Can’t sleep at night
Whispers fill my head
They are known to me, these
Voices of the long dead
Looking for guidance
I should listen to their counsel
But who am I fooling.
There’s only one voice in this skull

Guess I am just missing
The guiding hands that raised me
Always there to turn to
When life got a little scary
So now I have to be the strong one
Trust in the decisions I make
Be true to the values they taught me
And hope I don’t make a mistake

Kiss me before I wake
Before my eyes see the day
Want to feel the last moment
Of the night’s fervour wind
Not ready to see morning break
With its golden bouquet
I’m still lost in the enchantment
Of your dark spell. I’m pinned,
Tied to this last desire keepsake
So, before passion is taken away
In the cold heat of day, take this moment
Kiss me, and hold fast our nights ardent wind

At the end of day, on the edge of night
The evening star sends out its light
In it's wondrous state, it rules the sky
The clouds dog its path, as the winds drop a sigh
To see your beauty, oh Venus, you are
To the world a far planet, but to me a bright star

If I had never been born
Would there be a space left empty
Waiting to be filled with a human form

If I wasn’t here
Would the world mourn?
This child’s life, a star of Capricorn

Would my Family
Miss the laughter of jokes never told
Look for someone, they can never enfold

Would my friends
Act on advice never passed
Who will they turn to when feeling downcast?

And my love
The one I found, who will love you now?
Will they kiss the same when you make the vow?

If I was never here
There’ll be no change in discoveries of anything epic
And definitely not missed in the world academic

So there is no reason
Why I am here, that I can see
Living this life of mundane ordinary

Yet there was the time
I helped a stranger who was in need, in pain
Though I’m sure others would have done the same

Maybe that’s why I am here
Not to live a life of fame and celebrity
Just to bestow one simple kind act of extraordinary

I recently bought an amazing fad
A car that thinks. Wow, how amazing is that?
So I get it home and open up the instruction pad
Flick through pages covering every language format
Finally, I found the paragraph for me. Number one.
What a fantastic light show, as I turn on the key
Three sweaty hours later and I am done.
I soon realised to read the rest you need a degree
So I gave up on instructions after ten
I know best, and soon destinations are programmed in.
So here we go, first visit, to pick up Ben
Then off to the bar for a few tonics and gin

Six hours later and things are little blurred
My singing is great, I sound like a star
Can’t say same for Ben, man, his voice is slurred
So time for home, we head for the car.
State your destination, a woman’s voice purrs
I clearly state Sandsend Drive, or so it sounds in my head
And off we go to Ben’s as the landscape blurs
While we sit in the back, like bugs in a bed
I awaken to daylight and the sound of the sea
My tongue is stuck to my mouth like something alien
And Ben’s head is snuggled on my Knee.
What the..?  I blink against a rising sun

As waves lap around the window frame
And gulls swoop on the floating craft
I utter a screech so high, a soprano could claim
And Ben's head catapults up to the roof of this drifting raft
His cry’s join mine in perfect harmony
And I look around to survey the coastal scene
A small crowd of dog walkers are looking in glee
Laughing at sight never before seen
Then a coastguard boat assails the waves to reach
Us, and throws us a line. I should be brave
Open a window. But I could drown so far from the beach
While Lifeguards choose to risk life and limb to save

So I huddle against Ben, like kids doing wrong
Then a Lifeguard makes a Spiderman leap
Across to the car, rips open a door, man he’s strong
He throws two life jackets to us with a sweep
Come with me if you want to live, he yells
Yep, I kid you not! He didn’t need to ask anymore
Soon we are on the lifeboat battling the swells
Watching as my car sank to the seabed floor
A cup of tea at Landsend Lifeboat station did the trick
As we told them the funniest story they’ve ever been told
Lesson learnt I’m avoiding modern cyber Technic
For one, bloomin things don’t understand the spoken word.

Tinsel tickles the tree
As baubles glitter with glee
Twinkling lights red, green and blue
Give the room a colourful hue
Presents crammed in a pile
Each tied with ribbon gives them style
How many sleeps until Santa shows?
And will Christmas day have winter snows?
Will we hear the Jingle of the sleigh?
As Reindeer visit each house, without delay
The house is filled with laughter and chatter
As relatives visit to eat, drink and pull a *******
Then tummies full they fall to slumber
Each proudly wearing their Christmas jumper

Eyes open onto a damp Tuesday
One dismal day out of the seven
Where clouds heavy with rain, stay
Blocking the promise of a summer heaven

I can smell the static of a brewing flash
And a false calm brings a hush to natures chatter
A boom breaks the silence, lit by a lightning clash
Storms in summer are worse, but does it matter?

