Tag: peace

The Desperation Of Sighs

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There is the desperation of sighs
As another Palestinian dies 
For want of love
Because the world is too far above 
Itself to reach down
And bring peace to a town 
When someone runs with a gun 
Something somehow clasps 
Their hands so that thing cannot last 
And yet we watch as the ICJ 
Won’t wish this genocide away
And people say you’re anti Semetic
If you don’t agree with the rhetoric
That would condemn a people to evisceration 
Torture and brutality the equation 
That would erase them from this earth
I don’t know if bombs are made to hurt
Or just tear apart 
The human heart
We must start
A movement, a revolution 
To end apartheid that is brutal 
And unforgiving and unfair
I know because I was there 
When I watched the flag fall
Don’t hide them behind a brick wall
And say it’s not your plight
Because they’re relying on us, alright?

Lost Causes And St. Jude

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South Africa’s leading the charge
And we are all floating on a barge
Down the river Thames 
Watching it happen again 
And over one hundred and fifty years ago 
The Irish were starved to death so 
The British could maintain their economy 
The invisible hand and the maize crop they take away from me 
So how do I not feel Palestine 
As though the struggle was mine
Babies screaming in the street
As the winter steals the heat 
And Israel bombs the buildings 
Do they not care for the children 
Who will grow up with war wounds
Or the ones who died too soon
The mothers, fathers, family, friends 
Is this how the world ends
Watching silently from the western front 
As a people bear the brunt 
Of what’s held in the unconscious 
And I don’t know what they want us
To do in the movement in between 
When they convince the dream 
That it is reality
But the lie is not getting the best of me

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The Saint

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The saint was born the day that I died
Like Gandalf the Grey becoming the White 
And there was no absorbing light 
Only a peaceful flame 
That does not go by any name 
You could call it earthy awareness 
And I could guess
What you mean by that 
But it gives you something it can’t take back
And when the dream is rendered moot
No one can play the flute
Not with you, not anymore
And they think I close the door
But the reality is I am pulled away
From the places I cannot stay
There is distance in between 
Me and her and her and what they seem
To be 
But free
Does not mean foolish or prude
I’m sorry if I appear a little rude
But I’ve got to speak my mind
When I don’t I do hard time 
At the institution they call St. Pat’s 
And there are welcome mats 
With my name written on 
They don’t realise I’m already gone 
As who I used to stand as 
And it’s nothing bad
But it is unusual and unexpected 
And it’s not as thought I would have rejected
Him without good reason
His love is a season
In the infinity of space time 
For a moment he was mine
And then we were separated 
Like the schools where we were educated 
In to make good people of us
With rulers and lines and teachers we could trust 
Some at least 
And I wonder if the last supper is a feast
Like it’s portrayed
And if Judas was dismayed
To be singled out like that 
And I wonder what was he at
To betray a saviour true
Til I had it done to me too 
By a girl I used to know 
She cracked the whip so I let her go 
And I don’t know if time is fast or slow
All I’ve realised is that it doesn’t exist though

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The Embodiment Of The Prose

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The embodiment of the prose
That happens at the intersection of less travelled roads
Where you meet two parallel paths
And think of how God might have wrath 
For you and entice 
You into a darkness that isn’t nice
Because if you look in the biblical frame 
You’re talking to someone who has no name 
And you can call him Yahweh or Yeshua 
I just know that I wouldn’t mess with ya 
Not on any given Sunday
But trouble doesn’t come on a Monday
It was some idle Tuesday blue
That took me from you 
And I was just walking back
From the place where I lack
Everything that ever was
Do I lose you because
I didn’t pray for peace
Is there a reason why people decease
Before their time 
Which is always now if you ask the rhyme 
In the indulgent hues 
Now I just pay my dues
As they fall onto my desk 
Trust and have faith and forsake the rest 
As it eyes up my piece of bread 
But it’s all madness in my head
As I hear a million voices
Asking me if they have choices 
In why they are condemned to 
A kind of hell I’m party to 
And if I’m the only one who nears
Then do I run away when danger nears
Or do I open the gap
And shed light on the torn map
That says beyond this point 
You must not go because the anoint
Have adorned it a place for sinners
And all the winners 
That you have ever known 
Have only ever grown 
Through the pain of embracing the shadow 
I often wonder if I am bad, though

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They Can’t Bring Me Down

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They can’t bring me down
Not with their hospital gown 
You know the one that I wear
When the fabric tear
On my suit
And I must be the proof 
Of what I want to hear
Must I hold dear 
The days in subterfuge
When everything’s the colour rouge
On the page
The shade of rage 
That pulls apart the sun 
And you know the one 
Is made to beat a heart 
Tearing all the stars apart
In the firmament where they lie 
I am not afraid to die
But to be caught
In a place where my spirit’s bought
By all and sundry 
And it’s quite the quandary
To be lilt bound around the halls
Of a place that is all walls
In brick and stone
I hear the ancients scream “leave me alone”
As behind the barrier some horrors are contained
I feel it in the pain
That emanate 
From the people in that state 
And there are souls that walk the corridor
Down to the art room on the first floor 
And there’s no way to say
That it isn’t me, okay
Because when I speak of vision 
They meet me with derision 
And false grandiosity 
It must be my animosity 
Reaching out to take a bite
Of my own kryptonite 
Does that mean I’m Clark Kent
Or the space where the hero went

