once upon a time there was a world
with smells and colours and sound
people would watch how roses unfurled
watch the blackbirds pecking the ground

there was sweet silence within the quiet
a place where angels and fairies could dwell
plenty of space for colour to riot,
forget-me-not with the bluebell

there were greens of the spring, gold of the summer,
orange-browns that made the heart sing,
fluttering of birds in wake of newcomer,
swallows and swifts circling on wing

it was a world where the people cared,
heard the heartbeat of mother-nature,
no place for kitschy pop-posts shared
incessant interruptions as leaf's crenature

the so-called prosaic had depth and music
we weren't so clever but men were still true
we lived in harmony with world's acoustic,
before we sloughed the soul's inner view

once there was a world where people connected
not on the screen but in their souls,
where the inner voice was always respected,
people in tune with their inner goals.

i pray and hope we'll still be able
to pass this on to the next generation
else a world, tottering, unstable,
has orchestrated its own cessation

beard, ashen grey, swept by the winds
of years and centuries, aeons gone by,
misunderstood, forever chagrined
by the earth and the men and the sea and the sky

on staff he leans, weighed down by sins
of the heart and the mind and the hand and the hip
wild hair and locks bellowed by winds,
white shredded sails on wreck'd mast of ship

he'd put down his scythe, his sickle and reaper
bought a break as death's doorkeeper
but the hubris of world dictator
bade him grasp the detonator

soon swarms of poppies blood-red
scarlet and pink as tired sunset
angry as the blood of maidens
blushing as illicit bedspread

scattered as myriad bloodshot eyes,
of mothers mourning as child dies,
as gore spurting in the skies
as brothers shot amid war-cries

ploughed the fields with hearts that bled
plagued burnt hills as barrows of dead
mutilated, youth-abated,
limbs of lives amputated

the squeal of babe, the cry of lamb,
crushed as raspberries in a jam
mulched the fields in pants o' breath
****** by masters of their death

for death now trampled underfoot
the innocent boys, girls and babies
turned their skin to gunpowder soot
ravaged their limbs with famine 'n tabes

ash and hail, desolation,
earth reeling from stagnation
sent death pleading for abation
from the lord of creation

but 'twas nowhere to be seen
not in the heavens with his queen
nor in the throne-room overseeing
for he is forever the elusive being

now hiding from celestial choir
now living in eternal fire
now head burning in funeral pyre
at one with souls as they transpire

as the madness and the envy
mad desire, lust and frenzy,
continue, continue, unabated
till all consumes, as is fated.

broken, bent, o'er his staff,
bent over countries in bloodbath,
o'er the bodies rent in half,
o'er waste of human wrath

over the greed that never ends
never pays dividends
devours 'n divides family 'n friends,
itself consumes, in the end.

People aren't as you think
What's black ain't black, what's pink ain't pink,
Beneath the surface it's dark and murky,
What seems simple is odd and quirky

If you see mud, that might be a gem
Hiding beneath the sloth and phlegm,
Silver that shines is ofttimes plate
On nickel 'n zinc and other dead-weight

But dig beneath that dark interior
That hides beneath the glinting exterior
You might discover sommat superior
Unsurpass'd gold that shouts 'Exclesior'.

So don't be quick to adjudicate
Oft as not we don't see straight
You and me, we're not as we think
Our slime is gold, and our jewels stink

Dawn is knocking at the door
Peeping through the curtain
I turn, pretend again to snore
But sleep's gone for a Burton

Heavy-eyed I eye the clock
Squint and try to focus
It's not yet gone five o' clock
I lie back feeling hopeless.

How many hours of beauty-sleep
Brain attempts to calculate
Maybe I'll try counting sheep
Running wild, jumping gate.

Must have snoozed off, pretty sure,
I eye the clock again,
Long hands pointing to the four
Short hand to the ten!

