Slow Owl

 Slow owl slow owl

you go so slowly

Why do you take so long

To wake up in the morning

Cause you've been hooting all night long

Slow owl, what d you mean about

burning the candle in the morning

and in the night time too?

Is it any wonder you're asunder

Caught between the devil

And the blue

If there was thunder would

you wonder

What on earth it all meant

To you?

Slow owl, oh can you tell

what I am knowing?

Slow owl, can you tell

If it is true?

That the lives we live

Are always going

Down the toilet

With the toilet paper too

Slow owl, slow owl

When you turn your head

I think that you aren't knowing

What you just said

I think the sun is slowing

Yes it's burning low and red

So slow owl, slow owl

It's time you showed 

Yourself instead

You and me

 Some people blame the patriarchy

Some blame the wishing well tree

And you, you blame the anarchy

Of what separates you from me

I loved an image, I loved an age

It was far gone in antiquity

And you, you love the liquidity

Of seasons that to me are strange

I fell asleep on my head

And you fell asleep on the page

And we would rather be dead

But Who am I to say that it's rage?

I kiss the ground that you walk on

But you kiss the cat on the stage

And she walks the cat walk of fashion

Which is a passion of our age

I think that I'm modern

You think that I'm caged

I blame it all on my mother

Who had me when she was middle aged

Maybe your theories are just theories

Maybe we are sand in the waves

Being washed by time's ravages

But it's in our love that we can be saved

To Be Having or not to be having

 Some people don't want what they have

a baby, a love or a cab

Some people want what they don't have

And that can be harder to grab

But which is the better?

The having or the missing?

The loss or the obtaining

I'm not complaining

Or even saying

Whether one is wrong or right

It's not in our hands to fight

But if you never fight

Then you never might

Gain control of what you

Want but do not need

It is food for the soul

Or is it fuel for greed

It's a skill to know

Whether you fail or succeed

For there's still a while to go

Before the sands of time bleed

American dreaming

 Let's hear it one more time for

The American dream

Fear and loathing

It's a brand of clothing

You can buy in a Walmart

But if you're smart

The Chinese have made it

And you've paid for it

With the American dream

Oh everybody's equal

Or so it would seem

But only in America

Because that's what it means

But really what they're saying is

We're better than you kids

Comprendez?

It's a foul game,

It's a penalty

Except the referee's

The one holding the keys to Life and Liberty

And how about the pursuit of happiness?

Well that only exists in excess

So buy, buy, buy your way to heaven

Unless you live the American dream

Who knew things could go so wrong?

It's just a show kid, no need to be your swan song

It's like we're playing Risk or a game of double jeopardy

On the Tv, with your host the President and his First Lady

It's not as if this is reality, could have fooled me

How about a parody? How about a comedy? How about a tragedy?

Is it any wonder that the world's a disparity?

The glass is half empty, or is it half full?

Well I know some have plenty and others hungerful

Can you see enough vulgarity, is it wonderful

Is this what you Americans want on your dinner plates?

Just a plastic president who spouts out rage and hate?

 Just a smarmy army, full of red neck types

Just a whisky swigger and stereotypes

Tell me if it's wonderful or really if it's ripe

That you're eating chicken by the binful

And scoffing down the tripe

I need to take a moment, I can't believe my eyes

No, justice is blind, or I thought that was right

Now I can't believe my ears are those my cries?

Or someone else in pain and should I try to be nice?

Now I've lost the power of speech, I'm mute

But the voice of reason it doesn't sound cute

And it wouldn't get a season on the Disney plus network

So Let's all just play dumb until the President forgets it

And nothing he says means anything at all

Because there is no truth just a game of lies 

in his American dream

Wait until Spring

 I can't, can't wait until Spring

Keep on, how long can you keep on

Fighting the darkness, battle to win?

Keep on, how long can you keep on?

