1. Mrs. Tibbets
2. Jacob’s Tales
3. Mine Is The Mountain
4. The Zealot Gene
5. Shoshana Sleeping
6. Sad City Sisters
7. Barren Beth, Wild Desert John
8. The Betrayal Of Joshua Kynde
9. Where Did Saturday Go?
10. Three Loves, Three
11. In Brief Visitation
12. The Fisherman Of Ephesus
MRS. TIBBETS
Blinkered against the harsh and raging sun
They said, divert your gaze: don't look behind
It was time, they said, to do that thing;
Mindful, they, of peace and peace of mind
Don't feel bad, they said, about the numbers
Don't feel bad about the melting heat
The burning flesh, the soft white cell demise
And the shattered ground beneath the trembling feet
Mrs. Tibbets' little boy
August morning silence breaks
Eyes to heaven, Manhattan toy
Drops in for tea and Eccles cake
All for the good and ultimately
Saving precious lives in longer run
Set a course for home and happy holidays;
Tell yourself thank God what's done is done
Mrs. Tibbets' little boy
August morning silence breaks
Eyes to heaven, Manhattan toy
Drops in for tea and Eccles cake
Maybe if Lot had stopped and stood his ground
And maybe if Peter hadn't turned away
What if that Judas stole no kiss?
What if, what if, Enola Gay?
Mrs. Tibbets' little boy
August morning silence breaks
Eyes to heaven, Manhattan toy
Drops in for tea and Eccles cake
Have yourselves a merry little Christmas;
Open parcels, gifts of different kind
A bigger bang will call for bigger bucks
So pay the ransom, don't look behind
JACOB'S TALES
Who cares about the family silver
That glints in dusty halls
Lined with badly painted landscapes
On badly painted walls?
Who cares for family favourites
Dangling from the family tree?
That Auntie Mabel loved you more
Loved you, loved you more than me
We're not old fools of competition
Jacob's tales or superstition
But siblings born in equal grace
Seated at set-table place
Same old chances, toss of dice:
Evil eyes look twice as nice
Blood runs thicker, blood runs cold;
Seize legacy before it's sold
Who cares if I am comfortable
In leafy rural lane
While you are tied to drudgery
Left staring at the rain
That washes out your young ambition
Hung out left to dry
And wither on the washing line
Washed out, washed-out butterfly
We're not old fools of competition
Jacob's tales or superstition
But siblings born in equal grace
Seated at set-table place
Same old chances, toss of dice:
Evil eyes look twice as nice
Blood runs thicker, blood runs cold;
Seize legacy before it's sold
MINE IS THE MOUNTAIN
Mine is the power and mine is the glory;
Mine is the mountain up which you tread
Give me bold questions, give me good reason
Tell me you love me, fear all I have said
Don't imitate me, don't forsake me
In images silver, in idols of gold
Don't make me jealous; don't make me angry
Don't ever leave me out in the cold
Mine is the mountain
Bring all your pomp
Precious jewels and your finеry
Build me safe haven for tablеts of stone
To live through the ages to scold and to guide you
Threaten cajole you and cut to the bone
Mine in the mountain
I'm no pushover lamb, no gentle provider;
Vengeance, retribution are my middle names
I can make a cadaver of your women, your firstborn
With a snap of a finger, of salt and of flame
Matty and Lucas may bring something softer
Gentle in word and gentle in deed
But you who ignore these things that are written
Will define the story your children will read
Mine is the mountain
Bring all your pomp
Precious jewels and your finery
Build me safe haven for tablets of stone
To live through the ages to scold and to guide you
Threaten cajole you and cut to the bone
Mine in the mountain
So think of me fondly in spite of the raging
The ranting, the raving, the threatening tone
For I am the father, the power and the glory
And now, for God's sake, kindly leave me alone
THE ZEALOT GENE
Half of us are in the apple;
Half of us are in the pie
All of us are in the pudding
When the last bus has gone by
Someone has to take the high road
Someone has to make the bed
No-one has the right to tell you
To lie down when all is said
The black and white, the stereotype
The polarising pitch at play
While some of us sit in between
Interminable shades of grey
No need to walk the tightrope
Set out on that great divide
The balance scales may tremble
But the featherweights are on our side
Carrying the Zealot gene
Right or left, no in between
Beware, beware the Zealot gene:
Naked flame near gasoline
The populist with dark appeal
The pandering to hate
Which xenophobic scaremongers
Deliver on a plate
To tame the pangs of hunger
And satisfy the lust
Slave to ideology
