Who will follow?

Who will follow him
To the end of the road
Who will follow him into where darkness grows
Yes and who will follow him
To the end of the song?
Will you?
Will you, follow him
Even if you know
He is wrong

Who will follow him
In the belly of the beast
Who will get up early
Stay until the fightings ceased?
Who will follow him
Through temptations door
Who will cast away the doubt
And keep walking on some more?

My shadow walks and I follow too
Into the cage of the lion at the zoo

Story of the man in the middle

It came upon the moral code
Of what should be done
To abode
The right from wrong
The leftist song
In the hymn book of the south

No reason in the whole wide world
A million in gold, diamonds and pearls
Just feel the plight of the poor child
Oh what has happened to me?

The one who is left on the shore
The one who kept walking
Through the open door
When he should have stepped up
To settle the score
Oh what has happened to me?!

You are so poor in spirit young man
Don't you understand the plan
There is nothing left
But to kill it and you can
Oh what has happened to me?

Its the story of the man in the middle
Who couldn't decide on the night
It was left till the morning
But he ignored the warning
Of the brewing of some kind of fight

Oh what has happened to me Mama
Am I fair, am I a man in the right?
I used to bring my judgement to bear
So easy, now its like flying a kite
I keep it up in the air
By tacking in the wind
I keep it flying by changing my mind
And each time I think I might lose then I win
All through tactics of a similar kind

Oh what has happened to me mama?
Am I the son that you would have liked?
Have I done you proud
Or stood out from the crowd?
Am I one alone or just a clone of the paths well hiked?
I've been round and round like in a circle
Like a wheel turning with light
But am I a Catherine wheel on fire
Or a ring of desire
That burns a border for what I reach for
Each night?

Oh what has become of me Mama?
Can you bring my ship back around?
Can you steer me to the clear horizon
Where no more clouds are to be found ?

I know I've seen your face before

I've seen your face some place before
In some theatre maybe or city store
No now I remember you stood at my door
I knew I'd see your face before

I've seen your face some place before
You've got the kind I'd remember
Like a mocking bird
Calling out your name to me
But its something I ignored
I knew I'd seen your face before

I've seen your face some place before
Was it on a poster for ghosts
Was it nailed to a wanted post
Did it set ships a sail to Greece's shore?
I knew I'd see your face before

Was it in Paris?
Was it in Spring?
Now you seem embarrassed
Oh dear was it a fling?
Did we love in the moonlight
Under the Cyprus trees did we sing?
Oh tell, me tell me who you are?

When something reminds me
But I know not of who
Like the lip of a sandal
That a dog might chew
Like some piece of rag
That one discards
I'm trying to remember but it seems so hard
You're on the tip of my tongue
You're a vision out of place
Like on the edge of the horizon
The dawn of your bright face
But I have not the hands
To hold your burning sun
The stars are so myriad
Like out of a million you're the one

Just lay your lines down
Like experience in the sand
Draw up the ground water
From the depths of memories found
Some twinkle in your eye
Reminds me of someone I knew
But am I the one you found
Or did I find you?

Memories fade, they fall in the parade
But I want to remember you
I won't let you fall into shade
Now the sun has shone upon all that you've done
I can see it in your eyes
You've still got things to come
I can trace in your smile
The hard work of the Nile
That runs beneath the surface of your skin
Just tell me is your style
In your heart or your guile
Now tell me are you sure?
I knew I'd seen your face before

In flashes

I see you in flashes like in the storm
Like blood surges that keep me warm
I see you in flashes through the rain
Lightening crashes through my brain

I see you in flashes through the years
Some days like nights, some nights are clear
Some final thunder crashing fears
But I see you in flashes through my tears

There is no name for this flame
Anonymous giver of great fame
The love that lasts a thousand years
The love that laughs all through the tears

The love that jokes, but jokes in vain
When the last laugh leaves you out in the rain
The love that rules from some high up throne
The pearls of wisdom turned tears of stone

Come step down to the mortal plain
Where Angels tread, you're not alone
I see them clear through my window pane
Just like the flashes through the rain

The well of life, the Liverpool
Where the liver birds sit on a ducking stool
The sounds escape, the fury fuels
Another tape around another fool

