There’s an edge on the air
With a taste of despair
There are shadows where sunshine should be
And a tinkling sound
From the frost on the ground
Lends a sparkle to all that I see
The colours are deep
And the bees are asleep
The drizzle is clouding my eyes
So bare me away
To a place I can stay
Where the seas are as blue as the skies

Such a terrible thing
With the geese on the wing
And the sun barely over the trees
There’s a nip to the night
When the wise take flight
As their noses and fingertips freeze
My intention revealed
With a voice I’ve concealed
A lament which I sing to the sun
So take me from here
To a distant frontier
Where the races are yet to be run

With a trembling hand
At her chilly command
And her eyelashes beaded with ice
The winter assails
With her icicle nails
And a sound like a rattle of dice
The windows are barred
The dog’s in the yard
And the horse is all warm in the stable
So carry me past
Where the shadow is cast
To where breakfast is fresh on the table

Spend some time in retrospect
The sky was vivid blue
The air smelled of nostalgia
And in hindsight I knew you

Walk amongst my memories
And pick which ones are true
For hindsight fought with retrospect
And left them all askew

Meet with me in retrospect
A rosy tinted view
For back then life was beautiful
And in hindsight, so were you

If my eyes were only blue
I’d have lived another life
I would exercise and diet
Even use a fork and knife
I’d reside in higher circles
Be a black belt in Kung-Fu
Then I’d water-ski for Britain
If my eyes were only blue

If my nose was independent
Like a pink nomadic slug
It could slither underneath my eyes
And give my ears a hug
I’d never need a smoke alarm
Nor microwave attendant
It could wipe itself without me
If my nose was independent

If my feet were only crocodiles
The world would be at peace
I’d drift along the riverbanks
While mutilating geese
I’d never buy a pair of shoes
No pedicures and files
I’d need a special toilet
If my feet were crocodiles

**

Every thought is leaden
Nothing in me wakes
My muse is sleeping soundly
No single sound she makes
I’ve reached my very limit
It will never let me pass
My breath obscures my vision
As I push against the glass

Ideas dart away from me
Like minnows from my hand
They hide at bay and taunt me
As motionless I stand
A tempest has me shrouded
A gale has me pinned
So, fighting every footstep
I lean into the wind

Frustration beads upon me
A bitter tasting rain
And rusted to my ankle
Is an iron ball and chain
The light has slowly faded
And just a single spark
Is what is remains to guide me
While crawling through the dark

Young Karl Marx
Prowled the commons and the parks
In the darkness he would ****** with the lasses
Using tenderness and stealth
In his bid to share the wealth
With the working and the lower middle classes

Why would I consider it
When never were you true
I never should reload it
And relinquish it to you
For surely would you use it
And still would I show surprise
At the sight of bridled malice
In such grey and lifeless eyes

The tools you used against me
Left scars across my mind
The will you took away from me
I happily resigned
A blame it hovers over you
But doesn't match your dress
If more I pile onto you
It seems I carry less

You placed such trust about me
And it grew too hot to hold
I dropped the warmth in front of me
And cursed about the cold
A shiver ran about me
Like a spider on my skin
My vision faded eerily
The room began to spin

Insanity beheld me
In my broken tepid form
It wrapped its arms around me
So comforting and warm
And showed me secret windows
Which no living eye should bite
With a light of truth above its head
It charged into the night

The light seems *****, second hand
Yet scores his eye with a purple brand
With no more ears to fall upon
Unheard is the voice of the hopeless one

Certainty replaced by doubt
His words are vacant, hollowed out
And cynical his lexicon
With a tarnished soul, the hopeless one

Hemoglobin understaffed
The blood bank in its overdraft
Prescription fed automaton
A neutral mask for the hopeless one

Twenty years ago today
I met a man at sea
Though I was standing on the dock
Aboard a boat was he
With he on sea
And me on land
I found it hard
To shake his hand
So twenty years ago next week
I stood trial for manslaughter

A delicate little refrain
Sang the man with the ebony cane
As he rattled a beat
On the cobblestone street
With the tip of his stick
And the soles of his feet
The candle flames flickered
The moonlight would wane
In the wake of the man with the ebony cane

No need of a clever disguise
Had the man with the desolate eyes
Not a beat to his chest
Or a cloud on his breath
Just a welcoming smile
Then a lingering death
You fall to your knees
And accept your demise
In the face of the man with the desolate eyes

