The city lights

All of these mysteries come circling like vultures
Trying to braid art into our many cultures
Seeing what the vibrato voice can really do
Try looking down the wishing well
You will see myself with you

Even when the weather's holy
As a sacred cow
And the brown paper bag
Is tethered to the crow
Even then my monopoly
On you is far from swift
I can hold you in my hands
But you cannot be my gift

Even when I see you together
With that other man
I fall between the pavement cracks
And my legs won't stand
Even when I hurt so bad
I can barely tell
One side of Trinidad from the other side of hell

This place is making me a little sick in the head
Like a feather from the crow flying from the land of the dead
Even when the weather's bad I remember the words you said
That we would be together through the nights
Through the streets
Through all the nights and streets
And the city lights that sped

up to you

Dead weights
In islands of my mind
Songs listing
Like Galleons in a storm
An armada of choices
Awash with indiscretion
Garlands of hubris
To crown myself in

The Fs and Rs
Are Happy Gs
Jest, it is Just
Ket, cat
Caterine, the rine
Of the cat

Nice Sky

Its a nice sky
What colour is it?
A kind of pinky orange, like a fish's scales
It hangs there like a tapestry over
the flats of a certain destiny
High rise in intensity
The dreams of Gherkins brought to courgettes
Ghengus Khan's children
Inadvertently under-esteemed
Until the Empire is just
This painted cloud castle
Where he rides his chariot
Drawing the sun, like he
Drew the close of day
On an age of magic

All the Spring Flowers

All of us, all of us everyone
The seeds in the field
Growing in the Sun
All of us reaching to be closer to the one

All the silly sunflowers
Bobbing up their heads
Reminding us it is spring's hours
We need not be dead

Come alive in March
And fall into April
Like a tree with a broken branch
Whose height topples its alma mater - ial

Where can the cuckoo sit, when he comes to call?
The flowers with his cuckoo spit
Are grown against the wall
The shadow of the wall casts long in the afternoon
But I can yet hear his song way into the month of June

I need a lasoo or a whip
To keep the cattle rolling
I need a steamer or a ship
To keep the river strolling

Keep on going down the valley
The cowboys sing their song
Of all the yard girls at aunt Sally's
Yearning the whole day long

Green ice

Green ice, green ice watching you
The Balaton has green ice

Walking along its circumference
Close to the Cathedral of Tihany
It gives its gentle crush to the ice
Green ice watching you

Moving on now like a ferry
We perambulate up and down
The promenade like dancers of the night
It is a nice place for the ducks I think
They toddle like babies but never quite sink

The swans are even pretty in pink
Wise in white, with their legs pulled up
Green ice, green ice watching you

Crows in a pair come down and tap
Poking the green ice with their beaks
Asking it questions, but like a captive agent
The green ice never breaks, never speaks

Its folding up near the pier though
Its edges are beginning to flake
Its made of some stuff very queer
I think it is metal, think it is real then fake

Its holding on to the winter
Like it doesn't want to let it go
Hold on green ice, no just let your ice melt
Because gone is the cold winter snow

Let your green ice flow Mrs Balaton
Let the tears come running down your face
The crows feet are already at your corners
They're dancing the new dance in your place

Green ice, green ice watching you
Fasting the whole day through
How can you live, with a twig, with a fig
With a green leaf covering you

I tried my luck upon your green ice
You held my body in tow
My foot steps left tentative tracks on your ice
But in the end I had to go

I am sure you could have held me
for longer
I'm certain you had the strength
But I was afraid that the new spring curtain
would come down, and I'd
fall right through

Green ice if I could keep you
Green ice if you were true
I would leave the shore side
And walk out into the lake with you

Good Morning Mr Black Bird

Top of the morning to you
The black bird says
What are you doing? I ask
She says listening to the days
Listening to the birdsong
And the days roll past
Today into tomorrow so slow
The earth does not spin fast

Some days you must slow down
Acclimatize yourself with God
Nature or the universe
Whichever you feel gives you life
And keeps you here for a purpose

When I do I stop falling
I stop being blown in the breeze
Like a leaf fallen into the green Balaton
I am silently stuck there
until I unfreeze

The American Corner

 A little piece of heaven

A slice of the American pie

A report of the news at seven

Your own private cloud in the sky

Come here to read, or unwind

Come here to leave behind

Those hours of nine til five

Dolly Parton eat your heart out

Now the American Corner’s come alive

Pieces of the American dream

Gradually fall into place

They fill in the Hungarian scene

Where reality wears a different face

Yet we all wear masks here

We’re all part of the carnival

Some clown sheds a tear

Another actress shines a knowing smile

The American corner revolves around

The spirit we can all better ourselves

And the queen of that dream

Is Bogi who's seen sitting, working hard

At her computer among the full book shelves

It’s a place of Education

A place for rich and the poor

It's egalitarian Librarian

Is partly fraternal, a little maternal, 

Showing us the score

Giving us the US quiz, to improve our knowledge some more

So roll up, roll up come join the parade

We're marching through the town

People of every colour, creed or shade

Everyone is equal and we all have the right

To pursue our own happiness

And to fight the good fight