And deep down mercy draws its fill
From the lake of glory
And destiny's hill
We tell its story
We tell it still
Til morning is hoary
Til the frost it chills

I put my life in your hands
We walk along the wet sands
Our foot prints leave their soul mark
Like signs of life, flashes in the dark

The speed of love, the speed of light
The root of God over men who fight
Angels gather on yonder hill
Can we count how many
The lightening strikes will kill
How many shall live
How many shall die
The power to give
Falls from heaven's sky
It falls not heavy on hoary heads
It falls equal on cowards, clowns and crowns
Its quality like an elixir
Gives a second chance
To the man in the mirror

Seen in flashes of a hope unknown
The rain spoken in splashes on a telephone
The line goes dead
But I hang on
Even in my head
I know my heart lives on

We reconnect when she picks up
After the storm inside the coffee cup
After the night has cooled the drinks
The moon does rise as the sun it sinks

Way across the ocean her image I glean
In flashes the moon like a ship I've seen
Rising up into a foreign sky
But so familiar like a kind of spy

The thunder bolt is in my hand
The power I hold I can't understand
I am no God I'm just a man
No golden calf, lion nor a lamb
Do I throw the dice, leave it up to fate
Am I too early give or to late to try?
Do I let her live or do I let her die?

Occurrences

The lights were looking sweetly
The moon so pale and meekly
I love to see the drunkard brawling
And to know that I'm not he
The sea is softly coughing
On the fish its scoffing
Light house turned on 'n' off
But not in bluffing like the tide

For truth sinks like a stone
The cats are chewing whiskers
And the dogs are talking bones
And I am speaking in whispers
To the matrons on the phone

I need a graveyards solace
To spice the life upon us
To rule with rod of iron
All these thoughts of being alone
And soldiers march in suchness of the
Expectations upon us
False antelopes of silence
That the lions hunt and own
The fledgling jungle grows
In tame pursuance of the rose

There was a time

I leave you the lion's share
The work has been eked out
Like blood from a stone
Like Moses in the mountain
I've been looking for my staff
But I can't find anyone
To telegraph

Like Donald Trump
No, let's not laugh
The Circus is in town
And they're looking for a fall Guy
Adam applied
And Eve lead a Giraffe
She said you must have a stiff neck
To put up with the runway
Everyone is either taking off
Or pulling over on the road
And She doesn't want to give you the cold shoulder
But Paradise was sold
And they bought the plot
From the Virgin Mother
Who tended the verger's road
She cut the grass, while
The day was cut in half
But it never did perfectly fold

You see the blood line differed
Between Jesus and Clifford
And Rochdale never made the bounty
Where the county line dropped
When I was calling up the cops
And the bastards put me on hold
Now what about this for an emergency
I told them
Someone is being crucified tonight
And it maybe me
Or it may be Ben Franklin
But I can guarantee
Somebody's feet will get cold

So they left me in jail
Until I turned pale
And all the blood ran from my head
And I asked the judge for two years
So I could sink a few beers
Before they finally cut off my head

They answered now Chris
Don't take the piss
Impersonating Jesus
Is a serious matter
You cannot simply
Go around walking on water
Or interpreting in a spiritual chatter
There must be a substance to your ghost
There must be holiness to your host
So get ready to give your body
In the service of your post
And deliver yourself freely
Without further delay

I answered the Judge
Fifteen lifetimes have I spent
Practicing this speech
And I believe it heaven sent
Then I turned to the Jury
And with a twist of my tongue
I started to speak sideways
Like through the barrel of a gun
And they understood every word I did utter
And it fell like manna from heaven
All be it in the gutter
And eventually the river ran down the drain
And the rats absorbed the chemicals
I had put in their brains

Now I think this to be the perfect experiment
If you can judge me holy
Then you must give me your sentiment
But if you judge me wrong
Then damn me and your souls
And send me up to the gallows
Or set my body on your coals
For I am neither good man nor am I bad
But I am wise in everyone's eyes
And there is only one place
That such a man can reside
That is either in a cave somewhere
Or he must be crucified
Because he is too dangerous to let
Wander the streets
And tell everyone not to be afraid
Of Spiritual cold feet
But that to be brave
Is what the lord will most cherish
So put your hands on the chopping block
And let the tools perish

So they sent me up the hill
And I carried my cross
And I they did kill
When they nailed me to my post
But I asked them one question
Before I did die
I said when there are so many others
Why make me your fall guy?

