can't you tell

That it is not just how you left that night

It was the light down the stair well

That flickered on and off, like a witch's cough

And I needed you to stay on the line

Well what I need it doesn't matter she said then the line went dead, 

she hung off

I knew then why the angels fear to tread

Because it's all just a conflict in time

Rabbit moon

 Who would have thought it

Miles after miles

The drunk could have caught it

From a football shirt pile

Who'da thought it

The still of the night

And the vital outside

And the chill moonlight

Who'd a thunk the beams be so bright

Like a rabbit that is caught by the man in the moon

Run on your moon walk rabbit

Run backwards through the cartoon frames

What's up Doc?

And Who'da thought it

There's a satellite with your name on it

Rabbit moon and rabbit star

That breeds like a harvest, harvester

A vested interest, arrest the vest

And take the costumes off the rabbit pest

Exterminate the bug, blast the rest

Kill them by the dozens

There'll be rivers of blood and harpoon moons

In shimmering skies

That are full of humpback whales

Singing sweet lullabies

And it is all just a fluke

With a lucky rabbit's foot

The charm's worked on the man in the moon

Because now he has rabbit's ears

And an itchy rabbit nose

And it twitches every time he lies

Oh look how it grows

And now it's gotten so long it's nearly reached the earth

Then all the men and women will walk up

The step of lies that gave birth

To the dream of everyone

That they may leave their lives

And live in a wonderland

If they but close their eyes

Tupac vs Meare cats

I am so English

I never had no hoes

No jumping joes

No drive by blows

In my local estate where, god knows,

I deigned to go

Roughing it, slumming it

With the mother fucking G.I posers

In their faux army costumes

Make you wanna consume

The exhaust fumes yo

No I never had the bitches

All we had were rhynes and ditches

Making dens in the hedgerows

Down St Mary's road yo!

Never had no shootings

Just Matthew Bennet with his mountain bike 

and loose shoe strings

He told us he had a self-balancing handle bar

But he had rolled up balls of clay so they rattled in thar

Playing cops and robbers on the curb

Never messing with no herb

We never turned any tricks

Only skate boards and scalextrics

Never shot no breeze

Only climbed in the apple trees 

I only wanted to be good

Looking out for my neighbourhood

Then my friend said yo can you dig it? I said " I dug"

He said -What you wanna be litter bug

For?

He said it when he came into the hood

Where I used ride with Matthew Wood

And the boys from Down's Orchard estate

Yeah the were rebels acting like jail birds outside their front gate

But I knew the Kirlegate estate posse

Were a match for those carboard hussies

No we never had no guns

Except the water pistols

That we got from our mums, yo!

Got from our mums

We never had no bronx, the bloods or the crips

But what we had was Millbatch, Bradley James, Charlene Hares

Who sometimes wore jeans with rips

That was where you went if you wanted to catch

A tennis ball to the head

Come out in bumps

That was the mother fucking dumps

Instead we had fields to run in and play soldiers

We had peat mounds to climb and roll down and over

We had play fights that never amounted to much

Until one day love struck, put a spanner in the works

Because then we all had to grow up 

Outside the doors

Outside the doors of the hospital, no help can you find

If you are the poor wretch

Who falls foul of an ailment or bind

The nurses cannot help you

And the doctors cannot say

Here take this poor chap

And be a good fellow you better be on your way

 

Outside the doors of the museum no artefacts or finds

Are safe from the curator’s prison or their stealing eyes

The Elgin Marbles are one thing, when Elgin lost his

Greece rose in applause, for the memory of theft cuts deep as lies.

 

 

Outside the doors of the monastery, you may find a monk

Who having got out of the habit of celibacy continued to get drunk

And staggering around in his gown, the others would not let him in

For outside the doors of the monastery all men are marked by sin

 

Outside the doors of heaven Saint Peter blows his horn

And announces to all the herald Angels that Christ on Earth was born

But he won't be allowed in heaven until he can prove his side

Does he count himself with mankind or with God above abide?

 

Or will he walk down to Hell and knock those doors wide open?

