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

A flash in the pan

 The midwives were busying themselves on the ward

The porters were portering, and the waiting patients looked bored

Nothing much was happening, it was the usual rap

When a certain tap-tapping began to tap

The matron cried "Ahoy there! I smell smoke between the sheets,

Either some aberrant's been smoking or there's a fire on the beat."

Just then the fire alarm rang out, a wailing, chilling sound 

And it stopped the matron somewhere abouts in the middle her round

 

The hospital crew acted bravely to carry out the matron's orders 

She told them to remove the mothers to safty in out-the-way borders

Down the stairs they went flying, like refugees they were sighing

But lucky they were to be evacuated in the nick of time from the scene

as smoke circulated around the bedpan macerating machine

Just then the fire brigade rocked up with their hard hats and their hoses

And they told all those locked up to hold on tight to their noses

And they stormed right up the stairwell, to fight the fire, and quell its flame

But none of them were to know then the bedpan by its burning name

The new mothers stared on with the look of those who had been stunned,

As they held their babes in arms took on the look of Mary or of nuns

But stern they were of will to survive this great ordeal

Hoping in their hearts that they might soon get a meal

Though the babes in arms were yet crying, 

the mothers charms they still kept trying

Until a calm had settled down upon the congregation

When a man decided to have a myocardial infarction

So as the midwives were treating this unfortunate chap

The firemen were charging through for a second lap   

 

The matron then in her most commanding voice

called for calm and order as if they had no choice

So in the end nirvana was again restored

And the patients kept on waiting and the waiting ones got bored

And the man who had been waiting to be seen

Now he had been seen he couldn't wait to leave

And as the last of the bedpan flames were quenched

The sad looking macerating machine was drenched

And luckily nobody's mother's waters broke

So they all trudged back up the stairs thinking what a joke

Because you know they say it never rains but it pours

Which is what they should write on the A and E doors

And all these things were sent to try us

Including bedpan macerating machine fires

And so before you ask if you can use the can

You better be sure it's not for a flash in the pan

Octopodimore roundabout

 Octopodimore roundabout

Is just about what an Octopus shouts

When he thinks it is too busy on the roads

While he is eating Spaghetti

While talking to a toad

And this kind of activity can be a dangerous thing

Especially if the toad begins to sing

Because like Pavarotti he loves to sing of things

That get his gilgotti and make his microwave ping

So he replies it's like Spaghetti junction round here

And then a Baloney Sandwich suddenly appears

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

Stop talking Baloney, you know there's nobody near

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

Mr Octopody you're making me feel kind of queer

Well I can't blame you, said the toad

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

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

Which ever one you can, answered the eight legged outsider

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hang a left here said the toad with a moan,

No take a right, said the beer in barotone

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

"Be quiet everyone the Octopus is asleep"

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

Boy said the Beer I must stronger than I knew

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

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

The car had gone off track onto the hard shoulder

Where chips flew off the block

And they came to a stop

Would you like fish with that?

