Janus Smiled

Walking out of the door
The thought that it all will not last evermore
A joy and a delight
I was not loved there but that is alright
For I did not love and the passing is sweet
Now I have passed perhaps love I shall meet
And what I left behind the door
Shall not endure evermore

Birthright

Why should I not - breathe the air
Why should I not - collect the rain
Why should I not - till the earth
And call its produce gain

I was not born - to work for you
To dig for worthless gold
And turn it into others' wealth
While I grow poor and old

Why should I not - live to see
Times of equity
When neither gold nor currency
Make you superior to me

When all alike - shall breathe the air
When all alike - collect the rain
When all alike - may till the earth
And call its produce gain

Yggdrasil Fallen

Washed by pre-primeval rain
Before the works of man begin
Yggdrasil of olden fame
Shaking its crown in the crystal wind
Its roots the source of the ancient spring

Stately pillar - verdant crown
Silence blankets the glade
Yggdrasil of old renown
Whose soothing dappled shade
Through fluttering leaves is laid

Men abode within the shade
But found not tranquility
Where great Yggdrasil was made
Lacking the ability
To live long in harmony

Then fell the leaves of Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil of old renown
Men bent the earth to their will
Then, stripping off the leafy crown
They cut the ancient down

Yggdrasil is gone and done
No more shall come the soothing rain
Now beats down a cruel sun
For relief of ancient pain
And for grace we ask in vain

Applause

Hear the animal roar
Waves crashing on a stony shore
Pebbles scattered by the waves
Dance then settle as before

Waves dying on the shore
Out on the ocean millions more
Sent by sun, moon and wind
Each another's last encore

All across the coast-land
Hear the waves and understand
Applause - the death of waves and
Pebbles grinding into sand

Lame Pigeons

Lame pigeons stumbling
Wincing as they walk
What if they could talk?
What if they could choose?
To continue or not
To end a life without toes?
What do you think they'd decide?
To live on - or suicide?

We know what it is to walk
We imagine their loss and baulk
But they have a gift we cannot buy
They know what it is to fly!
Though walking be painful
Ever their eye
Is focused on the sky

Should you be in pain
Could you do the same?
And feel your dejected spirits lift
As you remember a higher gift?

Black Fly Fat Fly

Black fly fat fly gonna' buzz today
He gonna' buzz round all day...

(Fat'n black'n buzzin'
Lookin' for what he lookin' for
'till there's none to be found no more)

Lookin' for a fly to make his day
Get them eggs laid 'n' fly away ...

Lookin' for smells of death 'n' decay
Suck it all up 'n' fly away ...

(Fat'n black'n buzzin'
Lookin' for what he lookin' for
'till there's none to be found no more)

When he all gone, you gonna stay?
You fat fly gonna' fly away
You black fly gonna fly away
Suck me all up 'n' fly away

When you decay he comin' your way
Suck you all up 'n' fly away ...

(Fat'n black'n buzzin'
Lookin' for what he lookin' for
'till there's none to be found no more)

Beaumont Evening

Balls of beige, back-lit gold
By the sinking sun
Thistle-down born from spiny stalks
Now borne aloft upon
Meandering breezes of evening
Woven through with the song
Of bundles of feathers leaving
The radiant day now is done

In a purple distance
A montage of copses and hills
Surrendering to evening
And a stillness that fills
The upturned bowl of the heavens
With colours of tinted glass
Cobalt bronze and aquamarine
Now that the day must pass

Mossy walls sunk in shadow
Shelter the heathen sheep
The palette of the tableau
Is sunk into colours of sleep

Tattoo You

I feel no need to lie
Explain myself to you
There need be no "why"
I'll do what I want to

Life has passed me by
I'm middle-aged, fat too
But before I die
I will get a tattoo

Nothing else can I control
There's no purpose to the race
I'm unclear about the goal
I will get one on my face

Don't worry what the others think
If you are old and fat too
Under the influence of drink
Get yourself a tattoo