Raptor Rap 2: Marsh Harrier versus Buzzard

Marsh Harrier:
My name is the Marsh Harrier
I'm breaking the sound barrier
The sky's the limit
Of my Endorsement Yo

They say he's the Marsh Harrier
He's the pound farrier
He'll be on you in a minute
You'll be his horseshoe Hoe

Yo, yo, yo, listen up you
Horses Ho!
You know I'm the Marsh Harrier
My forces will carry ya
Over the limit, my rhymes be so doe

There ain't nothing is gonna tarry ya
I'm gonna hit and parry ya
What's going on in the basement
of this dimwit?
The lights are on
But there's nobody at home

Buzzard:
Oh yeah, I am hearing ya
horsemeat scandal in the media
You spreading like bacteria
On a horses Ho

Now I'm gonna call my clarion
Cos I only eat the carrion
And I've got my sights to carry on
So try your best to hit me Yo!

I'm the real Buzz saw
It should be against the law
How serious my rhymes are or
They are like Buzz Aldrin's roar

Yes it's one small step for man
But a giant wing span for a bird
I've flown a million miles
From Vancouver to the Grand Cooley Dam
From Ibiza to the Norfolk broads
Yo haven't you heard?
There's a real buzz around me
I'm electric, like an eel from the sea
You better watch out or I'll
Electricute yer
So plug me in to your batteries
Before I execute yer
I'm gonna power up
My power pack and parachute yer
Drop my bomb rhymes
On the mic hear?
Like on Harrier hunt
Their gonna shoot yer
Down

Hawkman

I was running one day,
Just after lunch down a closed road
But it packed a punch
I turned a left and was running for my life
But the road was a blood track
It was a bleeding Bleadney knife

The sun was kinda yellow
But I didn't know where it did go
The wind was blowing one hell of a
Lot of air around the world
And my heart was beating mellow
As the tractors fanned their fare
I was not an attractor of a single hair

Nothing seemed to notice me
I was like a ghost in this place
All the sides of a mirror reflected in my face
The muscles strung, like a bow
But I ran on, I ought a know

Until I reached a clump of trees

When I began to slow
My breath in my breast was running kinda low
I felt my legs weaken a bit
And saw in the trees a shadow
Like fluttering, the shape of a wing
Dark and foreboding in truth, but to me it was nothing
I kept moving forward when out of the blue came a blow
Some talons had struck me on the skull
The culprit something bigger than a crow

I immediately turned around, struck dumb
In shock and horror
The offending bird was swooping off into the high boughs
Of the poplar
I turned back and felt relieved
At the retreat of this winged foe
And kept on running when to my surprise
Came a second blow
This one seemed more determined
Like how a killer would go
And whatever claw or talon
Sunk into my scalp in tow

I felt atop my cranium
And brought down blood wetted finger
Just like the tips of uranium
The bullets radioactivity did linger

The bird wandered off again above
Into the heights of shadow
And I ran on not believing my luck
To be caught on the wrong side of the rainbow

No pot of gold awaited me
And I wandered down a side track
But as I scratched my head
A bloody feather there instead
Began to grow from the site of attack

Soon I was rushing faster, through
thistle and thorn trying to master
This crazy feeling inside
My arms start to itch
And I rub them and rip, little bits of skin from my scalp
Beneath my skin it shows, the sign a hawk knows
Feathers like a Jackdaw's, wings, and tail sores
And my heart in a palpitating palp

I'm rushing now like a crooner, like spooner
Through nettles and elder
My frame is bending, like a bird offending
The human form is unwrapped

I fell, stumbled, I collided with bare earth
And that marked the start of my rebirth
What used to be my arms, began to break
And muster, themselves into the wings of a raptor
My legs they retreated inside my body, and my feet, grew talons
And a great imposing ferocity

My nose began to itch as well,
And soon grew hard to my bird-like touch
I felt my eye brows and skull, changing as well
More stream-lined like a visor or such
My mouth lost its teeth and morphed into my nose
To form what was to be my beak
And I let out the most gut-wrenching yell
Now only in bird language did I speak

