1

The Ramblings of a madman

They said he talked in poetry

A man so old he could not see
His eyes were shut his skin was grey
And on a narrow bed he lay.
His arms were fastened to his chest
Belts of leather hooked to a vest
That bound him lifeless and so still
Restricting movement and free will.
I sat beside him on a chair,
And brushed my fingers through his hair.
His voice was frail but his thoughts were clear
And he spoke in poetry his words to hear.
He gave no name and was old like time,
And I wrote the words he spoke in rhyme.
 2

Love. Passion, Loss

Old age and Rebirth
 3

The Wardrobe

As a young child
I used to have nightmares
A dark silhouette on the curtain
Or an uncertain sound
Often woke me with a start
My heart pounding as I listened in the dark
The wardrobe in my room
Stood tall and white
Full of toys and books for boys
But at night it glowed
As the moonlight shone through the window
And cast an eerie shadow across its surface
Many times I hid my face
Beneath the covers on my bed
Placed my head below the pillow
Curled into a ball
Closed my mind from the monster by the wall
Sometimes the floorboards creaked
With staring eyes I would wake and scream
A beam of glaring light would sweep beneath
My bedroom door
Just before my father would creep in
Awoken by the din
To scare away any uninvited guest
Lighting up the night and closing out the gloom
Scaring off the pest who lived inside my room
Father always took me by the hand
With a smile, a sigh he would always understand
‘It is just a dream, go back to sleep
The goblins they have gone away’…
Reassured I would lay back down to sleep
Close my eyes keep them tightly shut
Wise to the truth no creatures
Lived beneath this roof
In the morning
Bleary eyed and yawning
The monsters would be gone
 4

Love

What is love? True love cannot be seen

Only glanced between the gentle stare of lover’s eyes
Love is honesty, never lies
Love is caring for each other
Sharing everything we know
Is the only way to make love grow
Love is eternal never dies
Love is seeing cloudless skies
Love keeps us warm when the days grow cold
And keeps us young as we grow old
Love sleeps in each heart and waits to be woken
Touches the soul when true love is spoken
The time will come when we must part
Only love alone will mend the broken heart
 5

Visions

In life we love and live again

Lose the souls that cause us pain
In death we fail and breathe our last
Forget the history of our past
We seek to find the guiding mind
To escape the world in which confined
We seek to choose a path to follow
Unaware of what will come tomorrow
We love we lose and cut the thread
Not sure of life perhaps we’re dead
Sometimes no path in life to follow
All doors will close if we ignore tomorrow
We seek to find and never know
Only love alone can make us grow
In time each failing light will need
The strongest soul that grows the seed
That links the past that makes today
The only route that leads the way
 6

Goddess

Together even when apart

Your warmth forever in my heart
A gentle touch and warm caress
Are much more than a kiss can bless
When our bodies are as one
It is as if our lives have ne’er begun
Your lips that gently touch my skin
Cannot surely be a sin?
As this is our love and love must do
The kiss that is tendered must be true
There is no lie, no lie to tell
No woman fallen only two that fell
Our guilt that is given will not pass blame
On you, or I, or any name
I need you in my company
But what will happen, is what must be
In time the walls will fall away
And you will be free, but I will stay
A memory of love that we both once had
Of a love no finer, but a love so sad
Better to have loved and been given that chance
But the love in my eyes was no brief glance
 7

Rainbow Butterfly

Spirits of the meadows

Spirits of the meadows are dancing through the trees

Romancing fields of buttercups and blowing falling leaves
Reaching for the heavens drawing light down from the sun
Soaring through the shadows now the new dawn has begun
Flowing in the fountains they sweep down tumbling streams
Rolling through the mountain valleys planting natures
seeds
White beads upon a snowdrop enchanting in the rain
Soak the silken spiders webs where the spinners have
domain
Naked in a forest beneath a giant oak
Covered in a cloak of flowers the milk white maiden woke

Butterflies descended like blossoms on the wind

Tumbling down to rest upon her delicate crystal skin
Whereupon her naked figure like dew fall from the sky
There rested many sun beamed colours of the Rainbow
Butterfly
All silky in their splendour all colours they did glow
And rendered her into a sleep that lovers only know
As she lay so still her ruby lips did slowly part
And her pale white tender skin did breathe through
burning heart
Yearning for the kiss of a lover she once knew
Praying for his loving touch in hope that dreams come
true
Streams of perspiration upon her body swept
And beads like broken diamonds upon her forehead wept
And tumbled slowly down in a waterfall of tears
As she remembered torrid memories of passion through the
years.

The spirits of the meadows are dancing through the trees

Romancing hearts and buttercups and caressing falling
leaves
Pouring raindrops from the heavens drawing rainbows in
the sun
Soaring through the meadows now the new dawn has begun.
 8

Silent

Silence speaks the truth

We cannot bear to hear
When years have passed
And nothings left to share
Silent partners who once
As lovers could not break their stare
Look beyond their lives
A couple cannot hide the truth
When conversation dies
Or wake the love that’s lost inside
Through lies
A bitter wine is poured
Time does not renew that vintage vow
And love it takes a final actors bow
Breaks in two
The curtain call falls on yet another stage of life
The fairytale signed upon the poisoned page
Does end in paper cutting like a knife
Through photos sadly kept
Swept into a box
Sealed without the heart
Which without the key
Now firmly locks
And falls apart
 9

The Ginn

She was not cheap that pretty girl

Her dark hair hanging in a twisted curl
Eyes as black as winter shades
No summer in this heart that fades
From decent dreams of love not lies
To fickle thoughts that binds and ties
A heart within a web of pain
And at that root a secret shame

Forgotten not the time that past

Shared love is lost and did not last
For depths in shallows cannot be
And guilt inside we cannot see
To hideaway within the mind
Is a place where poisons we will find

A curse is given and blessed in hell

Where passions grow and lies we tell
Twisted by the devil’s tongue
We sing of love but the song is sung
Words that hang on painted lips
Fall in falsehoods and in quips
That only fools would blind believe
When a heart is worn upon a sleeve

A siren’s song echoed in the night

A beaming smile, a burning light
But no heart did beat beneath the breast
And only poisoned love infest
The soul of one who lived and died
For that honest love that grew inside.
 1

The Deceiver

Dark haired ginn

The great deceiver
Only a fool would blind believe her
Leaching desire
Cold eyes of dark fire
She’s haunted by weakness
That adds to her bleakness
Faithless and callous
A heart filled with malice
A thief and a liar
With shallow desire
Spun webs like a spider
So you could not deride her
A trickster a victim
A lady of dark sin
A hidden agenda
Do not defend her…
 11

The Death of Love

She tore a gaping hole in me

Shaped my heart internally
Blackened by a darkened shell
My heart was shattered when I fell.
Belief in love has little wonder,
When the pain of it does rent asunder
Those naïve dreams of yesterday,
That leaves a grave beneath to lay
My weary head,
And wish to God that I were dead.
 1

The meat upon the slab

Forsaken love for another taste

Of human flesh and adult waste
I live a life that dwells in skin
I have no sense of mortal sin
Within my soul I feel disgraced
A heart degraded and misplaced
For what I was, I never knew
And what I am cannot be true
I had a heart that loved and longed
But in my mind I know I’m wronged
Worthless, soulless and bound for dirt
Forgotten pain and swallowed hurt
Shared love is lost within a dream
Of passion sought to extreme
To escape the past, my broken world
From which unbound I was hurled
No god of wisdom can dwell inside
For love I lived and for love I died
Honest dreams forgot their place
And led me to a godless face
I see dull eyes look back at me
And in that stare I cannot see
The man I once believed I was
He is gone and all because
I chose a dream and had such hope
But it swings above like a hangman’s rope
I have no faith I dream no more
Bitterness lurks within the core
My mind is numb and empties still
And in my thoughts I want to kill
All thoughts of love and honesty
Only passion now will set me free
But the past is lost, a ghost in flight
That leads me through an endless night
No torch is lit but the fire burns
And no love is given to this heart that yearns.
 1

Time

There is something graceful about old age,

The lines that valley through the skin
When a cheerful grin is formed
Like the turning of a page
You will see the image change
With every passing year,
Something forms that does endear
A natural beauty is enhanced
But not always glanced above the surface
But deep below
An inner glow
That burns and yearns for its release
As the old become content, so tranquil and at peace
They request respect an honour they deserve
And as the younger generation that right we must observe
For one day soon, every one will take their place,
Share the natural grace of age,
While they close the book
We will turn the page.
 1

