Good Morning Mr Black Bird

Top of the morning to you
The black bird says
What are you doing? I ask
She says listening to the days
Listening to the birdsong
And the days roll past
Today into tomorrow so slow
The earth does not spin fast

Some days you must slow down
Acclimatize yourself with God
Nature or the universe
Whichever you feel gives you life
And keeps you here for a purpose

When I do I stop falling
I stop being blown in the breeze
Like a leaf fallen into the green Balaton
I am silently stuck there
until I unfreeze

The American Corner

 A little piece of heaven

A slice of the American pie

A report of the news at seven

Your own private cloud in the sky

Come here to read, or unwind

Come here to leave behind

Those hours of nine til five

Dolly Parton eat your heart out

Now the American Corner’s come alive

Pieces of the American dream

Gradually fall into place

They fill in the Hungarian scene

Where reality wears a different face

Yet we all wear masks here

We’re all part of the carnival

Some clown sheds a tear

Another actress shines a knowing smile

The American corner revolves around

The spirit we can all better ourselves

And the queen of that dream

Is Bogi who's seen sitting, working hard

At her computer among the full book shelves

It’s a place of Education

A place for rich and the poor

It's egalitarian Librarian

Is partly fraternal, a little maternal, 

Showing us the score

Giving us the US quiz, to improve our knowledge some more

So roll up, roll up come join the parade

We're marching through the town

People of every colour, creed or shade

Everyone is equal and we all have the right

To pursue our own happiness

And to fight the good fight

Disparate parts

All the songs of virtue and
The bees whose invisibility rests
Upon the very backs of business
On the trees of Budapest

They circumnavigate circumference
And infer the situations the best
That care and love are held in reference
To the bodily boldness of rest

They cut the curtains of coincidence
And draw up the dawn light of truth
The toads in the road
Have utterly showed all manner
Of amphibious proof

That a creature who lives underwater
Can likewise breath on dry land
Even if the air is salty and bare
Or in the fog of undeniable hoof

The horse of the city is running wildly
charging outdoors holding counsel
With the wise men who have bolted
The gates to the poor

The rich are in their towers
They are behind their pearly gates
They keep the castle from disenfranchised powers
Yet hope springs though it maybe late

I have shown the circumstances how to sing
And the sirens have followed my voice
Alarm bells down the ages ring
Though nor do they have a choice

A feather in the cap of calypso
Who turns the board to the surf
And paddles out to meet the tornedo
Between Cape Cod and the Caribbean turf

The followers of pensive penitentiaries
Are imprisoned in a pendulum well
Because everybody in the cemeteries
Keep swinging between heaven and hell

I've seen it so it must be true
That jokers cast their shadows blue
Across the poker tables cue
The players to up their ante

A castle in the river fell
In three feet of water but six could tell
A good cousin saved from a living hell
Was one sinner best lost than forgotten

I'm asking you to pray for me
To open up your heaven for me
The only work in the world that's free
Is to do his will in his kingdom

There are no more ghosts to save
Apart from those who have not found the grave
And will search out the bold and brave
Until they've done his bidding

I should like to end this now
But I really don't know how
Perhaps I will just stop right here
And don't cry, don't shed a tear

Hunyadi in Budapest

On the streets of Budapest
Where the old clouds roll
Where the crowds in their dust storm bowl
Like so many refugees

Old street where Hunyadi strolled
With his cargo of cannons
And his wagons which roll

What does he think now
The peace loving town
This proud metropolis
Full of shirtless sacred cows

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the Danube
What thinks Hunyadi
Of the river banks metro tube

The slow train to Eden
The fast train back home
The mark of cain
On the brain of all men
Left alone

Hunyadi walks in some mythic dream
Where the archetypes come out of doors
They slap him on the back
His philosopher kings
Who bring their naked love lorn wisdom
Like a sack of precious things

They salt his tea with their virtues
In the fresh cafe bars
Which smell of coffee from Turkey
And remind him of Turkish wars

They send him up to the stocks
Tell him this is where the criminals hang
They say newspapers are our flogging grounds
And the government gongs they bang

They sidle up to him like snakes
In the city parks
And offer him apples of hidden knowledge
From the world that goes on after dark

They sit sadly like fishermen
Trying to catch the glimmers of their youth
As the river of time flows on down their banks
And the fish slip through their fingers like truth

They find him nets to catch their lies
Like they were spider webs
And the homeless life of Hunyadi soon dies
Or ebbs
On the grounds of the palace of proof

His clouds are rolling softly like thunder
With the promise of powder kegs
They leave their trail of black granules under
The snow like black spider eggs

They lead the way to parliament
Where the king sits on his throne
And Hunyadi looks then drops his lighted match to the pavement
Then watches as to smithereens its blown

Down to the river

I came down to the river
Where the river boat swept

I came down to the river where
the river boat swept

The leaves were on the water
Where the willow wept

I came down to the river
Where the willow wept


I came down to the river where the
willow wept
The duck weeds were my pillow
And my dreams they kept

I came down to the river
Where the river bed slept
And all the holy Ash keys
in the whirlpool swept

I came down to the river
Where the little creatures crept
And they brought their sleeves
Up to their knees, and leapt

They splashed inside the river
On a day not to forget

And let your lovers leave
On the river with no regrets

I came down to the river where
the river boat swept


Its good to believe in
The power of love yet
I came down to the river where
the willow tree wept

I came down to the river
Full of time and met
The river nymph of the mountain
Who said don't forget
Everyone must give something back
For something they get
When I came down to the river where
the river boats swept

Veszprém City

Neon street
Electric lamps of the money exchanges
Staring out at blinking black
Rapid city blue
Old city slowing down
Flashing like a strumpet
Boldly facing the facade of names
Blaring out their light trumpet
But so quiet it is loud
Down the street with out a crowd

What to do in the cold snow flaked town
Encrusted in this mint sugar icing
Crunching in its sickly sweet
Hansel and Gretel Christmas town
Tinsel town

They're wrapping the Kings and Queens into body bags
They look less regal now more diplomatic
Ready to negotiate their captors conditions
Ready for to pay a kings ransom
But without the king, who will pay?
Who really wants their king back
Just a figure head you need preserved in tact
Through the winter in side a sack

I met a drummer on a hill

I met a drummer on a hill

The dogs did bark and the ravens trill

The willows wept their sobbing will

She beat the drum for those to come

For the long gone in the ever after

She beat the drum for the song

In a chain of children’s laughter

She beat it for the future

She beat it for the past

She beat it with a suture

Of words that ever last

And her song sung out about

The wide and rolling valley

And it caught in the ears of deer

And it fought the canyons in a sally

And it called all the men to arms

It called the dogs of war

It called the women from the houses

It called them rich or poor

It cried yes, again, again

Once more into the fight

It called them up into the fore

The fray, the golden light

I met a drummer on a hill

Who drummed a different beat

It made the earth and sun stand still

And all the people dance their feet