The distant shadows flicker
There’s a glow above the trees
A bitter taste of searing bark
Is borne upon the breeze
My anger is the fire
How she dances as she burns
Twisting into darkness
The helix turns

The gates are locked and bolted
But the bars are wearing thin
The walls are getting shorter
And the world is spilling in
My fear is the panic room
Concealing my concerns
From the vortex of reality
The helix turns

The wind has dropped to nothing
So sails are hanging slack
Delirium has hold of me
The sun pours down my back
My madness is a spiral
Of diminishing returns
We tumble ever onward
The helix turns

A caution to gardeners, be on your guard
There's a felon at work that'll lurk in your yard
He'll feast on your giblets and guzzle the juice
The serial cannibal: Robert the Spruce

He'll slyly survey his oblivious prey
Until one sorry night, as your drifting away
There's a bang and a rustle, you bustle outside
A hushed expectation inhibits your stride

Alarm bells are ringing, just seconds too late
As you stop and examine your tiny estate
Could that rustle have really been leaves on the breeze?
And since when did my garden have so many tr....

A pounding of gauntlet on iron and oak
Called a stout hearted watchman of local regard
How the rain played a march on his armor and cloak
As he dashed to the gate through the cobblestone yard
And he rattled the thunder itself when he spoke
"Are you friend or foe? Are you bandit or bard?"

A mighty voice spake thusly:

"Tis I, tis I, Sir Hampton Chase,
The worthiest of knights
A foe to all of evil deed
A dragon slain, a damsel freed
Quite often found atop a steed
In armor, helm and tights"

The guard retorted thusly:

"I can't say I've heard tell of you
My good Sir Hampton Chase
Nor can I, in this ghastly storm
Get a good look at your face
Pray, tell me more about yourself
Regale me, your grace"

A somewhat muted voice returned:

"Are you ******* mate?"

A deadpan tone responds:

"Try me"

A noble sigh and then:

"Very well

I marched upon the dreaded spire
Destroyed the evil lord
I cast aside the dragon's fire
And smote it with my sword
I fought the groaning garglebuck
I clove it's head in twain
In taverns all across the land
They call me Bandit Bane..."

A meaningful look towards the closed gate prompted the watchman:

"Please continue, Sir"

The gate received a certain look from the knight:

"Seriously? Huh...

I walked the path of no return
To find the holy grail
I crept up on a unicorn
And grabbed it by the tail
In certain taverns I could name
I'm known for singing shanties
When I'm in town each married dame
Gets locked in metal *******"

Another meaningful look at the gate:

"Go on..."

A stony silence until:

"I sometimes rescue baby birds
And nurse them back to health
I spend my days amongst the strays
Redistributing wealth
I never miss the privvy ***
I always brush my hair
I went to school in Caldecott
My parents come from there

I'm running out of material here mate, can I just come in?"

The guard contemplated this:

"Sorry mate, I've just been killing time. *******"

The sullen clunk of retreating armor was swallowed by the howling tempest as once again, the legendary Sir Hampton Chase trudged into the night...

This morning, as in bed I stirred
A most disturbing thought occurred
It felt, to my increasing dread
Like I had someone else’s head
Some other pair of hairy thighs
I saw through someone else’s eyes
I stood at not my normal height
With stringy arms all pale and slight
A bubbling chest and throaty wheeze
The click and crunch of knackered knees
I think I should go back to bed
And wake up somewhere else instead

There’s a place where it’s always the daytime
Where the sun never moves through the sky
Though I’m sure there’s a logical reason
Pray, permit me to not explain why
So abundantly verdantly fruitful
Is the flora that smothers the ground
That the floor is a tangle of taproots
And the soil can seldom be found

The canopy merges and mingles
As it fights with itself for the light
So the trunks hold a desolate vigil
In a world of perpetual night
Its inhabitants skulk in the shadows
With unblinking and baleful eyes
Eating only what falls from the darkness
Just the dead or the soon to demise

A chap from the Isle of Wight
Took pleasure in creatures of flight
With bread on his hooks
He went fishing for ducks
Because chickens aren't nearly as tight

Ladies and gentlemen, stop and behold
Bid farewell to shingles, to gout and the cold
And a mighty assortment of general malaises
From cranial trauma to scratches and grazes
Your bones will be mended, no need for a cast
With acute tonsillitis consigned to the past
For I bring you a medical miracle cure
And the name of this potion you’re sure to procure?