Cambridge Analytica

They're Cambridge Analytica
All their words so Politica
So insightful, oh so true
Who ever thought they'd be spying on you?
Oh we trust them, yes we do
With their names in iron
Etched like lions on our national consciousness
Like Lords and Ladies walking through
We know they have the privilege
But what do they know about you?

Such as these were whispering
Beneath the stockade
When they crucified Jesus, King of the Jews
They were the ones who got paid
Such as these have testified
Against youth and against old age
And if you don't measure up
To their examination box
Be sure they'll try to push you off stage

Oh they're Cambridge Analytica
Full of the fascism of Hitler
Held in place by their prestige
But take off their face and you'll see their greed
Their tongues lie, their voices are grey
Their blood is Luke-warm, like that of a snake
But not cold blooded, they would never make that mistake
They are too precise to fool -every correction they make

They're Cambridge Analytica,
Cambridge Analytica
Robots of the system never sympathetica
Machines who do no wrong
But their hair is always grey
Mind they don't catch you too
In their Spider web way
Cambridge Analytica

After The Lion left the room

The lion left the room
It had been sitting in the corner
Foreboding our doom
It took its pound of flesh
Before it left
And we are all that remains
We are the rest

The river Gods have claimed their sacrifice
They raged and raved all night
Two ships collided in the water
They paid the highest price

But are they finished with the slaughter
How many deaths will be the toll
Before the river authorities alter
And reason takes back control

I hear the head and shoulders heaving
The rescuers on heavy ropes heave ho
And as they walk away, in leaving,
Dejected with heavy footsteps go

They dragged the river bed
No sign could they find of the hull
Like the rib cage of a whale encasing
The breathless bodies and souls

The water comes in shocking shards
Like ice sheets falling from the skies
And in the river the terrible serpents
Close their grips and tighten their ties

Hard, hard they thrash in the water
Oh what purpose could justify
Such loss, such senseless torture
Tourists visiting first time in their lives

Out on the David's ship deck the captain glimpses
This gargantuan ship in surprise
And the other Captain of the Goliath Viking
Can neither see clearly nor take evasive exercise

The bulk of one, the distraction of the other
The bridge looms large like an open mouth
And forth spills the torrents of snow from the Alps
As rain falls hard from dark black skies

What were they doing out in such weather?
Was it worth the price of the ticket that cost their lives?

Those of us who are land lubbers
Know little of the risks involved
Nor of the captain who could read the water
Its every twist and fold

But what such currents could do after
The cruel twists of fate now told
The river like a Neptune's circus
Where carpets were pulled
And many rugs fold

Where lions of waves leaped at the wreck
Tigers of currents growled underside
And the ring master's whip
Could do nothing to save him
And carried it with him
Down to his grave

Now the water is calmer
The storm is over
The tempest has ceased
The river is high up to the border
The banks like the cage of a wild beast

The spectators look on
who have been left to their own doom
After the lion has left the room

The lion and the Griffin

The lion and the griffin
They were fighting
For the shield of St George
When Hercules walked down
To the Danube
And said to them both climb on board

Well down in the reeds
He met St Christopher
Carrying on his shoulder
The Saviour Our Lord
And Hercules said to the child
Well come on now
And climb on board

And as he was crossing that old river
The tide was strong, the river broad
And then he met old Moses and the Israelites
And so he said to them
Climb on board

Old Moses he proved very useful
He cut back the tide with his sword
And down with the flapping fish
They met Atlas
Who said my shoulders are strong
So climb on board

Now down on the river bed
It was muddy
And Atlas began to sink
Under his hoard
Until who should he meet
But a great sea snake
Who said my back is long
So climb on board

Now they all slithered along quite safely
And they thought
All of their problems were cured
Until they met old Satan
Hiding in the river basin
And he whispered to them
Climb on board