I can't wait, wait until spring 

Winter's are glowing

And rain it is flowing

Down from grey skies

And I am knowing, yes I am knowing

I don't want to die

But I can't wait, no I can't wait

I can't wait for my life to begin

I can't, but I've got to wait now

I can't wait, wait until Spring

There are birds flocking the fields

Finding their meals, beating their wings

They can't wait, wait until Spring

And the martyrs are looking up from the puddles

The world's in a muddle, reflected within

They can't wait, wait until Spring

The sea under my thumb

 I had the sea under my thumb

I had a bee in my bonnet and a bread crumb

It came out of me like I had gone numb

Oh I had the sea under my thumb

We had really pushed the boat out

It was a flotilla of rudders and clout

It was seasoned by unders of trout

Floundering, foundering all about

I skinned a brass monkey flew six sheets to the wind

I wasted my money on blackjack but never to win

And old sally's army has me by the skin

Of my nose, my teeth and my false grin

They're liars those men I meet at the bar

They're liars, charlatans con artists they are

Pretending to be the wise men of the ship

But they're scrabbling round inside of a skip

Why did I ever offer up my piano

the last chance I had of bringing it narrow

Singing it sparrow

It was mine, but I gave it away

To people who will never be friends anyway

People who I pay

People who I pay

The sea is rotten as a green tomato

and I am forgotten before I even start oh

Have I an option, or am I overcome

With the greatest sadness of all, 

that's missing my mum

Seven seas or Oceans Eleven part 1

 There's the Pacific

That's Terrific

There's the Adriatic, quite dramatic

The Aegean, that's tragean 

The Caspian, that's almost Latvian

The Black sea it was a slack sea

The Red sea, it was ahead of me

As I rode back from the dead sea

Still alive quite luckily

Then the Atlantic, I was frantic

Sailing about in a panic

But I found my bearings

without the scarings in the Berings

But it wasn't easy and I got quite queasy

As I joined the Chukchi

The Strait was laced

With all I've faced

And ever hope to after

But chuckling laughter

Overcame me

As I headed North West towards Alaska

Yes it was a task Sir

I ask yer

Sailing the Beaufort scale

I hit every kind of gale

And tried to master

My ship from certain disaster

Crossed the map

The lap of land

They call The North Pole

Didn't see a soul

But thought I'd stay in control

As I circled the Arctic Ocean

There was a polar bear or two

In the Siberian vicinity

And a cuttlefish who knew

What it all meant to me

I put on the kettle

And tested my mettle

As I passed through Kara and Berrents

Whoever said there were only seven seas?

They didn't make any sense

I could have bet my bottom dollar

That that Norwegian with the high collar

Was Father Christmas

Or just getting pissed as 

A Svalbardi President Lincoln

After that I took a break in Greenland

And found it as green as grain of sand

But for all that I loved the diversity

Of all the titanic icebergs adversity

They made me glad I wasn't at university

Though of course I am sad at that perversity

Still I journeyed on to the Labrador Sea

It was a well behaved doggie

It barked and lapped

But I patted its back

And it fetched its tide there and slack

And I felt like a stick a drift

As I was lassoed by the Sargasso 

Toe to toe, I heave hoed

With every rope in the rigging

And I was jigged without much hope

Down onto the Caribbean 

The warm was wind

And the wind was warm

And the seaweed full of eels

And it made me feel

Head over heels

As I felt the tropic of Cancer

A thunder and a blowing storm

As night time was the right time

To drink rum and watch the wild Palms sway

I lay on my back in the sand

And visited bars

And lost nearly every hand

Of poker, but I played on

And penniless returned to sea

The truth hit me near Chile

That I'd scoffed a lot of chocolate

In the sea of Scotia

And it was heating up inside me

I need to cool off

So I molokoved down for a cocktail

In the Antarctic circle

What's the rush?

 Oh where do you think you're going?

And what's the rush

The sea is still flowing

And it's master of us

You're not the rulers of land or law

Her name is Nature

And she's red in tooth and in claw

Well, Jesus is the ruler of the hearts of me

And God his father in heaven above

But there's only one ruler under the sun

And her name is Nature 

and she's a son of a gun 

The drovers

 End of the drove

Where do they go?