Telling all those lost souls that their lives are his as he has chosen

To live on in an afterlife and save those left from misery and strife

That Heaven's doors will not be closed to those who follow his advice

 

Outside the doors of the city, the outcasts beg and steal

And they fight each day for bread and water from which to make a meal

And no one can deny their suffering, yet the city folk turn a blind eye

Because outside the doors of the city well, you either live or die

The news is broken

Breaking news inside my bed

Breaking news inside my head

Breaking news and breaking bread

Don't worry the news is broken

 

Breaking me, and breaking you

Breaking what is false and true

Breaking good and breaking bad

Gets us so we don't know what we had

 

Breaking faces and make up too

Breaking car chases and cocktail screws

Breaking beaches and breaking seas

The ice is broken, it has broken free

Oh mother, the news got broken

 

Out the bag and out a mile

Into space like a missile

Breaking moon rock on the moon

Breaking mars bars, and bending spoons

 

No one tells the truth just lies

Getting like you can't believe your eyes

And no one knows which way to turn

Breaking students are too broken to learn

 

You can try shutting your eyes

But they just open upon new lies

Same old faces, and the world got sold

But nobody told the news of the world

Now the news is broken

Oh, how the news got broken

 

It's a sad thing to have to say

That the truth can't have its day

And sadder still to see fake news got its way

Oh mother, the news is broken

 

Oh mother I had to be sure

So I checked behind the kitchen door

No one fake is hiding there

 Yes the news is fixed like a stare

Like the horses and football matches

You can try to beat the egg before it hatches

But that won’t get you anywhere

Or you may choose to light the fuse and blow the news wide open

But its cover is already blown, yes, the news is broken

 

Well it is like in the morning,

when the sun comes without warning

Don't look too long into to its face

Because you'll go blind and they'll find no trace

You'll get lost between the lines

Like a sheep lost inside the pines

When the wolves of Wall Street howl

You will know the newspaper growl

 

Or you may lay down and play dead

Like the high ups and the plebs

Who ate whatever they were fed

Yes the new got broken

 

Oh the news is like a fine lace

That falls upon the world

And it should walk with grace

Like a lady wearing pearls

 

But instead, it is downtrodden, it is hidden in the mud

It comes from all kinds of places squirming, wriggling through blood

And we love the guts and gore

Oh we love the broken egg

Yes and if you should abhor 

Then you'll find you're dropped down a peg

 

Oh, the news, the news got broken

By the fishermen laying lines

Out on the public ocean

Trying to catch fish upon which to dine

 

And willingly and pliable the public take the bait

And swallow up with love and greed

All things they're taught to hate

 

Yes, the news, the news got broken

By newspaper men in capes

Out to save the world from

All those things we just can't escape.

 

Like living together without conflict

Living and loving a fight

Loving and dying to recover

From a sea sickness or a fear of flight

 

And the rules, the rules got broken

But that is quite alright.

Because the newspaper men were the ones who wrote them

And they're the ones who must be right

 

Yes the news, the news got broken

And I say it in the drowning West

That the Eastern tiger is growling

And is hungry for the rest

 

He'll devour all the sacred cows

And steal from the witch’s coven

The food that made a meal of vows

Set out in cookie cutter American ovens

 

Yes, the news, the news got broken

And now it needs a fix

But what is offered is but a token

No better than a Weetabix

 

So, sell all the stories now!

Sell them to the other side!

For they will be writing in their letters

About how no more Oxford commas they can abide

Yes, the news, the news got broken!

 

You shovel shit down on Fleet street

Where the mighty flagships meet

But it’s not the end of the world that taste sweet

But the lies that set off the whole darned fleet

 

And you can look into the mirror

And try to figure how to get thinner

But the world is small enough

For the daily news to reach the rough

 