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The One Good Thing About Hell

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The one good thing about hell
Was that Stephen wished me well 
And could see the light underneath
The ghost with the sheet 
Around her head 
(You know the one I got from the bed)
In the place with no name
Because the memory brings shame 
Upon my family
So I’m not allowed to mention it, we
Did it, it was a collective decision 
And I risk their derision 
If I reveal 
That I feel 
Just fine 
About my time 
In St. Pat’s mental institution 
It was some kind of a convolution 
In my degree 
Why does life have me down on one knee
Proposing to a saint
In the colour of blood that I paint
As it runs down the frame 
Of the place that brought me pain

Creating My Own Version Of Hell

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Creating my own version of hell
Just to wish you well 
And appease the masses 
Coz the girl’s got classes
That she takes on being herself 
And you could say that her wealth
Hinges on being all that she is not 
And if you try to help a lot
It will backfire
Because she tire
Of female dreams
When you pull the fabric at the seams
And enter into a plausible affair
With someone that isn’t even there 
And her sister bites
And ignites 
Passion she doesn’t know how to wear 
As she complains it isn’t fair
And resigns herself to a fate
She’s not even allowed to hate
Coz that could constitute a sin
A conflagration that’s within 
But I burn
With every axis turn
And understand how the devil might feel 
To be told that nothing is real 
And his existence is naught 
But a way to keep people caught
God is everything 
He’s in every broken wing 
And in every fallen star
There’s no way to escape what you are 
Even if you turn away
The Truth will have the final say

The Commensurate Struggle

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The commensurate struggle under foreign rule 
And we learn about it in school
Like it is part of history
But there is so much that does not sit well with me 
Because I looked to the North of Ireland and could see
Blood on the streets as a child of 1990
And yet somehow there was an agreement that stemmed the tide
The flow of blood was silent outside
Though it still simmers underground
And I’m attuned to that sound 
As I hope it will rise only to be let go of
In place of a deeper kind of love
Now, bombs drop in the Middle East
And I wonder if our peace
Could be translated 
If the powerful could be educated 
In what it means 
To break nightmares into dreams 
For there are tens of thousands of children die 
Since the birth of the realm that made them cry
And I cannot stay silent and roll 
Like this is all there is in my soul 
Like I don’t have the blood of my ancestors proud
Who would say that the innocent and the loud
Should stand on equal footing 
And I know where they are putting 
The blame and why 
But no one deserves to die 
Before their time 
And is a war crime 
Only recognised in hindsight 
They starved us too 
From 1845 to ‘52
A million died
And mothers cried 
Others emigrated 
Now I’m listening to things the politicians stated 
As they barricade and siege 
With a terror you would not believe 
Leaving the people to disease 
And hunger and thirst 
I can only imagine the worse
As I hear the stories out of the Strip 
And soldiers as they equip
Themselves with weapons of war
Because they think they know what it’s for 
But when you look in their eyes do you see spirit 
And when a bomb drops and a child screams do you hear it
In the midnight of everyday 
Is it that you want a people to go away
And we were the Irish problem 
But somehow we were able to resolve them 
And for now, at least
A tenuous peace 
Holds in the dismantling 
Of the broken wing
At the heart of the tale 
Of how we are not up for sale 
And the people of the land 
Understand 
What it means to be driven home 
In a car all alone 
Thinking of a fellow kin 
And what they are doing to them
Under the guise of justification 
Saying we need an education 
In the politics of the Middle East 
Well I do and it’s the least
Thing I need to know it’s wrong 
When the materially strong
Use their force to betray
Everything in them that would say 
This is just not right 
What’s it like to be awake in Gaza tonight?

From The Green Green Grass Of Home

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From the green, green grass of home
Leave them alone 
Don’t drop the rubble on limbs
Meanwhile the soldier grins
Despite his terror 
And the error 
Of all that has come to pass 
Is that somehow it cannot last 
In spite of all the flying swords
And the politicians with words
Seek to distance the fold
From the aforementioned fields of gold
And it’s like a story that has always been told
That somewhere in the midnight
It all breaks into daylight
But it takes some time to show
And I hold on as he’s letting go
And my tears are like a wave to crash
On a shore where my grief will smash
Everything to pieces 
Why is it that everything deceases 
And moves away from where it’s been 
If life is a dream
Then does it wake
When the earth quake 
Will all that is not true
I lay my head into you

The Audacity

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They’re using gas
To break down the resistance
To wipe a people from existence 
And I know it’s not a popular opinion 
But how do you defend war
Even when you think you know what it’s for
As children die and adults scream
Because this is not just a dream 
We are having, a shared collective thread
This is about people murdered in their bed
As the vast swathe goes by unconcerned
As people watch their families burned
I try it raise my voice to say
This is not okay
As Palestine, oh, Palestine
One day there will come a time 
Where the indigenous don’t rot 
In a land time forgot 
When the powers that be know the worth
Of the innocent they choose to hurt
And I know they have plans, I know they have reasons
But this winter has no seasons 
And no hope to abate
Don’t make our brothers and sisters wait
To be considered human
Wake and realise what you’re doing