Keep Taking the Tablets

They filled her up like a pharmacy

More pills than Boots
Grey suits, black bags and needles,
Feeble, frail, but the drugs they never seem to fail
‘I will live forever, if you give me another pill’
‘What’s the effect?’…
‘I have checked my schedule’
Programmed like a machine
The lady dreamed of the day she could live a normal life
Throw the pills away
There they were all laid out on the shelf
Her health in bottles,
Her entire life inside…
‘Open wide’…
‘Here comes another twenty four hours’…
Thank God for the powers of the medical profession
For fuelling her thriving tablet obsession,
She swallowed pills the way children eat smarties
‘Have a treat’
‘Come to the fabulous pill popping party!’
But tomorrow the laughter will end
No more time to kill…
‘I am ill, send for the doctor call him by phone’
‘I find it hard to breathe’
I don’t want to leave my home, I have grown old here’
‘I only want another year’…
The doctor, chemical scholar, black bag, collar and tie.
‘Try these’…
He removes a bottle from his briefcase,
Relief on the old lady’s face, maybe another chance
At a glance her eyes light up,
More medicine to sup!
The doctor has the healing touch.
‘Thank you doctor, thank you so very much’…
‘This time next week, you will be feeling much better’…
‘I cannot speak the truth, let her believe the lie’…
‘All is well’…
The ones who die, shall not be made to grieve…
 1

Night Chills

I always seem to cry at night

For between the covers upon my bed
I like to hide myself away
And as the dark outside lays out its twilight grey
I pray that my mind will let me rest
But memories do infest my mind with a dozen crumbled
faces
Those who have passed away have found the peace that life
replaces
But I myself can never find such peace
For my past is riddled with regret and strife that makes
me want to cease
For why do people have to die?
A child so young, a loved one or a brother
All we can do is cry as death it always claims another
And when my eyes have finally stopped the tears
My tired grip it slowly disappears
And into dreams I gladly slip and fall
Where within God’s world I have stood amongst the dead
For like my own soul they are free inside my head
When the dawn chorus of the early bird
Is heard in gentle song
I will sadly wake
For I know I cannot belong within this other realm
Because like all the others we have to wait
Until death it reaches out its hand and leads us through
the gate
 1

Last Days

Dark was the world beneath her eyelids

Or at least to us that’s how it seemed
As her mind became a vacuum whilst she dreamed
Old times became the lady’s only friend
Remembered places crumbled incomplete
Where she wandered in her thoughts
On stronger youthful feet
Forgotten childhood memories
Drowned away the tears
Took her back to look upon
All her yesteryears
Each day appeared in colour
A transparent hazed display
White light lit the shadows
Shone through the shades of grey
Waiting in dead silence
We counted every tired breath
Reaching out with trembling hands
She seemed to welcome death
 1

Fragments

The house is cold,

Although the central heatings on
Old pictures on the wall
Do not tell that you’re gone.
We shared our lives together
Never thought the time would come
Marching in our sorrow
To the dull beats of a drum
‘Tomorrow wait for me’
At your side, in death, my place
Holding on forever,
Entwined in loves embrace.
Your face within the mirror
Drapes shadows in my eyes
Those lights that burned so brightly
Have flickered and demised.
Distance shall not part us
In life you will remain
Held inside my heart
Where death has no domain
 1

The Willow Tree

Underneath the Willow Tree I laid the wreath

It spoke a silent word, written in tear tumbled ink
Telling of my love for you through every wonderous year
I would not forget when we danced below the shady green
Caressing our hair between the flow of the blowing leaves
Those days now seem like a long forgotten dream
For now I have but memories of you that I will not forget
I pray those thoughts will help me see them through
Until I lay my weary head beneath the Willow Tree next to
you.
 1

Dear Lara

Our union is like the moon and earth

Bathed by rays of golden sun
The eternal link and heavenly bond
Can share this warmth with everyone
I whisper in your shell like ear
Brush your golden hair aside
The words of love I share each year
Are burning in my heart inside
Where love transcends each passing hour
Grows through time and memories shared
The bond of love flows with such power
To touch the souls of those ensnared
A rainbow river flows through time
As love it grows each day and night
Beyond our dreams are stars that shine
And reflect great power in their might
For we are the stars that shine above
To guide our loved ones each day through
We are blessed with human love
And words of beauty…
‘I love you’…
 2

Lara’s Life Light

Far away a distant memory is lost within her eyes

And gazing into nothingness she stares through darkened
skies.

Lara’s vision sought to find that place

Where teardrops drowned her mournful face
Lara’s skin had lost its youthful glow
Her soul a ghost and we must know
That without his touch she died inside
And without his love I will confide
That flesh and bone are nothing more
Without a heart on which to draw
 2

The Well of Despair

You can see the stars from the bottom of the well
Daylight was darkened on the day that I fell
Tumbled through shadow, falling forever
My love it was broken
Death severed our tether.
The link to my past spiralled away
And here on my back in this well I now lay
Gazing at stars, moonlight in my eyes
Crimson the colour of darkening skies
Dreams of my lover lost and remote
As here in iced water my body does float
Dying in dreams my spirit is broken
His name on my lips is mournfully spoken
‘Henry my love, I cannot forget
The nights that we shared I will never regret
But death took you early
And forever my pain
Will ache in my heart and always remain’
My breathing grows shallow my memory is vague
I remember disease
The stench of the plague
Carts filled with corpses deep pits full of lime
Painted crosses on doors
A pitiful time
‘Bring out your dead!’
The Criers would call
Death led to this well and my final fall
But the waters can cleanse and the stars I can see
And the ending of dreaming will set my soul free
 2

The Water’s Edge

Take me down to the water’s edge

So I may sit upon the shore
Slit my wrists and spill my blood
For all the misery I have bore
As the clouds they drift across the moon
The sun descends and the night grows colder
Fetch a blanket warm and crisp
Wrap it gently around my shoulder
Comfort me dear nurse this night
Guide me to the waters deep
Hold me tight and squeeze my hand
So I may drown my fears and sleep
Wipe my tears and stroke my cheek
For I seek the death of my devotion
And through the grace of God go I
To die beside the surging ocean
I watch the moon upon the water
The daylight blackened in my dreams
The silver light it fractures night
As my words and thoughts pass to extremes
My nurse she gives me a silver blade
I hold it firmly in my hand
My lover waits beneath the rolling tide
Beyond our footprints in the sand
Inside my love I will confide
Is lost, alone, upon the ocean bed
Drifting lifeless, so serene
He sleeps the silence of the dead
My love has gone, but I see him still
A man who held me safe from harm
But without his love I have no will
Except this blade and outstretched arm
I watch my nurse as she turns away
And I lay the blade against my skin
The moonlight blazes up above
As the gentle cutting does begin…
The nurse she bows her head in sadness
Shuts both eyes to hide her darkness
Shields her sight from tragic madness
The starkness in her heart concealed
A body lies limply upon the sand
The blade lies floating in the water
The nurse she wipes away a tear
Is it sad for a mother to lose her daughter?
Or worse for her to live a life in fear?
 2

The Burning Flame

The fire in the hearth it burned

Earth and hearts the embers churned
The lady sat and watched each flame
Crackled sounds that spoke her name,
For in the passion of that fire
Held the flames of passed desire,
Of years of lust and dreams far gone
The warming touch the eyes that shone
In youthful gaze, had passed this life
In deep malaise.
Memories were her cherished place
His hands his touch his glowing face
Were within the burning fire seen
And in those meadows so serene
Where as a girl of youthful grace
She took his hand and kissed his face
Felt the warmth against her skin
Beneath a sun that did begin
To shine for her
And caused that love inside to stir
Like fire burning in her heart
She denied the thought that they could part
But now the fire burned each night,
And bathed her empty room with light
The warmth it came from dancing fire
Not the dreams of passed desire.
The lady smiled and rocked her chair
Her heart was warmed and passed despair
In sparking eyes the flame of youth
Concealed old age the withering truth
That fire dies, and lives live on
For the grace of time has always shone
So she watched the fire all night long
Until each ember had burned and gone
And faded into blackened dust
To be lost upon the Winter’s gust.
 2

Tapestry

A memory caught upon the tapestry of time,

Dark grey and faded, silent eyes, forgotten stare
A smile so warm from lips that tender kissed upon my
face,
But now so still beneath a silver frame that only I can
share.
Forever encased in a beauty so sublime
Dulled in black and white
A picture formed from flash of light
That lay so still beneath the film of a ghostly silver
mist,
Where no creases in her tender flesh did show the wounds
of time
An ageless vision, grim shadows cannot cover
Although you sleep and forever keep inside God’s realm
Of eternal bliss
I remember sunlit years when you and I were lovers
So upon the polished crystal glass I imprint a loving
kiss.
 2

The Sands of All Time

The days of our lives can be long and drawn

A summer’s warm light or a winter’s cold dawn
A comforting breeze or a falling dead leaf
A love that is long or a love that is brief
A shadow of autumn or a shrivelling flower
A glorious sunrise that gives love its power

The passage of time withers our skin

And the soul in itself may cower within
Time long forgotten is time lost in itself
Love is life’s value not the coinage of wealth
The quest of a soul is to find a true mind
Reach out the heart to where it’s confined
Entwine in the memory and to cherish above
Rise in the heavens and shine in true love

Dying alone and forgotten by love

As the clouds and the darkness descend from above
The shadows of winter fall with the mist
I forget the warm feeling of the lips I have kissed
The darkness is calling and winter draws in
And the falling of leaves in the night does begin
The fading of memory and hopes of the past
Are lost in sad whispers, last breaths for the past

Alone in the darkness extending my hand

As the world duly withers and tumbles like sand
With cracks in my fingers I breathe my last breath
And the sands of all time will crumble in death.
 2

The Zephyr

I may have died but in you I live

I am the warmth in your hearts the love you give
I am the flowers that grow, the air in the breeze
I am the summer breath that blows through the trees
I am the glinting sunlight upon the sea
In truth I am everywhere, for I am free.

