The star-bucked Martyr

 Oh how the stars bucked me

They threw me off indeed

I thought I was dying for a cause

Or a need

In fact I died for my own greed

Selfish as a human will

The stars they taught me a lesson still

Do not follow or ride our train

Around and round the earth again

You'll get dizzy

It's all in vain

The Star-bucked Martyr cried again

If I should go down in flames

Let the stars spell out my name

But they ignored her single claim

For stars are no man's fool

And no woman's gain

They follow their own rules

So don't get cross

If you find your stars are lost

The banner still shall be held high

On the spot you came to die

Armistice

 I've seen this world go up in flames

Then down again soon fall the rains

And ashes burnt, but memory remains

It's all just a part of the game

And I create while you destroy

You treat this world like it's your little toy

But can you claim you don't enjoy

The lives you squander, girl or boy

I should have thought you'd have had enough

What's life worth and at what cost?

Will death come cruising for your ghost

In hidden halls of your war post

Write a letter home won't you

Tell of the murder that you do

Explain to your mother and your father

How you rape, pillage and torture 

If this crime belies your heart

What a black place it is to start

Make a new world instead your art

Paint with brushes not with darts

Cut the cloth to fit the mode

The time of living in this abode

Is over so soon before it begins

All babies surely are born without sins

No child deserves such a death

Wrenched from life at their first breath

For the sake of lives much farther along

Despite the heartache, despite the wrong

What justice is there in killing the young

In defence, or to prove that you're strong

It is weaker still to aim your big guns

At innocents who've done you no wrong

So put away your guns of shame

And let peace reign again

It matters not what hot words have flown

Let sleeping dogs lie

Return to your home

All flags of nations should have one hue

The white flag of truce

To show their fighting is through

And if Armistice means any kind of gain

Let us speak true and end the war games

Casino Britannica

 All new

The news

That money can buy you love

At least so long as

The money keeps rolling in

For this is Britain 

And that is what love is found on

From the Romans to the Vikings

They all wanted to take a spin

On the Casino of Britannica

Oh she's a wheeler and a dealer

It is true

Our lady Britannica is a survivor

In the best of times and the worst

Giving her pound of flesh

To invaders

For a piece of the Royal chest

A slab of the fat of land

She's a giver

She's a real river of joy

What you can love

You can likewise destroy

But life's about quality

And we have it here in spades

My mother, God love her,

Would not have wanted

it any other way or boy?

It's just a shame the man turned out 

Different to what her hopes

Could enjoy

But that's just the Casino Britannica

Clicking around like a toy

Opera

 Well you gave me the choice to turn

And in grace not lose the voice that

I brought from my face

That howled in the wind

Of the afternoon opera

Well you gave and I took it

You gave the choice to turn

And in the grace I must learn

To embrace the new

While I release the old

That is the only life that is true

Move on, move on he said

And the snow winds blew

On the mountain tops head

And it was new and oh so true

That Scotland was the way ahead

I knew

I want to be free

 Are these ties, strong enough to bind?

Are these eyes open enough to find

The one truth hiding amongst all the debris

After the explosion crying out let me free

Are these feet strong enough to walk

The thousand footsteps on the path of forks

And will their soles choose left or right

On the road of choices, on the path of light

How can you say you don't believe me

When I know it is you

Who is lying to me

Oh give me a choice, throw me a frizbee

Let me sound my voice, I want to be free

Sidcot Swallet – Burrington Coombe Nov 9th 2013

Down, down into the deep

Into the depths of the hills which sleep

Earthly death the temporal bowl

The bowels of the earth

The hell hole

Dark and black

Damp not cold

Warm as bark

From the fires below

Down we go, down, down, down

Down to the depths of the pits dark pole

Rock that’s round, slime and mould

Warm and black don’t lose your soul

Farther back, farther still

Reaches the slack of the Mendip sill

Subterranean rivers run

Inside the place hid from the sun

Farther back and farther still

Runs coal black the rocky gill

Breathes the stone lung

Its wet warmth not chill

Yet eerie stack upon stack the boulders fill

When so far down

Beneath the crown of the hill

When above you lay the weight of a hundred ton sill

What drives you down is an impossible will

It draws you down

To the world beneath

To cavernous clowns

Who hurl your belief

Into echoes around the hideous relief

Where a voice may drown without knowing a grief

Where the fantasy stalactites like acrobats stow

And chastened as sleeping bats roost under bows

Of roofs a thousand feet below

Below, below, to and fro the arches bend and breech the throw

They lend a spectacular frieze

As in a cysteine chapel we fall to our knees

And reach such wonder lust as only heaven must know

A man must be humble, crawl and lower like a snake

Slither on belly, on back on sides between cracks

Around bends without using his eyes

Just feel with his feet

Trust to the unknown

For it is in refusing to accept defeat

That for our greater sins we atone

I thought I had it coming

It was first on the windowsill in my home

That I lie in the sun on a stone slab

And I thought I am Jesus Christ and some

Mystical power came and gave me a jab 

 You might say that I had it coming

That Bodhisattvas had my back

But Karma is a killer and here is the craic

Why does God's voice sound like beat of distant drumming

Or perhaps it's just the sound of pain leaving the body's rack

I knew you later on when we were in High School

The Dalai Lama rose upon my map

I thought long and hard that I might be a monk

But couldn't remove the good book from my lap

And I learnt about redemption and the redeeming God

I learnt about atoning for our sins

And that Protestants think we must earn our salvation

While others think it's all just predestined

You see I thought I had it coming

as a Catholic,

For we all start off with original sin

It means we're predisposed to some evil acts

But we don't have to listen to the devil within

And then I learnt they had it easier in the Orthodox Church

That everyone is born with a clean slate

No problems are inherent and we have free choice

We just better not wait too long to use our voice

Or it will be too late

So I thought I had it coming

But now I learnt it could be reversed

That I am not bridled with inherent vice

That if I follow correctly a protestant work ethic

And always follow other people's good advice

Maybe I'll earn the merit to make it to heaven's gate

And by the power of free will

It may not be too late

Then I heard of the Vedic traditions of India

And it all made sense in a colourful life

Blue demons and Angel figures in a mandala

Revolved in Karmic wheel pinned by a knife

And you walk its edge between life and death

And you must give your thanks with prayer of your breath

And even the Kama Sutra leads like a thread

Of the right path to nirvana

Well I thought I had it coming

Then the Hiniyana gave me hope that I could live

And walk upon the water of the lake of Dharma

And maybe through Karma learn to give

Because what comes around goes around

And we are all incarnated into the living beings we deserve

If kind hearted actions and not harming others

Came top of your list then you'll preserve

Your current status or climb to a hiatus

But hatred and cruel malice you lived by then

you'll drop back down to earth

For Paradise is a place that we all have in our hearts

It's a place that we protect and must serve

Like guards protecting king and queen in the royal palace

We must forgo our dreams in order heaven to preserve

Yes I thought I had it coming then I learnt of God

And Jesus Christ who is love

And I knew just then that he could keep me in his bosom

And I would be forever his peace dove