Forget Me Not

Forget me not while I am gone

I cannot stand to know that absence

Failed to make your heart fond of me

I, the one you loved not so long ago

On that tender summer night

That tender summer night

When the sky was filled with stars

You promised love forever more

With an open heart and lovely lips

You spoke of life and love eternal

Eternal love, that sacred quest

Hath since the world began

Driven men to heights untold

For a woman's love I've been told

Is worth it all and more

Forget me not while I am gone

O! You gentle courtesan

I will return to you at the end

Of this wretched war, regardless the

Price they choose to make me pay

Peace at Last

I came across her pristine pool

The only water for miles around

Long before this happenstance

Nature's ire had fouled her quiet depths

The signs nearby told me thus

I drank from her till my belly ached

To find my peace by her silent banks

Lost Time

Its morning still on the British isle

Out in the farthest east,

In Hong Kong and Shanghai

The clock's gone much farther ahead

I set my watch to Hong Kong time

Pour a snifter of Scotland's best

To celebrate the day that's just now begun

Its morning now in the farthest east

Bankers and traders and thieves

Are up and about in force

It’s a boisterous midnight in London yet

The revellers now own the streets

So I turn the clock to British time

Before I join in the raging bacchanal

Again and again it goes

Till I know not where I am

The day of the week or the time of the day

The price I chose to pay for the

Ravaging pleasure of this, my one escape

Letters to Uncle Joe (no.1)

It’s been a while Uncle Joe

Eight years and six months since

I got the news that I'd never hear you

Speak in that broken tongue of yours

That had come to mean as much to me

As all the best memories of my far away youth

I've missed you Uncle Joe. Mostly on those nights

When I've been with the bottle too long

Longer than is apt for one as young as me

I miss you too in the daylight, on those awful days

When my errant mind drifts along to the past

To memories of happier times

Teacher misses you too, more than she knows

She's a woman now and a fine one to boot

Her mind has moved to other things. Like it ought to do.

It’s the life we lead, the world we have to live in

The ones we love leave us, and in time we start to forget

Why we loved them to begin with

But you know that already. You knew a lot of things

It’s why I wish you were here, with all my heart and soul

It'll be nice to sit with you again

To talk for hours on end

About the wars you fought and survived

And the battles I'm fighting and losing

I have to tell you the truth Uncle Joe

That I'm getting my ass kicked here

That I lost my way a while ago, and

It's not easy finding the way back

To the dreams I had and shared with you

Out on the marbled porch of the big house

In the east. Same place we met so many years ago

Where through many balmy evenings

We talked and laughed and cried

I was just a boy with a pocketful of dreams

You were one of a kind, the kind that made

Me believe that those dreams were good enough

To get me a place in the world

I'm a man now, but not the man I planned to be

I'm sorry Uncle Joe, for all those promises I made

And have failed to keep so far

Life hasn't happened like I hoped to God it would.

I'm not making excuses. Not to you I won't.

If you'll take the time to write me a note

That helps me remember the boy I was before

And the man I ought to become

I promise you I will try for all my living days

To make it up to you, and to the ones you left behind

If on your evening walks, you chance upon Grandma

Please give her a message from me. Tell her I miss her too

But I miss you more Uncle Joe

I really wish you were here, with all my heart and soul

Unreliable Witness

When you've been offended

It’s good to forgive the offence

And forget it happened

Or so I've been told

So I've tried to forgive the stove

That burned my hand at Christmas

But I'm afraid to forget

I'm worried it'll get me again if I did

Today, I rode a bike again

The moment I climbed the seats

I knew what I was supposed to do

Though it's been ten years since

I took off like Lance on drugs

How did I manage to forget

My girlfriend's birthday today?