Through the clouds I glide and dance

So I can watch your lives with loving glance
And when the wind ruffles through your hair
It is to let you know that I am there
For at every dawn and rising sun
I will share my warmth with everyone.
 2

Life after life

Inside that void the soul has flown

Luminous light of mystic form
Left the flesh that wastes to bone
Took the step to be reborn
For those in life who fear the call
Hold on tight and will not let go
For they cannot see beyond the wall
So battle hard to stop the flow
Because when you die you are not dead
You become an energy for rebirth
But the one you were the light has shed
And will decompose beneath the earth
Identity lost it looks for new
Drifting weightless unconfined
Inside a mother a baby grew
Entering deep within its mind
Brought back to Earth on silent wings
A little child with beating heart
Awaits the fate that its future brings
As its new life begins to start.
 2

Mind Travellers

Through silence they spoke

The words of the dead
Soft whispers to dreamers
Each word that was said
Spoke of the travellers
Of a place not confined
Where the flesh of our bodies
Is no cage for the mind
They travel beyond
The masking of dream
To exist beyond living
And the stars they had seen
History claimed them
Carried them on
Beyond mortal living
The flesh that had gone
Streams beyond conscious
Destiny merging
Into the starlight
Onwards and surging
 2

Who is God?

Who is this God?

This God of Creation?
A God of great wonder?
A God of elation?
A being so mighty
So boundless in sight?
A God beyond darkness
That brings us all light?
Born in each heart
Contained in each mind
God’s truth in the darkness
Is what we will find
Seeking and searching
Will deepen the soul
And open God’s pathway
To fulfil every goal.
Blessings upon us,
When we reach for God’s love
And the stars are God’s beacons
That shine from above
To mark out God’s Heaven
And guide our true fate
To open up Heaven
And pass through the gate,
That leads to the Rapture
That we should all know
Where the warmth of God’s kindness
And blessings bestow.
Reborn in white light
Each soul will renew
And learn that God’s guidance
Has guided you through.
 3

The Long Walk

She walked in silent waking breath

Hid each thought of passing death
Of veils and shrouds like cloaking night
That hid this child from ancient sight
And passing through the tombs of old
Where life through bone their stories told
Of centuries past, old lives worn through
As history claimed all those she knew
A child she was, and blessed by youth
No shadows thrown could hide that truth
Amidst granite pillars of crumbled stone
Faded inscriptions of words unknown
She thought of faces long forgot
Lost loved ones left inside to rot
And passed dead flowers wilting there
Their broken stems to show they care
All had passed, in time and gone
Beneath a sun that always shone
This made her feel at ease with life
As she passed two sleepers, a man and wife
For lives are lived and some are short
All lives are ended with poignant thought
The journey made is a new endeavour
Blessed by our God who lives forever.
 3

Truth

Beyond the external human flesh

Our skin that twists us in its mesh
The light of life beyond its birth
Will release each mind from confining earth
In stars that shine through celestial fire
Burns each mind that does desire
The freedom in God’s blinding light
To free the soul from darkened night
Of human blindness, lack of thought
To seek the place each soul has sought
By crossing time and endless space
We find the heart and kiss the face
Of a god who lurks beyond our dreams
Of man’s great ventures and extremes
In its time it draws us in
And through God’s grace our lives begin
As each mind is merged together
And breaks the link that earthly tether
We learn the truth and find our place
Far beyond the shadow of the human race
Within the minds of the eternal being
Through knowing eyes that are all seeing
Our destiny is to be as one
To shine as heavenly as our sun
 3

Despair and
Personal Tragedy
 3

The Captive

Who am I?…
Am I such a freak
That week by week
I attract so many staring faces?
Caring not that I alone grow old
And weary at their grimaces?
Tomorrow I fear brings another crowd,
And bleary eyed with sorrow shrouded tears
They stare at me within this cage
I may rage, but for them I entertain…
Are they not aware of the pain of being alone?
I growl and groan as children cling to their mothers
But I am held against my will
I fulfil the voyeurs form of pleasure
I was born to be seen in carefree leisure
I am free for them.
But I myself have no home
No loved ones of my kind
As forever I am confined
Why do these strangers gloat at me?
Oh share the reason why I must pass each season
And all time
Within this place
And rot and die without another friendly face
That does resemble mine?
My crime I do not know,
So please… Will someone let me go?…
 3

Dead Eyed Boy

Circular lights
Snake behind me in the mirror
I change gear
The world outside does not seem to care
‘Where am I going?’
‘What is my destination?’…
I pull into a petrol station
The attendant dull eyed, diffident.
‘We were robbed here last week’…
He speaks of the past, but we both know the future will
be bleaker…
He fills the tank…
‘My bank accounts dry’
‘Why drive when there’s no place to go?’
No smiles, just blank looks.
‘My cheque books inside my coat, on the back seat’…
The attendant retreats; eyes wide.
I reach into my coat, soul remote, sweat on my brow…
‘Now do it, NOW’…
‘On your knees I have a gun’…
One brief moment there was life in the dead eyed boy
‘Feel my grief son, lie down, lie down and die’…
The road ahead led arrow straight,
Pity the dead eyed boy, but it was the city, the city
that killed him, sealed his fate…
‘Grim place this, lovers don’t kiss, they screw,
Children sniff glue, this nations filled with human
waste, what a bitter taste what a waste of life’…
‘I tried to slash my wrists once, but the knife was
blunt.
I never cried when my mum died,
We lived in a slum crumbs for tea,
She was a waste of space; I resent her for what she did
to me.
Dad was always drunk, skunk breath in the morning.
Sprawled out over his bed, he ruled us with fear’
‘Dear Dad, glad you’re dead’.
I put my foot down, I wanted to leave this place behind,
Find a more human face, away from the ugliness, death,
disgrace.
‘I guess there are no cities for men like me,
but I can kill and steal, I have my own free will,
I always seem to get ahead’…
I smiled…
‘At least city boy, I ain’t dead’…
 3

Rats and Mice

Brick upon brick the buildings tower high

Skyscraper mountains blot out the sky
Sealing out the sunlight of the people down below
Dealing out the money that the beggars never know
Working in the city paying such a price
Running in the rat race I pity all the mice
 3

Vulture

That old vulture is perching at the foot of my bed

Empty headed, lurching forward on a long neck
Strong, cold staring eye, set sharp, dark in
Un-feathered features
As it slowly baits its breath and squawks
‘Beware’
The creatures not for killing,
Lies in wait, watches time, welcomes you to your fate,
Into the lonely company of flies,
Who, unaware that you exist,
Only settle when you are kissed by death.
The breath is often heavy in my throat,
Gloating beast, feast your eyes, remote in glance
For it will eat your flesh given half the chance
Laughing hyena, preying on my mind,
Cannot find any peace,
When I die at the end
That vulture will descend and lick its lips,
Tear my skin to strips
And begin to pick my bones dry…
 3

A Decision to Crawl

In this land
We remain as dust
A million souls to one grain of sand
I crouch
I feel the people’s pain
Concealed in whispered voices
Each in turn offer no choices
To a man who’s had his time
I wait…
Too late to stop the world
As it spins its dizzy way behind
I have found my fate
A peace, at one with mankind
Free of fear
A mere ghost of man
Though seeing more than most
Even in the dark the blind have vision
I watch an insect settle.
‘A decision to crawl’
It has more purpose than I…
I wait…
Just wait… Wait to die…
 3

Oh God

Death… Now there’s that word again…

And the fear of it, can drive you insane, if you let it,
So forget it, you’re alive!
Being dead after all, is probably not so bad,
When the alarm call rings in the morning,
And the birds sing while you’re yawning
Be glad you can sleep on,
Because after all you’re dead and gone
You don’t have to worry about brushing your hair,
Or rushing for a taxi,
You don’t have to care,
Or being at work at nine on the dot
Or making the coffee that’s piping and hot,
That’s in the past now, so it’s just time to rest
You have drawn your last breath now,
And by God you are blessed
Thanks for your love God, the kindness you’ve shown
By reducing us all into ashes and bone…
 3