I screeched a hawk's high cry
A human tear still rolled from my eye
But now I knew my transformation was complete
I studied myself, and my form
The Hawkman had just been born
And what shall he do now I thought
But try to fly as I ought

I turned back down the old track
Where the remains of my shredded clothes
Lay down on their back
And I ran, or clawed or half-hopped
along the ground, until
I beat my wings faster, and faster in report
Like drums of air they beat
And the ground soon fell away from my feet
And the freedom of air, the exhilaration there
Was more than I could ever speak

And I headed back down to that darkened clump
Where that foul loathsome beast did dwell
Fully intending to vanquish my enemy
And send him straight to hell
But as I did swoon in the pale afternoon
As the wind did ruffle my feathers
No feeling had I ever experienced of being higher
Than humans could go alone or together
I realized that I was free
Free from what it meant to be human
Free from my bonds, from purgatory
Free from society's expectations
Nothing that I could hope for in life
Would have earnt me what this subtle knife
Had cut away from my sinewy brain
The pain of all desire and strife

I met my once foe in the air
We circled around with great care
Keeping our distance
Trying to figure each other out
Then I saw in her eyes
That glint, that spoke of human intelligence
Could it be that this hawk now free
Was once a human the same as me?

We flew back to her nest
Two young chicks, newly hatched
Not yet fledged
So that was what she was warning me from
Surely the measure was second to none
I felt no malice or scorn
As I looked upon these lives freshly born
How could I judge from above
This new kingdom of Human-Hawk love

Blue Tit vs Green Finch

This is Tit for Tat
This is the Blue Tit Rap
Yo,yo you think you like coal
You cajole
Go get on Parole you finch
I don't need none of your
Sympathy carol
You sing I and I'll be on you
In a cinch

Yo,yo yo now I'm in the Green finch patrol
We've been killing it down in the ditch
Those parrots up there make me laugh
You oughta hear their sonograph
When they sing I mistake an Angel for a witch

Oh you finchy finchy,
What a you lookin' at?
Pinchy, You think you might be punchy
But I see you more as Judy
You're the clown in this town
You better step down
Before I come and knock you off your perch

Oh you're so territorial
That's what they all say
Just a big mouth on a little bird
Well haven't you heard
They've given the word
You're cancelled, over flat
You better leave the tree yourself
You Blue Tit Twat

I can't stand this green imposer
He's just a poser with his pals
They're all just shooting the breeze
Blowing hot air at the seagulls
I bet if you got him on his own
He'd bale, probably turn his green tail
and fail, fly away to live a life of ease
You know the grass is always greener
In the green Finch eyes

Talk about a yellow belly
This Blue Tit is all mouth and no trouser
He's got his head up the schnauzer's arse
He's such a dim wit twit, that his head's turned blue
He's been holding his breath thinking
If one and one make two

Now you got me riled I'm gonna send an angry tweet
Well you better believe we ain't living on Pigeon street
There are no happy families, its all gone cuckoo
Some us we eat our young, some of you do too

Raptor Rap

I'm the Marsh harrier
Yeah I'm talking to you
You think that you're a predator
Wel you haven't seen me
I will swoop down onto ya
From out of a tree
You forgot your blind spot
Behind your head
Well you won't forget me

Yeah this is the Raptor Rap
The most incredible tap
That you've ever heard
Its better than the animals
Its better than the Birds
There ain't nothing like
A bird of prey
And now I got you in my sights
You ain't getting away

Yeah I'm the cool buzzard just
Circling in the sun
You Might think a Buzz saw
Has just cut your fun

Well I'm up in the stratosphere
But I can still see you clear
Yeah I break the glass barrier
Of this Marsh Harrier

Yeah I got talons
That you will see
But you've got no talent
So don't you mess with me

Well I know I saw you soar
Because I felt that shadow
Loom cold over my shoulder
Well I'm your shadow of doom
Mister air raider
You only prey on the dead things
Like you follow the culture of vulture

I'm the Marsh Harrier
I'm the crucifix in the sun
You look up and think bless me father
But I bring my air raid gun
I'm gonna put my cross hairs
Firmly on your head
By the time I've finished with you
You'll look the walking dead