I remember my first sexual encounter

But the memory of my first climax

Doesn't exist anymore

I've spent the years since,

Trying to recreate the memory

So far without success

But I'm happy to keep at it

When I read a biography

And see a lot of direct quotes

I wonder if all the people I meet,

Carry recorders in their pockets

To keep proper account of events

In case they choose in twenty years

To recreate our encounters in print

I had scrambled eggs and porridge

For breakfast this morning

The eggs were a little salty

And the porridge a bit cold

I won't remember that tomorrow

Yet I remember my first kiss

From when I was twelve years old

The pubs and bars of London

Are great for picking up women

Mostly because I only remember

The ones that came home with me

I've banished from memory the ones

Who threw their wine in my face,

Before they walked, swinging

Their hips in my face

It's a good thing nobody remembers

The day they were born

We're all screwed up enough already

Without the memory of that day

When we first made our mothers cry
In the presence of total strangers

The Judgement of Strangers

I have a doctor friend

Who works with ailing kids

Plays football at the weekends

And chain smokes cigarettes at night

That's how he manages the stress

Of dealing with suffering kids

Stella's got a boss

Who likes his hand up her skirt

She's got rent and loans to pay

So she keeps a job she hates

But picks up men at the bar

She's reclaiming her sexuality

My friend, the wealthy banker

Carries a vial of cocaine

For those scary moments

When the numbers refuse to add up

These days, I see he's formed a habit

Of mixing his coke with X

Harry's the defendant’s lawyer

With a taste for all things grey

Five years with dangerous criminals

Has turned him from a jolly fellow

To the guy who prowls at night

For hookers, poppers and weed

Betty's been married for ten years

To a man her Daddy picked

She's got two kids and a dog

And drinks vodka from a tea cup

That's how she keeps from becoming

Her generation's Susan Smith

Peter's wife is pregnant

The doctor says its twins

The same doctor treats his mistress

She's expecting too

So when he's crying in church

Its not the spirit that drives him to

Ricky my friend the barman

Likes to laugh at others' misery

That’s to keep from thinking

About the two ex-wives

And his teenage lover boy

Who all wished him dead

My friend the school teacher

Has her shrink on speed dial

Still spends half her earnings

On psychics and fortune tellers

All of whom failed to predict

Her recent bankruptcy filing

Sitting at home, alone at night

With a bottle of single malt

I wonder and ask myself

Who has the right to judge  

The things we choose to do

To keep from going insane

Damn Lies

Yesterday, mama said tomorrow

Will be a brighter day

Today I dressed in shorts and sandals

And made my way to the local park

With my picnic of sandwiches and wine

I came home soon after

Soaked to the skin by the rain

They said we got a democracy

And I the voter, I'm boss

So I sent my pair of wing tips

To the palace on the rock

I hoped to get a spit and shine

Not a visit from the cops

And a week in the brig to boot

Papa said dreams come through

That's why I spread this silk sheets

Before I rocked myself to sleep

Thinking of Penelope Cruz

I woke up this morning alone

Holding my stiffened sword

Like a knight at war with the world

They doctor said to use a condom

It'll make the sex safe

So I got the little blue pills, and

The box of strawberry magnums

For every time I laid the maid

Now my wife's got my house

My kids and my money too

The preacher said Jesus died

And rose again in three days

I needed three days to rest

So I clicked the safety off

And put the glock to my head

For that I got a month

In bed, at the crazy house

Somebody's been telling me lies

Damn them all to pieces

Me too for believing them all

Gloria in Excelsis Deo

Glory be to God most high

Whose righteous breath

Hath given me life

By whose grace I live

In his love, I find my peace

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!

A thousand voices ring out

Angels in worship, sing

Then bow, and dance and cry

In praise and adoration of the most high

Glory! Glory! Praise the Lord!

Who caused the seasons to change

The snowdrops to bloom in spring

The yellow moonbeam to thrive in summer

And sweet jasmine in bitter winter

Glory be to God most high!

For he hath turned night to day

Mourning to dancing, sadness to joy

Praise be Jehovah most high

God of all the heaven and earth

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!