The Natural World

 4

Spring

A Different World

The silent breeze the lightest touch

Blowing out with caressing grace
The warming sun that shines above
The ripples on the flowing lake

Dance the diamonds upon the stream

Crystal shafts of shattered light
Fairies frolic in this dream
Wings and skin of pearl ivory white

Drops of dew soak up the rays

Glinting on a spring bloomed petal
Borne upon the morning haze
Upon a flower a bee does settle

Upon the stream a gliding swan

Feathers touched with winter white
But on the wind that seasons gone
So has now that frost filled night

Through the trees along the path

I watched young children play and chase
As they run they skip then smile and laugh
Carefree through the sun kissed haze

Amongst the branches in her nest

Sheltered by the fresh green shade
Is a dove its heart at rest
In a slumber its mother made

A different world as seasons fade

Through passing days that guide our land
A wondrous place that nature made
Long before the touch of human hand…
 4

April

The silver Birds

Oh timid whispers of the wind

You seem to wish the summer in
You call to her in warm caressing bursts
Blessing all with a touch of April sun
The weeping willow has begun
To cascade her flowing leafy locks
Into the flowing tender breeze
Where flocks of silent silver birds
Sweep above her outstretched natural green
Between Forget-Me-Nots and Saffron Meadow
Unfurls a sea of Primrose Red
Shadowed below as the sun arose
Swirling yellow overhead
Serene the toothsome cherry trees
Sprouted from the cherished soil
Uncoils each outstretched blossomed branch
That carries the fruit of nature’s toil
‘Oh blessed are the weeks that see the seasons change
Where tulips flood in silky bud from out of winter sleep
And Mother Nature keeps those flowers
Fresh upon the grange
Allured by the tender touch of April’s falling rain’.
 4

A Summers Day

High trees
Abundant with illuminated leaves
Whisper in their branches
Where the wind rustles them
Again and again
Unleashing avalanches of bright shimmering sunlight
Through broken gaps
That lap and sway
In mirrored pools of gold
Upon a river
Where the quiver of the silver water
Does unfold her sparkling flow
The sunbeams low in the heavens
Streams of light
Break across the transparent
Surface of the lake
Flowers awake in fields and meadows
Yield their petals to the sun
For they have begun to live again
Stirred awake by April rain
Creeping slowly from the soil
Their roots uncoil
And push each delicate sleeping tender bud
From the darkness of the fertile earth
Where a flood of rainbow colour
Grows from the splendour
Of the summer sun above
As mother nature blesses them at their rebirth
By caressing them in the sunshine’s soothing love
 4

Dragonfly Summer

Dawn rose within a furnace of burning sunlight

Night had passed and spring had drawn to a close
As the summer sun arose like a burning orange eye
Within a sky of blue and wispy red
Birds flew in the wake of the new day
Wings strong and silent
Memories of the winter grey
Long forgotten in their tiny feathered hearts
Carts rattled on battered wooden wheels
Along winding dirt scattered stony country tracks
Horse drawn this summer morn
The swirling breeze attracts the dancing honeybees
Who swoop with a gentle buzzing hum
Onto flowered stamens grown by our sun
Where they settle and scoop the pollen
Swollen yellow on their backs
Drops of dew hang from the petals like diamond crystal
glass
Where they are cast like tumbling tears
Into the natural grass below
To watch the flowers grow in summer time
To see the sweep of the spiralling leafy vine
Creep up crumbling walls of stone carved archways
To walk across the landscape pathways
Cut within a maze of flowing flowers
Where trees tower beneath canopies of green
Where their branches lean and sway
Between the rustling whispering leaves
I have waited long for the bird song to fill the air
And for the Dragonfly season to give a natural reason
Why this world must live.
 4

Simplistic Imagery

The window framed a picture

That often changed each day
Patterned by the seasons
Beneath skies of blue and grey
Watercolour raindrops
Arced and rolled on glass
Tumbling down in dewdrops
Forming patterns on the grass
Tree branches formed by brush stroke
Leaves wrapped intertwined
Confined in many colours
Rainbows prismed in my mind
I looked beyond the window
Where time had held her breath
And welcomed in each new day
Whilst the old ones died their death
 4

Dawn

The fields and meadows in the morning

The core of the sun burns orange in the heavens

Dawn shadows form
Sweep across the moorlands
The golden sands of time turn both hands of the clock
A cock crows a sprightly note
His throat dry
But still so clear that mighty cry
Lambs lie sleeping in the meadow
Free from fear of butcher’s knife
The sweeping weeping waterfall so full of life
Tumbles down upon her surface
In a gentle dreamlike pitter patter
The waking breeze does seize and guide the wings Of
bumblebees
Who swoop from high and tumble low
Falling graceful from the sky
Trees form canopies beneath the sun
Caterpillars crawl from leaf to leaf
Birds have begun to sing
To bring a little life to this new born morn
Dancing on the wing they dive from brittle twig built
nests
And settle down to rest upon the glistening dewy ground
Listening for the sound of prey
All those that lay below the soil
In a graveyard by the church
Shaded by the cover of a towering birch
Lay buried a lover of the moorland meadow
A fellow who used to toil
And care for the trees and flowers
That grew here from the soil
But now the silver birch does care for him
Within the grim twilight shadows of forever sleep
The tree she sweeps each outstretched solid branching
limb
And keeps him out of reach from harm
Beneath the shelter of her giant leaf swept arm
Friends wept a thousand tears
But the sands of time have passed so many years
And nothing lasts forever
But the dawn it will return
 4

And our sun will always burn

For even though the tears may fall like rain
New life will still begin again… Begin again… Begin
again…

Autumn

Season of the Fall

Upon the lake of silver sunlight

Sway soft particles of gold
Where diamond splinters of crystal light
Break out in shards of white and gold
I watched two robin red breasts fly
Soar then swoop above the lake
Chilled air beneath each feathered wing
A whistling wind caught in their wake
Now autumn extends her icy grip
To dancing leaves that graceful swirl
They fall so crisp from towering tears
Those leaves that tumble twist and curl
Beneath skeletal branches a silent breeze
Helps sweep away the crisp brown shower
Amongst the outstretched branching trees
A mighty oak stands like a tower
All below stand within its shadow
Beneath a sheltering silhouette
The flowers that grow within the meadow
Will still be growing when the sun has set
So when the fall has covered all
And the daylight sun has faded
When all is hidden by the human eye
And by the moon is shaded
A chilling frost will sweep across
Whilst in deep sleep we slumber
Then when outside the rain it falls
And the clouds burst out in thunder
We will not forget
Now the sun has set
That autumn holds such wonder
 4

Winter

Beneath the shadow of Christmas

Now the autumn wind has gone

The Christmas season has begun
Where through a winter fog it shone
The flame red fire of our sun
Immersed in wisps of cotton clouds
A silent landscape so serene
Crystal snowflakes formed white shrouds
Where only trees are evergreen

Icicles formed like tears of joy

From glistening drops of tumbling snow
And on the face of a little boy
A warming smile, a healthy glow
For in this winter wonderland
An ancient magic grips a child
The dream white topping is so grand
And Santa Claus is not defiled

Beyond the meadows showered white

A frozen lake wears a translucent coat
The cold wind whispered in the night
To make this stream of ice remote
Creatures rest in natural bliss
Fast asleep in the winter cold
Nature blessed this Earth with a chilling kiss
As Christmas yuletide does unfold

Far across this icebound glacial plain

Where kindness of heart does reign supreme
Shared thoughts of love will still remain
Long after the thaw of this crystalline dream
 4

Still Waters

The slope down the mud churned bank

Led into still waters
A dank flood of swirling black film
Covered the surface and stank of chemical decay
As no living creature lay beneath its wake
The liquid in the lake
Had once contained a myriad of aquatic life
But had grown static from an act of human error
That had unleashed the terror from a belching metal pipe
Which wiped away the wealth of life within
And it would never begin again
The dreamlike summer serenade is over
The clover that once laid a carpet
Gently around the rolling crystal shore
Does not grow here anymore
And the birds that made their nests
In the shade of trees that did surround
Have flown in fear to distant plains
Leaving far behind the death choked streams remains
No sound is heard within this ghostly place
For nothing is alive the lake has lost her charm her
grace
 4

Memories of the War

 5

Passchendaele - The Final Call

Captain James Willard (1880-1917)

