I know,
ten dollar bottles of whiskey
and cartons of Marlboros,
are certainly a way to accelerate my untimely demise.
But women,
now that'll be the death of me.
Underneath the drunken stupor
behind the walls of smoke;
I'm fragile as any fabric.
I can only be cut and sewn so many times...
Alas,
as with all my vices;
the whiskey,
the drugs,
the cigarettes,
I'll dive head first into the next one.
Give it my all.
Take it or leave it,
you'll have the best and worst of me.
And when you leave it,
I'll sew myself back together,
just one more time...
And it'll be on to the next one,
until I die.

You say that your heart is a cage ,
Then let me be the one
that gets tamed inside
You say that your heart is a cage ,
Then let me the one
that pulls away those iron bars , sets you free
teaches you
how to love oneself again....

look me in the eye
and make me high
with a passionate sigh
that's like a sublime musical note
and I shall for ever be your vote
in the annals of lovers' exploits

Does it all lead to just this,
a gaping hole in the ground,
sniffing but impatient mourners
their predictable tissues at the ready?

an all-too-practised priest in familiar garb
does the expected; his suitably tremulous voice
has the standard formality as he goes through the ritual
and those years of convolution spiced with some straight and narrow

do they culminate in this terrible charade?
Surely this can't be it, this cavalier show by fellow-travellers,
by small cliques here and there, sharing juicy titbits of gossip
- least concerned with the slowly sinking forgotten casket

in my heart of hearts i say this can't be it, surely!

well hello hello big man
you're looking quite suave i must say
your almost palpable gloss is off the fat of the land
i suppose you could say you're the leader of the band
but you choose not to; you're far too smart for obvious moves
understandably, it's been goodbye to all that stuff from years ago
they suffer densely and in perpetuity who wait for providence
is your guiding principle; so the quicker, the greedier, the better!

sometimes i sink
to depths of despair
that leave me gasping
for air in claustrophobic spaces
       then i hear a voice calling me
       to rejoin the chorus of life
sometimes i think it's the end
and that i'm finally spiked and dried
no more clinging flesh or sightless eyeballs
just a mounful song swishing through my skeleton
       then i hear a voice urging me on
       telling me to rise up and soar
       into the blue heavens
       where anachronistic melodies play
       on rusty harmonicas trapped in gravity
then sometimes i think i'm dreaming
when life bubbles and is exuberant
in my heart that's full of melodious chants

you're the  tempting thing my father forbade
the very same that Mother bade me forsake
but when did i ever listen to anyone's entreaty?

you're that thing with the sweet ephemeral scent
that wafts into my brain and dares me to ignore it
but when did i ever turn away from your honey?

you're that indefinable thing floating in my heart
teasing my consciousness with things rare and infectious
when did i ever fail to to take the bait when you dangled it?

now dear sweet never-forsaken snare lying in wait
in that always not so apparent apparition of hope
my taunting self-afflicted mirage of hallucinatory bliss

i wallow deep in life's forgotten shapes and desires
that are forever mocking me in a dance of painful fancies
and we get back to where it all started: irresistible you!