Getting The Message To Where It Needs To Be

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I’m getting the message to where it needs to be
Because people drown in a foot of sea
Water as it comes up to their throats
They don’t know they can stand up and hope floats
And seeks eternity in the bones
Of the body the soul has made home
We tiptoe around the fact
It doesn’t help that I want him back
In spite of all his flaws
And the way the icicle thaws
As it hangs like a stalactite
From the room I ignite 
With my Lára flame 
You know everything is in a name
And I am not to be crossed
But look, baby, all is not lost
Not if you count the shipwreck safe
But there’s a coast we can escape
To if you just open your eyes
But you keep them closed and something dies
In the subterfuge
And it’s all rouge 
Everywhere
And people who just do not care
About what has come to pass
And the part of love that last
Far past the point of surrender
I do everything I can to make you remember 
But you are lost in your nonchalant 
As I pick an adequate font 
To write out your epitaph 
You know you made me laugh 
So hard that day
But was I laughing at what goes away 
When the midnight is done
And there is a sun
That does not need light 
Or fusion to combust into all that’s right
And I know you hobble and I know that spiders’ webs
Weave their tendrils above your head
I’m just here to be a reminder
That if you look you will find her
Right where she always was
Under the stone of your in-laws

Immortality

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I hold back what I really want to write
Because I’m scared that it might be shite
Or even worse profanity
Paying testament to insanity 
Held beneath the skin I walk
It’s only trouble that I talk 
As I head to the abyss
Fearing for a night to kiss
And they held me in a healing balm 
The doctor took my shattered arm 
And led me to the door
They drove me there and what’s more
Is I kind a liked it when 
Barry called my name again 
Out like a prophet does Jesus
Lord knows how I need it 
When I’m in the smoking room 
With Aoibhín and the sonic boom 
As we draw rainbows on the wall
In pens my parents brought me from outside
Outside the cavern that keeps me alive
For the time being 
It’s a different way of seeing 
But it’s true enough to say
I couldn’t have had it any other way 
And the doctor mumbles and utters vague treatises under his breath
On what the war with self does to make you forget 
What you have come to be
But I cannot shake the feeling that he cannot see
Just who he is talking to 
“Delusions of grandeur, we’ll add that one to
The long list we made of your faults”
And I kinda get sick of opening vaults
For them to plunder my wealth
In the name of mental health
And I wonder what they’re preserving 
Or what God they are observing 
When they make idol tropes
And then they tell Shauna how to cope
With the fact that she can’t bear
To get out of the clothes that she seems to wear
Each and every single day
But I won’t let her leave that way
So I go and sit by her side
When she’s in the horrors and I abide
I feel it fall away from her grasp
You know that bitch, that poisoned asp
And I crush its head on the floor
You’re not taking aim at someone I adore
Even if it’s by her doing 
It’s not something you should be pursuing 
In any eventuality
Me, St. Pat’s and immortality

Over Amsterdam

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I watch the dagger plunge into her heart
When I say I just cannot take part
In this game she wants to play
What is it that the dragon say
If you dare fire, you’ll get burned
And I’ve tangoed with the furnace and I’ve learned
To never quote the things you say
As if they were true anyway
Then I watch her eyes go wide
As if she has nothing to hide
Could it be in innocent prose
I have killed the horse I rode
To the pasture green
As evidenced by the queen 
By my side
But she whispers “you are still alive”
As if the fact passes comprehension 
And I never did get a mention
In any of the stories you told
“What?”, she says “I put you in bold
And in the aforementioned text
You never read the part where we had sex”
That stops me dead for a moment or two
Then I remember I’m dealing with you
And you’re a master of manipulation 
And your education
Is like a trophy you wear 
On your arm but I just tear
The fabric of that particular dress
But you look at me and I’m a mess
Spurning looks and throwing out words
As if they’ll ever be heard
By anyone in the abyss
And she says she’ll miss
The way my shy smile came to her like a gift
Oceans between us and the great rift

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Inaction And Powerlessness

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Motaz Azaiza 
I believe ya 
When you say that we will do nothing
I crave to turn motion into something
To call on the sea, to call on the tide
To leave you alive
Because you are not just a number
And people are dying of hunger 
In the Gaza Strip
Meanwhile some men equip
Themselves with guns
Someone’s daughters, someone’s sons
And we are the ones
With our hands on the triggers because we pay
For people to get blown away
Whether in silence or in voice
Every movement is a choice
And I want to you to know you’re not alone
Though I only have a phone
To talk to you through 
But I wanted to
Say that I will do all in my power
To make sure that no other tower
Is blown to pieces and knocked to the ground
While children scream and hide from the sound 
As the rubble hides bodies brutalised
And you may be less than human in their eyes
But the light that lights you up
Is more than enough for me, love
Please don’t let the dark encounter
The vulnerable who want you 
To just let them be
In my heart and soul Palestine is already free