Joy of chasing the rain in puddle splashes
Was a childhood game, and I still recall
Bright lightning sizzles and thunder bashes
As our laughter challenged the electric fireball

Heroic and rash, we ran with the changing wind
Years and years of foolish choices
Grown from our parents disciplined
Hand, we began to speak with our own voices

But storms can twist lives and how they change
Pulled apart onto different tracks
I saw you fall into a world dark and strange
You lived with strangers, zombie insomniacs

Laughter left your eyes, leaving them dark and hollow
I tried, I did, to show you that there was another way
But where the pack leads, you follow
You didn’t see me, had nothing to say

But like the storm, I always will look for the spark
That lighting bolt, that will bring you the strike
Of reality, so you can see a way out from the dark
And I will be here to help you back into the light

My cat can juggle
It’s something he learnt when young
Three ***** he can throw
Though he has tried and tried
He can’t quite manage four

He puts on shows at the old folks home
They cry and cheer and can’t believe
A ginger tom can be so adapt
At juggling three ***** on his back

A circus tried to buy him
But I couldn’t part, not for any amount
He doesn’t do it for money
But for the tin of tuna he is given each night.

My cat can juggle
But what he does best
Is something just for me
At the end of each day he can sing
A purring lullaby, sitting on my knee.

It is morning
An old yellow sun rises, throwing light
Onto a new born day
Here comes the dawning.
Awake, and blink away the night
Watch as star sparkled black gives way.
To a world of colours

Sun is rising
Slowly waking, trees stretch out their green
And flowers unfurl a rainbow
To greet the warmth of the rays
Awake, look at what can be seen
Purple mountains are set aglow
Nestled in a carpet of white cotton haze.
As a sky in pink changes colour

See how blue
As it reflects in crystal clear waters
Beneath its skin, an army, in silver mail
Weave amongst a coral painted range
And a light grey giant in sleep, slowly stirs
Then watch as it wakes, and with a wave of it’s tail
It races up through the blue to see the change
Of another golden day

Lightning strikes, thin as cotton thread
Traverses the brain, inside the head
A thought is born
Silicon chips, a revolution. We mourn
The loss of emotional bloodshed
As life, as we know it, turns unfeeling dead.

I want to be silent
In a world that is not quiet
Don’t want to answer the question
So, don’t ask

The questions are loud
Like a SHOUT

They resound in my head
Can’t block the sound out
Let me have QUIET

Hush, as silent as a grave
Now I can hear the answers
Form quickly in my head

Will you ask me again?
I can allow just one more time

And I will answer in truth

We have but a minute before
The rockets fall in deathly tumble

So, ask me through your tears
And angry retribution
Was I the one to bring the insurrection?

Yes, and yes again, I did what I said
A promise, I made to one and all
I am the voice they follow, my loyal flock
So now at the final, we are on top of the pile

And when the storm has hit, then settles
And the world fades into QUIET
I can SHOUT into the silence

Light can be smothered by shadow
But shadow can be scattered
Under a blazing spotlight
Love illuminates and
The darkness
Lifts

Emptying thoughts of a hectic day
I slip into silent slumber
Casting off the worries as I lay
Amongst the realm of dreams, as they gather.
Softy, softly they lead me away

Down into the realm of dark and light
Where dreams are forged
On an anvil of fire and candle bright
They float into a star filled sky
Finally released they take to flight

I am bird. A wave upon the sea.
I can cross continents or worlds
In the blink of an eye. I can be
Anything. I am the song of a whale
I am the life root of a tree.

I am floating, falling, a snowflake
Glittering in a dazzling sun
Then flying swiftly over a glass frozen lake
That is shattered by a growing sound
And into dawns light the alarm pulls me. I awake.

But long to dream.

Capture the flight of feather flow
On lifting swells of waves, high and slow
Soar over an ocean of freckle dancing foam
carried free, over land and sea, as I roam

Under cotton bleached clouds, moisture dry
The sun leads the way, across a lapis blue sky
Soaring on silent, soft feather flight
I glide through the hours, day into night

Watching as the planet turns below me
I can see electric lights spark up brightly
As cities become awake in the darkening gloom
Unaware of my continuing speeding zoom

I am caught up in an orbital ring
Kissing the moon as I pass, my wings sing
Lighting up stars against the universal black
I laugh, as I continue along the Angel track

I’ve been searching endless days
Looking for what was lost
Amongst the jumbled lived out ways
Where minutes are spent counting the cost
In a lifetime that’s lit up in a forever glow
Looking for the beloved sound
Then a voice speaks softly like falling snow
My heart sings. You are found.