All those people

When the bar closes?

All those lost people

All those lonely souls

Bitter as litter

That blows

When the field knows

The cattle in rows

Filled, eating the bar

Chewing the cud

Drifting back home

In their droves

But where do they go?

Another bar opens

And they hang there

Like pegs

On a line with no

Clothes

More you than me

It's more you than me

Like the fishes in the sea

When they hold out for school

We better get back to the cool

Oh it's more you than me

I've got an African doll

It's a voodoo for the soul

I've been meaning to break free

Oh it's more you than me

Have you heard the church bells?

The virtues they extol  

so why can't you see?

That it's more you than me

Amulet

 Amulet, oh amulet

Are you for sale or let?

It's the way you dangle like a charm

Just out of reach, fall into my arms

Swinging like a chandelier

Once so far, now so near

I'm in love with you Amulet

Oh Amulet, you're like Juliet

And I'm your Romeo

Come down from your balcony

And we'll go home-o

No I don't want an Emu, I want an Amu

But it'll have to be an IOU, I won't forget

If you want us to walk in our dancing shoes

Dear Amulet

Oh Amulet, oh Amulet

I can see how it's dangerous for you

To stand there so alone with vacant eyes

Like a warehouse with no goods

Empty as a pocket, oh my poor Amulet

Once you were filled with eyes and ears and legs

Once there were boys and girls and now

There's only pigeon eggs

Well if all the world's a stage,

Then your's hasn't been written yet

Woe betide those who've tried

To write-off the Amulet

You're going to make a come back

I can see it in the stars and I'll bet

You'll make a bloody good theatre

And you deserve another go-get

So let's raise a toast

And make a boast

Of our Dear Amulet

Joke 621

 What type of behaviour do fishmongers exhibit?