Go Back Into Your Cave

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It whispers “go back into your cave”
Because there are people to save
And I can’t do it being thin
Or just kicking the can with him
Til my day arises
And everything is full of suprises
Most of them bad as hell
As people wish you well
Then stab you in the back
Smile right before they attack
I gave my heart to her
And she shattered everything we were
And I won’t go into details but
She was the bridge my fever cut 
Like a knife right through the grass
And the man just wants ass
To smack so he can be the king
He laughed at me so I took a swing
And knocked his block right off
Then Susanna got a cough
And it was open season
I ran and ran without reason 
I got lost in the ocean
I swam in a sea of emotion
And tried to get away
From the grand sway
As it unleashes hell on me
To be the dragon set free
Like some Chinese proclamation
As they worship my exclamation
Of wonder in the winsome lost 
I speak because I am the boss

The Stunning In The Stars

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There’s stunning in the stars
And they wish away all of my prison bars
As they shine from on high
And whisper that I’m not gonna die
Not from treason, not from rain
Not from people I’ll never see again
As the bird alights on my shoulder
I roll away the boulder 
At the mouth of the tomb
And find my Lord like I found the womb
Of all existence
And the resistance
Is subterfuge 
In the deluge
Of somehow in the Sunday
Would the Son of Man love me anyway
In spite of all I have not done
And the promise of being young 
Was not enough to stem the tide
Of longing to abide
In a deeper state of being 
And the seeing 
Is no longer enough
I have to become the love 
Instead of picking fights 
With people when they’re being shites
And talking me down to sin
Telling me that though I walk with Him
I am lost in the sea
And I get a knee
Into the chest
It knows how to wind me best
With the loss of love
Why do you do this when above
Is the standard we bear
I watched the Universe tear

Rain Dance

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There where I was I stood defenceless
Out in the open plain
And she brought the rain dance again and again
And it’s not the men
It’s the love I bear
For those who live to tear
The fabric of what we are 
For the sake of a star
That will never rise
In our constellation
I’m suddenly at Longford train station
Waiting for someone to arrive
And I realise you are alive
As you were 
And you’re not with her
You’re standing alone
Looking at your phone
And I’m sitting in my car
Just staring at the place where you are
But I look away
Because I cannot say
What I will buy
If I could only try
With the money I have
And the feeling bad 
Was a season
Without reason
I abridge
At least God let you live
For all these years
And stemmed my tears
In the flow
I didn’t realise you loved me, you know

The Overreach

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Does he really not see the overreach
That he seems to be here to teach
As he tries to control
And make me fall into a role
He never listens
And the teardrops glisten
From more eyes than mine
Just because the Light Sublime
Won’t bend to his will 
And he may have some skill
In moulding metal into a shape
But I will make my escape
Out the back door
You can’t call me yours anymore
Or ever again in the future
And the suture
Never healed the wound 
And sometimes I wonder if we’re all doomed
To die a death on the sand 
Just because no one can understand
Do I set a boundary line
And create a place you can’t design 
Into your map of what’s known 
I was once but now I’m grown

The Salvation In Plurality

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I can feel the brimming thunder
In the sky we’re living under
And the people I railed against
Were the ones who were heaven sent
And just wanted to aid and abet
Me in the mission to forget
All that had come to weigh me down
So I walked around the town
Looking at signs
I was trying to diamond mine
Searching for a holy gem
And I did it once, twice, again
And somehow the men
Never hurt me 
The danger seemed to just skirt me
By degrees
Til I fell to my knees
And begged the wonder out thieves
Help to steal away all that I believe
And they were only too happy to comply
And I thought I would die 
Under the weight of their heavy handed slap
I crumpled up the map
And took a picture in the garden of Dean Swift
So looking back would be a gift
But I could only see clarity
Not the mental illness they made of me
Searching for some hidden pain
Well I looked again and again
But I could never find
Evidence that I was out of my mind
For seeing love in every shape and form
And loving bodies while they’re warm
And vital and young and free
Shit, is that guy staring at me
But anyway I’m letting sleeping dogs lie
Let go of the merely getting by
On what I think I know 
My sisters on the branch they bow 
In the aching powder they blow 
Into my face like I’m in the know 
And I’m annexed into a space
Where I only see your face 
Smiling at me 
I was out the door when they set me free

The Wars From Afar

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I was a teen when the war in Iraq broke out
And there was nothing I could do to stem the doubt
That no one should be invading a land
That they simply do not understand
And dictators come in many shapes and sizes
Some of them would be surprises
Because what’s viewed as a just war
Only depends on what you’re looking for 
And the bullets will be forever silent
If we abdicate the violent
And you could say I’m a pacifist
And we simply should not exist 
Because we put stability in danger
When we say that the manger
Should not starve a baby boy
And a gun is not a toy
And I’ve never been burdened by strife
I just rebel when he wants a wife
To make a house and home
But I love being on my own
Free to admire
Now I’m watching buildings on fire
And children screaming for their parents 
Wondering where the hell they went 
Not knowing, and maybe by grace
They get to see their faces
Again
And you can blame men
But it is the ego
It shoots what it doesn’t see though
And I am no liberator 
The queen of whatever and see you later 
But I can’t be superfluous about this 
It is not stuck in a kiss
It is in a scene that I could change 
If I just rearrange 
The way I see things play
Because it will never be okay
To raid a village and plunder and thieve
And feed the enemy things they might believe 
So that you can further your agenda
And you have some friends that will defend ya
But the foundations are rocky and unstable 
And what was born isn’t able
To reign in the suspense
Compassion’s in the present tense
And it is the only way
To redeem the wolves that bay
To the moon we all see
Let’s let the past be history

