Government of Love

 Oh you could be the next prime minister of my heart

You're the elected officials of the consciousness of love

And love is a policy which must tow the party line

Oh that thin thread between your heart and mine

Come muster your support, get the backings in the commons

Let the MPs of your Aorta call out in the chambers of belongings

And if you lost your heart in this election well why not try again

There will be another one coming and you'll be in the running my friend

I wrote down my constitution on the tissue paper of a lung

And blew it up like a balloon, so all the letters sung

And so enlarged was my chest, so courageous was my heart

But devious dealings and cowardice brought down my only art

For love is the exhibition, the portrait or the bust

Ex-rulers of love's country in a museum of lust

And sickness in love's hospitals where I spent my rest

Convalescing in love's company, or perhaps only its ghostliness

I sorted out my passport so I could cross love's borders

I had to escape my impasse, with my knights hauled up in corners

And their horses kicking around in one horse towns, 

where none could find a drink, 

well this town ain't big enough for the both of us

What the hell else did you think?

Love was what it ought to be, oh so long ago,

Just a wisp in the willows, just a twang of the bow

And yet it turned into a mist

That seeped amongst the shadows

And our boats they broke through the whiteness

On the way to marshy gallows 

Up against it

 You know we're up against it

And our backs are against the wall

Oh all the tribes of Egypt

They are plotting out our fall

But we will yet be victorious

Oh I can hear that clarion call

And the angels sing in chorus

As on the battlements we stand tall

Yes we are up against

But you know we must dig deep

Under the skin, to the guts where in

Our reserves of courage sleep

We must awaken the lion

And go roaring into the fight

For when you are up against it

There can be no escape or flight

Yes we must tough it out my friends

And wave our standards high

And let the banners of our armies

Unfurl and in the cross winds fly

We must meet our enemy

And we must knuckle down

And when we hear the speech of Henry

We will fight for country and crown

When the chips are down

 Will you still love me

When the chips are down

Oh the trees are now green,

But as I have seen, soon they will turn brown

So what I want to know is,

will you still love me

When the chips are down

I heard from the owl that it is night right now

And the sun it has gone down

Well more than that prayer or feather of your care

Will you still love me 

When the chips are down?

When the chips fall down boys

When the chips fall down

I'll pick you up

And set your crown

When the chips fall down

And out beyond the steaming morning

And the Church bell's chime

The storm that brews, it calls a warning

Of a hard and trying time

Will you come to me in my hour of darkness

Will you come to me and say

All the things good and bad in bargaining

When the chips are down?

Prime numbers

 Now, I'm not saying it is special

And I'm not saying it is fair

But just bear with me like heavy metal

When I say that you should care

I can walk, thank the Lord Jesus

I can walk at last

It has been a slow train coming,

And I didn't think it would pass

But with your blessing I can feel it like a weight lifted from my spine

I can walk without my spiders

I can walk my own true line

There were many who were my detractors

Some bad and also some kind

But they all served to me as reminders  of

What might happen if I didn't shine

So take back your protractors and calculators

Leave me the numbers of prime

I will divide each by themselves and then leave them

One at a bloody time

Prime numbers are much like my lovers

They cannot be counted nor divided

Except by themselves

And even the elves knew they 

Were having a good time

Night owl

 Night owl hooting in the eves

Stomp, stomp, stomp of the night creature 

whoever he is at this time of night

traipsing along the pavement alone

Looking for what?

Or what's looking for him?

Up and down the streets of gin

Clear night calling, refreshing in its quietude

It's a night owl avenue 

Hear them calling

what do they want?

Wise creatures asleep during the heat of the day

Away from crazy man and madness

All the sadness gone away

Some other night owl

They will find us

Surely walking keeps at bay

This feeling of ever saddening

Hunger for love or cheer or pay

Night walker, stalker, dark talker pray

What have you come to say?

Do the skeleton walk

 I do the skeleton walk

All bones and elbows

Like Jesus on my cross of crutches

All trussed up, a walking puppet

Stilts of Dali's elephants in deserts

Top heavy

But now loose hung together by sinews

just what is needed for my frame

"Hang loose"

The Romans said to Jesus

When they saw him pinned up there

We make a crucifix of suffixes and prefixes

We make a bonfire of our vanities

And shatter the mirrors of man in God's images

Ever receding an infinity of apes

Ever diminishing the square root of our madness

Human ideas are bound by shapes

None can get beyond their own boundaries

All must, like Lucrece, give way to our rape

and hold in the eyes the pennies of badness

And let fly the scarves that would hang our own nape

The green, green grocer

It was late in the afternoon, as I was closing

When a shopper came in with forlorn look of wanton care

 He was begging for it oo he wanted it yeah

 He was begging for it oo he wanted it yeah

He said I want it quick, give me just one of your pears

Give it me behind the counter

Give it to me in the shop front

It can be our brief encounter

Just don't stop me getting what I want

 He was begging for it, oo he wanted it yeah

 He was begging for it, oo he wanted it yeah

So I gave to him his bag of salad

And I gave it to him, I gave him a conference pear

I said take them all, why not buy a bunch of flowers

I said to him why not buy another pear?

He said I want it quick give me a ripe banana, oo yeah

He said I want it quick give me just another one of your pears

So I gave him it, I thrust it into his brown paper bag

I gave it to him saying we're out of passion fruit but don't despair 

He couldn't stand it, it drove him wild, he was pulling at his hair

He couldn't pay for it, I asked him if he had a banana down his trousers

He whipped out a gun crying give me my groceries man, I don't care

I said he could take them as he found them for what's an apple missing here or there

Out the door I saw him scarper, then I thought down the street I'll hear him harper

Cos that brown paper bag I gave him needed some repair

Sure enough the bag broke and the joke was on him

The thief who stole my conference pears