The voice from the Tower

 I had a hurt that came to me

It came like a roaring flower

It spoke of love's inconstancy

It spoke of love's great power

It let the yelp of timeless plea

That fall like the passing hour

No I said stop in your tracks

Don't fight in the burning tower

More shall calm the raging sea

More shall charge than cower

For hearts are bold on the aging quay

That waits like the rocks turned sour

And salt and kelp flow in my mouth

My eyes they see sea foam

Caught between the north and south

No direction have I home

The love that was strong did turn the key

To unlock the door of the prison

And I saw the prisoner mad to be free

And let him have his freedom

Oh I spent ten years a wandering on

Where the voice of life grew faint

And I heard my heart that called me on

To the canvass I should paint

And love like a lion did roar on

Down the darkened ruins of time

I leant upon the turnstile gate

And drifted to the tower 

Danube Girl

 Danube girl, on the banks of a brand new world

Making waves with your hand shoe twirl

In the sand by the river

Danube girl, I want to swim with you in the curls

Of the water as you dive for pearls, on the bed of the river

Can you hear me, singing through the sea

Did you hear the voices of a Europe that was free

Danube girl, some where upstream, 

Where they make your dreams

Come true like in magazines

Trying find a new world

Tumble Town

 By now I'm almost there

That being the place

Where I can get somewhere

I'm no young man

But I ain't no square

Well by now

I would have thought

You'd have got somewhere

Well I'm doing my best you

Know it's hard out there

DOING YOUR BEST

tO BE fRED ASTAIRE

dANCING WHILE SHE'S SPARKLIN'

oFF IN THE clouded lair

Well, by now I'd have thought

You'd have got somewhere

So what do you want of me

Mr spoon

With your head shining in photography

Of the silver moon

And your legs dipped in the iodine

Of an ionized ocean

Oh where is the irony

In all this emotion?

I'd have thought by now

You'd have got somewhere

I saw you coming up the dirty track

Your wheels were dirty like a cigarette ash

I knew in your coming

There was no going back

It was like the bees humming

Over honey like cash

Now Don't you mistake me

I know where you're from

I've been there myself

I once was a bum

But I don't like your kind

Sniffin' around

So why don't you crawl back under

The rock you've come from

Apples

Word got around
You had stolen my crown
And you began with laughter
And the bees on the thorn
Or the rose on the horn
They sting or they bleed me
After

And the falling apple spins
It does not bear the wind
It does not count the seconds in time
It has left the tree
It has broken free
And it lands on the grassy slope
Near to the father

Waiting for the river

Its way past the time when I ask for it
Come with the mask that fits
In the second hand kit
But kid gloves are it
In the stagnant pool
Where we sit
Like frogs and think of England

Is this it?
She says jump
And I am afraid of getting wet
Afraid of free fall
Of the height of this wall
I am sitting on

But the water must flow
Somewhere
There must be a river to follow
And I see it snake off
Winding into tomorrow
I must go

There were two frogs who sat on a log
Who sang of the birds and the bees
Along came a dog who howled like a hog
Red-faced it knelt on its knees
And I looked for signs in its face
Of intelligence or innocence or grace
And yet it was wearing a mask
I could not detect or trace

(30th January 2019)

Any old Adam

 Well paradise was full of birds and bees

And elephants with long trunks

Tucked up their sleeves

And God said, look who's that man Eve

And she said - I don't know him from Adam

Now Eve, I thought I told you not to mess around with boys

You know you will break my equipment

These men are not toys

I have already given you several models named Steve

So who's this one Eve?

And Eve said I don't know him from Adam

But Eve said, this one's different, I can feel it in my bones

For now I've set the ball rolling, it's like a rolling stone

And please stop this cajolling, insistent tone

God said do you still believe in me Eve?

Eve said, well I don't know you from Adam

Just then a snake slithered down from up in the leaves

Eve thought he was a rope so gave him a heave

Hey kid quit pulling me down,  what are ya tryin to achieve?

Eve said oh you must be new in town, because I don't know you from Adam

Well if that's how you treat a stranger, I think I'll get myself lost

I can see a three leafed clover, there's a manger and a holy ghost

Perhaps if I went in, they might give me a warmer toast

Eve said I doubt it unless you can shed your skin,

They don't know you from Adam

And Adam said to God, I don't know if I  really know myself

God said here's a mirror, look within you'll find I am your twin

And so they embraced, like long lost cousins, and Adam got a lump in his throat

And God got a pain in his neck, and before you could say paradise

Eve appeared with an apple

Now I'm willin' to marry a twin, you don't have to ask me twice

But before we tie the ribbon, I think it would be nice

If you can introduce him, the one with the snake eyes

And God said I would but I don't know him from Adam

Bees in your bonnet

 All in the cans of the cantalope

All in the knowledge of the elope

He went with blinkers over his scope

And thinkers in his graveyard's hope

Sure you say the dogs will bite

Well it's you they bay for every night

And the fierce fires roar outside your door

And kites

That soar

Too true the cruel hand of time

Has passed us all by twisted crime

For fate will fall upon the wall

Where sunlight still shines

Then the dial on the church 

Shall cast its shadows like the birch

That sways above your kind of love and mine

That's fine

Inside the hour where birds do sing

And the dogs they cower as the bear does swing

His massive claw at your door

Or mine

That's fine

There are bees and birds and hymns

In the gutter with the butter and the pea shooter kings 

Who throw their shells like cartridges

Back at black and white partridges