The Age Of Fear

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The age of fear when dragons rule the roost
And I like a button to give my ego a boost
And people click on things that resonate
The algorithm on your dinner plate
And there are people in Africa who find the ore
And the metals that make you want more
Does Apple pay them their due
I’m not trying to slander, I just wonder, do you
As in the Congo, the war rages
And we flick the screen like flipping pages
On a story we don’t want to hear
But I feel every single tear
You could call it empathy or a burden
But how do people know that you’ve heard them
If there’s no one there
And the forest does care
About every single tree
Because each one makes up the map of me
And we are all brothers and sisters
The fire burns and the skin blisters
On friends and foes
It’s wild country and anything goes
Because they have the power
And the tower
Fell from on high
I watched the people die 
Screaming or in silent registration 
No one could change that TV station
Because it played on the airwaves
As firemen saved
All they could 
And it’s written in blood
But I try to flood the plain
Because I don’t want that to happen again
But an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind
Is there hope for humankind?

Always And Forever

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Always and forever in bubblegum pop
I will always be something that you are not
And strive to reach
But something they cannot teach
Is that you are what you are
And everyone burns like a star
Til its collapse into a black hole
The light returns to its soul 
Somewhere in the deep
In a universe where you cannot speak
Of the secrets they utter
And the shutter
Flies shut on the window
As I see her with him, though
And drop out of the sky
Because some people want to die
When they see their lover
With another
But all I feel is gratitude
That she holds the heart of that dude
And keeps him warm
Because every storm
Crashes upon my shore
And everything means something more
Than it’s first inception
And your deflection
Does nothing to dim
The weight of worlds I am to him
I see it in his eyes
And that never dies
Once it is born
So forlorn
Though so replete 
The lady washed the man’s feet
With her hair
I know because I was there

What Wants To Come Through

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I sit and wait for what wants to come through
But it only ever speaks of you
And what we are
Some far distant star
Shines on us both
And the coach
We took to the sea
Set the both of us free
You can trust me
I will be here
Always, for you, dear
Though you may not see me in the leaves
You don’t need to believe 
Just trust and open to what is
And I know that she is his
But I welcome her care and her devotion
I can feel it in his emotion
As he speaks to me 
And eternity
Is on his breath
But, still, he does not forget
Because almost never crossed the line
And we are us for all of time 
In every winter that the trees shake
I will be there and when you wake
You will see my subtle stance
I’ll love you always in this dance

Eternal Clothes

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Marriage and prose
And less travelled roads
Did I find mine
With a stranger who just took a moment of my time
And let me be
He let me go free
When I felt the fear encapsulate
Because he might want to date
Me
And eternity
Is all I know
But I have to let you know
I don’t do boys and girls
I do you are my world 
And you have become
Everything I thought when I was young
As we just talk 
And we just walk
You lift my bag
And I drag
My feet behind me
But do not mind me
I’m just shy
And I’m gonna love you til the day I die
It’s not your choice
But I raise my voice 
To let you know 
That this love won’t let me go
And find another
You’re like a lover 
I never had
And the feeling bad
Does not eclipse
The anticipation of your lips 
On mine
There was a time
I thought we were naught
Til I saw the line you bought 
With the skyline in the air
So I let you know I care
In stuttering vowels
And the wolf of death, he prowls
On the edge of conversation
And education
Can’t save us here
But she just might, my dear
And I do not begrudge 
The way you choose to express your love
And find it reflected 
In the heart you have selected 
To be yours 
And the water pures 
As it pours through the filter
And time will wilt her 
But it will not change 
The way the atoms rearragnge
To form a sphere 
I will always be with you, dear

The Higher Dimensions

.Reading time 1 minute.
The higher dimensions call to me
And they ask to be set free
From all the chains Earth entails
Because their starship never fails
To broach the boundary of sky
I wait and watch while people die
In Palestine
But it’s justified so “it’s fine”
Are the people in Gaza even human
Because what are the forces even doing
To innocent men, women and child
I look and see that the land is wild
With sunset in the air
And a sea that beats the coast with care
And you may say it’s anti-Semitic 
To go against the rhetoric
That is spilling from the screen 
Because war is always a scream 
And there’s nothing we can do about it
So why should I even doubt it 
Like when they invaded Iraq
All the world that I held back
From speaking aloud and true
Coz they might do something to you
But they destabilise
And become dictators in their eyes
And I know the soldiers are just boys
Firing guns like they’re toys 
Never knowing what they do
To the people who are facing you
But somewhere in my blood
I can see a realm that’s good
That goes beyond the tears
And it’s been with me for years 
Somehow my Irish skin
Shouts out to say “I am with Him”
And the Jesus that I know
Was Palestinian also so 
I must speak before the quiet 
Becomes an unholy riot 
And sets fire to the world 
I’ve never been just a girl

The Complicity

.Reading time 1 minute.
I can’t stand in complicity
Then say I stand for humanity
Because I give money to charity
For people in foreign lands
Who land has turned to sands
But I cannot countenance the destruction
Of a Western aided genocide
And just go along for the ride
That is sold to us on TV
That to defend yourself is the right of the free
And that terrorism
Is the great schism 
Of our times
And war crimes
Can go unnoticed
Because we have voted
These people in 
And the one who win
Has the right to say
That it is okay 
To drop tonnes of dynamite 
On people who have no way to fight
Back and protect what they own
But the seeds have been sown
By colonial occupation
And you cannot just change the station
And pretend it is not happening 
Whether you are left or right wing
Because you are uneducated 
Get a phone and erase what you’ve stated
And find a way to bridge the gap
If you don’t know the way then find a map
And don’t believe the lines of paper
That would tell you you have to hate her
For love to be real
Is colonialism another word for steal?