Can't be true,
beggar's belief!
I look anew,
sigh with relief,

'Twas the second hand
Now on eleven
And the time?
Twenty past seven.

i remember a more tranquil world,
of grassy hummocks and neat tamed lawns,
lazy clouds and flags unfurled,
upright backs 'midst hard-earned yawns

i remember a more tranquil beat
people cared how others fared
there was laughter in the street
there was joy as bread was shared

i remember a world relaxed
uncreased brows, a world untaxed,
tuppence bought a pint of beer
camaraderie and heart-felt cheer

in the bustle at the airports,
in the stations underground,
queuing, handing tickets, passports,
there were humans all around,

somehow feelings were more simple,
******, purer and untouched,
like the soft skin of a dimple
of the smile i miss so much.

yes, i remember a world serene
people cared how others fared,
there were smiles to be seen,
but now that scene has gone and been.

is my memory playing tricks
a child's impression of Lego bricks?
was the world a different place
or was it always a big rat-race?

or perhaps today there's still grace
behind the neons and plastic face,
scratch away the false surface
morals 'n manners will surface.

500 or 504
"an error - we'll fix it asap"
well, i've stopped keeping score
of the ineptness of this app

"Uh oh, we encountered an error
making this page for you.
We've been notified of this terror
and we'll make it up to you"

"we'll wire you $100
for every minute you've wasted
for the anguish and the hollers
and the powerlessness you've tasted."

"we know how awful it is
to loose your work in a second,
the hard work, sweat and tears
when it's all computed 'n reckoned."

"We're sure £10,000 won't go amiss,
we've sent it to your account,
sorry we were disastrously remiss -
we hope you'll accept that amount."

Reality, my friends, can daunt,
so i shall daydream all i want
though i'd sooner be piggybacking a leviathan fish
i may still fantasise and wish!

the blackbird does as blackbird should
he sings the morn in view
and at dusk, as sun dons hood,
farewell's the day's deep blue

and though the sloth seems lazy,
a-snoozing in the tree,
a sleep that might seem crazy
to you and to me

a sloth does as sloth is,
he cannot other be,
much as the black moth is
nocturnal frequentee

during the day, he lies under
leaf or vegetation,
it's all a part of the wonder
of G-d's machination

it's just man that has a say
in how he spends his hour,
he may choose to be gay,
blithesome as a flower

or saturnine and severe,
without a hint of cheer,
though DNA may play a part
man is ruler of his heart

everyone is the writer
of a masterpiece
written not with typewriter,
pen or quill of geese
rather this work is scribed
with kindness 'n good deeds
the goodness that's been imbibed
in fufilling others' needs,
its pages are the hours
that've been wisely spent
a garden of rare flowers
emitting perfumed scent
this is your magnum opus,
not some dusty tome,
recording your true focus
whilst this world was your home

soft amidst the melting snows
peeping through the dew and ice
'neath the chill of wind that blows
'cross the plains of paradise

from the earth, in tender darkness
cradled by the arms of death
blooms a violet, purple grace,
and two pearls of fairy breath

soft from midst the snows that melt
peering through the latticed ice
'neath caress of wind heartfelt
breathed from Garden of Delights

from the soil, in the black,
wake from sleep of coldest season,
deepest green with gloss of lac,
zephyr blows from gardens' Eden.

Let's take a tour of the Zodiac signs,
On each month, we'll scribe two lines

Aries Sun has zest and verve
A quarrel with him takes a nerve

Taurus Sun's down to earth
to change his mind's like giving birth

(Original:
Gemini Sun's social and fickle
Rely on him and you're in a pickle)

Gemini Sun's social and flexible
Friendly, affable, intelligence incredible

Cancer Sun's moody, insecure
Sensitive to a fault 'n slightly obscure

Leo Sun's loyal, a good worker,
Idealist, noble, rarely a shirker

Virgo Sun's responsible and practical,
exacting, self-critical, not always tactical

Libra Sun wants peace at any price,
refined, sociable, and really, very nice

Scorpio Sun, now there's a challenge,
Intense, willful, he'll always manage

Sagittarius Sun's cheerful and friendly,
though mind their anger, can be deadly

Capricorn Sun's hard-working, societal,
Mostly reliable though obstinately practical

Aquarius Sun goes off beaten track,
Idealistic, social, they'll usually have your back.

Pisces Sun's deep, if somewhat lymphatic,
dreamy idealist and slightly erratic

And herein ends our brief excursion
Hope you enjoyed are astral version