I live in the north with the hoodies and the loons,
Where the wild gorse grows and prickles the brooms,
Where fields and pastures roll into mounds,
Which fold into mountains which tickle the clouds.

I live in the north, more water than rock,
Grey, green and blue like glas on the loch,
Reflecting the perfect mirror of the moon,
Are the world's oldest rocks, from which it was hewn.

I live in the north where cold winds blow,
Bringing hailstones and hurricanes, sunshine and snow,
To pristine white sand beaches where white waves come foaming,
To the straths and the glens serene in the gloaming.

I live in the north, the land of the Scots,
Named after the Irish, the natives forgot,
A land of Vikings and Picts, through war and through fire,
They bested the worst of the Roman empire.

I live in the north where the music runs deep,
It can make you laugh till you cry or a grown man weep,
A reel to make you believe any fable,
A blast of the pipes'll have you dance on the table.

I live in the north, still ruled by a king,
Monarch of the glen, lord of the ling,
Whose forests lack trees and whose lands are bare,
Save for the lonely, hunted hare.

I live in the north where magic is real,
And you can never be sure if it's selkie or seal,
Where the goddess Aurora paints the night sky green,
And dances with more stars than you've ever seen.

“Have a cup of tea, it’ll all be OK”
No matter the problem, that’s what they say
Whether you’ve lost your cat, your keys or your Nan
“What you need is a brew”, not some help or a plan.

Got a paper cut?
“I’ll make a ***.”
Laptop caput?
“It’s nice and hot..”
In massive debt?
“All soon forgot.”
Mourning a pet?
“It’ll help a lot.”

It’s as if that milky brown solution
Held inside the resolution
To every problem ever cried
And yet it tastes like a bare-faced lie

“Have some tea, it’ll be OK”
Will it make all my problems go away?
Will it fix the famine or end the war?
Will it house the homeless or feed the poor?

You’re telling me dried vegetation
Is the answer to my agitation
“I’ve stubbed my toe!” “I’m going blind!”
Drink up, cheer up, never mind!

If it were true, can you even dream
Of a world where tea can fix a melted ice cream?
A cuppa here, a cuppa there,
The end to all the world’s despair!

But we’d eventually run out of space
There’d be a great big global tea-growing race!
The cost of tea would go sky-high,
Only the wealthy could afford to buy
The medicine, the wonder drug
Your future secured in a polka-dot mug.

I simply find it hard to believe
That a soup of steaming boiled leaves
Has the unlikely power to relieve
Even the very most naïve.

But don’t you worry,
Don’t dismay,
Have a cup of tea, it’ll all be OK..

There’s a part of me that I don’t know,
Where secrets hide and troubles grow,
Beyond the reach of woken mind,
Beyond my conscious thoughts inside,

Always there but ever-changing,
Growing stronger, as I’m ageing,
A part of me I can’t control,
An anti-matter, aching hole,

I see it in my mirrored eyes,
My calendar, my health, my lies,
I tell my family I’m fine,
But I feel it heavy all the time,

I can’t imagine from what it grew,
A better life, I never knew,
My friends and family, so strong and true,
Self-indulgent, pathetic, to still feel blue,

I keep it locked behind heart tissue walls,
Yet in various symptoms, sinister it crawls,
Across my skin, my sleep, my sight,
It toys with my mind long into the night,

An apathy for life itself,
There is no point, why care for myself?
Why work and clean and get out of bed,
When the world is cold and dead?

If I could leave the rat race,
Run away from all the world,
With work and responsibilities,
Close my eyes and off I would twirl,
Like a leaf on the wind in autumn,
No telling where I would land,
I would soar across the oceans,
Away from problems and plans.
I’d drift over caves and continents,
Rivers and streams alike,
And if a storm should come my way,
I’d dance amongst lightning strikes.
I’d join the swallows’ migration,
I’d follow a glacier’s flow,
I’ll watch volcanoes spew molten earth,
So many miles below.
But when it comes, my time to land,
No matter where I roam,
I know exactly where my heart will be,
You’ll always be my home.

Candelabra rusting on the moth-eaten cloth
Old light splinters the fading drapes
Grey glints on the dim silverware
Dust rolls slowly through the air

The dripping tap, long since stopped
A small stalactite reaching down
Cold peace hangs above all
A silence that only time could fall

No embers in the fireplace, just age-long ash
No photos on the mantel, just empty space
The doorbell knows no longer how to chime
Even the clock has forgotten the time

Let me leave this place
This body
This mind

Let me open that door
Light ahead
Dark behind

Let me walk on grass
Breathe air
See sky

Let me rise above
So small
Goodbye

Cold outside, the glass mists,
Drawing swirls and turns and twists.
Draw me closer, hold me tight,
Hold me until morning light.

Wake up hazy-eyed, asleep.
I watch you dream, I let you keep
the covers that you stole from me.
I stumble up and dress quietly.