Doctor Morcomb’s Tincture
From the institute of Scarborough
With a measured twist of alchemy
And three lumps of macabre
A drop or two will beat the flu
Retracting recent sneezes
Buy Doctor Morcomb’s Tincture
For all manner of diseases

Pungent red syrup can clearly be spied
Past the decorative label adorned on the side
A drop eases aching, a second for pains
A capful should rapidly unblock your drains
With daily consumption, whilst not recommended
The length of your tongue will be vastly extended
Avoid naked flames, never jiggle or jolt
Keep it cool, in the dark, in a circle of salt

Doctor Morcomb’s Tincture!
Most marvellous of potions
Farewell to bitter tasting pills
To liniments and lotions
Take only by the moonlight
And in arms reach of a swan
Now buy as much as time affords
By sundown, I’ll be gone

No room for me beneath the tree
With leaves obscuring all I see
A gentleman must sit and browse
No room for me beneath the boughs

No place I've found on open ground
No aging log in sunlight drowned
To rest my legs, to ease my pains
No place for me upon the plains

No spot in town to settle down
A concrete smudge of dark renown
With footsteps to a thousand beats
No spot for me on city streets

No home for I, up in the sky
Or cloudy nest on feathered high
To dither by with fancy free
Up in the blue, no room for me

No comfy place in outer space
Just rocks at meteroric pace
No aliens in cosmic cars
No space for me between the stars

I'm running out of options fast...

Bathe yourself in shades of night
Remove the light of day
Comb the worry from your hair
And feel it fall away
Find a thing of which you’re sure
Then turn it on its side
Bring it to me by the edge of the sea
At the cusp of the morning tide

Blink away the filaments
Illusion has you blind
And a cobweb of confusion
Is enveloping your mind
Take solace in an empty jar
And ***** the lid on tight
Bring it to me by the sycamore tree
In the middle of yesterday night

Clothe your form in alchemy
With just a twist of lime
Smash the face of every clock
To save yourself some time
Take a single weary breath
And wrap it up in twine
Bring it to me by the duty free
In exchange for a bottle of wine

I’m a poet and a writer, every day I sit and write
But my girlfriend often calls to me
Or asks me for a cup of tea
And do I have a moment free?
You know what she saw on TV?
I’m a boyfriend and a writer and poet through the night

I’m a boyfriend and a writer and a poet on the side
Though my kids need constant oversight
And a writer cannot hope to write
Besieged by things that kick and bite
That need reminding not to fight
I’m a boyfriend and a parent and a writer if I hide

I’m a boyfriend and a parent and a writer by the night
But my dog has differing ideas
Nudging elbows, tickling ears
Scratching doors as bedtime nears
Reducing me to tired tears
I’m a boyfriend and a parent and a dog owner who writes…
Sometimes

**

Young Jim Wraparound
Thought he knew it all
Trophies in the dining room
Medals on the wall
Never missed a day of school
First in every test
Trust Jim Wraparound
He knows best

Big Jim Wraparound
Often on the phone
Clincher of the contract
Sentiment of stone
Psychopathic tendencies
Lacking in remorse
Dodge Jim Wraparound
Switch your course

Mean Jim Wraparound
Withering in age
Pinching from the pensions
Stifling the rage
Shouting at the family
Beating on the wife
Wrong Jim Wraparound
Change your life

Old Jim Wraparound
Jagged at the edge
Blinking at the vortex
Leaning on the ledge
Murdered for his legacy
Karma often hurts
Dead Jim Wraparound
Just desserts

There's a sizzling giant that skips through the sky
While she nods at the people below
Now, a nod and a wink would be kinder, you'd think
But a nod is as far as she'll go

As she prances and bounds over sun-smothered grounds
She's the cause of a squall and a bluster
But no smile for the sodden, most recently trodden
A nod is the best she can muster

No weapon she fears, not the muskets or spears
Nor the arrow set loose by the archer
She dances her dance, an unyielding advance
Then a nod and a lazy departure

Be sure to shut the curtains
And careful not to peep
Best prop a chair against the door
Before you go to sleep
I’ve heard there’s been a breakout
At the local Poet’s Ward
He absconded with a biro
Which he wielded like a sword

He punctuated seven guards
A capital offence
Then walked out simultaneously
In the past and present tense
He’s liable to strike at will
And evil to the core
Beware of ***** limericks
Pushed underneath your door

Yes, I am an island
Though not of rock and stone
I contemplate in solitude
Anticipating every mood
The distant sound of ships at sea
Are lulled into a melody
It’s not that I’m avoiding you
I like to be alone

