The pretentious prattlings of a piss poor poet
Silent stone word carved By church and heath Says so little Of the soul that lies Under turf And sky What spark was lit From that mortal frame And raised From lowly shepherd So divine a voice In this lonely place? I feel a debt Of thankfulness And humility To this kindred spirit Whose majesty I feel Reaching out As I stand Before the Silent stone word carved
19/09/1998
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How many years have these stones
Here stood?
Mute watchers of hurrying seasons
Here where once lived voices
'Neath turf and heather roofed
Lie now open to storms hungry soul
Windows where eyes once gazed
On walls and ferns and burn below
Now lie open to the clouds
Like needle eye unthread
All is silent now
Except for winds harsh howl
Garden grazed by black faced sheep
Lichen grows on fireplace
Where peat a family kept warm
All is cold now
Untended
Unheeded
As I walk on
18/09/1998
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"It's not as good as ours" he said
We stand looking at new brought trailer load
Of Yankee maize viewed under azure sky
Got from a silo in the town
By road-sore tractor on road-sore roads
"No, it's not as good as ours.
Look at all these husks and leaves.
I'll have to get rid of them
Before I can mill them down."
By I, he means, of course, They
Who long, hard labour for his pay
Whilst he and I sit in humble shade
And drink of coffee while they sweating sort
The useful from the dross in that heavy load
And feed the hungry maw of hammer mill
With maize from foreign, far off land.
He gazes at the work and load
"No, no it's not as good as ours" he says
24/04/1998
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A death
Tragic
Unnecessary
Came to my view
On the television
The other day
A person
Alone
Had ceased to be
And I cried
26/09/1998
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And last night
As you lay
On my sofa
Curled up
Fetal-like
Innocent
Like a baby
I wanted
To tell you
How I feel
But I did not
I left you
Undisturbed
As you lay
On my sofa
18/09/2000
Leave a CommentSo many fears Ripping me apart Voices in my head Driving me insane Pain Hitting me like rain Keep it inside Smile at distant faces No-one comes near Only fear Isolation No Emotion Mask your true identity Bluff your way through All you see is red Like blood No-one cares No-one dares Struggle, struggle without end Slowly die, drain away Only empty shell remains Blown easily on the wind What a mess Early death No-one holds funeral Who'll mourn Fear torn Wreck that you are Silent strain Silent pain Insanity within insanity Madness out of bounds Drive dies So do I No caress No rest Say goodbye to the outside world Say goodbye to tomorrow Only yesterday Yesterday never leaves Say goodbye Hello pain Confusion, confusion, confusion Mix up in time Future, Present, Past Cannot last Death comes fast Oh to cease breathing
14/12/1983
Leave a CommentI sit here in my room and look out across the street There is a light on in someone's room Whose I'll never know, someone I know I will never meet I'm just a stooped raincoat in the gloom Star shine Shine brightly Brightly on those out there who know Know what it means to be tired and alone Alone without anyone Anyone to love I walk in the park watching prams pulling mothers Talking to no-one, letting their children play Passing me by, going back to their lovers Not seeing a stooped raincoat in their way Star shine Shine brightly Brightly on anyone out there who loves Loves all those who are tired and alone Alone without anyone Anyone to love I recall the one I love, how her going hurt me so Standing there, an old suitcase in her hand She told me she had to leave, had to go She couldn't love a stooped raincoat so bland Star shine Shine brightly Brightly down on the one whose leaving hurt me so So much it left me tired and alone Alone without anyone Anyone to love I stand alone in the city square and look round There's nothing here except the city lights Nothing here for me in this cold, hard town For a lost stooped raincoat in the night Star shine Shine brightly Brightly down on all those lonely people here Here where we live so tired and alone Alone without anyone Anyone to love I turn round and head back to my lifeless room The light is off now there across the street It doesn't matter anyway, let my pain resume For me, a stooped raincoat incomplete Star shine Shine brightly Brightly down on the life I leave behind Behind me so tired and alone Alone without anyone Anyone to love
05/03/2003
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The radio plays
Gently in the background
Of my life.
The light throws dim shadows
Onto the dreary walls
Of my room.
It is so cold here now
Without you.
You have left an emptiness
That nothing fills.
An icy silence
Of nothing heard
Except my breathing
Harsh and halting.
The hours are long,
Time creeps past.
The hands of the clock
On the wall
Are resistant
To my will,
They are persistent
In their motionlessness.
I fill my life with boredom
And remembrances.
I warm my spiritless heart
With tales of happier days
And wait in frighted hope.
For you.
12/07/1990
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As I stumble through this existence
I wander past
Rows of stark stone prisons
Encaging sad suburban souls
Within their lifeless, faced-brick cells.
They mete out their unhappy existences
Behind tired chintz masks
Vying with each other
In uselessness
And emptiness
Trying to be the first
To new levels of unhappiness.
They seek to pacify
Their material gods
With plastic offerings
Lain before a brushed chrome altar.
They have the same oneness of mediocrity,
Of outward decency
And inward moral gangrene.
They talk of the weather,
The news,
The garden
And inside they lust
For fornication
To the world they are virtuous
And to the universe nothing
Forever NOTHING.
13/07/1990
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Eagles cry, eagles haunt
Above moorland
Of grouse
And heather
And life
Myriad sheep trod paths
Lead me deeper
Into this delightful, deceptive freedom
On the edge
Of my existence
Fresh, cold, sharp winds
Buffet me
And roar
Deep gullies
In my soul
Cutting deep
They wound
And cleanse
And drive cobwebs
Long grown
From my being
And once again
I am me
And I am free
18/09/1998
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