Have They No Mercy

.Reading time 3 minutes.
I don’t know where to start
But I know I am all heart
As I wear it on my sleeve
Quite literally, like you wouldn’t believe 
And it may be silver and gold
But there are a thousand stories never told
Like him leaving me in the ashes
Of the realm where the fire clashes
With the ice of cold that reign 
And they’re at it again
And there’s nothing that I can do
Except to write the stories of you
As you click another scene 
And it is like some kind of bad dream 
We are all living in 
And there is all manner of sin
That goes unreported 
How I wish this mission was aborted 
In its infancy
Not like the flesh and blood of illiteracy
That I read between the lines on his face
And it is a fucking disgrace
To think this could go on
And I have been silent for so long
But something calls my voice to speak 
And it’s not just because I’m weak 
That I dare to try
To cross the line of why
As the children cry
And I watch them all die
Through the pixels on a screen 
Do you hear the people scream 
When you go to sleep at night
And, no, it is not alright 
To just let it go
For the sake of spirituality and what you know 
Is right to be 
There is action that I can see
Moving the rope so taut 
Into a line where what’s sold is bought
By those who need it most
I type these keys like a ghost 
Who must haunt the halls of power 
Because they do not make me cower 
In fear and shaking skin
I just think of my love for Him 
And how He faced down the dark
And his hands bear the mark 
Of long ago in Palestine 
Now we’re living the modern day war crime
That sears the skin of children free
And if it was up to me 
I would break every gun 
But they say that everyone
Must tow the same line 
And it’s happening another time 
To crack the glass sphere 
Of the globe that, I swear, 
Has better in it to show 
But if you looked at the thing you wouldn’t know

The War Torn Grief

.Reading time 2 minutes.
The door slammed shut on another season
And there was loss without reason
As I pray for foreign press
And the wounds that they address
With just a camera and a connection
They get by with just our rejection
As we deny their pain
Shower them with acid rain
Or get lost in apathy
But those things will come back to me
If I don’t meet them where they are
And every foreign star
Was once a child of light
Now they’re bathed in the dark of night
As though floating in outer space
Is this the best the human race
Has to offer itself 
And they say that wealth
Can inoculate a person from greed
Because they have everything they need
But that’s not how it works, is it 
It’s the ones with the worst to deal with 
Who seem to have the most to give
And the aggressors won’t let anyone live
But stand in the shadows and execute
The plans they hold to keep silence mute 
And deaf and dumb to all their crimes
We’ve seen it before a thousand times
But I watch as they document 
Someone telling a child where their mother went 
In the midst of bombs 
And it only takes so long 
For a seed to grow
But it takes a lifetime to knock it, you know
And somehow in the summer sun
We will realise that we are all one
And what we do to another will reverberate 
As we keep each other in the state 
Of destruction and war torn grief
When will there be relief?

Keep That Dog From His Door

.Reading time 1 minute.
Please keep that dog from his door
It visited me, now it is no more
As it crushed the carbon and coal
Into the diamond of my soul
Reborn into something new
Now I pray for each one of you
Who may have to face the dark
But in the night don’t forget the spark
That issues from your core
It clicks like a lighter til a furnace roar
Drowns out the blaze
I pray for the people the sun will save 
In the midst of ruin
I think God knows what He’s doing
But that doesn’t stop the doubt from rising
I see the ones who are barely surviving
And those who have crossed 
But everything is not lost
Even when you think it’s done
The human heart is precious, each and every one

Pinprick

.Reading time 1 minute.
She makes a pinprick to draw blood
Just to see if she could
To see if I’m still real
If I’m alive, if I feel
And it’ll heal
But I remember the shark in her eyes
When she met me that day in the car
So far away from where you are
Looking at your ship go out
Before I was submerged in my own self doubt
As it washes to shore
And I couldn’t have loved you more
But it wasn’t enough
Coz when times got tough
All the pencils failed me and broke
And I could feel my breath start to choke
On the words I spit out at you
Coz you don’t love me too
Or so they say or so she says
Coz she’s familiar with your ways
In real life
I’m just the wife
Who is too close to see
In her eyes that all he wants is me
Submerged in the subterranean wildflower bloom
And I’d know if he was in the room
Coz electricity flows from his pulse
I describe it and she revulse 
At the thought he could shock me awake
I gave it up for your sake

