Comrades

You arrived, green, wide eyed
To fill the boots of a fallen comrade
There was panic in your eye
And the smell of one soon to die

You proved yourself at my side
In firefights of dusty suicide
I covered you, you covered me as well
I watched you grow a shell

Then you told me the tale of a previous war
Showed me the scars of a previous tour
And after the battle was stilled
You looked at the dead, grunted and said
On day one I thought you'd get us both killed

Leopard Hunt

The leopard maimed my baby in the night

He's in the corner now - but there's no shame just fight

"A leopard's what I am

I feed myself on man

Don't dare to ask what I have done

When I maim a little one"

He looked me in the eye

And spat it in my face

Then turned tail and ran

Leaving not a trace

Good brothers hear my cry

Tomorrow night your child may die

Good brothers rise up in the night

Scour the forest by torch-light

Run the vermin to his lair

Together let us kill him there

Raise the hue, shout the cry

Before day breaks the beast must die

Such was my resolve

As I slipped into the night

Be it dark - be it cold

I'll not give up the fight

But track the worm to his lair

And finally confront him there

And having forced a way within

Emerge with a bloody leopard skin

It Comes to This

Limping down the corridor

Hiding in the doorway

Pinned behind his pawns

The White King stands at bay

Conscience stained by a Queen sacrifice

Promote a fresh one – that would be nice

Now the knight and bishop – red

One by one kill white pawns dead

Far from the throne horses cried

And the White Knights fell and died

All hope is gone but the king plays on

Propelled by bitter pride

Praying for relief

Fighting for a draw

Lie down old man

What are you fighting for? 

You thought yourself a master

You still believe the lie

Now you shuffle the wood around

Afraid, afraid to die

Adieu

'Bulle de sabon' riding the air

Refractions of gold and mauve

'Ballon en latex' bounce and 'couler'

Pat pat – shock, fear, dissappointment, tears

Shell of the egg - 'Coquille d'oef'

Smooth and 'parfait', tan-speckled

No chick within nor 'dejeuner'

Slime and a sulphur smell in the air

'Noyau de noix' liberated from

A brown wrinkled shell like a stone

A shrivelled dry black bitter thing

An aftertaste just like quinine

Soapmist in the air

Nut shells and filth down there

False and hollow - 'Vede ve faux'

Nauseated I bid you to go

I do not have the words

To tell you what I know

Wait while I find the words and then

I will not need them again

Winter Solstice

The shortest day
A world turned away
Sun rising unseen
Smothered by cloud

Grey gloom at midday
Red lights in the driveway
Mist cloaking evergreen
A funeral shroud

Phantom Rain

Southerly breeze in the sycamore leaves

Desiccating

Desecrating

Precocious Autumn is come

No fall of russet and gold - a chlorophyll spill

They rustle like money and fill

The drain

How to explain?

In the night the breeze through the leaves sounds like rain  

Scent of a Woman - Spike & Dolores

Spike & Dolores walking, stopping

Dolores waits - Spike is squatting

Red-brown porridge - like a liquidised house-brick

Like mulligatawny, but thick

On cessation of evacuation

Spike paws the grass as dogs do

Dolores performs her dutiful function

And deals with the poo

3 microns of polythene keeping her fingers clean

But this stool is a pool - not the usual plasticine

Dolores, thoughtful to the last

Produces a tissue and dabs at the grass

She tries to pop the tissue in 

While keeping all ten digits clean

I thought her successful but no

There's a smear on her finger and so

As the bag is consigned to the bin

She wipes her finger on the rim

Spike does not chew the furniture

Or misbehave while in the car

He's no need to cock a leg

Dolores spreads his scent afar

Her hands her keys her comb her hair

Spike's smell is simply everywhere

Dolores wonders what's amiss

When her stools are just like his

So if you shake Dolores' hand

Her dog Spike will understand

He'll recognise you as his own

You'll pay your dues upon the throne

Summer Raindrops

Every summer-raindrop dreams

Of scented air and gentle winds

To guide a flight o'er tree and hill

Toward the peaceful woodland pool

Whose surface bears the tranquil rings

Of raindrops sunk in secret springs

Ripples spreading, overlapping

Joyful drops from heaven falling

For this purpose they were born

Summer's gentle raindrops fair

Yet while in flight none pause to guess

Their chance of landing - there

It's falling now, the summer rain

On roofs and roads and from the drain

The softest whisper to my ears

Of raindrops turning into tears