Selfish behaviour

House of love

 Put one brick upon another

 For your father, for your mother

And build a house of love

Put one brick upon another

For your sister, for your brother

And build a house of love

Build a bridge across the valley

Throw your TV into the alley

And Let's build a house of love

Build a bridge across the valley

Let the train run forth and sally

And build a house of love

Yes it's a coming out the dark

It's a burning with a spark

So let's build a house of love

Let's leave behind the darkness

Turn on the heat of the furnace

And let's build ourselves a house of love

Yes, you know this could be our finest hour

And it's all in our hands, within our power

So come on let's build a house of love

I heard an owl call

It was a roll call

To build a house of love

I heard an owl call

Gather one an all

Let's build a house of love

Everything has changed

 She sits alone in her room

Contemplating her doom

I walk along I hear an owl

I think I hear a baby howl

The mist fills the road

Like a broom

Sweeping up everything

On its loom

And silently the world 

Has rearranged

Yes it seems like

Everything has changed

Oh yes I can feel it

Everything has changed

In the park is all so dark

On the stage it's turned over a page

And the night has turned on it's light

Yes everything has changed

Everything has changed

Everything has changed

Everything has changed

It's like a needle and a thread

I'm half alive

But I'm also half dead

I've got this real drama

In her polka-dot pyjama

And I've got

All the shots

Of love and rage

And everything has changed

Everything has changed

Dingos eating honey

 You make me feel like the world's unsafe

You tell us all that we can't trust ourselves

You've undermined my faith in humanity

You stir and instil a sense of fear

And before you came it wasn't near

So get the hell off the radio and tv screens

And don't darken the doorway to my dreams

Oh Trump and Elon you all are liars

Sitting up there in your towers on fire

Get out now, I won't bow to you

Because you're the big man with the big world view

Oh get off now it's your funeral pyre

And you built your castle on AI wires

And thought so thoughtless

It's not thought through

Because you only asked an intelligence

That just wants to please you

You got rocks in your brain, and you ain't worth mud

So just wash down my drain with all your spilt blood

And dissolve in the sea and never come back to flood

Our thoughts and our times with your brand of crud

River Mouth Smile

 below the delta

Interminable, intermingled

In the sadness of a thousand water webs

Caught again

The fly is hungry for the gold

Of flow and ebb

That gold thread just beyond its reach

And in the silt, of muddied eyes

It sees the thousand skies

And sands of a thousand islands

All being built beneath the delta

In the mangroves

Below the delta

Where the river leaves its pith

And anger

On its stolen safari through

The land, roving near and far

In its meander

Leaving but a scar

And a smile

On its river mouth

Below the delta

And I am there in my dreams

Washed up between you

And the shore

Washed up between you

And the sea

Knowing not which way to turn

Will the river want more

Want more from me

Or will it set me free

Below the delta

Impeachments

 Moving to a country, gonna have a lot of impeachments

 Moving to a country, gonna have a lot of impeachments

Impeachments come from a can, they were put there by a man

In a courthouse uptown

If I had my way those impeachments would be here to stay

Like a ladder of law that never fade

 Moving to America, gonna have a lot of impeachments

 Moving to America, gonna have a lot of impeachments

I looked at a little map, where the routes all twist

Squished a rotten president in my fist

And dreamed about America's freedom

I poked my nose inside the white house doors

And made room for one immigrant or more

Nature's justice in my hand, impeachments come from a can

As American as apple pie

Millions of impeachments, impeachments for me

Millions of impeachments, impeachments for free, look out

Millions of impeachments, impeachments for me

Millions of impeachments, impeachments for free, look out

The Liberty bell

 We banked up the bank

With our wave of flags

Rooted in the sand as secure

As biting crabs

And we grabbed the weighing anchor

And lowered her to ground

And it found the depth we were seeking

It rang the deepest sound

And the ship was lolling on the rolling sea

And our bell it was tolling out for liberty

But cracked, it came a looming

Like a death knell a dooming

And fell right through the deck 

Stopped on the bunk on top of me

Well too much freedom it will kill you

It seemed to be saying to me

As I stared up into its mouth's vast entirety

Like a Whale's and might I Jonah be?

Well the ship it listed and the bell rung on

Clanking its hammer over my head ding-dong

Alarums, alarums the other sailors rushed forth

What is it? This seaman has save us of course

But the bell was lodged firmly into the bunk

And we left it there fearing else we'd be sunk

Oh come you democrats and tell all your cousins

This ship is a republic, we'll hang royals by the dozen

If you call her America she'll sally forth

But leave far behind the land of her berth

You see our Captain was a tyrant a rogue and a gambler

He played with our lives like they were daft shamblers 

And told us to scrub and told us to heave ho

The ropes and the sails and after mad whales row

It shocked me, it shook us to our foundations

That a ship of our size which had lead other nations

Could be steered into waters too treacherous to fathom

And at the helm always was our mad captain 

Mocking bird

 Mockingbird, mockingbird

Cry me a river

I hear you calling

How can you forgive her

For talking to him in that way?

Shy, shy, oh shy away

Denial is the better part of our foreplay

For what is love but a footprint in the clay

Left by a rambler who has walked on their way

Mocking bird of the mountain

Call me back one day

Sing of how the others sing

Sing of what they say

Are you a writer, are you an artist?

Do you show life at its smartest or hardest?

Worst or best news spread around the glade

Mockingbird, mockingbird sing your sweet serenade

Rubba a dub dub three men on a drug

 Heroine is the villain

And Crack is the Kraken

And the Hero is Smith and Wesson

And it's hold up in the guestroom

And Ketamine is the Veteran

Of the Veterinarian

And Cannabis is the Anubis

Of the Egyptian Harum Scarum

The scarab is an arab

With a vix vapour rub

And the cold room of the Hareem

Is the bathtub plug 

So scary a divertimento

Leaving a momento

Of your time in the prison of assassin grins

And wiles

While all the while you try to smile

At the fear factory boredom maker

The boardroom baker

Bake me a file as fast as you can

Can it in the can can

Of a thousand steps to dance

And finally fall asleep

Upon your own sordid lance 

Wassail song

Wassail, wassail bring us a bowl of cider

Delicious and good it churns up inside ya

We go a wassailing, wassailing, wassailing

Fear no more the dark times' assailing

Forces of Winter, nor the evil spirits 

We shall dance merrily around with sprigits

Of your finest branches, blanche not in fright

For the fire is warming and brings a good light

All of us together the darkness cannot turn

For we are apple lovers and to the new spring learn

How to live in light and joy of coming season

So Wassail, wassail for what better reason?

