Poems

Im all mixed up, where I go, Somebody help me, because I don’t no. So much emotion, that I feel, Too many things becoming real. I want to runaway, I want to hide, My mixed up feelings that I have inside. Where do I go, what do I do, Do I follow my heart so true?...

What is this madness that dwells within the heart of men? That God would shed such joyless tears for the goodness that eludes the heart of impious men; And for that which they have done, And taken from the little ones, That Heaven should fall about their heads; And...

Down in the valley lived a little old man. He hadn’t much money just a tiny piece of land. His young son Joe was his only pride and joy But when the war came he lost his little boy. Joe went to war with others of the same Behind him was the life he’d never see again....

Why did you hurt me, and cause me pain, My life doesn’t feel the same. Everyday that I’m trying to get by, Why you hurt me, I ask myself why? Feels like a knife, through the heart, Did you love me from the start? Do you get pleasure, from my pain? What is it, you wish...

The poppies will never fade on Flanders field. Their colours will not dim, Nor to the passing years yield- -The poppies that grow on Flanders field.

Give me a sword of light; Give me a lance of fire, Give me a burnished shield to protect from Earthly dark desire. Stand proud upon this English field, Hold firm against those whose course would have you yield. Cast from the harvest of years the bitter husks of mire-...

So much laughter, not many tears, You always take away my fears. Being so happy, not feeling sad, Always with you, I feel glad. My love, my feelings, won't ever go, Everyday I love you, more and more. A wonderful feeling deep inside, A feeling's so hard to hide. You...

Sometimes I see the world passing by, At times I feel happy, at times I just cry. The love, the hate, the hunger and fear, seems to get worse, year by year. So much war, and people dying, why aren’t there peace, and more people trying? Many rich people, too many poor,...

Do you ever regret the things that you said? The hurt that you caused? The pain that you spread? Have you hid in a corner, arms over your head? Do you ever wake up and wish you were dead? The things that were said were my fault, truth tell, Pain! Yes I’ve caused some,...

A 360 degree transformation Since day of creation Voice named faith and determination Won't hear this on your local radio station Took all this grief, anguish, immense pain Stopped pointing the finger Who cares who's to blame It's in the past- can't change history...

I read aloud each verse and chapter Line after line, after line. More than five hundred words per minute Making real this life of mine. I endure the pains of natural learning The growing knowledge through each decade, The wisdom building along my life Evolving with...

I want to march, for Me, for Del, for Dave, for Mick, and for all the other Scaleybacks, that I know who didn't make it home. I want to parade with honour, to show our colours were true. I want to march with pride, with the others who made it through. But I can't, not...

The sounds of war are great and strong The men are brave and free Their deaths are all too many A hateful sight to see Upon the warfields dark and stained Their tormented bodies lie For God and King they bravely fought For God and King they died Now on this peaceful...

I can tell by your shifting eyes Your constantly shuffling feet Your fiddling fingers, your twiddling thumbs You, have something to hide I can see your defensive gestures Your guarded footsteps Your distant gaze, your in a daze You, have something to hide You avoid my...

A band of strangers, different men Different women, different den Lives so separate, so far apart Yet feelings shared, as if from the same heart This band of strangers, so different then Destined to meet, but un-written when Service so different, such different times...

God…WE WUZ ‘ARD!. Oh so I thought in far off days when I was young. A group of six or so of us, with upright stance, and voice unsung, With tailored pants, and puttees brown, beret too small, and hair cut fine, We owned the world, from village pub to hotel bar, our...

5 Men sat around a fire burning bright 5 men sat in the middle of the night 5 men awake, not tired or yawning 5 men debating, laughing and talking They talked of life of family and love They talked of birds and brave white doves They talked of beer and wine and crac...

Long sleepless I know so well Vivid flashing dreams cast their spell The pillow fights back with an angry swing The noises in my head, like a million telephone rings With a gentle shake, feather light touch Un-noticed by me, she cares so much My pain she feels but...

Sunlight dawn, September day We’ll remember them in a special way For three decades and more, much wasted life Leaving devastation, trouble and strife They aged no more, their years remain But lives lost, were not in vain Though unsettled, a peace is here Fragile,...