 I will sing his praise each day

Through this earth and beyond

For he alone is God

And His mercy endures forever

Glory! Glory! Praise the Lord!

Worship him all the earth

Let the people sing

Let the earth rejoice

He is risen, he will return

Glory be to God in the highest!

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

My Lord, my King, my God

In whose promise I place my faith

By whose hand I live and breathe

Glory! Glory! Praise the Lord!

Whose blood hath washed the filth away

And made whole the broken bits

Hallelujah in the highest!

Glory! Glory! Praise the Lord!

Happy Endings

I held out for perfection

An utopia that didn’t exist

For that I nearly lost my love

To a dream that couldn’t be

And a vision  that wasn’t real

In a perfect world

I’ll wake up to you in the morning

Every day, till the end

I’ll come home to you tonight

And every night hence

In a perfect world

We’ll build a picket fence

Raise two chocolate miniatures

A couple golden retrievers

And grow old together, hand in hand

I’ll die in your arms

And you in mine

Then we can carry on as always

In a next life, in another universe

Only in a perfect world

But nobody’s promised a happy life

Or a happy ending

So I’ll take tonight

And tomorrow too

The rest I’d leave to providence

And God, wherever he may be

Waiting for Heaven

Last night I made a call to heaven

And asked to speak to God

Some angel put me on hold

And I've been waiting ever since

For a chance to speak to Jehovah

To spend some time with the Saviour

And complain, cry and whine

About all that ails me still 

I feel a pain in my head

That won't go away

There's a hole in my wallet

All my money's fallen away

I'm in love with a woman

But I can't get her to stay

I've got a job to go to

I don't much like the pay

I've got a line to heaven

Some angel's got me on hold

He says they've got a crisis

A plane crash in the Atlantic

Two hundred and fifty on board

Civil war in Syria, fracas in Iraq

Three thousand dead and gone

Maybe more by the morrow

Here I've got a mortgage due

And a boss who hates my guts

My daughter's got a tattoo

I worry it'll be a baby next

My son's found the booze

And he's got a girlfriend too

So I'd like to speak to God

But an angel's got me on hold

I'd like some time with God

I hear he's got all the answers

It’s the reason I’ve held on since

Though I'm a little angry now

I'll hold my peace a while

Till I get can get some time with God

To whine, and cry and complain

About all that ails me still. 

Hero and Leander

Darling, stay with me tonight

We'll dance long into the night

Till long after the music stops

Then consumed by lust and longing,

Driven by rapturous desire

We'll lay by the shores of the Eden

And make love to the sound of the water

Watched by a million little stars

Stay with me tonight

Tomorrow, we'll smile a lot

Aware of the things we've done

Pleasured by the memories we made

Stay with me tonight

We'll walk through St James Park

Laughing, kissing, touching

Waiting for the guards to change

So we can sneak past Her Majesty's violet tulips

Onto ancient, royal ground

And explore our amorous passions

In the shadow of grand Buckingham.

Stay with me tonight

Might be the only one we'll get

So let's lock the world away

And live tonight like we owned it all.

Maiden Cantata

Reclining on a lounge chair

Staring at the mountain side

Over the bamboo fence I catch faint sights

And distant glimpses

Of the full moon in motion

Wallowing in unequalled beauty

With frequent bouts of ignorant joy

Young children dance and play

Rolling themselves in the sand

Ugly mouths of inspired owls howl endlessly

At sunset

Sounding death knells for crest fallen maidens

Bound hands and feet and mouth

With tattered strips of cloth

Torn away from aging garments of pure cotton

And generous silk

On a final journey towards Hades

The joyous shouts of ecstatic kids

The deafening silence of the night

The beckoning sound of hollowed gongs

And native priests

The fiery howl of the messenger owl

And painful cries of lost maidens

Laid before unknown gods as sacrifice

To do as please

Mix into an unruly concoction

A ghoulish attempt at music making