Thus I Wrote

I’m in the cage
The cage of age
The signals I see
Are not for me
The flesh still willing
But no function fulfilling
While she flirts and pouts
She leaves nothing to doubt

Her body states
I can procreate
She dresses to show
How her body flows
With subliminal power
To strike in her hour
She flirts and pouts
She leaves nothing to doubt

So much imagery
In a democracy
To grab attention and sell
To cast a spell
It’s nature’s power
The sweet hiding sour
She flirts and pouts
She leaves nothing to doubt

So much energy
In a democracy
Wasted in control
Protecting the whole
When past the junction
When form shows declining function
She still flirts and pouts
She leaves nothing to doubt

I see ghosts of late
From scenes I’ve played
The haunting of familiar faces
In familiar places

I see ghosts of late
In the well of my emotional state
The pricking of past emotion
The lessons of past devotion

I see ghosts of late
From loving relationships I’ve made
From mother and father
From sons and daughters
From wives and lovers
From sisters and brothers
From the friends who stayed
Among the ghosts I see of late

I see ghosts of late
Whispering of changes to date
The waves that rise and fall
The victories big and small
The turning of the earth
The renewal of life and death
All that shapes my fate
In the ghosts I see of late

I see ghosts of late
Part of the man I’ve made
They don’t go they wait
With me till that silent gate….

I see ghosts of late
Judging my fate
The haunting of familiar faces
In familiar places
The pricking of past emotion
The memories of past devotion

I see ghosts of late
(As I contemplate)
Of son and daughters
Of mother and father
Of sister and brothers
Of wives and lovers

I see ghosts of late
(In my emotional state)
Of wishes and regret
Of victories others forget
Of the turning of the earth
Of life and of death

I am truly free when I’m alone.
To be with someone
Requires I give to someone
Requires rules to interact with someone
I can be truly free but also truly alone

A relationship includes constant negotiation of the rules of engagement
Divorce recognises the end of such negotiation
The point in time when you decide to give no more of yourself

Here are my thoughts about the afterlife..
In my catholic childhood imagery was rife
Hell was a deep dark pit with fire
Heaven was a blue sky with clouds up higher
Purgatory was somewhere in between
And Limbo was for babies dying unclean

Lucifer the devil lived in fiery Hell
Heaven was God’s choice to dwell
No exit from Limbo, Heaven or Hell
But Purgatory was a temporary rehab hotel

I believe now in no Afterlife
But we create enough pleasure and strife
To create a Heaven and Hell on earth to show
That we reap what we sow

Heaven, I see, is valued and included
And Hell is lonely and excluded
Heaven sees reward for craft and graft
Hell is a wasted life distraught

He took a risk for his creation
His reward the riches of nations
He has talent and tenacity
But I don’t trust his veracity
He acts the eagle but he’s a vulture
Living off the bones of our culture

With his power he endowed
On his life a secret shroud
Over how he nurtures
His company’s culture
So that the end it seems
Justifies his grubby means

His people are guided
By the culture he decided
By the clearly given rewards
Approved by the board
So why does our society fail
To throw him in jail?

This is a clear defect.
If he has such an effect
If he is king of all he surveys
And all value only he purveys
Why is systemic wrongdoing
Somehow not his doing?

He created the culture
To lead his vultures
To achieve the first mover advantage
He gave his soul to manage
From criminal activity
He got market exclusivity….

Now he’s untouchable in his tower
Of political and media power

Unassailable in his tower
Of financial and political power
He will still die
Just like you and I
Slowly or quickly
He will become sickly
He has not the pace
To win this race

He rages and works
Against the future that lurks
Against the decay
Coming closer every day
He wants some meaning
Why is death intervening?
But he’s a small pawn
To a life that goes on
He held a baton a while
While he ran his mile

We are born and we die
Against our will, so we try
To exert some control
To create a role
In the end there’s no doubt
There’s no easy way out
Before we leave we check in
Every last thing
We fall into the unknown
As we were born….alone

The truth of beauty
Is in the underlying duty
Form is the birth of function
Removing faults at every junction

Do we need God as referee
When we now have CCTV?
Do we not need religion because
We now have so many laws?

We are so pragmatic
But we’ve lost some magic
Old people die alone
Such a hidden misery grown

We have yet to count the cost
Of the love we have lost

I told a joke
And it was misunderstood
I did not play social games
Like many others could
In talking from the heart
I was always second best
I live in my head
Focussed on my quest

I pushed the world
And the world it punched back
It cycled and it swirled
It changed from white to black
I surfed the waves of change
Til I landed on this beach
Now it feels so strange
The future’s slipping out of reach

How did we find
Ourselves on different sides?
What started as a line
Is now a chasm wide
I wish that I could hold you
Like when our love was new
But our demands they were too many
And our gifts they were too few

I asked why
But alone no answer came
Together the picture is empty
But at least we have a frame
Will our role be revealed?
Will we wait too long to live?
The lilies of the field
They just live and give

I drew an eight
When I wanted a Jack
But I’ll play the hand I’m dealt
Because there’s no use looking back
If hard work’s the platform
Then I’m ready for my luck to gain
Life may be full of storms
So I dance in the rain

There’s a dark demon stalking your dreams
It’s shapeless, formless and you don’t know what it means
It hides in trees when you go near
It hisses loudly when you try to hear

There’s a dark demon stalking your dreams
Driven by its own ancient schemes
It pushed our fathers to run or fight
It pushed our mothers round the fire at night

There’s a dark demon stalking your dreams
If it controls you now, you will never be free
It appears asleep in the mid-day light
But will eat your heart out in the dark of the night

When you’re cold I’ll keep you warm
I’ll be your port in the storm
When you’re cold I’ll keep you warm
I’ll be your port in the storm

There’s a dark demon stalking your dreams
A sword of light can make it disappear
Wielded by a knight it will transform
The dark demon to an angel re-born

It grows in the dark, so open up your heart
It grows in the dark, so open up your heart
It grows in the dark, so open up your heart
And let the light in