Yes, I am an island
I battled for and won
The muted roar of rolling thunder
Hardly moves the breeze asunder
Sharks in ties with silver tongues
Berate the shore and dream of lungs
There’s not a cloud in sight
For I’m an island in the sun

The clouds were torn asunder
And a multitude of faces raised
And frozen still, the masses gazed
Unblinking eyes were wide and glazed
Legs were weak and wills were lame
And all upon the day they came

The glowing Discs held station
And cars collided in the street
As thousands took to fleeing feet
In terror of the silent fleet
The rich and poor were just the same
And all upon the day they came

The crowds were quickly scattered
Yet signals grew and camps were made
And opportunists plied their trade
As shadows moved, possessions strayed
Looted shops gave way to flame
And all upon the day they came

The tension slowly rising
Anxiety and trepidation
Causing many consternation
Fear fuelling confrontation
Paranoia played its game
And all upon the day they game

The firelights cascaded
The cities blanketed in grey
With human nature on display
As violence had won the day
With no one but ourselves to blame
And all upon the day they came

They watched us with ill humour
With minds as calm as silicone
They saw each wound and broken bone
Each fire lit and bottle thrown
And horrified at human shame
They left upon the day they came

It crawled in through my ego
And prickled down my back
Muffling my senses in a symphony of black

It spoke in stolen echoes
Of a long abandoned place
Engraving Its design in every line upon my face

It sought to gain a purchase
With reason, Its disguise
A caution to be on my guard and not to trust my eyes

It locked the door behind it
Then melted down the key
And when It sat in full command, It changed Its name to Me

I feel I might be missing
There’s a shadow in my place
I’m told he looks a bit like me
But hollow where his heart should be
Just seek him out, it’s plain to see
He’s mainly empty space

I fear I may be falling
As I’ve failed to find the ground
We parted ways, a bitter feud
And nothing further soon ensued
I gained a lot of altitude
In just a single bound

I feel as though I’m wearing out
Reserves are running low
Each passing hour I lament
The waste of every second spent
They tumble by without relent
I’m caught up in the flow

As sleep subdued my fractious mind
And soothed my weary eyes
An inspiration intervened
It caught me by surprise
So, though I needed nothing more
Than unimpeded slumber
A poem formed inside my head
A catchy little number
The verses, short and elegant
Insightful yet sublime
And perfectly the meter ran
On an endless fount of rhyme
I fell asleep repeating it
Recalled from start to end
Excited for the morning
When the poem could be penned
Yet all I can remember now
As the dawn peeps through the trees
Is a dodgy flower metaphor
And something about bees

My poem has a number!
My dreams have come to be
For enumerated poetry
Is a wondrous thing to see
I’ve earned that single digit
For the poem that I penned
The only one I’ve written
With a number on the end

**

Unassertive
Feeling furtive
Something isn’t right
Nibbling neuralgia begins to bite
Slightly pensive
Apprehensive
Eyes that dart about
Hover in the corner like a lingering doubt
Shadow thin
Sickly grin
Skin the shade of dust
Wringing at the fingers with a deep distrust
World view
Hangs askew
Tinkers with the blind
Studying the habits of humankind

She came to me with open hands
And in them held the air
She came to me with fancy free
And absent of a care
She saw in me a mirrors depth
Both shallow and entire
She looked at me like megawatts
And set my eyes on fire
She brought along an early spring
The buds cracked in the frost
She brought demands and interest
She never met the cost
She stood the test if permanence
And slapped the face of time
She summoned the extremities
The wicked and sublime
She dropped me like a punch line
She counted what she'd cast
I removed her like a splinter
Erased her like the past

If you were me and I was you
I'd look at me the way you do
But never view what you could see
When you were you and I was me

**

Theresa May look ghastly
And she might give you a scare
Theresa May have racist views
And someone else’s hair

She May not like the common folk
Theresa May have rabies
And who can say, Theresa May
Eat other people’s babies

Theresa May tell porkies
May keep her cash abroad
Theresa and her colleagues
May be put away for fraud

Theresa May look lonely
Like she May run out of friends
And soon she might be signing on
For June is where May ends

**

His name brings to mind
A besuited baboon
And a **** poor excuse
For a business tycoon

Famous for firing
Much more than he hires
High-heels and boxes
He often requires

Cack handed on twitter
As in real life
If he could, he’d have taken
Himself for a wife

And it seems you can slander
Whomever you choose
When your name is an anagram
Of “**** Ragus”

And if I were the tabloids
I’d land a low blow
He’s Polish and Russian
By descent, don’t you know?

