The mangle man

 He moves in the crowd

As a sparrow

Murmurating on the edges

Fluttering down on the wing tips

Of sorrow

And he wishes he could sing with the larks

Wishes he could, but he can't

Has his wing been clipped

Is he too tight-lipped

Or does he prefer to sit in the dark

Like an owl?

I can't tell

He doesn't howl at the moon

As I know

But does he scowl at June 

When she shows

Him all her festoon

And flowers in boughs

Does he prefer the country fair

Does he dance in the mid-summer air

Listen to the pipes and the fiddle

Is he a musical type or a riddle?

Who really knows of the mangle man

The beaten-can man, the beer guzzler

Or dog muzzler, upright blues man

They just call him the mangle-man

tAKE ME DOWN

 I should have held you by my light hands

And walked you soldierly over our dark lands

But you were motherly and smoldering and hot

And I crushed like in limekiln tongs some pot

But shining like the light of kings i thought not

Since you are made of stranger things than rot

And grottos or the pearls of Queens who trot

Around the the grounds of palatial scenes shot

Just take me down to bathe in your ice streams

Just lend me your ears and listen to my dreams

I have stars in my hair and a beard of dust

For we all are a mix of air and astronaut lust

Rich man

 30 years

Of trying to go my own way

30 years, 30 years

 And you put a big fence in my way

And it is thirty years away

But it still could have been yesterday

Railroad man Jonny

Steamroller away

Steam roller , heavy roller

The Ash trees sway

The wind blows through the tunnel

And the hours fall away

30 years tomorrow could've been yesterday

Who is the rich man

Falling on the pile

Another Mink lined coat

Another mill-a-mile

Burning up the cotton

treading down the yarn

Only railroad Jonny could do him any harm

Rich man, rich man

Won't you give away some wealth

You know I am a poor man

And it's not good for my health

I'd like to be a rich man

With my hands on the controls

But on the path to the top you must

climb many a greasy pole

Can you blame a rich man

For all the money he stole

If he stands upon the poor man

To see his dollars roll

And will this railroad reach him

Or will his pit black soul

Be as dark as a railway tunnel

Where the trains no longer roll

Building bridges or barriers

 30 years across a divide

Territorial suicide

If you see us let us go

How sweetly grow the snow drops

In the New Year's snow

30 years of treading walkers

Dogs on leashes and deer stalkers

Treading softly never stops

Over the hills of the Snow drops

Where you put your barriers down

Where you lay your claim to this town's

Hopes and dreams, her fields and streams

You cut in belts of Green and Brown

But you who judge and deem, and measure

Across our land it seems at your leisure

Saying this is ours and that is yours

Is one good way to start some wars

And if you should let greed rule your heart

Then throw away your beauty and art

For nothing sacred can be understood

Unless to live in peace in your own neighbourhood

And nothing built shall be bound

Unless by the folly of those around

Love gone astray

 I gave my girl to my best friend

Anyone could see how it would end

It would have been better if I had been killed

In an accident, a car bomb

Or some foreign field

To die romantically after

Having written some poems

But we had no war like Wilfred Owen

We had a plastic world to get lost in

And money from the 80s

That seemed like a ghosting

And a tech revolution

Where virtual reality

Took over the bedroom and living room

And all of your problems

Could disappear

If you hid in a game

If you smothered your tears

But I smothered my love to my shame

I killed it it's clear

Through a failure to launch

A failure of career

A failure to fight

A failure to try

And that is why

I'm the fall guy

And I play it straight

I play it grey

Because nothing is bright

And everyone's gay

And this world might

just stand in my way

But I'm shattered and broken

By love  gone astray

God knows I'm lonely now

Garden gnome

 I fell in love with a garden gnome

He was always there when I got home

Always listened when I was alone

That's how I fell in love

With my garden gnome

He's travelled far and wide

But now he prefers his pond side

To sit there hour after weary hour

And catch the fish beneath the lily flower

But I love my garden gnome

Though I know his heart is of stone

We've gone on many an excellent adventure

From the town of shepton to the county of bedfordshire

And even once to Paris and Rome

Oh how I do love my garden gnome

The constant gardener

 When you say you love her

Could you be together

Any wind or weather

The wind must blow alone

For the ivy on the wall will blacken

The brambles tie up in the bracken

The fireflies twist in flaxen

And the rooks cry out in a klaxon

And all, above it all

Don't you wish you were

The constant gardener

Have you ever fallen in love

With someone you work with?

Is it a case of just making the glove fit

Well if you've ever fallen in love with

Someone you work with

Was their husband a git or did they have

kids

Was there a bolt from the blue sky

That meant you were too nice a guy 

or too shy to try

When you're in love, in love with

Someone you work with

And you can't stay or leave the room

But you must be friends make play

Of doom and gloom

And laugh as if life is gay

When really it is grey

Until you say I love you

And she says it too

Until then you have to be 

the constant gardener

I wish I could be like

the constant gardener