Dawn chorus

I’ve got

wrestless hands and itchy feet

Sticky mind at times

when the days gone by

decide to wander on down through the

halls that we frequented so many times before

when we couldn’t get to sleep.

Lying here, wondering if you ever hear them creep?

I know that I do.

Certainly, I do.

Settle down, these twilight hours

bewitch the town that lies outside

these blissfully, mundane four walls

Always the same, old

cobbled town, of course

That never goes to sleep

The key

This old town, the shoes upon my feet

This food, these clothes, this seat

The blood in my veins

and the air I breathe

All

Absolutely minor

when you’re not in reach.

The Essence.

The world has lights that make
you want to breathe in
and clean up your dusty soul

Blinding.

Finding constellations, learning
ways to read them, resisting temptations to burn them in a heap
on the front lawn

like so very, many times before.

Now you’re feeding your heart a three course dinner
Winning – you’re a winner and smiling proper, too

Unusual for you but I think I like it

Bottle some up for me.

Untitled

I see hope is radiating 

from your strong, highlighted cheekbones

Mirroring your fears like souvenirs

and all the strength that you broke

When you started mending nicely

And folk said you looked gamely, save the eyes 

That seep your secrets

What to’morra brings 

I’ll let you know a secret 

Wrap it up and keep it

It still bleeds deep within

You’ve got that look that could still a thousand heartbeats 

But you hear a banging in your ear

Losing more, without me

Don’t you see?

I’m your plastic millionaire 

 

The Agricultural Engineer

I have a story in an old shoe box
and I leave it to spin out
all the time

A heart ache framed in that trusty old-schooled ink and it bleeds
like a bruise
on tattooed thighs

I’m stood with a blush of pink insincerity
and i find that I cannot tell a lie

You see, like a bird
like a falcon way up high
and you breathe like a new born
swimming child

You teach
with the wisdom of an ancient rested soul
and I want to be near you all the time

There’s a key in the garden where you fall asleep at night
there’s a lock hidden there under
the chime

But the wind is howling haunted
and it leaves you feeling blind
and you can’t
remember how to tell the time

It’s written in the kitchen, right there underneath the clock
There’s a sink full of truths I can’t deny

But you walk through the hall in those dirty, old work boots
leaving marks on my floor and on my life

A sidewards smile holds a cigarette, alight

The dirty, honest dishes
left behind

Words On Paper

My boy, you creep inside my skin

You look so pretty

Unsure where you and I begin

and where you leave me

I feel rain

I feel rain

I feel rain, more’s the pity

See me drown in your campaign

No chance of winning

I feel pain, I feel pain, I feel pain

I am bleeding

Cocooned in your sweater, all bloody stained

lose, never leading

writing letters to fix the blame

it’s all the same

It’s all the same. I feel rain

Docked.

You have a way

makes me want to slow right down
and taste the light
that guides a thousand ships

The brink of borrowed time
that we lend now, pretending
how we had ever loved another

How we are merely
vessels in the dark, anchored deep until tomorrow

Lying here
just two sweaty souls – the waves have now forgotten

Sails and guards and hearts
are loosened now
colliding into one and other

You’re beautiful. So very beautiful

and mine

Nah.

He has swagger, that boy over there
Smiling assassin with all that wavy hair
and the girls like to swoon like
a moth to a lightbulb – tink, tink tinking at his feet
Wears a face like he’s looking for trouble, subtle licks from his throne whilst he picks what to eat

But that trick you house up your sleeve is a joke
pretending your amaretto
is a whisky and coke
and to try to engage you is just not worth the bother
I’ll drink mine alone

Cos I’d rather see what is under that jacket
Have you got the goods, can you truly hack it?
Do you talk like you walk or are easily distracted?

Anyone ever told you you’re really attractive?

It’s time to walk home

Doubting Thomas

Light up quick, she’s coming to get you

Here to tame you

Like some outlandish, little boy
skiddadling
down through the hallways
with scuffed up shoes and a mixed up, dusty soul

I came to teach you

I gotta reach you

Because I see a man of many flaws – dazzling
in perfect havoc 

Driving skirts and several whores around
like a sexed up phantom menace

With eyes electrical

and a delectable 

sense of spirit 

Love, Bottled

  
Do you dance through the evening 

with a beauty in your arms?

Perhaps those arms are feeling 

that bit colder

I remember all those nights – the wine

glass after glass and all that

giggling

as we strolled way past tipsy

And I still visit tipsy more than

now and then

And I find I still have myself 

a grand, old time

But it is only when I wander way down 

past that post, that I find you again

As I curl up on that same old sofa 

we so often did frequent

And there are moments that I meet you

through my own drunken demise

Other times, I hear you and your 

northern beats

Whispering real warmth – 

blankets 

safely wrapped up in the dark

Tranquility. Contentment at its best

But when I wake and feel the sun

beating down on my hungover, bee stung 

eyes and remember

how you are somewhere now

Resting, without me

The feeling of the night before 

befits the feeling of right here

Without you