December: Winter Darkness

You said the darkened winter

Might bring you down forever

Left gagging for the summer

Where pure air lets you breathe

Sea breeze cascades

The salt wash

Of brave Louise

The battlefield of conquest

To your secret hidden haven

Where mermaids play

And sanity stays

Untouched

 

You fight against injustice

And the violence of your kin

Carving deep blue ripples

In the tissues of your mind

Now within your coral sea

You swim so very deeply

And Sirens laugh

Through vague fingertips

To your secret hidden haven

Where mermaids play

And sanity stays

Untouched

 

You cannot yet surrender

For you touched the distant sands

And treasured friends are calling you

To leave the pain behind

Among the shingle

And the mock weed

Beyond the next beach barrier

You dance upon white horses

To your secret hidden haven

Where mermaids play

And sanity stays

Untouched

November: Return to Desolation Row

They’re telling tall tales of my lifetime

They’re obscuring the truth with lies

The carpet-bagging whisperer

Has sent out all his spies

Here comes the blind note-taker

He’s writing in a trance

One hand is tied to the Imperial typewriter

The other is in his pants

And me, I’m getting restless

As the heat pipes they just cough

The bank account it empties

And I think I’ve had enough

 

The long dead scout master

Walks the dark sunrise

Still poisoning lost children

While doing up his flies

 

Outside the sky is grey and laden

The trees are turning brown

Hilary, the old bag lady

Is wearing her winter frown

All except for Jo and Lizbeth

And the neighbour without a name

Everybody is making love

Or else expecting rain

And my dreams they are undressing

As the heat pipes they just cough

The bank account it empties

And I think I’ve had enough

 

The long dead scout master

Walks the dark sunrise

Still poisoning lost children

While doing up his flies

 

Across the street they’ve nailed the shutters

You can hear the women scream

Diwali is now over

And the bright lights are all a dream

The Muslim taxi driver

Has booked his last fare home

He’s riding with false confidence

Since the hoodies stole his phone

And I’m left peeking from my window

As the heat pipes they just cough

The bank account it empties

And I think I’ve had enough

 

The long dead scout master

Walks the dark sunrise

Still poisoning lost children

While doing up his flies

 

 

October: Autumn Memories

It’s funny you know when I sit down

And think about what we once had

About the friends I used to know

What happened, where did they all go?

I can still remember those happy hours

Drinking and talking onto your shoulder

We thought we could change the world

And never thought we would get any older

 

Now the autumn rust

And orange dust

Sweeps away the memories

Of teenage dreams

Beyond life’s seams

And October rain

Drowns all of the treacheries

 

There were the evenings when we would kiss

We’d bring it on home with an old LP

Played low in moments of bliss

What happened to the girl that I loved?

Tell me, did I break her heart in the rain

Did she live, and did her love grow colder

Did she ever think of my face again

And I never thought we would get any older

 

The autumn rust

And orange dust

Sweeps away the memories

Of teenage dreams

Beyond life’s seams

And October rain

Drowns all of the treacheries

 

You know my mind gets tired

When I think back on all of the things we did

I wonder if I’ll remember these precious things

As more years pass me by?

These memories will become dimmer

And old photos are stuffed in a dusty folder

I’ll point the finger back in time

And I never thought we would get any older

 

The autumn rust

And orange dust

Sweeps away the memories

Of teenage dreams

Beyond life’s seams

And October rain

Drowns all of the treacheries

 

September: September Song

Boots and bottles and a telescope reel

No-one knows just how I feel

Sitting blindly by a Catherine Wheel

I open my arms to you

 

Write me a song to sing all day long

Catch me a tune to howl at the moon

Watch me waltz on a silver spoon

I open my arms to you

 

My golden daughter does what she oughta

Reading medical books with whisky and water

The words get longer but never shorter

I open my arms to you

 

The breakdown came the breakdown went

Forty-four years they were paid and spent

I’ll pack up my shoes and buy a new tent

I open my arms to you

 

The sun still warms the September air

The grass is green and the day is fair

I look at my life with barely a care

I open my arms to you

 

The fox it will run and the bat does fly

The poacher stares at the empty sky

Time it passes with no reason to cry

I open my arms to you

 

May: Colours of life

By these sandstone walls

My life unfolds

In three colours of love

The white May blossom

The lilac hops

The pink cherry flowers

Under a blue sky above

 

By the fields of rape

My life unfolds

In three colours of pain

The black crow flies

The grey clouds

The poppies red

Upon opened sacks of grain

 

By the wind whispered Wold

My life unfolds

In three colours of life

The azure horizon

The creamy cotton

The emerald field

Its beauty cuts like a knife

 

April: Spring song

My life was filled with hope and wonder

The garden was so full

The apple blossom of my senses

And clouds of cotton wool

 

Where are they now?

Where are they now?

My children are gone

How can I go on?

 

I played in meadows of green pasture

The innocence of youth

The stinging nettles pricked my ankles

Learning lies from truth

 

Where are they now?

Where are they now?

My children are gone

How can I go on?

 

I stumbled crying in darkened forests

Terror filled my eyes

The guilt it choked me like a bullet

The pain had no disguise

 

Where are they now?

Where are they now?

My children are gone

How can I go on?

 

I looked for love in the face of strangers

Nothing could be found

I married blindly to be normal

But normality was drowned

 

Where are they now?

Where are they now?

My children are gone

How can I go on?

 

The spirit in the dark green bottles

Soothed the pain inside

Numbed my senses and the nightmares

The heart of me had died

 

Where are they now?

Where are they now?

My children are gone

How can I go on?

 

But then the dawn it broke quite quickly

I let my world break down

In the arms of love forever

All I lost was found

 

Where are they now?

Where are they now?

My children are gone

How can I go on?

 

And so we walk a chosen pathway

The horizon’s bright and clear

Holding on to those around me

Beyond the next frontier

 

Where are they now?

Where are they now?

My children are gone

But I have to go on

 

February: Kindred recall

Sunlight dapples

Oak tree tops

Above the leaded roof

The sky screams

Infinity

Searching for the truth

 

I don’t know you

Kindred spirit

Lost refrain

Your eyes betray

Hope

And more deeply your pain

 

Victorian tiles

Line the attic

Of Dylan’s distant vision

The rain cascades

Torrential

Reaching no decision

 

Radiators rumble

Shunning silence

With dim electric noise

The heating coughs

Creative

Humanity destroys

 

Window shutters

Cause shadows

Upon the office wall

The day’s stillness

Meanders

No-one hears the call

 

January: Return the sun

I need some sun

To brighten the greyness

Your black and white pictures

Reflect my mood

The rain it is pouring

The sky is unfolding

My depression it deepens

And my thoughts are all skewed

 

I need some sun

To warm up my body

Your bright coloured orchids

Light up the day

The time it is passing

The words are amassing

My soul is quite empty

And the blue turns to grey

 

I need some sun

To give me direction

Your imagined drawings

Open the gate

The darkness is running

The targets are stunning

My heart skips and dances

And the season does wait