The Cracking Seam

.Reading time 1 minute.
I don’t wanna be your whore
Like she did in the time before
And she’d buy anything you sell
Plies you with whiskey so you might tell
Her you love her so
But there are places you won’t go
Even for a trinket she’d offer
All you want is to suffer
Wholeheartedly
And rather smartly
You hold your hand out to me
We dance and it is free
And I wonder what it feels like to know she’s only there
Because you’re willing to pay your share
Of the coin
But you can’t solder what you want to join
Together in sweet surrender
I know you remember
Coz how could you forget
And it’s there for you yet
If you want to taste the apple that grows on the tree
You know you shouldn’t but you ask me
What it feels like to be
Still young and free
And I say it’s like sleeping outside your door
Waiting for the one you adore
To realise he loves you more
Than his story on the second floor

The Shores I See

.Reading time 2 minutes.
I used to trust in them
As the deliverer
They visited shores of my people
And together with the diaspora 
Worked for peace on the island
No to terrorism
And no to state sponsored violence
A table
Where the people gathered around
To talk
And to fight
Over differences
Points of view
Collective wounds
I was only eight
When they agreed
We will hold it together
It’s been twenty five years
And somehow the faith still keeps
Enough to bridge the gap
Now my eyes are drawn to the map
Of hostile states
Independent actors
And hate 
But the mighty take sides 
Where is their peace agreement
And how can they broker calm
If they are the ones ringing the alarm
I call for everyone
Everyone, everywhere
To say
I see you
To not flinch or turn away
When the burning gets too strong
Or when you’re pulled by where you belong 
There is peace
Just beyond the field that you can see
I know because it was there for me
When I sank in despair
Amid my own cries of “it’s not fair”
And it may not be
But there’s still a God who see
Everything that you do
And the crimes you commit visit you
In the dark of a subterranean night
How do you tell your children it will be alright
While you starve the 40%
And I was not sent
Here to stand by
The millions, the millions that will die
If we do nothing now
I’ve got to claim something, somehow 
And if it will end then let me know
Coz from where I stand it is blow for blow
As we hit the decks
Will we only wake up when the world is wrecked

Notoriety

.Reading time less than 1 minute.
The pain, it burns 
As I feel the sharp pang of the earth as it turns
Burying more bodies in the dust
What happened to the broken trust
We used to have in crumpled paper
How do we survive, do we just hate her
For standing on her own
Now the game is thrown
And no one wins
That’s the thing with sins
They just extrapolate
And draw more people into that state
Where darkness is the king
And some kind of ring
Sounds out in the dark
No one should bear the mark
Of what has come to pass
It’s not enough to just ace the class
You must live the lesson
How can this become a blessing
To be shared with our brethren 
Please listen, we’ve got to help them

A New Eon

.Reading time 2 minutes.
I can feel the panic on each TV station
The madness and the conflagration 
As they all compete to get heard
But do you hear the bird
Diamond cheep with the air
Beneath its wings as it flies in there
And it’s everywhere that is sky
I don’t think they mean to lie
But it’s like an endless repetition 
Trying to get the first edition
Of tomorrow before the dawn
Where has the present moment gone?
If it’s like a competition
And you’re fighting but you’re a Christian
Do you think the love of God means that?
And I see my own war as I balk at what they’re at
Am I any different in truth?
Have I lived the promise of my youth
Or do I just see an enemy
Trying to get the best of me
Where did brotherhood go
Or being a sister in the know
I think the silence will tell
All of the secrets they keep so well
But I see it in myself
It starts with you now the cards have been dealt
And it’s up to the sunlight to show the dawn
I know it might be hidden but it isn’t gone
The peace beneath the waves
The ground under what is paved
Do you know who you are?
Or do you just make a black hole out of a star?
As the constellations show their age
Light years away from the war we wage
Do you think it means aught to the sky
We’re born, we live and then we die
What is permanent 
Could you say the Truth is an event?
Or is it more like a scene
That wakes as we live the dream 
Thinking it’s our own creation
The defeat and the elation
Just polarities
And does it matter who disagrees
If we’ve invested thought
With the rhythm of the schism we’ve bought
But are you caught
Let go and become all that you’ve sought
And when the night arrives 
Be content with what survives
Each and every dusk
I let go the weight and I just trust

Burning Love

.Reading time less than 1 minute.
All these people who kill my vibe 
Does death even know that I’m alive
And they stuck a knife in me from the back
I really wasn’t ready for the attack
From my nearest and dearest and friends who are foes
And it’s all rebel business and anything goes 
As we arm up for a showdown 
But I’m short on food so I’ll head into town
And sweat bullets down the aisle
Cue me on time to smile
When the moment requires
Do you see all these grapevine fires
Lighting me up
It kinda caught on, this burning love

Her Complicity

.Reading time 1 minute.
She was there when you weren’t
I had to get by
On crutches 
So I wouldn’t die
And the battering winds 
Shook the shutters 
Wooden and thin
Til I stumbled upon the dream of him
Somewhere on a reading scene 
It was like something woke the dream
Up from where it was in bed 
I found myself instead
And I had a flame so red 
Looking into my eyes 
But I couldn’t hide the disguise 
That just erupted 
Have I fucked it up
Coz I know I still think of you
And his trail of blue 
How do I decide 
Which one I choose to tell lies 
Like I could be bound in matrimony 
But it just starts to feel a little phoney 
Coz I could never be tied by a ring
That follows me round like a golden string