So they went down
That old plug hole
Where it is the whirl pool of the world
But down at the gate
Satan met his check mate
In the fine figure of the Lord

Now He said to Satan
Give them back
Their souls are mine I am assured
And so they had a fight
In the darkest time of night
And in the morn
The Lord said to them all
Climb on board

So he brought them up
The plug hole
And tread down on the head
Of the serpent
And they all rose alright
In the new day's light
Out on the other river shore

Thanks to you we have been saved
Thanks to you we are cured
And the Lord said in response
That is nonsense
Anytime you need me I can be called
Just look up and pray
And climb on board

Lions of lives are roaring

Thunderous applause of the salt
encumbered shoes
That walk like
Pirates walk the plank
And give no shoulder anyway
To the crocks that give way
As they balance along their flanks

It must be seen to be believed
How strange it seems to finally see
To wake up in the world
As if from a dream
Of the long encumbered sleep

I never slept well
Why couldn't you tell
Each day in heaven
Was a night spent in hell
But somehow we got over these
Disastrous things
And somehow
It just feels so raw
Like peeling back your skin
Then sprinkling on salt
Or rubbing your wound with
Lemon
It stings, it is sore
Like I've shut my fingers in the door
And I carry no truck with that queen anymore

No I played my joker
And she played her ace
And in our game of poker
I got egg on my face

I did so wrong that I can't ignore
This feeling I have in pocket
This string on the purse of my
Rich understanding
Has come loose
And all the coins have fallen
To the floor where I'm standing
And I can't sit down
And I can't let go
And I've lost my crown
But must still act in the show

It seems I have cut off my own nose
At last
Just to spite my face in the glass
Where too much self analysis
Is useless as grass
To a cow who has lost all her teeth

I wish there were some safe place
I could go, where we would all laugh
And it'd be on with the show
But that ship has sailed and she
Has moved gone
Because I marooned myself on this island
With a madman's song

If I might say it
I don't know me well - not well enough

The Lion of Lake Balaton

Standing strong the lion
Stood on the ice upon the Balaton
Defying the winter chill
As all came to a standstill
And let the white Safari gaze
Hunters out on Winter days
Sighting the mighty king

Its ferocious head
The leader of the lead
The majesty of the ice jungle
Fill the heart, its worlds apart
No more false hunts to bungle

They set out at break of dawn
The ice did creak as if it'd sworn
Under their skates
Their snow boot plates
That trod their mystical way

The hunters walked in single file
Mile after weary mile
The darkness and the cold
The starkness of the white was bold
As the sun climbed into a purple sky

Tinted by a red rose tie
Tinted now they traveled long
Between the feet of Balaton
The ice was deep it sang its song
Mile after mile

Mile after windswept mile
Until they found where the Lions beguile
He hid not from them in their scope
He stood strong like a symbol of hope

They took aim, and he did fall
In a crash that sent up an ice sheet wall
A crack which spread
Was the great beast dead?
Or a figment of imagination
Out on the ice of lake Balaton

He runs there still
Through the winter chill
King of all he surveys
More hunters come in the Midday sun
For long at him to gaze

.....................

The lion bounds across the frozen Balaton
Bound in the breaking ice
And crashing in its warlike eyes
Melting paws
The frozen thaws
Out through heat of life

Out, out beyond the cold stars
Reflected from the sky
The ice abounds while the lions crown
Like a furry Eskimo's hood does fly

From the scope of the hunter's moon
Earning his almost magical skill
To mark his prey, and then to kill
The mystical beast too soon

It leaps beyond the gun
Beyond the glinting rays of the sun
Through the testy fields of ice
The frozen waves
The half crescent eyes
Closed to the pain, the cold
But open to the fame of the bold
He fights for life

He fights, he fights
And yet in their sights
They have him still
Like a hymn sung on a hill
Like a bull caught by the nose
In its advancing raging pose

Now crossing the inebriated plain
He comes close to the edge again
And finds in the twisted bank of reeds
A cover that will suit his needs
He stops to rest
And feels best
His heart's blood bleed
The wound is in his thigh
The bullet nipped, it tripped
And skipped back up into the sky