Used to be tangled with you
Stuck together like superglue
It was we, us, one half of two
Mind reading, amazing but true
Yeah, you knew my brain too
But isn’t that what couples do?

It was like when Juliette found her mate
Star-crossed lovers, it felt like fate
I remember our very first date
The apologies, when you arrived late
The film we saw, the popcorn we ate
The goodnight kiss, making my heart accelerate

Six months later, under a neon moon
A diamond needed an answer, and soon
After, in the rose scented month of June
Vows were made as bride and groom
How tender the night of our honeymoon
As our hearts sang in perfect tune

A lifetime of you and me
Now it’s just me, I no longer see
You in the rooms where you used to be
A ghost in the misted rooms of memory
But I still visit the place where me becomes we
Just need to open the door with the love heart key

Gentle slumber take me
Into dreams where I can
Be the person you want me to be
Become part of the perfect plan
Where I agree with everything
Just nod and bow down
Like a bird trained to sing
Look at me, the dancing clown

I see you clap and smile
As the knots are pulled tight
Around me, is it worthwhile?
Seeing me disappear out of sight
As I am made into someone new
A mute speaking with your voice
As I fade into shadow behind you
Too late. I've made my choice.

I am just the painted clown
Features hidden under greased concrete
Can you see the cracks as I smile?
A colourful costume covers the scars
Nothing to see here.

Running around in circles
Falling into deep water to applause of strangers
I can hear the laughter as I drown in buckets of stardust
Another pie in the face
Can’t feel the pain.

There is one who knows my true name
They have seen my true face
Love carried us flying on the high trapeze
But when they fell, no net to catch the fall
Grief now wears a red nose

Heading for a landslide
Of a breaking heart
Listen to the rumble as it falls apart
It has a familiar sound
So I know this isn’t the first
And memory says I’ve survived worse

Following a cycle of repeating destruction
As the heart feels the love burn
Love lessons I will have to relearn
But it’s a wasted moment in time
Trust gained is shattered and broken
I was sure that this time, you were the one

But time heals, so they say
And too quickly, plasters are applied
Patching up the hurt deep inside
I’m moving on, I’m brave and strong
And look, there on the horizon I can see
A new love. Hi, are you looking for me?

You told me you loved me
But it was lost in a day
Time was given, but I see
The world turned the sun away
I was holding onto a promised ghost
My fingers slipped into the mist
Nothing to hold onto, we almost,
Almost believed it when we kissed
But the poison grew and grew
I saw your battle turn into war
Your eyes gritted pain, looking for rescue
Then, and then, you were no more
Lost in a day
We were given time, but I now see
The sun has turned away
Now I don’t have you, loving me

A memory
A fragment of you
A time capsule so fragile
If I linger, too long, it will break

A Scent
A smell of you
I can breathe it in
Fill my lungs, then release, it fades

A touch
A caress, from you
Nerves charged, I shudder
My eyes open, you are not to be seen

A memory
I can smell, and touch
I try to cling onto, so tight
A time raft of our life, it’s drifting away.

Summer glow softens to autumn gold
And leaves become brittle to the changes
Of winters white blanket of cold

Head and heart compete with choices almost made
As love struggles to argue with valid reason
Neither prepared to give in to risks, evenly weighed

Winter chill covers the summer warm
Choice is made, and logic sends an artic shiver
Into a burning heart, love is silenced under the icy chloroform

Almost touched the never ending of us, nearly begun
But love is a rainbow arch that needs its mirror
My head saw, what my heart denied, there was no reflection

My father was a soldier
He fought when he was young
Called up, for honour, for duty
Was the nations song
At just sixteen he signed up
Leaving home and family
Heading to unknown lands
With thousands, he went happily

When I was ten I asked him
About the battles he had fought
About the medal he been given
And about the time he had been caught
He looked at me with distant eyes
And shook his head, just slight
Then in soft tone he said to me
Son I will tell, whether it’s wrong or right

Many battles I was part
Of those horrors, I will not tell
I lost my friend. No enough,
I won’t go into details of how he fell.
We fought, we died, we did our best.
The medal? That was for a life I could save
Through burning fields, I carried him
It was life or death, not brave.

Three years I spent in a war camp
Three years, until the war was done
In those years I saw torment and pain
He smiled grimly, man can be cruel, my son.
No, ask no more, past is past
There are things I do not want to re-see
I can only offer one word of advice.
Live, and be the best of human, that you can be.

Don’t
Tell what you did
Time is not a replaceable thing
To be changed or erased
Don’t
Be that person
Because it suits the moment
Behind the shutters where you hide
Don’t
Let the moment become frozen
Like ice over a raging sea
Looking for the lighthouse to set you free
Do
Tell me what you did
Because it is the moment
You’re looking for the light to set you free
I forgive you.