Burned, and scorched, debauchery in mud,

That drenches those wretched souls
Who try to live within their dugout holes
The soldier opposite, all boils, and blisters
‘I am ready to die’ The tears say otherwise
Drown his whispers.
Clarkson just a boy of twenty one,
Picked up the gun last year,
Twenty two tomorrow,
Clarkson, smiling face, no longer here,
Killed last week, died in my embrace.
Of the dead we never speak, we lie with them,
Die at their side, grotesque parodies of man.
Many lie here, dead, without fear,
Eyes white, fog blind, as black as night,
Life has gone from them.
Rotting in the mud, blood stained
The dead remained silent in the dark.
Stark, bleak landscape,
Shaped by shells,
Wells of drowning water, brown holed, cold as ice.
The dead entice me in, limb on tired limb,
I sink never swim.
Slipping through the mire,
Barbed wire rolling all around,
The ground sucks me down, reaching for a grip,
As I slip, and slide inside.
The wire cuts, but I hold tight,
My blood is fresh, trickling from the wire mesh,
At least, so far I am still alive.
Crawling through the dark,
Struggling through the sucking clay,
Machine guns laying cover at my back.
‘Attack!’ I scream above the shrill,
I must find the will to move,
But for one brief moment
Exhaustion creeps upon me and I sleep,
Dream of safer times,
Ignorant of the crimes of man.
I twist, I writhe, barely alive,
Through all that is unholy.
Hideous landscapes, all dies before me.
Man’s folly breaks the spirit.
‘The meek will inherit the Earth?’
‘We are so meek, we cannot even speak’…
‘Inherit the Earth? Mud and death more like’…
My tired breath keeps lapsing into sleep,
 5

But I am too afraid to close my eyes,

In case the waning light finally dies…
Our men are marching into hell,
Their blood marked their graves as they fell.
Burial often comes by shell,
Or a sinking down in suffocating well,
Tides of mud make it impossible to grip,
Swallowed as you slip beneath the flood.
The pounding of the guns,
Shells exploding like the nova of distant suns,
‘How can this war go on?’
I remember when the sun shone down upon us,
Only rain drowns men’s tears,
And I have aged thirty years in this one day,
Our war has turned my life to clay,
Slowly, dolefully, the rain is washing my life away,
Draining into the soil and clinging slime.
War tears at mankind’s bones,
And God for all his mercies
Does not listen to men’s groans,
He is deaf to all this wretched noise.
In death, soldiers are discarded
Like children’s toys after play,
Stringless puppets,
Cut down, and rotting in the bloodied clay.
Through the dark of the mire,
I hear the rattling, stuttering machine gun fire.
Soaring shells break overhead,
Pouring black smoke shrouds over the fallen dead.
Corpses hanging from barbed wire mesh,
Tunics torn, bodies stripped of flesh.
Dead soldiers decaying in filth, and squalor,
Their eyes unburdened from the horror
Of the howling barrage from the sky,
The screaming wounded who will not die.
In the dark of the choking mire,
Behind the walls of gas, and glowing fire,
I have this dread, a look of no return,
I fear my ears, and skin will burn,
Blistered by heat, and poisoned fumes
These dug out holes could become our tombs.
Shorn of our spirit, and free will
Soldiers wait below the missiles shrill,
Waiting for the final call,
When the whistles blow, and we must crawl
Up the mud drip steps to No Man’s Land.
‘Dear God please take my weary hand,
Lead me from this poisonous lair,
Where the wells of water drown despair’.
The sky is lit with a flare gun’s burst,
We serve spotless generals with a sickening thirst
 5

That’s never quenched by our dying souls,

As we spit our blood to fulfil their goals.
The men they wait, and listen still,
Waiting for the final kill,
Mud packs tight within our boots,
Soon will be dead and new recruits
Will fill our shoes with equal dread
And use soft earth to make their bed.
In No Man’s Land our graves are laid,
As the war hawks will must be obeyed.
Although we wait to hear our names,
On whose shoulders are the blames
Of man’s folly to be laid?
Not on the shoulders of our dead.
As men wait for Zero hour,
The guns erupt, and we begin to cower,
Sliding downwards into the mud,
I swallow my fear, I taste my blood.
Shutting my eyes as the whistle blows,
Will they open again?
God… God only knows…
At dawn upon these war torn plains
No soldier upon this field remains
Silence is the sound I hear,
No cries of calling voices near,
No shells are falling overhead,
For all but the wounded, the men are dead.
Soldiers lie dying in a makeshift trench
Rats attracted by the stench
Of flesh that’s begun to putrefy
As my friends decay before they die.
I hear the sounds of laboured breath,
Another soldier enters death
His fist clenched tightly, grips the soil,
A handful of earth for his toil,
It slips like life through his fingers
He cannot live with the pain that lingers,
Inside the wound that tore his chest,
And as I watch his final rest
Begins to close his watering eyes,
And there, in the mud, this young man dies.
At least the boy has found the peace,
For him this wretched war has ceased.
I myself must wait my turn,
By watching others die I learn,
That death for all is done alone,
And war leaves men to be unknown.
 5

A Soldier’s Words

I serve my time a frontline soldier

Watch young men growing older
Older than their years,
I cry my tears
In safety back at base,
Where a brave man can hide his face and weep
Shed tears for those in death who sleep,
Those tragic souls taken before their time,
Where mindless killing is not a crime.
A soldier’s worth should be measured by his courage
Not by the earth in which he lies.
Or for the cause for which he dies
But family and memories of home
Those fields and meadows
Where I'd roam with my beloved on summer days,
And pour four-leaf clovers through her hair
We would stare at each other for hours and not speak
And as the sun went down I would kiss her cheek.
Sadly silence has lost all meaning
For all I hear is the bitter screaming
The bombs and sounds of raging guns
The death of many fallen sons
I hunt the brave and the weak
In this place I use my gun to speak
Am I a man that’s born to kill?
I have my orders but not my will
If I could choose a life of peace
War itself it would not cease.
The hateful eyes I see,
That would end this tour of misery,
The poisoned eyes that stare
The enemy waits his pain to share
I will charge unto the air.
The blessing of my enemy’s death
I find each breath of life renewed
Best to hunt than be pursued
My child and wife back home
Are not known here
The fear and dread the armies of the dead
Do not walk in my stead
I need no pity for I wear a warrior’s mask
It shields me from this brutal task
But when this war, this war is over
I will give my beloved a four-leaf clover
Share her touch and warm embrace
Shed the mask that scars my face.
 5

The Mortal Stain

Freya dreams of the womb that cradled her

Of a mother who loved and always cared
Abandoned by family and due to give birth
Young Freya is alone, forgotten, and scared
The baby positioned inside her womb
But the place Freya lives is damned on this earth
In time it will be nothing more than her tomb
But a new life is moving near to its birth
Warsaw is torn by the bitterest war
And the raging war machine increases
The young woman hides behind an old door
As the bombs blast Warsaw into pieces
Freya covers her ears from the terribly sound
The dark legions of the Reich march on
She hides in a cellar underground
Freedom, and her free will is gone
Flames consume the burning houses
Freya grips her stomach and begins to scream
Her water breaks but never douses
The birth of new life and new dreams
But the nature of the fanatic’s mind
Has signed a warrant for their slaughter
For a Jewish mother and her child
Can never raise a son or daughter
Freya cries this night and cradles him
Her newborn boy with deep blue eyes
The noise outside, the ghastly din
Do not hide young Freya’s loving sighs
But the war it rages and crushes love
And the innocence of the child she bore
His gentle touch and gurgling tone
Are threatened by the hatred at the door
The monstrous will of men unknown
Freya’s house in darkness the war draws near
She wraps a blanket like a shroud
To hide the newborn and each tear
And listens as he screams out loud
Waiting for the brutal soldier
Ordered by a cruel regime
To take her baby before he’s older
Commit an act that is obscene
But there is deep love beneath this roof
And Freya loves her little child
Perhaps he need not know the truth?
Being freshly born and not defiled
That other sons they may destroy
Although they never kill a mother’s love
And as she kissed her little boy
Ignoring the fires up above
 5

Freya knew in death that there is life

Her blue-eyed baby he would not die
She would protect him from this war’s strife
And his soul would rise up to the sky
Freya kissed his cheek and stroked his chin
A beautiful boy, a mother’s pride
She comforted him from mortal sin
Held him tightly at her side
In time she learned to hold his breath
And tearfully looked into his eyes
In love she choked her child to death
Cradled him at his demise
His lifeless form is free from pain
But the hoards of hell are drawing in
Freya’s hands now bear the mortal stain
Another measure of their sin.
 5

Humour
 5

The Snail tale

The snail crawled slowly

Across the dusty track
His home and his belongings
Strapped upon his back.
‘Moving house… A drag’ He muttered
As he cluttered down the trail
‘Life can be hard
When you are a lowly snail,
You can never make a home
Or get to know your neighbour
And carrying a house
Is harder than slave labour
And those wretched feathered creatures
Who peck upon my shell
Never call attention
By ringing the doorbell
But the biggest nuisance of them all
When being tiny, oh so small
Is the crushing boot of a giant beast,
That makes so many snails deceased
A million snails have died this way
So I’m moving house, I cannot stay
I have left my neighbours,
To avoid the crush,
But I am moving slowly
As snails… Never rush’…
 5