All of my life Never met a man like you An angel disguised as a man Your capacities for kindness Sensitivity towards others A rarity in this world All of my life Never encountered A man like you Finally, someone I can relate to. You stir romance in me Like no one else...

To us here in that place called home You to us are our nations best Fraught with danger that place you now roam Our gallant few to stand far above the rest Some believe others to you have lied But in you we have so much trust The sacrifices by many the families who...

You lie cradled in my arms, you sleep the sleep of full content. The summer sun shines through the glade, the gentle grasses gently wave. This afternoon of peace and calm, of love fulfilled, of heaven sent. I look down to your sleeping face, the hidden smile, those...

What will save us now? Not looking for a handout Just want to survive What will save us now? The harder we try The deeper the ship sinks What will save us now? World is cold as ice All we have is each other What will save us now? Ideology isn’t reality Nor are leaps...

I heard the sarge say “Right, left all fall in” N then I saw my fellow brother Grin With freckles on his nose n cheeks N teeth as white as a ghost I knew I would not lose touch With my fellow brothers In this war we fight alone I learn to quick march N shoot a rifle...

I am You and You are Me, We are Schizophrenic, are not We three.

How fortunate a man I am to smell The newborn scent of my baby Annabelle She gives me unconditional love Her proof life must go on Heaven bound white dove I pray thanks dear Lord I survived my war In 1982 some never reached the shore She has stopped me from taking the...

My friend the dark? Misty droplets of rain settle on my face like a wet mask Slightly to the side of the grave- like trench I lie Waiting for her to come, my friend the dark Concentrating on the misty ground my rifle moves slightly up and down As my heartbeats slower...

Every soldier sees death and violence Sees kids rotting beneath the shells Then they remember those back home Freedom is given to the man that tells We cuddle the kids of corruption We try to try to Free a nation But the bad exists without disruption So we stiffen our...

Spots of water, wetting the window pane, rattling themselves against the wooden plane; cloud spray falls down upon the earth-green mass, wetting the stunt trees and freshly mown grass, and the rubber of the car-wheel goalpost: the coke bottles and the sweet papers...

Shuffling down the street trying to keep warm The water was in his sock now, his boots seen better days As he had many moons ago when bristling with pride and youth Now hunched against a railway bridge his collar chaffed his kneck Smiling down at him a Labour poster...

My Mam was a gentle woman Never swore, drunk or fought She lit a candle every day for me In 1982 bless her heart If I lay dying on the battlefield Like any other dying soldier The last words to pass my lips would be “I want my Mam.”

Withdrawn and un loyal That’s all they seem to be I can’t seem to find the answers anymore Which once lye upon this tree In honesty Lies a test of character Where only truth will cease the day Give me your shelter and I’ll Return with faith n good health If stars were...

Soft light slithers soundlessly across sea, breaking that most barren eternity. A gavel of gulls garrulously grate that so mournful evening's aching spate: proud Pilate's speech needed but this loud cry, to turn aside the Pharisee's decry. Land lingers longest lit at...

Definition of despair: Someone's mind beyond repair? A wilful creak on the stair And a fly trapped in a spider's lair, Torments of the child - alone With the angry ringing telephone, Echoes crash from the mockery stone: Nanny's voice in the nursery tone Brings cold...

Billy Smith was out of luck Eighteen years old and sleeping rough His Dad in prison his Mum a whore Stealing car radios so he can score At night he cried himself to sleep In his cardboard box up a dingy street Billy Smith woke up today A dog-end for his breakfast ay?...

The soldier crawled through the dark He was cold he was hungry he was scared Alone he sobbed His hip smashed head bleeding Death took this modest hero His battlefield a cold empty council house in Blair’s Britain 2006.

A child's screeched retort, distorted by young sport childrens' swarming transport in the car-harbour port. Loud-voiced anger rebounds, tantrum-tempered sounds echo 'midst summer's day. Afternoon's angered play beneath the hot sun's spray, pecking order on display.

