the languid petals of addiction fall in a silent way
drugs to wipe clean the scribbled slate of the mind
adrift and alone on the ocean of the bathroom floor
down on my luck down on my knees
scissored by shadow and scythed by sorrow
ice-knives stab my stinging skin
the stark-sudden cold relief of white
as snow sugar-sifts the street
the outer world recedes pain splinters lodge deep
I know the scream of silent weeks
1. In a Silent Way
2. Confessions of a Baby Snatcher
3. Sea Pearl
4. the night is freezing fast
5. Ramonda
6. we're sinking
7. Black and White
8. Illness Is
9. Out My Window
10. When Silence Speaks
Mauve sweetheart of mountains
your petals pulse purple twilight and scatter small stars
amongst scars, whilst wars rage on the world's dark stage
and the stage disintegrates, becomes a mass grave,
scissored by shadow and scythed by sorrow.
Yet graves are amethyst-studded with promises of tomorrow;
lifeless lilac revived by meandering kisses of mountain streams...
Sleepy sweet-scented stars dream delicate dusk,
bloom on hostile ground, birthed from rocky earth,
storm-swayed but unbroken, budding
through the longest night, awakening
violet visages unfurling from the heart of dark
to be reborn in gold-gifted dawn.
Tenacious you cling as morning sings
to the small yellow sun that rises
in each resilient heart.
Fading flowers lie scattered on the ground
Scythed down by deadly horizontal hail
The long, short, and tall fall without a sound
Relentless dawn’s bright light begins to fail
As noxious clouds of gas the sun shroud round
The fallen wait for help to no avail
Their raw, tormented lungs gasping for breath
The only worthwhile blessing now is death
Blind heroes stumble forward towards hell
Unseen enemies fire with lethal aim
The crump of shells, the cordite’s acrid smell
Red-hot shards of shrapnel slash flesh and maim
Somewhere, a lost soul screams. It’s hard to tell
If it’s friend or foe for all sound the same
Whether in khaki brown or field grey serge
In death, as not in life, their futures merge
The war is over and we’ve won - but lost
A generation with no chance to bloom
Victory comes at far too high a cost
Numberless in the Unknown Soldier’s tomb
Bright tomorrows fade to black or lie crossed
In long white rows that vanish in the gloom
Such selfless sacrifice soothes our sorrow
For they died to let us live tomorrow
Sirens call
And tempests toss
The Dutchman asks his due.
Scythed by moonlight
the dark crystal sea beckons
To the romantic, the foolhardy
The adventurous and unwise.
The sea is a wicked lover
Every seven years
You’ll threaten her yoke
Tempted by the land
But Lorelei will not be idle.
Your song she will yet sing
sinewy seaweed snakes
round your limbs
pulling you
Under
Under
Under
As bubbles like drowned pearls
Leave your lips like a kiss
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