The Fly and the Spider

‘Hello Mr Fly,
Why are you hanging there?’
‘Wrapped in silk so snug
Inside my spider’s lair’…

‘Good day Mr Spider… I am a silly fly,

I fell into your spider web,
As I descended from the sky,
I hope we can be friends,
And that you’ll set me free,
I do hope Mr Spider,
You won’t eat me for your tea’…

‘You see it is like this’…

Said the spider to the fly,
‘I have a hefty appetite,
So you may have to die…
It’s not that I’m unreasonable
Or a nasty sort of chap,
For at least you’re warm and cosy
Inside my silken wrap
Being swathed in silk
Must surely be a pleasure
And you can make me happy
When I eat you at my leisure’…
 5

Frivolous Fishy

Oh little fishy in my pond

Of you my fishy I am so fond
My scaly beauty for you I care
I swoon as I watch you swimming there
Oh little fishy marry me
You and I can swim to sea
The ocean depths will be our home
And through coral reefs we will roam

Oh little fishy I am your buoy

Marry me do not be coy
My love dear fishy is off the scale
Turn me down and I will wail

Let me place a ring on your fish finger

We will leave the pond
We will not linger
Please marry me this very day
Our loves electric
Like a manta ray

‘Oh fine finned fishy

Please grant my wishy
Marry me tomorrow
Turn me downy
And I will drowny
Your rejection will bring sorrow’

The fishy took many days to think

The fishy even took to drink
But a fish’s memory is so poor
She soon forgot
What was said before…

‘Oh little fishy you forgot my name

I now must part
Oh Cod… The pain!’…

‘Goodbye dear fishy

I know your plaice
I guess I belong to the human race?!’
 6

The Gambler

Nobody lives forever so eat what you damn well can

Like jam roly poly and forget about oat bran
Just eat to your hearts content and forget about your
weight
After all it does not matter if you look an awful state
Just fill your stomach up with all those tasty things
Forget about tomorrow and what your future brings
After all it is unhealthy but I just will never care
Because I keep my clothes on so everyone won’t stare
Nobody will stop me eating or stuffing chocolate cake
For that is what I want to do when I am wide awake
I like to smoke my cigarettes and down ten pints of beer
After all I am a young man so of death I have no fear
I think I live my life to the fullest it can be
And I don’t like vegetarians or the salads that they eat
Just give me steak and burgers or any kind of meat
I love tomato ketchup and chips that are fried in fat
Although I won’t touch drugs as I’ve never fancied that
I like my jam filled doughnuts ice cream and chocolate
pud
If only I had two mouths that would be so awfully good
My body is an awful mess why won’t the mirror lie
But I guess I will go on eating until the day I die…
 6

Ouch!

I want to look ten years younger

Can the surgeon’s knife do that?
For my figure of youth I do hunger
The days of no wrinkles or fat
‘It will cost you a great deal of money’
The doctor said with a smile
‘I know, but I have a great fortune
And being fat can never be style
I want you to suck in my waistline,
Pull back the skin on my face
I want to look ten years younger
For like this I am a disgrace
Please make me pout like a goddess
Seductive to kiss in my youth…
Give me the truth of the scalpel
With your gloves and mask please begin
Erase and smooth out the creases
That so callously damage my skin
I want to see a new look
Whenever I gaze in the mirror
Not this withered old hag
Whose face makes me quiver in terror
Let me be once again in my twenties
Ten years older than that would be fine
Let me stand in front of the mirror
And not see a blemish or line
Please God do not let me grow old
Ageing is a curse not a gift
But with care and a fair bit of money
I can give my whole body a lift!’
 6

Bah, humbug!

Oh Christ it’s Christmas once again

Shopping trips that cause me pain
Hulking parcels back and forth
Bloody Santa from up North
Riding in his sparkling sleigh
All right for him it’s just one day
For us it is the December grind
Where parents travel far to find
Some wretched gift, or plastic toy
A gift for a girl or little boy
And then there is that stupid tree
Chopped down, displayed for all to see
In our living room lit by light
Or sprayed with snow to make it white
Utter madness it seems to me
As the family gathers in misery
To fall asleep at the dining table
For they’ve eaten more than they are able.
Greedy gluttons everyone
I hope dear Santa brings a gun
To blast a hole in their festive cheer
At least I’d smile when it’s New Year.
Seasons greeting everyone
But who the hell is having fun?
 6

Pointless Prose

What is the point of poetry I cannot see the point myself

It will not make you rich it is not good for your health
It is not a sport it is not taught in schools*
Only idiots write it that’s dreamers and fools
It is all meaningless words and flowery speech
About the birds and the buttercups so what does it teach?
Nobody knows as no ones quite sure
What the words of the poet really are for
Most are content to watch football instead
And forget the poor poet until he is dead
But maybe one day they will pick up his book
And take a long lingering curious look
Then they will gladly put it back on the shelf
After all what is poetry it is not good for your health…

{* Poetry is not taught as a separate subject}

 6

Fantasy, horror and the

supernatural
 6

The Tomb of Moloch

Within the walls the dust lay thick

Layered heavy from centuries past
Inside the solid but crumbling brick
Were many souls who had breathed their last
Jack held a torch to guide his way
Along this dark and dreaded path
He wished he had the light of day
For in his head he heard a mocking laugh
Within its coffin it lay awake
A concrete slab above its head
Inside Jack’s coat he held a stake
That would free it from the living dead…
Slowly Jack unlocked the tomb
Then nervously drew back the gate
Like a voice it gave a scream of doom
And closed behind to seal his fate
Onwards Jack walked below the flickering flame
Which cast dancing shadows upon the ground
From behind he heard his whispered name
Forcing himself he turned around…
There it stood, the evil one
Eyes blood red, skin pearl white
A beast that would blister in the sun
Or burn to ash in the searing light
Jack removed his stake from inside his coat
Tearing a pocket in his haste
Moloch saw his terror and began to gloat
And licked its lips for that blood filled taste
Nervously Jack raised his stake
As across the crypt it began to glide
Jack stood his ground but began to shake
For here was a beast that had never died…
Moloch screamed a bloodcurdling scream
And became a shadow in the dark
Jack swirled around in this nightmare dream
Searching for a place to find his mark
With the stake as his only defence
Into a corner Jack backed away
The darkness now was thick and dense
And he could only hope and pray
Because Jack’s torch had been blown out
And beads of sweat formed upon his face
Jack’s heart was filled with a terrible doubt
That he would never leave this place…
Under the glow of a luminous moon
Which cast black shrouds over pillars of stone
Outside the walls of the crumbling tomb
That hid in the dark the decay of the bone
It was like the dead were holding their breath
 6

Within the graves some six foot under

And as they waited still in death
The gate of the tomb was rent asunder
Then from the dust of centuries old
A black cloaked figure stepped from the gloom
Moloch’s skin was rigid so icy and cold
Its face so pale formed a mask of doom
There grew no hair upon its head
No lashes fluttered above its eyes
Moloch’s jagged teeth were dripping red
Blood taken from Jack near his demise.
In the vaults the rats scuttled by
While the spider’s spun another web
Jack lay in a coma but did not die
Even though from wounds his life did ebb
With heavy breath he dragged in stale air
But the stagnant taste was the last he knew
For Moloch had returned to its lair
As once more the vampires hunger grew…
 6

The Magic Ring

Let me tell you the tale of the magic ring

Of the wonder and wealth that its power could bring
For on a snowy mountainside
This magic ring was found inside
A rusting battered wooden chest
And within a cave it had been laid to rest
For by this land it was forgotten
Until its panels had crumbled rotten
A man with a whistle found it there
Within the cave so cold and bare
He smashed away the iron seal
To see what treasures it would reveal
What lay within lit up his eyes
And made him jump up to the skies
There in the box lay a ring of gold
An open doorway to wealth untold
He placed the ring upon his finger
And in the cave he did not linger
As he knew the legend of the ring
So with a smile and a whistle he began to sing
About the prize that he had found
Beneath the rocks below the ground
Finding a clearing picturesque
He put the ring to a test
Wishing for food then golden ore
Then wishing again for more and more
Until the gold concealed the snow
Within a yellow shimmering glow
Laughing with a cheeky grin
Once more the wishes did begin
He wished and wished throughout the day
On and on until the sky turned grey
Then to his horror he began to see
That he was trapped and could not break free
For all around the gold did tower
As the magic ring became drained of power
And the man was entombed forever more
Within the walls of golden ore
 6