But that would be nasty
So I’ll leave it at that
It’s not clever to smear
You arrogant ****

CS

I’m burning last year’s diary
Farewell those blasted days
Those memories are turned to ash
In a smouldering malaise
The resolutions came and went
They barely left a mark
But now they’re just a puff of smoke
Expanding in the dark

I’m deleting last year’s twitter feed
There’s nothing there to see
No re-tweets of opinion polls
And hash tag R.I.P
So long the queues of angry trolls
Who meme instead of typing
Political lies, celebrity thighs
With constant over hyping

I’m having a lobotomy
To erase last year completely
I might just sit here dribbling
But I’ll do it quite discreetly
So raise a glass and think of me
While lost in celebration
I’ll be here in my padded cell
Under heavy medication

**

An errant knight
In days of old
With hazel eyes
And skin of gold
Did venture forth
To seek his fate
To rob, despoil
And desecrate

Through dusky wood
And sodden glade
His course was true
He never strayed
An ebon steed
It bore his weight
Advancing at
A steady gait

So when upon
The second morn
Astride the very
Cusp of dawn
A winding tower
Came to view
And from the window
Right on cue

A cry for help
And then redress
As from a damsel
In distress
A call to save
A maiden fair
With rosy lips
And saffron hair

To bear her forth
And find the witch
Who'd locked her up
That warty *****
To **** her minions
Stone her crows
Thwart her wiles
Then break her nose

Our noble knight
Did pause for thought
For many witches
He had fought
If you've seen one
You've seen them all
With matted hair
And tatty shawl

He took a view
That fair was fair
He'd only take
His rightful share
He left that maiden
To her plight
To save her for
Another knight

She pours a nervous tingle
Onto all that she perceives
The room is slightly darker
From the moment that she leaves
Regrettable, the whole affair
Breakfast and denial
Sarah May, have a care
Not her style

She saunters past decisions
With indifference to spare
She’s free with her opinion
But has nothing to declare
Teetering about the brink
Precarious, her dance
Sarah May, stop and think
Not a chance

But she’s got no recollection
Of the sharp end of the clock
The consequences streak her face
And crumple up her frock

So she breaks away the borders
And she tears the frame apart
With glitter on her fingernails
An armour plated heart
Tempting as a chocolate cake
As subtle as a brick
Sarah May, run away
Not too quick

If humankind was just one man
His house would be the world
He'd live on only takeaways
The curtains never furled
His clothing would be shabby
Just a mess of cloth and strings
But on his little finger
Are a dozen diamond rings
The body might be starving
But the pinky hoards its gold
The hunger could be ended
With a single diamond sold
The kitchen could be mended
The gloom made slightly brighter
That's not the pinky's problem
So it holds on even tighter
It hires the other fingers
And one adjacent thumb
To stab the legs repeatedly
And beat the kidneys numb
The body starts to waste away
And much to its surprise
Along with every other thing
The little finger dies

It used to be a guessing game
The bluffing and the lies
Uneasy is the fall of foot
When blindness grips the eyes
With shade as your protection
It was tough to disagree
But the lights are on
And now I see

The shadows danced about you
And wove your words like lace
But now they lie behind you
And the light shines in your face
A rabbit in the headlights
With no where else to be
But the lights are on
And now I see

Are you the one I promised
When I didn't keep my word?
Are you the voice inside my head
That no one else has heard?
When the sun has slowly risen
And I look into the past
Were you the man on fire
Or the shadow that he cast?

Was I the dragon sleeping
Or the gold on which he slumbered?
Was I the one and only one
Or was I merely numbered?
Is every second precious
When the day was never mine?
Was I ever really real
Or a flaw in your design?

It’s not that I haven’t been trying
But my arms are against me just now
And it’s not just a matter of smiling
Though I honestly wouldn’t know how
Neither is it the cracks on the pavement
Or the hammer that bruises my thumb
For not one of these things is the reason
That I desperately need to be numb

It wasn’t the look that you gave me
Or the words you can’t hope to retrieve
It was never the place you were standing
But the space which remains when you leave
There was never a time it was easy
And we battled for every crumb
But the fighting has left me in pieces
So I need to be comfortably numb

I hope some day that I might BE
So watching eyes can plainly see
“He IS” they’ll say in whispered tones
While snapping pictures on their phones
I want to BE, as I have planned
(And those who ARE are in demand)
So I can BE and just because
I’ll always know that once I WAS

**

"How to help the terrified and famine stricken masses?"
"How best to save those darling kids from evil toxic gasses?"
Up stepped Mr Donald Trump, "I've got this smart idea"
"I'm with you!" cried Theresa May, before the plan was clear

We'll... Just...