"You are Emanuel Nailmaker the Seventeenth?" "Yus!" Sniffs and then spits on the floor and clatters his teeth. "You make ... nails ... What are nails?" "Nailing. Nails ain't they. Nail-nails!!" "For what purpose are they?" Sighs, spits, clatters, "You see them trees,...

I have never enjoyed a cup of tea more Than with your mates on a hill when your knackered and sore The pain goes away with the jokes and the crack You cant even feel the Bergen blisters burst on your back The simple taste of the tea is not earl grey or PG Tips It...

Another British soldier lies dead over there, Mr Blair Do you care? He died in your illegal War Mr Blair They should not be there You once wore your CND hippy badge Mr Blair Now you send our brave men and woman to War Mr Blair You don’t care Your sons and daughters...

A dying tree stands beneath my window, rent and torn by wind and weather, its skin a coloured orange from the fungal Rusts. The sky has a sheened-grey, dull aspect and desolate drizzle hides the distance. Stark trees standing forlorn and water-logged, their remnants...

Where is here? Here, here is here. Here, as a wraith of shadow, here And here, over here. There? No, here. Here is now? Not now, but now - now. Also, henceforth now, therefore now, Now thence, and therefore, whence now. Here and now is terminal life, Death but an aged...

John opened his eyes on Christmas day a season of goodwill to all some say Over 30 years now since that Christmas day that he held his friend in his arms his life ebbing away 25th December 1967 a 19 year old marine slipped quietly away to heaven John cried so much in...

The sun-warmed smell of turpentine pine in the late afternoon to dusk sunshine. Four eider ducks are nestled together, rustling their feathers, beside the river. Riots of sunbeams scatter their warm light to catch the airy, flowing swallow's flight. A red squirrel...

Along the road outside, petrol-driven demons Demonstrate their wills; hurtling sermons To some modern, mechanical Hell. Fire and Damnation may delve and dwell In 'Priestley' minds, but God Cars career To some greater, better Hell, we hear. Faster, faster, less and...

Wash away my hatred and black pain Cleanse my soul of this earthly madness Creator if you have created why? Some sort of sick joke? Death Oh how a comfort it becomes To love to hate to Kill You have had your fill I bow at the feet of What? Its comical even though it...

Oh that comforting smell of rifle oil Cold metal against skin Strength through superior firepower Objective is to win Advance to contact rounds firing a wall of steel Dead mans click its bayonnet time Dear God this is for real I stab at the flesh Through fingers they...

The mist creeps seawards. The sea rattling against the pebbles; Mist, sky and sea, altogether; Rusty steel collars of the well-rotted Wooden uprights along the breakwater; Flints and conglomerates pebble banked Between the sea and the promenade; Black headed gulls...

My son sleeps in the cemetery; He is innocent commentary Against the pathwayside Power urge, Of some Motorist's auto-cross surge. "My God!! I didn't see him..." "But I always come this way..." "My God!! I didn't know him..." "I save ten minutes this way..." My son...

The guns fell silent his ears ringing like church bells Warm sunlight hit his face like a smile from God The mist of battle drifted over his friends, no one spoke Filling his lungs with air he could taste the cordite Eyes stinging he thought of nothing He was alive He...

The soldier sat in the packed bar all alone Drinking his whiskey Laughter and youthful exuberance filled the room But could not penetrate the armour of his heart His back against the wall giving him security With all round defence They never noticed him He liked it...

Tourists' shuffling seat; The busy, clicking camera; The Memory of a man, Measured by the tread of feet. People: the touring chimera; Scuff sentiment from the floorplan, While dust drifts with the shuffling meet, Stirring coldly in the sunlit heat. The tourists paying...

"One pre-packed biscuit: MONSTER shaped "NESS" - Sterile, odourless, crumbless and tasteless. GUARANTEED; and Absolutely Crushproof; And Absolutely guaranTEED (!!) GERMPROOF. Handily packed - one to a box, only: "NESS" - Monster Biscuit Value, REALLY. For purposes of...