Share in good cheer, and share with the tree

For this year's harvest the best of ever will be

Come gather round all and hear our wassail song

Let the Robins and orchard birds all sing along

We pour cider on your roots so you may grow strong

 We beat our pots and pans and sound our loud drums

And soon we'll be drinking and raising spirits high

As the past year's sad ghosts flee off into the sky

So come with us now and join our merry rabble

With good heart through the year may you now travel 

Prospects for 2026?

 What is this life but a shadow on the wall

A woman is shot in an Immigration hall

It sparks a revolution, an American civil war

The guns are a shooting, and will missiles soar

And heads of state topple, it's all enthrall

The livers of policemen hang like guttural

Cries of religion upon depleted market stalls

Back in England, we are digging up the past

Clans who once were destined, now given a second chance

Lost in insurrection America stumbles and falls

Russia are battering on Europe's backwall

And Suddenly we wake up as if a Carnix cry

The streets are a heaving we realize we don't want to die

And people begin to fight

America shrinks, but so does the world

Because they can't sell Soybeans to China

And So the Chinese stomachs wimper minor

Keys of pity

And though they try to invade Taiwan

Domestic starvation leads to economic wan

The lights go out in the city

Their tech companies cannot save them

For who can buy it but Americans

And the dollar is crumbling

And Russia have hit back,

The US satellites are tumbling

After a Russian missile attack

So then the infrastructure of the world is in collapse

And the world wide web is in shreds

Like the spiders have been given up for dead

And have left the secret skills of weaving under wraps

I'm still holding out for a solution

But Then the nukes start to launch

And what isn't left in dire pollution 

Has suddenly got torched

And not to put too finer point

On the end of 2026

But those of us who do wake up

Need our weetabix

Slowly oh so slowly

We begin to feel and move

And There is food,

But it is local only grown

where there's technology it's only crude

And travel is anathema to any common sense

Because when you leave the confines of your country's fence

You realize everywhere's in ruins

And you might as well build strong your home

And it really did take all those years

To build up the city of Rome

So we talk to our neighbour because

Only half the world survived

And we learn how to treat them better

And how to live better lives

After death

 After a near encounter with death

It felt like slipping into a dark hole

A pit of an endless fall

The fear of losing life,

Losing self-control

I see the sun on the brick wall

And it is beautiful

As I remember when I was a child

In an orchard

Just lying on the grass

Doing nothing at all

We are so lucky to live in this world

The willow grows, reaches to the sun

And I breathe, free air

Where the body is trusted

And I think what sin it's been

That I ever lacked self care

I want the sun forever

And I don't want to lose myself in the moon

I want the sun's goodness to guide me

I want to visit the sea

And ask her to hold me there

I want to stay in bed and admire the sun on the bricks on the wall

Opposite my room on the street of Saint Paul

Broken mass

 King Midas sat on the toilet

Turning his shit into gold

Just gold bricking it, shitting it out

Until that toilet got sold

And you're like some shit alchemist

Who turns my gold into lead

To whom I bring my desire and you insist

That I take it elsewhere instead

And yet you hold up your fire

As if a beacon to guide me home

And I rise ever higher and higher

Only to always come down alone

So what is the point to this dichotomy

One in which you only give out vasectomy

And leave my dead flowers to rot til eternity

Comes round or hell freezes over

I'm cutting off now before I'm run over

I'm already a burn victim in the vice of the system

I'm as undisciplined as my rhyme scheme

I'm holding aloft my flag of surrender

Saying I can't take it anymore

Just leave me alone on my own private shore

This is the end of our un-alchemical amore