He sees the jade dawn's birds cluster
And at last his strength does muster
to go on
Stalking on around the edge
The cover of the myrtle hedge

The hunters far across the ice
Have yet to spy him with their eyes
His blood is spent, it drips it screes
In pools that mark him, foot prints with ease
The hunters follow this Hansel trail
Of blood sweets, the end their quarry to take

The leaves they breeze
The end in sight
The slightest sneeze
The burn of the night
The lion sees the lake's bright lights: Balatonfűred
He wanders up the pearly streets
Blood dripping on the marble feet
Staggers then
Lays down to rest
Upon a plinth
There he turns to stone
No more the hunter's bullets him can harm
Only their thoughts to atone
For the Lion of Balaton stands alone

The Welsh Bards

There he is the Venomous King
Head in the clouds, our Praise should sing
Closer to God?But he is the Sod
Whose doing the Welsh Murdering

King Edward No, I shall not show
Nor break my bardic Seal
You are the black crow
Of Evil tidings don't you know
Such harm you cannot heal

King Edward, black of heart and mind
Go back to England there to find
Your throne's foundations rotted root
The day your  blighted hand played your family suit

Your coat of arms, a shield of death
Your pack of cards is missing a king of hearts

King:
I am here, I'm ever present
I put down the poor Welsh peasant
My English crown is most pleasant
When I wear it on my head

They're dead, they're dead
The Welsh are dead
My Kingdom knows a wider spread
Make way the Royal carriage lead
Up the Royal Road

Red, its red, the road that's lead
From my throne to this Welsh bed
Here an English castle build
With Spear and Sword I wield
Might is right, and the English fight
To conquer foreign field

Young Bard:
He's mad, he's bad
He's made us sad
What can we sing of now but sorrow
Tomorrow, tomorrow is another day
Dad, but what of the Welsh blood to borrow?

Old Bard:
Its drained, its drained
The life's been washed out by the English reign
Our Prince Llewellyn lies in pain
He's seen only sorrow

How now, I fought beside the Great
A Great man never knows love nor hate
Just daring do be he early or late
To fight the English Foe

But fight he does on Castle Rampart
Flinging spear, casting sharp dart
The arrow head as daggers sped
Into the English Horde
The Welsh fight on
In perennial rebellion
Ever shall daffodil flower yellow
Or the bluebell ring on
In green valley, or fields fallow
Ringing the chimes of freedom

Here are our hearts grown stout and strongest
Bringing courage over hard times longest
Waiting besieged in Castle Harlech
Or standing on the shore

Someday Wales will sing free again
Free of English will to cruel reign
Over hearts and minds
Bards will sing them, of Wales' Victory song

He sits there on his throne admiring
As beyond Welsh country folk are expiring
All for the joke of a United Kingdom
All under one yoke, one throne

See his might on pedestal put
As Majesty steps down its heavy foot
The poor welsh crown is crushed ash soot
In another burning town

See his face in the fire flaming
See the juices of meats and gaming
Set out on the banquet Naming
King Edward King of Wales

His son the poor boy such a weakling
Must follow suit and be a leak King
Prince of Wales is this meakling
Powdering nose and trailing coat tails

When do the ever self-abasing lords
Lay down their arms offer up their swords?
Yet we as Bards fight with our quills
Our tongues our bows, our arrows our words

We shall not deny our heritage
To speak Truth in place of false homage
To recognize infamy in the guise of virtue
To know a villain out beyond his curfew

Such are the acts of an honest bard
Not to dishonour his tradition
Though demands be deadly hard

What worth is a man's soul anyway?
A king's ransom? For King who will not pay?
One compliment given, is a sin to heaven
Even if a season in hell be my forfeit
Heaven knows a poet must speak
But truth guides his tongue
He must not be weak
To sell his soul for a lie
Or his pride for a leek?

I will wear it by my side
Until the stench does wreak
Then the king will know the bad air around him
Of the Welsh's men's hearts grown cold that surround him
The banquet table holds a chill as well
For all the soul's he's damned
Including his own straight to hell

So no I shall not sing his praises
King Edward is the poison of the middle ages
Wales the sick patient,
Only kept down in a perpetual sleep
May King Edward's Castle fall
and tumble into the deep