My dear friend, don't seek to follow me
for I'm off to the land of broken promises and pity,
within its river of alcohol I wish to drown my sorrows -
upon the black pearl that is Heartbreak Heaven City.

It's semi-mythical river runs through a jungle
of grimy brickwork and choked smog -
a city that revels in its own pollution
so much so, it's many people suffocate beneath it's caustic fog.

And this river, of which I speak,
acts as a candle for the deaf and the blind -
no one would ever dare to live in this city
if it weren't for its promises of prosperity pushing them from behind.

Sometimes there's a brief lapse where the fog lifts,
and people sip the river's waters beneath a moonlit sky,
alas, they only end up gorging and passing out -
intoxicated, they fall into the shadowy depths to drown and die.

Oh, tonight I venture out to its miasmic bank,
sadness and anger so intense, my brain it burns and chars -

upon the twelfth stroke I will descend into it's surface,

and my soul will rise to the everlasting stars...

In the night clubs
for hours she plays;
crowds of ***** drunken men
staring through the stale tobacco haze.

Alice, her name is -
not that a woman's identity
is useful in a decrepit place like this...

Black silk tights
smothering her luscious skin,
the fabric cups of her bra -
faded from the light, slightly too thin.

She's wasted,
grinding her body across oily bars -
a single lost sliver of gold
shining bright, caressing the jealous stars.

And it's escapism that she seeks,
but it's grief that she gets,
for the door to her fantasies
is sick addiction to *** -

in her tired mind
bodies, erotica, sweaty flesh;
indulgence of the black arts
shoots her to high, ecstatic stardom -
so why not join Alice

in her secret garden?

Keeping beneath the streetlights she strides
hugging herself within a warm winter coat,
checking alleyways and shadows,
shaking, nervous fear tickling the back of her throat.

There she goes -

past broken beer bottles and empty cans
drunken pedophiles rubbing together twitchy hands,

past doorways where scumbag teenagers lie
sharing needles, and half pills just to get high -

ahead of her frantic police sirens wail,
followed by the sickening glow of blue flashing lights,
heading off to another seedy club;
a minefield of fury and bloodied, brawling fist-fights.

There she goes -

past the policeman ignoring the crowd's cries
as his suspect chokes and dies

past the little girl running and crying
saying that Daddy got angry and Mummy's now dying -

Oh there she goes, now indignant and ignorant,
a soul as transparent as the night's sky,

one monument to our sins

from a world now long gone by...

Delivery by C-section,
lawyers and court orders
demanding patient discretion.

How could something so natural
turn so wrong?
Thousands of conceived babies
thriving in bodies where they don't belong.

Homosexuality, and legalised Gay marriage -
the good intentions of our governments
opening the gates to a disastrous passage.

Because now our women's numbers
are drastically few,
yet the Human race continues
to breed fresh, renew -

No, you can't change what you love
or what tempts you to sin;
even the best, most straight, of us
can always give in.

But will you still agree
in ten years time,
will you still accept equality when,
our women are hopelessly infertile,
and children are birthed by men?

Welcome to the Physical World
where everything black is found -
shattered buildings, broken bones
and bombs buried in the ground.

It's a world rife with clichés
and violence gone amiss -
smoke lines the horizon
as death puckers up its first kiss.

Flowers growing
in waterlogged tank tracks,
hundreds of poisoned children
their breath wrought with coughs and hacks,

bloodied crimson stains
the choked gravel that was once streets,
barbed steel walls and gates, blocking
where one nation to another meets.

Welcome to the Physical World
where the gods ignore our desperate pleas,

Welcome to this ****** nation,
that has fallen to its knees.

There was once a stuttering freak,
who floundered at every syllable he tried to speak -
many people called him queer
so he lived in fear;
fell down at life's knees, fragile and weak.

Every cold winter's night he'd kneel and pray, wishing
for the freedom to walk the streets without being called gay -
judged by his clothing, odd stride and hair
swallowed up in a world that's disgustingly prejudice and unfair

Oh, why live in a world writhing with sin?
To be ridiculed by merciless ******* that just want your dreams to collapse, cave in -

shot with ***** looks from blackened eyes,
living with luxuries that some despise -
alcohol, drugs, morals becoming less and less
the human race spiralling out of control as we indulge in ***,

and so our stuttering hero spat in the face of strife,
alas in a cruel twist of fate, that person carried a knife -

with a swift punch to his head,
he was knocked to the floor and hacked at until dead -

seems that in our shattered world, not even courage wins;

sprawled upon a paving slab in his own blood

floating away from our sins...

AJ

The light glows off her sleek hair,
the tint of her skin,
divine and deliciously fair -

she's stood at the newsstand
paying by debit card,
her smart mini satchel clasped in her hand.

I watch cautiously from the nearest side-street,
through frosted up glass,
jumping now and then
at the occasional car that might pass.

She's beautiful - moving so effortlessly
and strangely angelic,
the chemical lag of this non-present world
makes it all seem so... psychedelic.

Oh, will she see me stood here
with those inquisitive blue eyes,
will she see through my insidious disguise?

'Cause I crave food on a daily basis,
many people stroll past me
sniggering and laughing with disgusted faces.

I lounge on the London streets,
my beds are the floors,
I curl up beside the twisted lepers
and next to the infected ******.

And so as the woman exits the shop
I feel my hand twitch, and drop
to the little surprise tucked in my belt -

after all these years
I never wanted to know how killing someone felt,

but

my stomach gripes in pain from starvation,
my bowels are always tight with constipation,

it seems everyone lives so grand
but not me, oh no -

I just want that bag clasped in her hand.