Close the door, a cringing creak,
Trees outside in autumn chic.
Breathe in deep, breathe out a cloud,
Humming Martha Tilston aloud.

Meander round and under trees,
My mind skipping between falling leaves,
Pause a while beside the pool,
A mirror of glass, fluid and cool.

Birds’ songs split the crisp air,
The wind rustles leaves and plays with my hair.
Amble back, songs in my mind,
One glance back as the moon leaves the sun behind.

I close my eyes,
and I am anywhere.

I rest my head in the warm grass,
Breathe in the icy air,
Breathe out billows of music.
I taste the citrus clouds drifting and whisper encouragement.
Sunshine drips off my eyelashes into puddles.
I dance between them, splashing spectra on my shoes.
The trees arch around me, sighing green envy at my rainbow feet.
Tripping over shadows, memories glow,
Etched in bark, veined in a leaf, cracked in a rockface,
Lighting my way.
I am not afraid here.
I am just me.

Standing on the highest peak,
Gazing over the shadowed city,
From here it looks so frail and weak,
The fires rage, I feel no pity.

The sky is heavy, thick and black,
Thunder bellows its ominous laugh,
As explosions echo, the heavens crack,
I leave destruction in my path.

Shiva

Alarms sound and cars crash,
People running for their lives,
Lighting strikes with a strobe-like flash,
I’ll be surprised if anyone survives.

Shiva

The last of the buildings collapse to dust,
Icy rain falls from the skies,
The time has come to do what I must,
I wipe no tears from my eyes.

Shiva

Turning my back on the wretched sight,
I block my ears to the terrified screams,
And as I walk away from the light,
A skyscraper, in the distance, gleams.

If I had hope, it’s there for breaking.
If I had dreams, they’re nothing more.
And in the morning, when I am waking,
The pain returns, like each morning before.

I don’t feel loss, though I have lost you.
I don’t feel regret, despite the burn.
And through the years, my heart will stay true,
Forever yours, if you return.

But if you do, I fear our ending.
I fear a repeat of the past.
So I am broken, and never mending,
For what I need would never last.

We are but flowers, on the Earth’s surface,
And we will bloom, just for a day,
And just like flowers, we will be replaced,
Just like flowers, we’ll die away.

My mind skips from tree top to tree top,
Skimming over rivers, lakes and streams.
And as I wonder of pasts and futures,
My thoughts flow smoothly through kaleidoscope dreams.

I watch the world fly past the window,
No time to see specific things,
Houses blur into fields and meadows,
A flock of birds into a flurry of wings.

Cities’ streetlamps blink into stars,
A join-the-dot puzzle, mapping the ground.
Headlamps and headlamps merging the masses,
Lost individuals into the sound.

Glance through the glass, look out the window,
Catching the eye of a stranger’s stare.
A moment held, a second, a freeze-frame,
Suddenly it seems that there’s no one else there.

Before I can blink, or think, or wonder,
The face is replaced by a patchwork floor,
And all I can see for miles and miles,
Are fields and heath land and woodland and moor.

On the flat, look into the distance,
See as far as the world is wide.
Sapphire sky and cumulus clouds,
The boasting Earth and his beautiful bride.

Open your eyes.
Open your mind to the edges of the sky
Open your lungs to the earth-soaked air
Breathe deeply and slowly
Feel each breath fill your chest
Cool and clear.
Don’t pursue thoughts that you bump into along the path
Pass through them
No need to reach for anything
The trees lean down to you as you pass
They breathe softly making your hair dance
Replenish your glow and give wind to the sparks in your eyes
Let your heart heal in this hospital of life
Let your dreams bloom in this university of flowers
Let your soul soar in this palace of peace.
Soak it up,
Before you return to your world.

We had smiles, so deep,
A love, to keep,
It lasted as long it stayed asleep.
But when it was woken,
The silence was broken,
And the weeds I sowed I must reap.

A photo on the floor,
Slipped through my sliced fingers.
The captured second swelling out of the paper,
Broken.

Scissors on the floor,
Slipped through, slicing my fingers.
I lie, blood flowing freely from my outline,
Papercut.

Scissors,
A photo,
On the floor,
Black where I cut myself out.
You’re still smiling.
I'll make sure of that.
I'm bleeding; papercut

Silence around me, save for that drip. Drip. Dripping.
We both know what that is.
Your desperate, hopeless, scream inside me,
Ricocheting off the inside of my skull.
I can still hear you now,
Your coarse voice screaming out to no one in particular.
Do it again.
Your face is pretty, or handsome. Either or both.
It doesn’t matter anyway,
You can scream and send shivers of something, or everything, not anything, down my spine.
I’m polishing a blade opposite you.
I grip it, feeling the power and dominance strengthen my stance.
I dip into your pale blue eyes for a second,
The terror and pain making me smile.
My grin vanishes as I see more, deeper,
The dying glimmer of hope.
I grimace.
Slowly, the corner of my mouth turns again, as the blade glints in the flickering light.