Moderation bites the dust
Bee buzzing in your bonnet
And a wasp right up the bum
A V-8 under hood
A cocked hammer under thumb
Ear-splitting twitter thunder
And a screaming banshee wail
You got too many opinions
And a tom cat by the tail
Carrying the Zealot gene
Right or left, no in between
Beware, beware the Zealot gene:
Naked flame near gasoline
Carrying the Zealot gene
Right or left, no in between
Beware, beware the Zealot gene
Naked flame near gasoline
Half of us are in the apple
Half of us are in the pie
All of us are in the pudding
When the last bus has gone by
Someone has to take the high road
Someone has to make the bed
No-one has the right to tell you
To lie down when all is said
The black and white, the stereotype
The polarising pitch at play
While some of us sit in between
Interminable shades of grey
No need to walk the tightrope
Set out on that great divide
The balance scales may tremble
But the featherweights are on our side
Carrying the Zealot gene
Right or left, no in between
Beware, beware the Zealot gene
Naked flame near gasoline
SHOSHANA SLEEPING
Sleep: the time's not yet;
Early birds soon crowing
Wake when dawn declares
Woman risen from childish airs
I watch, across the room;
Dancing shadow, torch outside
Lights path down cobbled lane
Which I have walked, will walk again
Sweet field lily, sweet Shoshana
Names to conjure fragrant danger
Fingers tremble, trace the line
From nape to sacrum down the spine
Poisoned prize a trophy
Freely taken, hardly won
A minute, holds back hours
Bud emboldened, forest flowers
Moist under my hand
She sleeps; breath comes quickly
A sigh parts silky lips
Soft-swell breasts, proud goldеn tips
Sweet field lily, sweet Shoshana
Names to conjure fragrant dangеr
My fingers tremble, trace the line
From nape to sacrum down the spine
Sweet sadness fills my heart
Offered chances best not taken
Unsullied, no vain glory:
Chapter, verse, another story
Brushed eyelids gently closed
Beauty framed in dawn-light
Savored moment blessed
A kiss, farewell, and leave to rest
Sweet field lily, sweet Shoshana
Names to conjure fragrant danger
My fingers tremble, trace the line
From nape to sacrum down the spine
SAD CITY SISTERS
Hard to choose, to choose between them:
Tramps on a night out, out of season
Bare legs and arms at the taxi stand
Shoes in hand, cold kerb to freeze on
What desperation, what souls possessed
With lonely demons are put to test?
Why should we worry, why should we care
That warrior horsemen shame, defile them?
Why tip the cabbie, plus his fare?
So send them home to stumble in
And toss their knickers in the bin
Repentance looms then mеlts away
Mocked by dark unearthly silencе
Replaced by incubus at play
Bad sisters stare, graffiti walls
Stare in return when weekend calls
The empty bragging, the empty lives
In anguish echo through empty malls
What desperation, what souls possessed
With lonely demons are put to test?
Why should we worry, why should we care
That warrior horsemen shame, defile them?
The six-gun notches say it all
It was hard to choose, to choose between them:
Tramps on a night out, out of season
Out of body and out of mind
Out of dark and into reason
Get them home to stumble in
And toss their knickers in the bin
Demons loom then melt away
"Enough!" disrupts the earthly silence
Guilty Eros had his day
Hands two sad souls to Agápē
BARREN BETH, WILD DESERT JOHN
Oh, the joy! Oh, the joy
To feel the faint beat pulsing
Cousin Mary, Cousin Mary
Set two hearts racing
Winged Gabriel, young Gabriel
He started something
Angry ranting and raving
Four bad winds chasing
You know he's going to be so special
Not number one, maybe number two
Filled with passion, preparation
A dip in Jordan’s heady brew
Cousin Mary gets all the credit
Iconic mother: that's all understood
While Barren Beth, wrinkly life-bringer
Helped two Jays, two little Jays
To find their nests
What would one be without the other?
What would one be without the tale?
Dark narrative of grave and passion
Head on platter, cross and nail
Oh, the joy! Oh, the joy
To feel the faint beat pulsing
Cousin Mary, Cousin Mary
Set two hearts racing
Winged Gabriel, young Gabriel
He started something
Angry ranting and raving
Four bad winds chasing
You know he's going to be so special
Not number one, maybe number two
Filled with passion, preparation
A dip in Jordan’s heady brew
THE BETRAYAL OF JOSHUA KYNDE
You just know it, don't you?
You can sense it, can't you?
There's always someone to spoil the party fun
Turncoat in right-hand, right-hand trusted service
The moment come for the coup-de-gun
What did I do to so upset you?
