Yellow is the sand That slips and tumbles in the glass Sifting through our fingers Yellowed is the ancient paper Where ancient text resides And the finger that glides Tracing shaky wisdom
With his faithful tartan cap, its bobble flicking black dust into the air. Holding in that tousled and already greying hair. With half hundred weight of coal to deliver down the street. With his smiling green lorry, tiny windows at his feet. Walking up the narrow path, a smile upon his face. Care worn lines deep with dust, crisscrossed like living lace. Bringing warmth to many homes and our own.
Now the coal has gone but the lines remain beneath silver hair. Hands hard and black with oil and years of toil and loyal care. Has no wealth and all wealth one could want within his soft brick walls. Always ready to respond to our lost and stranded calls. Tall as a tree and as strong against every withering storm. A mere spanner in his hands his wonders to perform. Humble, with every reason to be mighty proud. With pride these words should be read to all aloud.
In an unremarkable flat Next to a noisy tapas bar Is where, perhaps, Hawkins might die Folded in his chair It will not be remembered Unlike his remarkable mind Such are the vagaries of life and death Both ridiculous and sublime
English: Alcyon, in Pleiades Star Cluster (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Another spirit lost Awash in the swell and foam Anguished over lost love Anger dealt him the blow Arising from the sea Alighting on the air A bright bird arises
A single mote of stardust sparkles bright in endless black drifting No goal, no direction for time that feels eternity Nothing Cold, cold Nothing
And then Attracted to another Bright shining mote Joined together Bound in twisting dance round and round and down What seems forever togetherness never apart again
The other comes with more attachments gathering around A family, a clan a get together that has no end a bouncy, rowdy party as things heat up
And the happening attracts more and the numbers swell the dances speed and the steps multiply with complexity The place is hotting up as events coalesce
Then the point of no return This is the place to be the single mote has pulled more that could be dreamed and the crowds rush in and in and down the crowds become a crush And the heat gives rise to new forms of dance and new energy as the crowds arise
And then the circle is complete as the fire starts to burn and the lonely mote is now the heart of brand new burning star
Lines and words and lines On one screen they mean this Elsewhere something else On paper strangely old Before my eyes Flashing by Doing magic But why For the small ends Of small goals Chipping away at mountains
Is it enough? These words We gather here From across the globe Our thoughts thrumming Over strands of the web They gather and agree Mostly And we know What is wrong with the world What is right How to behave And with well picked word We condemn Or cajole the effective ones.
But is it enough? Just the words.
Yet once upon a time There was a spell A magical combination That set me on this course Of reason and reason-ability
Maybe it is enough If someone somewhere Is moved by our spells To do the right thing.
Swirling, whirling milky clouds of stars Spiralling down to the black hole Supermassive hungry dark Swallowing all it can Axle of the wheel Sparkling star arms Shining cloud Holds our Home
Worn wooden floor Distant, ancient scent Tobacco long gone Beer, deep red in thick glass Salt and vinegar crisps Pickled eggs Pickled patrons Warmth and welcome Long gone like the smoke One missed
Taking my son to my old school Following the bus I used to take Still the same number Basically the same model The same smell of classrooms And I wonder Is this it? Are we destined To repeat lives?
It is not enough I want more More for my children Than was there for me No fear More doors No prejudice More joy in knowledge
I am a mirror Distorted Even cracked But a reflection still I share with you my fear And passion My fear is blue Deep dark blue All sharp angles Like shark fins And knives Fear that turns me As white as a clown. Alas, my fear is my passion My love I seek it out To taste the thrill Of the fear and the chase And I share it out While I play my games with the orphan the fear the dark, dark blue that bears the sign of the bat
No reality. That’s what attracts them No history, no baggage Only dreams of the night That’s the attraction of the mistresses, the hookers and the one night stands. No reality.
The lights on the corners of the boxes of steel
Are giving me a pain in the head
Like the fools who drive slowly in the outside lane
They are driving but their brains are dead
They have a purpose those lights you see
And I expect them to flash
Maybe that is my big mistake
Forgetting people are so rash
Imagine Me I kill without discrimination for race, for age, for sex or sexuality I take saints and sinners I take your loved ones in return I deal you pain without explanation when asked the answer is that you cannot hope to understand me As a man you would lock me up revile me or label me insane But I am divine So that’s OK then
As a race We should step up To eliminate the gap Between the haves and the have-nots Between the singers with their bling and the slaves on the line Between the bankers with their blank cheques and the children in poverty For most of history most men women and children Lived in misery, died hungry. We are a disgrace As a race
You people don’t understand.
It’s tradition.
It’s sport.
It’s in our genes.
Blood.
Jobs are created
By the sport we choose.
By the blood we shed.
Surely that’s enough.
Of course
The same can’t be said
For you
And your cock fights.
Shining argent in sunlight or silver sheen in the rain
Letter, rings, lions.
Phoenix or tiny names
Even flying angels and leaping fluid cats.
Bright, alluring but for many
The last thing they will see.
Motes of dust
So we have been described
Floating in the vastness of time and space
Small, inconsequential.
Dust motes made of dust from ancient dead stars.
Yet.
So far.
Amongst all we see,
the starfields of diamond dust,
the ancient piercing light,
the glowing, magical, wispy nebulae,
the rainbow rings of Saturn,
the storms of Jupiter,
the blinding light of supernova,
the singular dark of black hole,
world after world
galaxy after galaxy.
Nowhere have we found
yet
Anything that compares
to the complexity, the wonder, the intricacy,
the magic
of
the thoughts of you and I