It's blistering hot
Here in England
No time to
Acclimatise

poppies and chamomile bloomed roads,
covered in warm dust... such a pity
that these are the only ones left
to be pointing towards the eternal city,

where marble and stone still stand
on places gods used to walk bare-footed,
where belief was more than just demand,
until cassocks have had ancient ways sooted.

A place where manner was turned into art
And polymaths emerged from genius creation,
where Latin blood spills from heart to mart
In a continuous state of vibrant elation.

where green is the colour of oils and lust
and the sun can burn to a lemon flavour,
and the sand on the front of the boot is black
and the wine is more than a bitter-sweet savour...

There, where a walk through square paved markets
is bursting with hand-made stories,
where scratching through history's pride
would always end in timeless glory...

A continent's scout
That once touched Pacific sands,
Has on the Natchez Trace
Taken his life at Grinder's Stand.

Such the news the Chickasaw
Agent bore
Telling President Jefferson
The great scout Meriwether Lewis
Is no more.

Five years prior, you were commissioned
To a quest,
Mr. Jefferson sending you forth
To explore the core of a new nation's
Enigmatic west.

The Mandan's song still warbles
In your ears,
While the mighty Missouri's current
Still rushes through your tears.

And now, on a porch of a tavern
In west Tennessee,
You look back in that direction
That has ever seduced thee--

You cannot seem to shake him--
That black dog of lassitude--
That murderous hell-hound what has
Shadowed you across majestic
American longitudes.

His image is there, in the polish
Of your piece
With every throb of your head
His moan ebbs at your peace.

During the journey, Clark was always
There to help stay the hound...
Knew how to handle him,
Knew how to keep him bound.

Perhaps that is why you are looking west
This time around.
Not for something new,
That, you have found.

No, you are simply looking yonder for
Someone to **** this **** hound.

Eliminate
All the hate
The rich, the powerful--
They use it as bait
To disunify us,
The common workin' men
Last time I checked
We're all Americans!

These next four years
What will they bring?
Are you sittin' on your hands
Are you lettin' 'em wring--
Are you letting the fear
Seep into your soul
Remember friend that
God is in control
His throne
His tone
Recompense I see
Maybe not now,
But eventually!

We work in the fight
We fight 'til we win
Guthtrie's sayin' this
All those years back when
We were weatherin' a storm
Called the Great Depression
Now it's 2017 and there's
Another'n 'round the bend.

It's Hurricane Donald
And he's made landfall
Category 5 with a
Promise, a call
To take America back
Make it great once again
All for the sake of
The common labor men.

Don't know bout you
But my back's still sore
I'm always wonderin'
What the rhetoric is for--
For the more things change
The more they stay the same
So we switched up the boss
Is it not the same game?

Uncle Sam's not quick to
Relinquish his grip
His wallet's gotten fat
And he's become used to it.
But I digress, I must conclude
I must look forward
To shift my attiude
And recognize the growing
Pains of this nation young
Work the fight with calloused hand
Rather than cringe with hand wrung.

Hello?
Who is this?
Ambition.
Oh. I wasn't expecting your call.
You weren't expecting much of anything
Were you?
You're such a ****** coward
You won't talk to me face to face.

I--
WHOA!!!
Before you say anything in defense
Of your miserable self
I must set the record straight.

Without me you would
Not get up mornings.
I'm a huge player in giving
You that urge.
The only reason you work as hard
As you do is because
I whisper there's always
Something better ‘round
The curve.

Your bitterness will make you
Come to an early end.
It’s not my fault you’ve made
Poor decisions up and down the line.
Your scathing rage against me
I will not pretend,
Baffles considering I’ve worked hard
To polish and make you shine.

I'm done speaking with you,
No more, from me, shall you receive
Positive coercion.
If you want to be rid of me, free of me,
Very well…
See how far that gets you.

The falcon rises high above the plain.
A man skips stones slow along the lakeshore.
Where is love when needed in times of pain?

How rough to walk the corridors of shame.
Seems as though I can't bear it anymore.
The falcon rises high above the plain.

The locust is damp, there can be no flame.
A mother cries for her children at war.
Where is love when needed in times of pain?

A princess ponders in watching the drain--
Am I truly the one whom he adores?
The falcon rises high above the plain.

Lovers quarrel in fields of sugarcane.
She’s flustered. He thinks it is fields of corn.
Where is love when needed in times of pain?

A man sits distraught, waiting for a train.
All the patches of his quilt have been torn;
The falcon rises high above the plain.
Where is love when needed in times of pain?

Enough is the word.
Media martyr bleeding--
SNAFU Johnny Law.

I’ve seen nothing but shallow all my days.
Have heard much railing of men against God.
Wisdom weeps as for the train she awaits.

Of this world--yes the same that's all a stage--
Hypocrites be kings! Their offspring hug fraud.
I’ve seen nothing but shallow all my days.

The preacher man in this country now begs.
Begging for one to fund the work of God--
Wisdom weeps as for the train she awaits.

The practical man speaks riddles in waves,
These disappear upon my wink and nod.
I’ve seen nothing but shallow all my days.

I want to rant against my neighbor--rave!
The unreasonable, I cheer--I laud--
Wisdom weeps as for the train she awaits.

So the solution is without delay,
Big Cadillacs and grasping at straws.
I’ve seen nothing but shallow all my days.
Wisdom weeps as for her train she awaits.

Death rides a Harley,
The past is afraid to follow.