Molke’s Mushrooms

There is a forest on Haunted Hill

With towering trees and branches so still
Where shadowy figures move out of sight
Keep themselves hidden away from the light
There once walked a girl in flowing blue cloak
Within the dense forest of towering oak
And whilst she picked mushrooms in dark silhouette
This pretty young maiden unfortunately met
A contemptuous creature that lived in this wood
A grumpy old troll always up to no good
For the mushrooms that grew here out of the soil
Were grown through his labour, his hard work and toil
At least that’s what he said, but it just was not true
The young maiden smiled for already she knew
That this troll was prone to tell awful lies
As for a young maiden she was very wise
‘Oh Mr Molke’
The young lady said
‘Can I pick toadstools, not mushrooms instead?’
The troll was confused but had to agree
For he wanted those mushrooms himself for his tea
‘All right my pretty, toadstools are fine,
but these mushrooms, not so, because they are mine’…
‘But these are the toadstools’
The young maiden said
‘These are the toadstools, the gift from the dead’
The troll now was muddled and very confused
‘These are not mushrooms?’
He silently mused
Molke looked at the maiden with a threatening stare
‘Then where are my mushrooms?’
She replied ‘Over there’
‘Well little miss you had better go home
I will give you no mushrooms no toadstools to own’
The girl gave a look that seemed to show sorrow
‘Thanks for your kindness, I shall be back tomorrow’
Waving goodbye she glided back home
Whilst the wicked old troll to the mushrooms did roam
Molke filled a huge sack right up to the brim
Then returned to his hovel when the sun had grown dim
He had mushrooms for tea that dark stormy night
And have mushrooms for breakfast when it came early light
But in the morning the troll never woke
Whilst in the woods the girl in the cloak
Picked mushrooms solemnly throughout that strange day
For she knew the troll would not come and say
‘These are my mushrooms pick toadstools instead’
Because those were her mushrooms her gift from the dead.
 6

Prelude to the Dance

The wind had fallen silent

The night was still
A full moon did fill the sky
With a ghostly yellow light
Night creatures of the twilight hour
Awoke, hidden by a cloak of darkness
To take their fill in the forest
No human voices spoke here
Not since that horrific day
One hundred years ago
There had been a terrific storm
Villagers say that it had been born
From the fires below
The trees swayed to and fro
Almost beckoning
With their long black spidery limbs
Drawing up the dregs from the molten well beneath
Calling upon the wicked whims of hell
As the grief of the storm drew to a close
There arose in the darkest depths of the woods
A scream
That could turn a tranquil dream
Into a nightmare
And there
In the forest cemetery
The dance of the demons began…
 7

Dance of the Demons

SLOWLY clouds of flowing white

DRAWN out from the core
INTO my sight
THE ghostly figures borne out of
NIGHT released their power and
THEIR might
GHOSTLY demons danced around, climbing from beneath the ground
GRINS upon their death mask faces
REVEALED the beast the flesh replaces, for in deaths
DECAY the sin of Satan will seize the day
IN maggot ridden crumbled bones, in
BRITTLE bodies where the groans of grinding
TOOTH are heard, where
THE monstrous wailings of the herd of dancing
DEMONS pranced across the graves, they
DANCED where flame red shadows lay, cast from a burning torch
IN a crumbling old crypt within its porch they chanted the devil’s name
HAND the hatred down in shame, where in the haze the demons gaze
HELD the secret of the midnight hour when time it
CIRCLES to release the power far
ACROSS this bleak and brutal land
THE palace of the evil one is erected here
SILENT angels hide behind their wings in fear
GRAVES of those borne out of sin always sing
AMONGST the shrouded darkness of the cemetery
TOMBSTONE tower beneath skeletal tree, small creatures cower as
VINE creeps slowly up the stone
ENTWINED here within their cage of bone
PILLARS of rage spiral high
BUT Satan does hold sway here when you die
AWAY you monstrous breed
YOU wish that God would scream
VILE beast we will cast that callous
TWISTED form of yours back amongst the hell fire where
HOARDS of rampaging demons do belong
AWAY you hold no sway here
AWAY your wickedness be gone…
 7

The Banquet

Music played within the Old Rectory

An eerie cascade of twisted tones
For this place had laid to rest the bones
Of all those who had lived within its walls
So what sounds were calling me?
A passageway, so dark, unwound beyond
And in the darkness of the tunnel lay
An old spiral staircase
Where bound upon a banister
Hung a down turned silver cross
I walked with caution up the swirling spiral stair
Unaware of a flow of molten fire
Sweeping out so far below
And with every step I took
I heard the weeping of the lonely ones
And saw the face of the dead with every wistful look
I reached out into a burning crystal light
But lost my step…
I tumbled,
Humbled within a shadowed cold abyss
Where I danced to the eerie music in a cloud shrouding
mist
There I heard the cries of the faceless ones
Who would never eat at the Banquet
The cast out forgotten sons
Who, unforgiven, were wrapped in a blanket
Of smothering stygian black,
Callously dismissed from above and beneath
Warranting not the gibbet, nor the wreath
No harp played here, not within these dark vaults
Stark and empty, but touched by sin.
A torturing pain so sharp burned within
As jets of searing flame
Came tearing from the molten well below
The fire lit smoke choked Hell
Where the demonic Styx did flow…
 7

My Journey into Hell

I knew as soon as I had died

That they would welcome me inside
Into a world of pain filled toil
Shrouded in darkness beneath the soil

Inside a coffin of padded oak

My soul did stir and I awoke
I did not breathe for I was dead
My wax like form my life had shed

Through the lid I tried to rise

But I could not for my demise
Had called for me to stay within
As the price to pay for all my sin

It was then and there I knew my fate

But now I knew it was too late
As I tumbled downwards into Hell
Gone forever my protective shell

Distant voices called for me

Broke from the flesh into fantasy
Swirled from the body that clasped so tight
To join the voices of the night

Cerberus growls at the Tempter’s gate

As into Hell to infernal fate
An unclean spirit is dragged by his hair
Into the abyss the stygian lair

Beyond the beyond my silent scream

Stayed within this nightmare dream
For I a victim of a violent time
Remained cursed forever for my crime

Fire spirits and demon hoards

Demonical masters the overlords
Sway within the brimstone flame
Cast into Gehenna to eternal shame

Above shone the light of eternal bliss

‘Oh give me my Lord’s face to kiss’
But in this God forsaken place
I had fallen swift from grace

For in the shadows the demon’s dance

As tortured souls in a trance
Walked and wandered with clouded gaze
Through the cabalistic corridors of this maze
 7

Their faces white so thin and drawn

Forever night, no light, no dawn
Holding lanterns to guide their path
As the demon’s mock and curse, and laugh…

A flash of fire of yellow and red

Swept out amongst the living dead
And from the flame stepped out the Beast
Its satanic eyes searched for a feast

Saliva dripping from slavering jaws

The Beast reached out with long sharp claws
Snatching me it began to crunch
For I was now the Devil’s lunch…
 7

Breaking Free
 7

The Prisoners Lament

The walls rise from the soil

Tower high above us all
Enclosed entombed in the dark and the gloom
Seal us all inside the invisible cage
Reach out hands clasped in a fist
Twist with flailing arms
Smash them down with gasping rage
In the dawn of the golden sunrise
Do not demise
Rise and tower
Hold out never cower
Stand not within the shadow
Severe the snare
Show your power!
Never be trodden in the dust
Climb upon the winds warm gust
Free like a bird, swoop above the world
Look across the sea
Listen to the swirling ocean
Keep your wings beating and in motion
Kiss the mistress of the sea
Break with the surf on the golden shore
Sparkle in the sunlight
And soar above into the sun
Your freedom has only just begun
Share it all with everyone
‘But the cage it does entwine me
Like barbed wire ivy
Sweeping up my body
It will never set me free’…
 7

Seconds

Live for the moment

Each second of time
Glimpse simple beauty
In the structure of rhyme
Touch a lone snowflake
On the tip of your tongue
Or remember the words
Of a song you once sung
Cherish the thought
Of gentle laughter
Remember a kiss
Of love ever after
Look at the world
Beyond your own time
This world filled with wonder
A beauty sublime
Yet live for the moment
Whatever it be
Revel in your time
For what you can see
Cherish each word
That you choose to speak
Make seconds and hours
Each day of the week
Worthy of living
And make others care
For this is your life
That we all need to share
 7

Mistress of the Sea

Mistress of the deep blue sea

You take my hand and on you guide me
Through the swirling waves
Where Davy Jones has laid our graves
A lover of the foaming ocean
The cascading waves break with emotion
On the shores that lead to land
Across the pebbles amongst the sand
Crabs and shrimps they scuttle there
Hearts and minds so free from care
Amongst the rocks in crystal pools
Where breaking waves form waterfalls
I sat alone upon the beach
Watched sea gull flying out of reach
Soaring silent through the sky
They will claim my soul the day I die
With an old ivory pipe between my teeth
I have sailed the straights and the Great Barrier Reef
I have seen the corals beneath the waves
And here with my mistress I will make my grave
Over the distant thunder of the roaring tide
I have called to my mistress so deep inside
Where she danced beneath in glittering surf
That soft singing mermaid of watery birth
In my dreams I see a beach
Upon an island out of reach
Where human kind has never been
Tranquil, sand swept so serene
I hope one day to sail my boat
To this island so remote
And live in peace on golden shore
Today tomorrow and forever more
 7