Yeah You don't think your the only one
Who can peck out an eye
I will take a young lamb or rabbit
If their in the habit to die
I will lift them like the
Angel of death
And carry them to tomorrow's land
Where they never draw breath

Now I have respect for ya
You just keep out of my way
I'm gonna fish the Marsh lands
From Bleadney to the Weston Bay
And if you should wander farther
Into my territory,
Well I'm gonna call your bluff and
You don't wanna mess with me
Yes I'm tired of being the devil
I'm tired of being a saint
I'm tired of being whatever image of me
That you want to paint
I'm the Marsh harrier
I'm brown with a fishy taint
And I've been all around these parts now
I've got no longer to wait
I'm an enemy of God
I'm an enemy of state
As I hover above the love
And the river of hate
There is only one road out
And that's the one your gonna take
And if you mess with me brown bird
Its a one way journey you'll make

The Green King

Near Yeo farm, the water
gets much darker
There is something deathlike
About these steel knives
Nothing can feel alive
In the land of the pike
This is just a death trap

Then I see a white swan
With her head sunk low
Swift and swallow like a cythe

 wet underfoot
Fields of wheat,
Cows that scatter
At trifling matters

The long track past Fresians
And all the world's reasons

Herons like the limestone
Crows like Egyptians
Go gleaning the fields
heads to the ground
Willows like sisters
Who knows where the wind blows

Somethings we lost
While others we found

I saw a heron the colour of stone
I stole her wings made them my own

I saw a heron the colour of stone
Standing by the rhyne all alone

I saw an old heron the colour of ivory
He was standing still as a statue made of memory

I saw an old heron like a tusk or a bone
Standing by the rhyne, standing all alone

The pigeons burst out
As I was walking home
I saw a heron the colour of ivory
Like a memory of a land I call home

I saw a heron like the tooth of a child
like the call of the wild
I saw a heron and it reminds me of home

The cows stampede
And they swish their tails
Down near Pilgram farm
On the low lands of Bagely and Theale
They don't make it easy,
But they don't make it hard

The sky is like limestone
and blue lias
Cut in by rain clouds
From a stone mason's compass
They don't make it easy
But nor do they stop it being so hard

Down in the marsh lands
Where the wind cuts the cards
And shuffles the cattle
and the buzzard shards
They don't make it easy,
But they sure don't stop it
Being so hard

I saw a deer stand in a field
The colour of orange peel

When the weather comes over
Across the mendips
Rain like a light mist descends
The wind that's blown
The green sea beneath us
Where the river Axe cutlass
cuts in its turn
The green heart stone

Like an emerald city
The hills shine so pretty
As thrones
As a labyrinth the fields and hedge
Criss cross below

And the weather comes across
In squalls
And throws the toss
Of which cloud will fall on us
And which will forego

Crooks peak in the distance
Trees walk down the beach heads
Dew drops fall on us
And we walk back home
With cold nose

As the Green king
On his hay stacks
Commands the sea gulls
And the rain
And the Green knight holding his Axe
Brings it down on the neck of Gawain

On the river Axe

Along to Marchy farm
Ignore the public footpath and
Follow the lower Axe to the left or West
You face down cows
Who frolick
And get excited
When they see you
You hear the farmers talking from behind the
Shed wall
Keep walking
It is trespassing
But only a minor offense afterall

Next slink down a little out of sight
The lower Axe meets the Axe proper
After crossing a maintenance bridge
Enter the next field and head north
Until you join the proper foot path then you are set

On the river axe
The crows are jacks
Scattered in the fields
Like pepper corns

On the river axe,
Nothing attacks,
Nothing lacks
And Everything is born

Westbury straight rhyne
Into it inclines
And the rustle of reeds
Where Veronica bleeds

Sheep under the solar panels
Sheltering from the sun
Laying down like lambs
To the slaughter
Technology's daughter and son

Thin, starved cows of Yeo farm
Resting under the Poplars
Who looks after the cattle?
I became depressed at the thought
And too much steel
The day wore on
I began to feel weary, and so turned back
As this was leading me further
From home
With a long circle to return by

Unoccupied water rat holes
In the bank
Like the caves
Of prehistoric man
Who might have washed
Their flint axes in this river
Hunting Mammoth near Cheddar Gorge