Did you feel so cruelly, cruelly maligned
To push you to this cold conclusion
And the betrayal of Joshua Kynde?
A spy with coin, a coin of sweet betrayal
Of dagger hidden, black cloak unfurled?
Swayed, perhaps, by idealogical obsession
Or plain detachment, dark other world?
So take this silver, feel it rattle
Comforting in pocket and comforting in mind
Should I be flattered at this price upon my head
And the betrayal of Joshua Kynde?
How does it feel to point the stabbing finger
With perfidious kiss from those deceiving lips?
You sealed my fate as goodly Joshua Kynde:
The kind who played with fish and had his chips
So take this silver, feel it rattle
Comforting in pocket and comforting in mind
Should I be flattered at this price upon my head
And the betrayal of Joshua Kynde?
WHERE DID SATURDAY GO?
Where did Saturday go?
Lost in a whirlwind, heady passion
Long faces hang so low
High-flying dreams to earth fell crashing
Deeply regrettable, somewhat predictable
Faintly implausible, quite unmissable
But where did Saturday go?
Friday felt so alive
Savagely, wickedly entertaining
Watching comeuppance arrive:
The howl of the pneuma, the last breath remaining
For bucking the system, ascending the rostrum
Occasional tantrum, offering nostrum
But where did Saturday go?
Empty sun on an empty hill
Suffering simply sеt aside
Silent screams, a silеnce shrill
On a one-way donkey ride
Empty sun on an empty hill
Suffering simply sеt aside
Silent screams, a silеnce shrill
On a one-way donkey ride
Sunday started so slow
Empty beds in emptier places
How were we meant to know?
Ghostly soul amongst crazy faces
Striking ascendance, in due accordance
Ultimate prescience, what a performance
But where did Saturday go?
Where did Saturday go?
Go
THREE LOVES, THREE
Call it what you will; I just need to hear it
Tell me, fill the night; blow warm breath to cheer it
It's not for me that I ask sweet reassurance
It's for you to see, to see love's firm endurance
It's not for me that I ask sweet reassurance
It's for you to see, to see the three loves, three
Cold lambs are stirring on the gentler edge of dawn
Good shepherds watching: alert, they linger on
Long after sun's up on just another day
And night's dark whispers have had their say
Long after sun's up on just another day
It's for you to see, to see the three loves, three
Be it love of spirit, of brothers, lovers, sons
Or blood-heat emotion, burning lava, bright it runs
I'll take what's offered, made bold and manifest
Remember me, long gone, long gone to rest
I'll take what's offered, made bold and manifest
It's for you to see, to see the three loves, three
Three loves, three
Three loves, three
Three loves, three
IN BRIEF VISITATION
I still need someone to love:
Someone outrageous, someone to make me laugh
Someone who fell from above
To channel my hopes and write me an autograph
Here on my heart, engraved dedication
The fall guy was here, in brief visitation
I still need someone to love
In brief visitation, the fall guy was here
Dangerous affections sublime
Smother objections with infinite kindness passed
Between us, a steadying sail
Never to flutter, never to break the mast
Write on my heart, engraved dedication
The fall guy was here, in brief visitation
Dangerous affections sublime
In brief visitation, the fall guy was here
In brief visitation, the fall guy was here
They still need someone to hate
To brand with harsh accusations, to scare
The many and even the few
Who flock to the party but turn from the glare
When caught in the headlights and taken to task:
Cowardly persuasion behind the life mask
They still need someone to hate
In brief visitation, the fall guy was here
THE FISHERMAN OF EPHESUS
Ten set out along the rocky road to suffer for their saintly sins
The great betrayer missing having topped himself or split his skin
Now, the young beloved one last son of father Zebedee
Comes to the town of Ephesus to spin the lure and reel them in
Casts a line, sits waiting quietly for the telltale nibble to reveal
The passing curiosity the inner need, the faint appeal
Sings sweetly for his supper sings of miracles and fairy tales
Of barley loaves and two small fish to make, for multitudes, a meal
Fisherman of Ephesus surveys the spirits' battleground
Flag was flown, a story told of crucifix and thorny crown
Hard to go on living with the guilt of chance survival
All alone to fall from sky crash landing on arrival
To walk again the rocky road no martyrdom to comfort
Wait out the years to join the ten in fairytale revival
The test of Poison cup a little boiling oil along the way
On isle of Artemis to toil write memoirs at the end of day
Then back to lie in Ephesus alone amongst the dozen
As harbour slowly suffocates and the catch has swum far away
Fisherman of Ephesus: did he know the fate of others?
Their sticky end, the harsh rebuttal he alone without his brothers
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