I am just filling in time
Sleeping through the dark times of the day
As dreams compete with the daily mind grime

Following the human way
Eating my fill of the ritual, survival routine
Facing life in the best possible way

Loving, hating, crying when I can. Guess I’m
Following the birth to death plan
Just by filling in time

Don’t fall sleep, my little one
Don’t close your eyes
Not for a second
Don’t rest your head
On that soft feather pillow
Don’t count the sheep
As they leap over the wooden gate
One, two three, four

Don’t look to the sky
The sun has long gone to bed
Don’t search for flowers
They have hidden their beauty
To shine for another day
Don’t look for the squirrels
They are curled up, warm in their tree
Dreaming of a world of acorns

Don’t listen carefully
To this lullaby I sing
Fight against the pull of heavy eyes
As you drift into dreams
Where stars will carry you
On a magical flying carpet
Over rainbow mountains
And cotton candy fields

Don’t worry
I will be here
Keeping you safe
And in the morning
When you wake
I will be waiting
To share another day
Of wonderful adventures

Walking down streets
Lined with cobbles in broken stone
Finding the familiar in the unfamiliar
This could be my childhood town
But I am a million miles away
Crowded amongst strangers
Who don’t know my smile

Looking for comfort
In a landscape that is foreign
Finding someone who will take my hand
Show me the familiar in the unfamiliar
How this could be my home
I may be a million miles away
Crowded amongst strangers
But they will know my smile

I saw the clouds cry
Water fell like heavy heartbreak

I want to tell you a lie
I want to forgive and forsake
All that was between us
Too late, it’s too late
You can’t see me, I am faceless
I can yell, scream, berate

But you are boxed in silence
Deaf to my voice,
I scream into your silent absence

Wrecked, I wasn’t given the choice
To be without you.

Let’s start at the end
It should be perfect
But
It fell
From the world
It breaks
But
Love is a fragile thing
We’ve reached the beginning

Can sleep bring blindness?
And dreams block sound?
I no longer
See, submerged in nightmares

I haven’t seen the sun today
Or heard the birds on the bough
I have been
Deaf, to voice and song

I thought I saw a spark
But it was brief in its illumination
A short-lived
Awakening, before sleep pulled me back

Here I can be lost, so I can be found
By you, who is gone from the world
I can still
Feel, the touch of your hand

You tether me to the living
Where voices sing and rainbows dazzle
I want to
Feel, life again, without the pain

I can hear the sound
Another star burns
A roar of wind
Hot and dry
Warms up the frozen universe

Then a shock of light
Ignites the night sky
Poppy red covers my eyes
My body consumed in
A blaze of fire

I am starbursting
Atoms take flight
Across infinite expanses
To worlds not yet found
There they fall and grow

Existing in a spinning circle
Of washed up wanted dreams
Living in this surreal of awful
As nightmares exhale primal screams

Ripping up the wasted minutes
Like trash discarded in the bin
Barely glimpsed, as the door shuts
Moments of what could have been

Life becomes a faded hue
In this dazzling world of wonder
You search for what you once knew
Before infant dreams were torn asunder

But enchanted ever afters
Live only in childhood play
They dissolve in children’s laughter
As age slowly melts the magic away

But I want to find the magic spell to say
Which will bring the enchantments back
So I can believe, before I’m old and grey
That ever afters can be a happy fact

Into the glass I look and see
A figure of half century life
A reflection of an older me
Eyes showing the child I used to be
As they reside amongst a face of crumpled skin
That still has traces of a younger beauty

Wisdom is like the teeth grown over years
And I carry the wounds of choices made
I can’t now regret and shed crocodile tears
I will live with the mistakes, and have no fears
Of retribution when I reach the end
Though they will be no horns or angel cheers

No, I can’t change what is to be
But if I could step through the glass
Take the hand of the younger me
Show her another way, make her see
One mistake can put steps on a road
To life lived lonely, just me, not we.

Trust
She didn’t
But he wanted to
Speaking in foreign tongue
She was blind to the words he spoke
And tears fell as she broke into song
He laughed and his voice soared
Love brought the harmony
So, she did

Dusk brings out the moth
Wings dusted in moonlight
It flies to the radiating glow
Of the glitter ball disco
And all creatures small, enter the thrall
Dancing to the nightly pull
Of intoxicating jasmine
Lit by a thousand worm’s fire
Night flowers open their eyes
Displaying wares for all to see
Sweet nectar, shared by all
In this nightly cocktail hour