Old wooden bridge tumble down
See to your left Chalcroft hill crown
Then along Taylor paddock drove
Where I came unstuck
In the multitude of thistles
and rape seed and buck

I turned back and retraced my steps
Back to the river Axe instead
And headed East again
The going is easier
But watch out for the stingers
Hidden in the long grass

You reach another old bridge and the road
Head towards the farm of Knowle
Then pass it and cross onto the hill

Shire horse upon the hill
Flies buzz around muddy puddles
And cows stand on the prow
Baking in the sun
I chased one to pull some bailer twine
Out of its mouth - no thanks there

From there you run on down a wooded glen
Shaded and cool
With ferns and high banks
An old tractor wheel full of water
And the dry mud path scattered with dry twigs
And sticks

Then the tunnel opens out into sunlight
And the dirt race track is on your left
Follow another track until you hit the road
Take a right
Then dog leg-second stile on the left

Cut through a wild flower meadow
Farmers lifting high the bales
Hauling up upon the trailer
rolling on green pasture sailors
On their hay ships
like barges pulling through
drawn by grassy charges

Down moor drove to Bleadney
The smell of Chamomile
and borage
Bind weed flower white in the hedges
Bramble tight in the sedges

Bulrush tower like Massai sages
Swaying power of windrush ages

Twisted oak whose limbs are dancing
Old buzzard swoops above barren yellow
Entrancing, the limits of childhood ages
Time has moved on turning its pages

See the bridge at Webb's Rhyne
Tyres on the rhyne bed recline
Where little minnow take turns to dine
As part of the aquatic furniture

River snail hang suspended there
Like bats above a darkened lair
Foot prints stick to the sky
Walking on glass ceilings

Grasshoppers leap and jump in clover
They are the ones who think its all over
But then they land and can't understand
What all the fuss was over

With each step the field comes alive
With crickets singing
Bees buzz in the skies
Hopping from warm blades
Where they sun bathe
Their joints warmed up
In the summer haze

Shooting, teeming, darting
In the bow wave of my shoe
And scatter in my wake

Dandilion clocks tick on
Their seeds are sewn
The dock's rustic red
Waves  at Babylon

Buttercups turn their heads to the sun
While butterflies like petals
Dance and flutter on

And low down the bed of pink-white bind
Brings to mind, nature is kind
As the promise of sweetness
From underneath
The light hearts rising
From the mud beneath

Down by Marchy farm
The sheep quietly eat
From fields replete with fodder
From the hearth and home
Always living shoulder to shoulder
Though each will die alone

A little pheasant or grouse
Slinks behind the house
And youngsters are chatting down by the stream
The Lower River Axe again

Dry baked in ground
Cow pats,
The crows fly up like bats
They are chatting in parliament
And the voices of civilization surround
The signs of government
Return me to my senses

Pigeons coo, awakening
All is replete with fields of wheat and rye
An adder slithers inside 
The stone crevice of an ancient bridge
After it senses my footfall
Or the scent of rain
As from one ash tree to another
The crows flock back again

Deer leap

Deer in the bottom field
Like a room with a view
When Helena Bonham Carta
Is kissed by Hugh
And she is ravished
In the poppy sea
One step in the centre
Another out to sea
And she darts to the farside
Her fauns in tow
Bounding and a leaping
Through the tall grass they go
Well its one foot in the past
And another letting go
Tearing up the photograph
The one that you stole

I kept it in my wallet
I kept it whole
For all these years
I could have laughed
You oughta know
I had one foot in the past
The other letting go

The deer kept leaping
And then she froze
She looked my way a minute
While she paused I chose
I kept my distance
And she then rose
Like a snake in the grass
Kept biting at her toes

I started to advance
Down the hill
She turned on her heels
Then became so still
Like a glass of water
On a morning sill
That you lift and tip
To your lips
To swallow a pill
Suddenly like a reflection
In a troubled pool
She shatters in to nerves
Loses her cool
But not her chill
She darts back across the grass
Like a trickster
And her babies they are following her
A real fixture
Disappearing finally
Through a thicket of bramble
No idea
Where they went
I continued my amble