Darkness fills my skull like sewerage Pouring Its Stench Into My Colourless Abyss Tears Cannot Come Anymore War Has Sucked The Life And Soul From Me Black Black Pain Crushes Me Remorselessly Walking This Earth Like A Pitiful Zombie Look Into My Eyes And See The Devils...

Their lips are moving and their eyes meet mine I nod and smile a semblance sublime The King Laughs so I laugh back I yearn for emptiness off the beaten track I?m forty now was nineteen then From boys to soldiers from soldiers to men Some judge some pity some laugh...

I remember there was a tree, I think it was in a zoo - but it died. They had rats and mice who fed in the sewers, and bats and lice who lived on the viewers; they had an industry without competition, it was a monopoly without compassion; they had insurance for...

Death's just around the corner I can see his scythe No surprises, he?s here at my invitation I?ve had a bellyful of this earthly sentence The "Pull yourself together" crowd Make me puke "Yes, Yes, Yes, I know Pull the slide back Safety off, ha ha!! Where to Mr Reaper"...

I went to war You stayed at home I killed two men You kissed auntie Joan I was called a hero You bought a new car I saw the dead and dying You read the Daily Star I prayed to see the dawn You flicked to the racing page I squeezed out shit in sub zero temperatures You...

The war rages on and the cold bites my soul My fingers are numb and I laugh at my blood But I know I will be ok in the ice tonight I’ve got my “green maggot”. I see my friend die his brains vaporise in the sky I run and I jump and I scream and I cry The tracer like...

A smell so perfect it makes me weep Colour so deep its almost projecting taste Gripping the sharp thorns in my left hand The blood oozes down my wrist yet feels almost sexual Like a lightening bolt from Valhalla I understand My headless body is tossed in the sand The...

Water bumbling by as canalboats ply their trade of leisure, giving man pleasure. The dog barks - A dandelion on the lock, its head a feathery white flock spread ready to catch a wind and fly like 'waifery' spind. The dog barks - A gnome in mad colour, rent by wind and...

TO OUR BRITISH SOLDIER I HELD THE CANDLE FOR YEARS BUT NOW IM OLDER I JUST LOOK BACK WITH TEARS AND NOW I LOOK TO YOU TO HOLD IT BRAVE AND HOLD IT STRONG HOLD IT FOR THE MANY HOLD IT FOR THE FEW IT WILL BURN BRIGHT JUST AS LONG THEN THOSE WHO PASS AWAY WILL BECOME THE...

I wish I didn’t feel sorry for myself I wish I could love people more I wish everyone could have food in their bellies I wish man didn’t have to go to war I wish I knew the meaning of life I wish I could fly to the end of space I wish Tony Blair would tell the truth I...

The British soldier lay dead on the battlefield His Glorious honour and blood merged with gore and soil of his enemies His comrades body lays dead on an English Street 23 years post War The busy commuters turn their noses up at the smell It’s a Glorious sunny July the...

Now Winter has ceased its icyed voice here, afresh, Spring starts the Seasonal New Year. The snow lingers on the higher ground, while lower, crocuses are to be found. Animal life seems to halt in mid-stride, waiting, like many-a-groom for his bride. Expectant silence...

"His home's that rubbish bin," they yell as they cycle by on their new BMX bikes, bought for them by proud father. A stone is thrown, a boy yells, "Tramp." No pity, no love - just indifference, the boy walks away ... home. I go to Crystal Palace and sit in the Park,...

Roll up boys and girls Come take the Queens shilling Iraq’s better than the dole The scenery is thrilling This is no Crusade Has nothing to do with Bush Move along, sit down No need to crush How old are you son? 17 good lad You can’t vote for Blair But your Parents...

God bless Tommy Atkins for taking the Kings shilling He fought the Hun and did not run in the midst of all the killing God Bless Tommy Atkins for his service in Korea Against the Chinese hordes his bravery awards did not dispel his fear God bless Tommy Atkins for...

I remember, a long time ago, the stream used to bubble by, fed by the spring, and in turn feeding the Market Place pump - but that was long ago: there used to be a trough and a horse-mounting block; and I could watch the rainwater glistening on the cobblestones. I...