Asked the little chief,

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

Once upon a time machine

 Once upon a time machine, I went walking 

In the bar

The bar broke bent

And shape-shifted

And time was called done

And after hours I slipped forth into the dead of night

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

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

He looked at me from his high watch

Said I can spare you none

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

But he was bereft for the time left

Had for him turned out bad

Next I walked along the road and met a friendly horse

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

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

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

I moved on down with a whistle

Until I heard its answer spoke in vain

For I had come to the station

And at the platform stood a train

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

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

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

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

The train will always arrive, just when it chooses to

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

So with this explanation I looked up into the sky

And saw there bright circling birds above

And diamonds sparkling high

How long, how long must I wait

Before time shows me her hand

I'll hold it now said time to me

And with that time dropped her sand

And the hours seemed to pass in the glass

As I did tumble and fall

And night and day exchanged themselves

Like books upon their shelves

First I read the beginning lines

And then I read the end,

And all that I could see was time out of mind

And I knew time was my friend

So eventually the time did stop

The sand it ceased to fall

And I was stuck like a cuckoo clock

Poised, frozen upon a wall

I knew if I should step out now

My shadow would not follow

But what had I to lose,

But the lost time blues

So I did grit my teeth and swallow

The time is now said a voice

This what you must master

And know that in each time you have a choice

You may choose order or disaster

But none who know the outcome

Would have it any other way

For unless you are Cassandra

Then the future must seem a haze

The light is on

 She is out there living it large

Painting the town pink

Downing some drinks

Before hitting the road

They are all fired up

Each other they goad

But she's not the same

Although I think I can claim

Felt she was a more sensitive soul

Well I can cajole

And keep on parole

Her flame

But I wouldn't wish to

Be

The dark wizard in his tower

Casting magic spells

To control her

I am no bar roller

They are out in the city streets

Where the light meets

The pavement in excitement

And rain puddles splash under feet

And voices go crashing like

waves in the deep

Somewhere out there

As I am somewhere in here

In my room

Though it is no great gloom

It is a lighthouse of news

That shines on and off

As the world's news is like doom

There is some hope at the end of the tunnel

Some flash of light

I can catch in my funnel

Like a spider

Like a web through out the house

With little bells that tinkle

Jingle and jangle

When she walks back in

And my light goes on

In the loft

And her care is so soft

But tough

And I haven't had enough

yet of love

Just

 I'm asking you for some news

From the foreign front

Give me the cues that I may use

To decide what I really want

I cannot tell, if this living hell

Is sound or fury or noise

But warning bells, begin their knell

Like psychological joys

When all is drifting down the river

And salmon are leaping free

And carp play harps, in musical

Tarps of mysterious melody

And trout make noise of gurgling boys

And fields of ripe corn

A million miles from where I am

And where I once was born

I run the gauntlet of this life

Up the torrid stream

And every footstep that falls

Is another vaunted dream

But if you call me Noah

Or if call me steam

I will flood you

With a rainbow

Of my vaulted beam

All the rocks are cold

All the trees are dripping

Sometimes the wild seems so bold

While I can feel less gripping

And the battle that must be fought

Is one against ourselves 

But whether it needs fighting

Is a decision made by elves

They are voices calling

Take it easy

Go to sleep

And I am willing to oblige them

As I crawl out of the deep

love on the rocks

 Well if I had given you more

Would you have walked out the door

Or if I had given you less

Would you have stayed it is anyone's guess

As it was I did enough

Life got hard, then it got tough

But I saw you through the bad days

Like a bright light illumines dark haze

And I sing for everyone sung

When days were long and work never got done

And I sing at the top of my lung

For the yoke was held though we both were free

For the sea swelled and my heart it might burst

For all the love in the world

Lovin' you is the worst

And my voice yelled, well am I not cursed

For lovin' you last means lovin' you first

Monday

 There's that time in the city, when it all stops

When the fury of the hour is over

When it looks like the day will relinquish

Its headlock hold, and the penny drops

Then the wind stirs in the trees

The hammer blows continue

Deep rumblings of trucks

Are heard again

Engines start

And drills brrrr into walls

And voices continue to chatter

Like a thread in the stitching of the universe is dropped

And we all stare at the dark matter

Has the creator a synaptic gap

That's a little too far to leap?

Or has he or she simply taken a nap

Had 40 winks or a sleep?

Whatever the answer it's Monday today

And here comes that start the week feeling

I should have washed the sheets over the weekend

I should dusted the walls or ironed the ceiling

But it is a loss I'm afraid my good friend

Time has crept up on us again

There's more to be done under the sun

More of interest that this start the week squealing

Western Eyes/Madam Butterfly in London

She had eastern lips, and an eastern smile
But she spoke like Maralyn Monroe
From the Sunset mile
And I couldn't resist
As the sun was going down over the hill

She was a temptress dragon
Of a strange affair
She had diamond teeth
And long brown hair
And as I tried to catch her
She vanished into thin air

Was she Madam Butterfly
In the London square,
Playing all the theatres to
The crowds who stare
She had love like lockets that she dropped on the ground

And I picked her up in a bar one night
It was pouring outside, but the bar was bright
She was singing in her Eastern tones

And it ran right through me like the rain
I could feel my heart strings begin to strain
As she played me like she played everyone else
She was a master magician, a Madam of disguise
And I knew right then that I loved her sunrise
Like a star that has fallen down from the skies
I looked and saw, she had Western Eyes

Western eyes and an Eastend voice
She sounded like James Dean
She didn't have a choice
And If I wasn't mean then neither did I
For I loved her Western eyes

She had a China heart that could easily break
And porcelain bones that I could not forsake
And as I held her in my arms, I knew I could never
Ever drop the vase
She was never real, she was a plastic girl
And she could never feel, the fantastic world
Though all was a fantasy to her

She fell from the stars like an angel of grace
She left behind everything she knew
And her Eastern race
Just so she could walk through the london streets
She saw her face on the cover of every magazine
And in every cinema she played the heroine on screen
Her star was rising and crossing the Eastern sky

Well I met her later in a restaurant
But I had no idea what from her I did want
It was like seeing a person aknew
Like an avenging Angel she threw
Back in my face all the scorn
She felt from being born in the wrong place
When I said I didn't like what she'd become

She was married the next year to some
Travelling man, setting up business
Over in Japan
She had the face to fit the bill
She sold geisha smiles
And Chinese dolls
To businessmen with air-miles
Instead of their souls
And I knew my butterfly
Flew further away

I tried to catch her then
At the wedding of a friend
And we held hands
At the maze's end
But when I kissed her her lips were as cold as ice
The cold in her soul, had grown into her bones
And her Eastern body wracked with westend tones
She was dying and her wings they began to fade

But when she tried to take off
I promised her not
To forget about me
And all that we got
But she gave me her smile
And she winked her Western Eyes

Will I ever see her again?
Probably not
It was a love over the season
Of an East to West plot
Sometimes there's no going back
To things that are lost

I saw her the other day
Just through the glass
I was inside , and she was walking passed
And thought, this was how it always did go
That love is like a butterfly you
Can't easily catch,
And when you do
It's too delicate, and its not going to last
So you must set it free and watch
It fly or else it dies

And you can love it
On the wing
You can love it in your hand
But try to catch the thing
And you can never understand
Only let it sing and see the sparkle
In her Western Eyes

Goblin Coombe

The wind blows through the glen
voices carried on the wind
Of good/bad choice we can't mend
Where the fairy folk are ken
Gnarled and knotted in the sleepy glen
Quick sharp tongues of ice
Slicing through squeaks of mice
Chattering squirrels, patridge, hen
Hear the voices of the little men
Goblin, goblin, Goblin Coombe
Eating the turkey oak
By the light of the moon
Smoking bark
And evergreen den
Far in the milky dark
Of Goblin Coombe again