Death (Part One) Poem
I make my way through rain and fog
Dead sea on the mooned streets
Blood taints the Earth
In bog and alleyway and den
Though never have I need of friend
Motionless, cold among stones
Cruel mistress, buzz-kill
Take this chalice
Drink deep and sup
Our pride like jewels
I travel through the wilderness wide
And bear my pain to all but the breeze
My master has a voice that's shrill
His hand is round my collar saying
You kill you kill you kill
Is there anyone to take this in?
I have taken up with a butcher
On the blood-soaked saw-dust floor
In the corner of the room I drink my milk
The liver and hearts dangle over me
Like amethysts, the same old meal
Visions play of war,
Upset our lily-livered stomache
"Where are your guns?" you turnaround
And read the latest report
From the valley of the black pig
Common sense clogs up your veins
O man will burst like an animal in death throes
And liquidate yourself in the meat-clogged water
Before you wake up
So do I feel eating whatever's in this bread
The butcher is cutting through the rind
His shark-fin parts the flesh-like sea
I have a dream about myself going to sleep
In the sun-filled shop
The people stream
Are thirsty to buy meat, half-asleep
I serve them the refuse
They buy it while they can
Come round again to brown paper bags, dark and bloody
I will do this for a while it seems
When there is no other place for me
The sun storms
Petals float
In the sky like blood
Oranges,
And the television
It Sparks, the screen roars
But no-one's watching anymore
The phones have all died down
News drips down from a golden cup
Like stagnant water
Your hate has got to be stronger than your fear
I take mine through out onto the empty harbour
Where everyone is wide awake
They have taken all our cans of food
And even lowlifes such as I
Are aware that they have upped the stakes
Sun God who puts the light out
Now there are no pundits left to listen to
You blotted out the man on the news
Some will drown and float in the water
But I will raise a glass to high Heaven