Mid stream

 If you need anything

Let me know

I need a fish head

I need the legs

To walk on water

Like an Ariel

I need a chance

Heads or tails

Open mouth of whale

Swallowing up a Jonah

I need a fishmonger

Market stall

For sale or rent

My suit of scales

Cheques and balances

I need a spout

I need a fluke

Over the moon

I had a whale of a time

Turning on a dime

I went down to the river bank

And cast my line

I asked the water for some message

I hadn't heard of mine

A fish it jumped

Its tail thumped

Upon the bank it pined

I threw it back

Into the sump

Of blackness and of slime

But far below

The river did flow

Like a life in its prime

What waste to catch a rotten fish

When other fresh waters wind

And I may walk to other rivers

That will give me back my time

Last one

 When it comes to call

me out my friend

They will line us up

against the wall

I'll be the last one standing

When the time is right

and the season's full

I'll walk with you

Out into the cull

I'll be the last one standing

When the rain falls down

On the stag's horny crown

And you wear that bleeding, jaded frown

Don't look now, but I told you so

I'll be the last one standing

The river green

 Down by the river

The rolling green river

Down by the river I've been

Down by the river

Where flag Irises quiver

I saw the river Queen

She walked like a sliver

Of moonlight, a shiver

Wishing upon stars in the scene

When I went down by the river

Down by the river,

Down by the river green

Down by the river

Where the wag tails bob

And the fish in the flanks

Who finish the bank job

Of eating the insects

That live only to rob

Down by the river green

Down by the river

The rolling green river

Down by the river I've been

Down by the river

When my heart and my liver

Turned a skip for what I had seen

All the bally insects

Flying round like little jets

All the colours of the scene

But one that will know you

Even everytime show you

That's why the river runs green

Ribbons of the sea

 I saw the rising ribbons from the sea

I saw the rising ribbons from the sea

I saw the raging waves

And the lifeguard who saves

And Neptune's daughters 

Who were twins

I saw the father

Like Poseidon

I saw the mother like a coral reef

Beside him

And down beneath

The surf on the cliff

I saw the river sprites

Who were twins

Born in a place and in a time

Far gone over

Beyond mine

The life I have been given

No other shall be shriven

When I saw the rising ribbons

From the sea

Witch's wedding

 It was a witch's wedding

Down in a cave

A witch's wedding

But never a guest looked grave

Through the cob webbing

As the candlesticks save

And the yellow lights shone

On the walls

Who's echoing screeches gave

The tides on the shore were ebbing

The sun dial's chimes did call

A large cauldron stood four feet tall

And into the pot went all manner of fool

A four legged friend even one foot stool

Friends until the end as the frog's legs sprawl

And the preacher she was a creature of

A most hideous hide

Jagged as a stalagmite

Only matched by the wedding bride's

But beauty runs more than skin deep

And these had rhinoceros hides

Such beauty had never walked such caves

Not since the Halloween's tide

The witch was given away by the star of

The scene 

as the devil walked in there

Turning all the wedding guests green

Ah my sweet Papa said the witch

And bowed to kiss his tail

The mysterious man showed grace and poise

And in his duties never failed

"A fine young man your bride groom is

As father I do approve

Just mind he is versed in the dark arts

And his station it will improve

I shall turn the world to my will

And ensure his career is skilled"

Oh, but the Devil was no ordinary man

A real Prince charming was he

And as he let go of her hand

In the other he passed the husband a key

Now you and she will be locked together

Chained like the tides to the sea

And your life and hers will forever be tied

Round and round until in death you are free

A narcissist first, and a narcissist last

The devil's own sin was his pride

And as he vainly gave the key to the groom

He neglected to look at the bride

And in that short moment

When the wedding bonds passed

And the Groom did inherit the Earth

Hell wore a smile like a river wide

And his daughter's eye contained much guile and mirth

Yet she was a witch and could never submit 

To man's complete dominion

For in truth she hurt for the wild wind's course

And she ached to untie the marital union

Though love is a bond that lives wild and strong

And will pass beyond measureless time

The heart is an art that is a high road long

And only lives because others have died

This man she knew, she would tell to go to hell

And he would in truth dwell down there

But his worldly sense loved the commonsense

While hers was more a type magical mare

A witch's divorce is a thing to see of course

No solicitor could negotiate deeds

How to divide the keys to the Earth

Or pages of pride and of greed

Though he may leave her

She will never forget

And her curse will follow him

Like a supersonic jet

Booming the sound waves

And brooming the debt

He owes her his life yet

He owes her his life yet

Dripping Cove

 Dripping Cove

The running iron stove

That bleeds its red blood

From the islands heart

Out to the orange buoy

Who has floated like a gob stopper

In the rivers mouth for years

And that Pirates Bay

With smuggler’s caves

Where the sea like a milky basin sways

In the murmuring moonlight it waves

And its murderous intentions

Below the looks

Of monks from above their books

Below the sounds of the farmer’s plough

And the hob nailed boots of soldiers on their way

Dripping cove, ebbs out its life blood precious

Mixes the islands blood flow with the seas salty spray

Views from Flat Holm

 When the land is on its knees

And it seems like pickle and cheese

Laid out in slabs and chunks

All along the coast of the seas

And the sky is striking blue

As a thunderbolt in a bucket or two

Emptied in, the repository of wind

Which takes it hurling up the channel

And after the storm

The white windmills clearly blew

Like the arms of those reborn

On the hills of Calvary

Like jacks that God threw

Tumbling down

From the back of his hand

Fallen between divine fingers

The way across the bay

Seems so near yet is so far

The beach beyond out of reach abscond

The cream teas and fish and chips

The happy shoppers and laughing lips

The merry go round and carousel

The Big Top turning I know very well

The pier like a playground, for grown up kids

The steep climb to Brean Down

Where many a walking boot skids

And the fort which looks out back at us

Like a mirror seeing its own eye through binoculars

Its gun turrets and batteries and military shielding

Matched by our own battlements and the Victorian's building

Conjoined like three weird sisters Brean Down and two islands

 

Steep Holm the steepest, its gradient highlands

Like a potters clay mound cut and turned

On the wheel of the sea

Its edges carved steep by is cupped hands

Flat Holm the lizard lounging down flat

Sunning itself, by the wind, ironed like a mat

Brean Down so colloquial, provincial almost

With Weston the hub of local stage post

And Cardiff is there gleaming and white

Shining out through defiance against the storm’s might

Metropolitan and buzzing splashing its wealth

Like an elephant in a mud bath all over itself

On the hill Penarth

Proud and self-fulfilled,

Looking on the works of former days willed

Collated like a kaleidoscope

The world swirls around

As a lesser black-backed gull

Swoops down to ground