Bomb them all, but gently
They'll thank us when we're done
We gave them lots of warning
So they'd better start to run
We'll bomb them back to freedom
And as they turn and flee
By raining fire down on them
We truly make them free

We'll bomb them back to liberty
Each freshly widowed wife
You get some decent exercise
Whilst running for your life
We'll bomb them into harmony
They'll be the better for it
But if this was in Israel
We'd probably ignore it

I've owned a host of curios
And trinkets in my day
Acumulated gadgets
And devices in array
But one singular item
Has remained a loyal friend
I'm positive I'll have it
Til the very bitter end

I've nothing in my pocket
I've had it from the start
And though I try to run from it
We're never far apart
When everything goes rotten
If life leaves me bereft
I always have my nothing
My friend when nothing's left

The moon passed me by
on its lazy patrol
Disturbing the stars
In their ebony bowl
As if all creation
Was carved into coal
I looked to the sky
And it swallowed me whole

The course we choose to follow
As we wander through our lives
Will reach the same conclusion
When our given time arrives
My preference of afterlife
Would be to take a look
At the the things I've never heard of
On the path I never took

**

A smithy, name of Ronnie Gun
Created an invention
To rapidly distribute lead
Within the third dimension
He buffed away and polished it
Displayed upon his shelf
He loved that thing so very much
He named it for himself

So he used it in the local bar
To order up some beer
But the landlord wasn’t happy
Having rapid lead just here
He said “If you’ll be drinking here
On more than one occasion,
I’ll need a fancy shooting stick
Of the hole-making persuasion

Ronnie hastened off to home
To build another gun
A scientific exercise
He’d do it just for fun
And if perchance he happened by
The local bar tonight
He’d leave it there for safety
With his friendly barman: Dwight

But Dwight was quite a careless man
He waved his gun around
It puzzled him why everyone
Was lying on the ground
By evening a line had formed
Of angry solid angry local
Demanding Guns for everyone
And getting rather vocal

So all week long he toiled away
and though his gun was fine
He took a little liberty
Improving the design
He charged them quite a penny
Growing richer by the day
While his remained to gather dust
Still standing on display

Policemen came that afternoon
With news of great concern
The ****** rate was soaring
And it’s no surprise to learn
The leading cause of death we’ve found
Is holes from rapid lead
We’re going to have to close you down
There’s one too many dead

‘Twas then that inspiration
Hit like lead propelled at speed
Ronnie stood and thus proclaimed
“I know just what you need!
I’ll happily sell you weapons
With reduction to my fee
And just to prove my honesty
I’ll give you yours for free

And soon another queue had formed
Around his little shop
Of people sick of ducking
At the first sign of a cop
It came to pass that everyone
Had bought a gun to hold
So Ronnie made a bigger gun
And counted up his gold

When everything becomes cliché
I'm left with nothing new to say
No random thought, no handy tip
Or poorly executed quip
But still I'm here, centre stage
To keep you busy, fill a page
It's hard to find the will to rhyme
In absence of a paradigm
The words align, all prim and neat
For most of them, a grim delete
At first they come across inspired
But just like me, they're worn and tired
And all I've said, I needn't say
For even this has been cliché

**

Polly arose from the from the gaze of her foes
On a regular digital beam
She rebounded through life in a bubble of smoke
Cos she thought that she lived in a dream

Polly applied to the opposite side
Of a battle which nobody fought
While seated quite still, she retreated at will
For she knew that she couldn't be caught

Polly retired on the wealth she'd acquired
With a tangible air of the throne
There was little to say when she faded away
But they made something up for the stone

Spring has sprung
Or so I’m told
The sun is low
My breakfast cold
Timid flowers
Hide their heads
Beneath the earth
In frozen beds

Spring is here
With frosted lips
And pollen coated
Fingertips
With just a hint
Of distant warm
Or rattling
Of thunder storm

Spring abounds
On wary feet
With breath of mist
And sudden sleet
To chap at cheeks
And nibble noses
Cold as clay
Red as roses

Happy Easter to all those celebrating this weekend. I shall sacrifice a chocolate egg to my craven gods in your honour ;)

**