Out on the golfing green

Where the Rolls Royce and limousines

Are parked by the eighteenth hole

Where the newspaper lost its soul

Oh mother, oh yes the news is broken

A Cat’s tale

 The cataclysm of Catholicism

Is they did not recognize the schism

Until it was too late

and the cat had already been let

out of the bag

The Cathode ray tube made a killing

With the cats and rubes

Who searched for gold in the klondike

Where the wild cats growled up in the mountains

And spilled rivers down cathedral-sized

Chunks of quartz

Oh but a fleck here, and flick there

only constitutes a smattering of gold

But is enough to send cations screaming

Across electrode gaps in test tubes

Of the prospecting cat

This could be the catalyst he thinks to himself

Of a great change in my life

In which I become a fat cat, a millionaire

And strike it rich in the Yukon valley

But he didn't have cat in hell's chance really

Still that never stopped him dreaming

This cool cat, with the whiskers like steel

That bristle whenever someone mentions a meal

Or a plate of gold, or a mother lode

That is hidden under the hill

 

Catatonic now in the biting cold

Shivering in his steel shack

That has but one cat flap frozen shut

No chance of attack

By roving wolf packs or mountain lions

bearing teeth and swishing tails

When somewhere down in a southern state

The cattle are trailing along a lush green path

And the cat laughs, thinking of that

Then caterwauling he guffaws

And throws off his cape

The biting wind nips his nape

But he preens himself wide awake

And shakes off the sleep

 

Of all the catastrophic avalanches that could befall him now

He thinks not one bit, doesn't even wink

Instead takes a sniff of his catnip, and pip-pip, tootle-loo

He's off again into the wild blue

Yonder

The mountain peaks in wonder

He spies through cat's eyes closed as slits

To the snow in the sky

But then wide and dazzling bright in surprise

As he wanders over the old claims he has staked

The light snow fall is but falling in flakes

And the above the White river, he sees

The quartz that makes him shiver

And a thrill runs up his spine

And he is over come with joy

and catapults down the line

With his shovel and his pick

And in the hard rock he begins to dig

Deeper down and further still

Until he thinks he might need a drill

Then six feet under he reaches down

And follows the vein

That runs through the ground

Into a tiny nugget he holds in his claw

But these are but the hors d'oeuvres

Not yet the main course

Yet after only a little more time

That golden sunrise begins to shine

And his face is like a morning glow

As he is lifting up the huge mother lode

Yet behind him a shadow shifts

Is it cloudburst or another grift

Out to steal what he did not earn

Another cat burglar out to crash and burn

 

A bullet flies like a silver bird

And hits our cat with crash and purr

Cat falls flat and doesn't stir

Struck in the back by cuckoo cur

And down slinks the burglar

Into the pit, salivating like a dog

Dribbling spit, hungry for the gold

that is like a disease

And in his fervour and desire to seize

He forgets to check our cat is dead

And swift as a pigeon a pickaxe to the head

The burglar is down in the ground bleeding red

And cat with the mother lode climbs free from the grave

The hole is through his fur coat, but his organs are saved

Back on up to his shack he rolls 

Singing to the birds his cat carols

And happy as a cat who has got the cream

He retired back down where the meercats dream

Catastrophe

 The cat came in and got the cream

She licked the split, likety split went down like a dream

Then she spilt the milk, oh alabaster silk

Running like a nose all over the quilt

And the cat just froze, and the woman screamed

My dream, my dream, my kingdom for a fire hose

To spray the cat, but the cat soon scrammed

Knocking over a watering can, and taking with it

The kettle flex, which pulled along the perspex

Of the kitchen work top, toppling a mop

Until it reached the china vase

At which point my memory jars

Full of shattering, and the clattering of iron bars

Which rang out blue murder, sacre bleu

More wreck and damage could not be made

By a cat herder, on his way to the pound, waylaid

With his screaming contraband over turned 

With tails and claws, coming out of all his draws

Than this utter cat catastrophe.

Oh what's that I hear you mutter

Poor little pussy?!

No sir, no I say again neigh

This cat with her bells and whistles

Has gone too far on this day

Never again shall she dare to enter in

My wonderful sparkling clean kitchen 

and yet I hear her scratching little claws now

Under the door  just above the prow

Of the step, she purrs and meows

And inch by creeping inch, she is inveigling

herself back in

And soon she will be sitting pretty

As if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth

Poor little pussy, come and have some milk