The Wise Man

The wise man sat upon the hill

Deep in thought he sat so still
He was old and grey and robed in white
And I walked for miles to see this sight
Men and women gathered round
And listened for the slightest sound
The little man stared straight ahead
What thoughts were flooding through his head?
He closed his eyes and began to mutter
My heart it jumped and began to flutter
Could he tell us life’s true meaning?
Or was he just asleep and dreaming?
‘I’ He said in a quiet voice
I sit here because I have a choice’…
The crowds of people wanted more
Words of wisdom not heard before
The little man began to grin
And raised his hand to scratch his chin
‘In this world we seek a reason
For each day and every season
We want to know why we are here
To find the meaning of each year’
The little man shrugged each shoulder
‘Perhaps I’m wise because I’m older?
Or because I sit alone in thought
You think I know more than I ought?
What makes me wise is very little
I’m very old and my bones are brittle
I sit alone because I can
Apart from that I’m just a man’
But he was more than that the people thought
And they gave him gifts that they had brought
For only a wise man lives alone
The wisest mind needs not flesh nor bone
The final words he spoke that day
As his followers strolled away
Were…
’Some will follow some will lead
We all need guidance to succeed’…
‘But looking for the truth of living
Is not in gifts but in the love we’re giving’
 7

The Shadow Weaver

and the future
 8

The Shadow Weaver

Vengeance stemmed from the fury

Of a violent acts struck for glory
Campaigns for God,
Through lands of blood,
Gains were great, but the gory flood
Told the Shadow Weaver of another story…
Men cut down in their prime,
Severed veins, the broken sword, a violent time,
Human remains blessed by the Lord,
Such discord, in a world ruled by the steel of the sword…
Whispers from the Shadow Weaver mocked man’s fate
‘Share the hatred at the gate’
It seemed to say
‘The destructive act will seize the day’
As if mankind had made a devil’s pact
Written not in ink, but by blood filled pen
Signed with the cross by foolish men
Who bitten by a demon’s bite
Would only kill, and stave, and fight
Silently the twisted one,
Would drop the sword and raise the gun
The Shadow Weaver with monstrous glee
Would be heard to speak
‘Oh what hatred mankind does wreak,
Break their bones and tear down the church
Cast out God,
Bring back the birch’…
Now with the atom being split
By the button the Weaver sits,
Waiting to free our world
Wishing for oblivion to be unfurled…
Prejudice, hatred, we all must share,
To welcome thee of little care
Into the Shadow Weaver’s lair…
 8

The Four Winds

Beyond our Earth in cabalistic space

A vacuous void a cold dead place
A colossal craft ploughed wearily on
In which thoughts of home had dwindled gone
For inside the ship in a somnolent state
Were a crew who did not know their fate
For what lurked beyond was an injurious beast
As where it had lived all other life had ceased
So now it waited deep inhume
As its malevolent eyes watched the spaceship loom
Entombed within a prison ship
An infinite journey a fruitless trip
For the alien’s cruelty to its own kind
Inside this floating cage confined
The hideous misfit waited within
As it had cruelly immolated its own kin
The alien made an abattoir of its own world
Destruction and death from its claws unfurled
Whilst outside the ship the four winds blew
While deep inside the brutes hunger grew
The Earth ship Explorer made a direction change
Bringing the prison ship into her range
She trundled forward to intercept
And to unleash the secret it had kept…
 8

Metropolis

The shuffling hoards stifled by the fire from the core

Walking head bowed
Where the overlord enslaves with twisted law
‘Why?’ The lost ones ask
‘Why must we exist within the confines of the mechanical
vaults, like grinding cogs in the great machine
Who turn and twist towards the grave,
And burn inside a furnace of everlasting flame?’
‘As twilight ghosts we exist beneath a steam filled mist,
We cry for help but no one hears,
We must complete our task
Through all the pain filled years
But darkness keeps us cast
Within the shadow of an everlasting night
That seems to last forever
And keeps us shrouded out of human sight
Then when we greet the Godhead at the Pearly Gates
No longer will our souls be buried
In the chasmed coffin of the living dead,
For even though the bone has shed the flesh,
Only in death will the workers find their freedom
So when the wind batters and grinds
The rust stained machines
The hidden ones up above that never hear the moans and
screams
Of those unseen
Who toil for such a meagre wage
And never work for love…
 8

Evolution

A glimpse through the gateway of time

I saw that crime had been erased
Phased out by the machines
Whose task had been to keep our world in check
The effect of human souls
Whose goals had been to create a mechanical being
That could control the world
Had hurled mankind
Into a robot confined nightmare
Where the Earth had given birth
To a race of soulless creatures
A scientific new dawn had made our kind extinct
For the umbilical chain that linked us
To our chaotic computer children had been broken
And when the twisted creatures
Had been woken from their unnatural slumber
They plundered all our world…
The ill fated slip had begun some four hundred years
before
When the computer chip began the final war
As the kiss of death had come
From disorganised lips of steel
And now this place is dead,
Bled dry by a programmed need to master
Even their master who had made the seed
From which the machines had grown
And now in this world their creator
Like our God
Flashed upon a million computer screens
That he was now unknown…
 8

Machine

Through smoke, my eyes, red fire

Burned brightly in the dark
I could see without the shadows
See through the stark ink black night
Where light was not forthcoming
My eyes were humming
And my arms powered by an unnatural source
Clicked and whirled
As a transparent fluid swirled and coursed
Through each robotic vein
To gain my sight in both hypnotic eye
The optics infra red
Shone, blazed into the night,
Watching, searching, seeking any pinpoint of light
I lurched onwards
Hunting for the remains of humanity
Who’s blind insanity had created me
In my mind a hated being seeing only hate
Too late to scoff this technical wonder
Too late to switch me off.
A child wild with fear hid in the next room
No walls could protect it
The gloom could not disguise the form
A warm body glowed
Flowed with life
But fear and heavy breath
Would stagnate into a swifter death
My electronic knife spun upon my wrist
My gun upon the other one
With a twist
Spun another cartridge into the barrel
I moved forward on hydraulic metal feet
Always forward
Because the humans were always in retreat
The blade cut as if through butter
The door lock shattered
And with a clutter
Tumbled to the floor
The war would claim another
Humanities bastard son did not have a brother
I took aim
The rattle of the gun sparked and flamed
Shamed the little child
Hurled its body against the wall
The last of its kind to fall,
To die?
Blood red, its corpse lay silent amongst the dead
As much alive as I…
 8

The Final Act

So quiet were those ghostly plains

Where the remains
Of mankind lay scattered
Battered by the final war that had turned their flesh to
bone
And reduced the lands to dust.
The violent spawn of hate
Had swept them to their fate
That of a dying nation lying slaughtered in their graves
A nation now unknown
Lost forever in this barren zone…
The air had chilled
And filled with a poisonous fog
An unnatural smog that made it difficult
To breathe or see
But in the sky above
A dove floated free upon her poisoned wings
Each feather coated with a toxic poison dust
That gusted on the wind
Fading all to nothing…
As the bird she flew upon that breeze
The poison grew and seized her spirit
And she tumbled like a stone
Into a sea of twisted bone,
And lay so silently to die…
Moonlit shadows swept out in eerie cover
Across the polluted landscape
Where no other living creature could escape
The gas choked stagnant air
Mother Nature who had warned us to beware
Wept a single tear,
And began to wonder why the world had come to this…
Gently she kissed the dead goodnight
And the light went out forever…
The last drop of blood is shed
Our grave is sealed
The Earth is dead…
 8

Last Words
 8

The Madman’s Misery

The words form a pattern in a mind that is broken

Written on paper which means nothing when spoken
They flood from the thoughts of a man with no time
To understand meaning or the techniques of rhyme
Lost in my thoughts that are fractured and failing
My words are my art but an art that is ailing
A writer that writes but does not know why
On a quest long forgotten I wish I would die.
 8

The Last Ramblings of a Madman

Suck blood from a stone they said

The roses are red with blood
The marrow has gone from the bone
And tomorrow I rot in the mud
Trapped in a box of my own
A mountain of dirt all around
Ground into dust as I groan
No one cares that I hear not a sound
Tears that I cry are forgotten
Like tears in the rain they are drowned
Feeling my flesh turning rotten
As I am sealed like a corpse in the ground
 8

Epitaph

I wrote down every line,

But I never fully understood.
At the time it seemed absurd,
And I believe…
So it should…

The madman died forgotten,

In a cell all alone,
No tombstone marked his passing…

‘So forever he’s unknown’…

9
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