White Chocolate Paradox

you are so awfully pretty
with eyes like a new moon shining
and we are alone together
with our single hearts combining
we both brighten up the dark clouds
with our solid silver lining
and white chocolate is the taste that
is this paradox defining

T-Shirt

I was puzzling out the slogan
that was printed on her T-shirt
half concealed by hair and handbag
when so suddenly my head hurt
for my girlfriend had just hit me
as a punishment for staring
although I was only looking
at the words the girl was wearing
which were more than slightly cryptic
and were causing me confusion
but my harmless concentration
had just earned me a contusion
so my lesson for today is
that a message on a T-shirt
should be glanced at really quickly
and that staring makes your head hurt

A Hundred years

We've sat here for a hundred years
a hundred years all turned to stone
together hand in hand my dears
We've sat here for a hundred years
A century has come and gone
but love it never disappears
We've sat here for a hundred years
a hundred years all turned to stone

Ask me for a demo

He's got 'ask me for a demo' on his T-shirt
and he has a little script he has to say
But he's getting very tired and his feet hurt
from hanging round the shopping mall all day

He will try to catch your eye for just a moment
and a moment's all he's got to set his hook
for he knows that all his arguments most cogent
won't mean a thing if you don't stop and look

So the trick to be successful in your shopping
is to ignore the very presence of that man
for if you and he connect you'll end up stopping
and your shopping schedule will go down the pan

Being a mum is hard, mum

Am I doing this right Mum, am I doing this right
a dozen times a day I ask, am I doing this right
I don't know how you did it mum
but I turned out all right
Being a mum is hard mum, am I doing this right

My neighbour's kids are clean mum, my neighbour's kids are clean
whatever time of day it is their kids are always clean
but mine are always grubby
and their shoes will never gleam
Being a mum is hard mum, when your neighbour's kids are clean

My home is never neat mum, my home is never neat
I tidy up and I put away but this stuff has got me beat
we've got more stuff than storage space
and it's piled up on the seat
Being a mum is hard mum, when your home is never neat

I don't know why I ask mum, I don't know why I ask
It may be 'cause I worry that I'm not up to this task
and I know the dead can't answer
but you're still the one I ask
Being a mum is hard mum, when you've got no-one to ask

Silver Linings

All idylls fail, all arches fall
all human effort comes to nought
For every winner you must call
a loser in each battle fought
Each silver lining has a cloud
Each bright side shows the other dark
and ev'ry optimism avowed
reminds us that life can be stark
And yet through all this doom and gloom
we raise our heads and carry on
For tho' it's dark now in this room
at other times the sun has shone
And sure the sun is shining now
in other rooms, on other men
and all we have to do is go
to where the sun will shine again.

Not Here

Last night like every night before
I dreamed of sea and sky and shore
of walking barefoot on the sand
of holding your hand in my hand
as gentle breezes stir your hair
while I my true love do declare.

You always answer yes my dear
then I wake up and you're not here.

Without

I want but cannot have
I see but cannot touch
the joy I find in friendship hurts my heart so much

My world cannot be whole
without you by my side
but half a world is better than no world, I know, I've tried.

American Gothic

Grant Wood - "American Gothic" - 1930


Decently darkly dressed
With his Sunday go to meetin' coat over weekday workin' pants
Got the land in his blood and dirt in his nails
But his boots are clean
Clean as his conscience in this Bible bound land
Clean as the tools that he holds in his hand

Not old but he looks it
Time's plough marks his face like his plough marks the land
And the honest sun tans his skin like hide
But his eyes are bright
And they look on the world through steel rims and glass
They look on the world and watch the years pass

And the years pass
And his still beautiful, dutiful, stand by him for life, wife
Who lives in the here and the now and the real
Occasionally looks away
And she can't help but wonder what might have been
'cause she never saw this in her little girl dream

Hurt grows in my heart

I felt the pain of love's first sting
when I was shot by cupid's dart.
I would have given everything
but it was hopeless from the start.
For you were wearing that man's ring
which tore my bloody soul apart.
So now the death of love I sing
and grievous hurt grows in my heart.

Snippets

Who am I
Where am I
Why am I
Lost am I


All days start off well
then get shot to hell.
I'm grumpy, can you tell?


All the names
of all the people
that I have ever loved.
Are inscribed upon the palimpsest of my heart.


I sweep up the leaves.
The wind blows the leaves away.
I sweep up the leaves.


Skateboards, bikes and bubble gum.
Winter snow and summer sun.
Memories, now that boyhood's gone.


I dream once more of seagulls and the sea
A dream, a metaphor for being free


Infinity, the biggest thing.
What should we keep Infinity in?

An Origami Crane

I sort through his belongings
for the charity to claim
and at the bottom of his bag
an Origami Crane.

Conversation failed him
due to damage in his brain.
But communication happened through
an Origami Crane.

He couldn't say he loved me
but I knew it just the same.
His love was in the making of
an Origami Crane.

The child himself is gone now
but the memories remain.
Triggered every time I see
an Origami Crane.

I Write

I write, (I never knew that I could write)
with form and structure, rhyme and rhythm too.
I take these words, black ink on paper white
and post them here for everyone to view.
And not just words that fit and rhyme and scan
but hopes and fears wrung from the heart of me
The truths that are the measure of this man
appear upon this page for all to see.

I write words I could never say out loud
they flow in freedom down this pristine page
though I take care to keep hid from the crowd
the name of her for whom my feelings rage.

Yet still she knows, she read the message here
and needs no verse to make her feelings clear.