A portrait on the wall
I remember from youth
Famine
Of a man clothed in rags
With wolves by his side
Famine
Stars twinkling brightly
By the artists fair hand
Famine
A million times I’ve viewed it
Mouth wide in awe
Famine
Find me a fortune
So I can buy it to keep
Famine
I’ll love that painting
Till the day I sleep
Famine

Darts, darts
A game for old farts
Simply not true
They’re younger than you
Sharp metal tips
Postured hips
Into the green, then the red
Nothing better than three in a bed
Treble twenty and double top
When will the excitement stop
Darts, darts
A game for old farts

If we, as mere mortals, cannot grab the world
By its throat and correct it
Then how, do we
Expect our children to
Maybe if we changed ourselves
At the age that we are
Then our children will see
That anything is possible
That anything can change
That people can make things better
That happier times can come
Maybe if we changed ourselves

I was gripped by a wild frenzied fear
Twisting through my flesh
Digging around my bones
Tingling my skin
Blood shot come my eyeballs
As the beast entered within

A solitary walk on the empty moors
When the howl echoed the night
And then the piercing growl
Through dense smothering fog
Something unearthly lived
That was no ordinary dog

It knocked me down
Onto the wet slippery grass
The putrid breath in my face
And the devil red eyes
That ****** themselves into my soul
Plotting my demise

Bang went the shotgun
Loud and full of life
I laughed from my stomach
A laugh of joy
Then cried as I turned
To see the naked boy

Always in a hurry
Like a butchers knife
Cutting through life
The world is in a hurry

Why don’t we just slow down
Don’t treat your time
Like it’s bad or a crime
Just try and slow down

Take a step back
And breath in it
For more than a minute
Time now to step back

Where did I go
When I ate my breakfast this morning
Where did I go
When I got myself dressed
Where did I go
As I looked in the mirror
Where did I go
That man I used to know
My hair looks very different
And a beard covers my face
My eyes seem all puffy
And my hair is out of place
My skin is showing wrinkles
And my nose now has hairs
My face is faint and thin
Like a stranger just moved in
Where did I go
When I closed eyes after forty
Where did I go
When my body started to change
Where did I go
When I struggled with my clothes
Where did I go
Is the age just starting to show

I passed a man in the lobby
He was as silent as the midnight hour
His face was as white as Christmas snow
And his demeanour was dull and dour

I passed the man again that day
Not one word left his lips
It was like the world around me stopped
As a coldness passed through my hips

I never saw the man again
He disappeared into the night air
The most unusual feeling was left with me
When normally I wouldn’t really care

Who was the man I’d only seen twice
And why did he have to go
Without the simplest flash of a smile
Or the courtesy of saying hello

And then I saw the painting
Hung like a memory on the wall
Of the man who passed me quietly
As I wandered down the hall

His face was all tired and grey
Looking like a chap of deception
He must be someone of importance
As he overlooked the hotel reception

I enquired to the desk clerk
Who is the gent up above
That is the owner of the hotel
Mr Henry J Love

Then I was hit by thunder
As my heart beat with dread
He won’t be with us tonight though sir
The mans been thirty years dead