Compassion For The Chinese

.Reading time 1 minute.
I read somewhere about the practice of compassion
That those in Tibet 
Have for those who inflict pain
And that even grass needs the rain
And I don’t mean to make comparison to a bullet
But it was as though you held the trigger and pull it
As it’s facing me
And I’m shot through but it sets me free
As I collapse on the green floor in the Convent Of Mercy
We can’t wait for things to get worse, we
Must take action now 
And cultivate the mindful way
That it’s not in what people say
It’s the silence behind the word
That the monumental is heard 
And I took tea with the Lord 
And He instructs 
I look at the world and it seems fucked 
But I rise every day to the light
And I’m willing to stand with my brother in the night 
Til the dawn breaks across the land
The earth may be turning to sand 
But the soul is beginning to wake
Out of the bodies that it take 
To experience the life of the dual
And I may be a fool
But I gotta get back up
Every time that cup
Is slapped out of my hand 
If you understand 
Follow the path
Coz the demon’s wrath
Is threatening it all
But we can be the architects of the downfall
Of the season of hate
The time is Now, don’t wait

Nobel Prize Winning Barbie

.Reading time 2 minutes.
I used to dream of winning the Nobel Prize
For peace and then for literature 
Coz I wanted to be recognised 
And mean something in somebody’s life
I grew older then I saw
Humanity is going through the great thaw
Where we are frozen in place 
Slowly expanding as a human race
Out of our beliefs and systems 
Our fear and our resistance 
And as the calamity grows 
The collective ego in its death throes 
Makes some noise 
While someone says boys will be boys 
But to make war
Is futile because what’s it all for 
And if Ken faces Ken
Do we just sacrifice all our men 
So our constitution 
Can go through a revolution 
To say we are free
If it were up to me 
I would point out the flaw
That has us all labouring under the law
Of the material dimension
Like the gig is rigged with poor suspension
And all the adults fight
As the children ask “Will it be alright?”
And wonder if they will grow into
The terrible things that people do
To each other under duress
And you can say it’s just stress
To question existentially 
They had me put away for profanity
When I called it out
But all my self doubt
Snaps the thread 
And I wake up out of my head
Where the mind controls 
Women, men and their respective roles 
Yes, if you haven’t guessed 
I am far from impressed 
With the status quo
But how do I change it, I just don’t know
Live the hermit life
Opt out of work and being a wife
Stand tall and true
Only to have people talk down to you
Like you’re delusional too
This is the way it is or haven’t you
Realised 
But my skies 
Are open and free
Something in the clouds came down and blessed me 
Now I write and write 
About the sunlight
And how it triumphs over night
As we walk through
The valley in the shadow of the death that I knew
Watched it take away
My childhood like I didn’t have a say
But innocence returned 
As the threads were burned 
Like vines that entrap 
Eventually they fell off the map
That told me where to go
It’s been years but the diamond show

Photo Credit

Eternal Soulmate

.Reading time 1 minute.
Did I leave Daz behind
Because he’s still on my mind
And it’s so 2003
To think he’s still into me
Blink-182 poster behind his head
As he’s sitting on the bed
With that smile that begets the name
The world rocked and I was not the same
In our bond
And I abscond
But I take something of his air
With me as a prayer
I say into the sky
Please let him love the way I lie
And he looks at me, I look back
Does he know I’m having a heart attack
When he pulls a funny face
And his love gives me a place
To reside
Do I need to hide
The heartbeat
That simply fell at his feet
As we walk out of the bar
Or when I picked him up in my car
Or when he ran from me
I chased him down so he might see
I mean what I say when I say Eternity

Top Of The Rock

.Reading time 2 minutes.
Am I gonna die if I feel this feeling
Coz I hear a voice screaming in my head
And one day I’m scared I’m gonna wake up dead
Travelling through a vortex through open space 
Why do I keep seeing his face 
And that window in my apartment on floor five
How the hell am I still alive
When all around me has withered 
And the demons veritably slithered 
Down the garden path on the way to Eden
When Eve steps on their heads is it just that she doesn’t see them
And where is Adam in all of this
Is he just lost in his first kiss
With the bride of his dreams 
Is nothing as it may seem
Coz is God the overlord
Or is he simply the spoken Word
That turns Spirit into flesh
Made the sexes and all the rest
All the animals and all the birds
All the potential in the unheard 
And in the night do you hear the call
It was a freefall 
That year I committed myself to you
It’s 2012 and I’m walking through
The doors of my mind back to you then
In all of this did I lose a friend 
Somewhere in the aftermath
And I’m not scared of wrath
By some deity
Telling me that it hates me 
In the world of the hologram 
If there is a plan 
It must be Love
Coz without It what is the above
But a sanctity we fear
I’m running with wolves and near
To the free wind
To love versus to have sinned 
Coz you’re about as bad as they get
But I can bring myself to regret 
Our cataclysm 
Is it time to heal the Great Schism

Sidelines

.Reading time less than 1 minute.
On sidelines in the winter
The cold pierces my soul
And what are waves to do
But roll and roll and roll
As I stand by the shore
What do you adore
When pain is at home
And wherever you roam
You will find
All that you have left behind
In secrets and in sudden starts
The beauty that his love imparts

A Race I Can’t Pursue

.Reading time 1 minute.
Trying to keep up to a race I can’t pursue 
It’s like trying to win the attention of you
And you just turn away, a shoulder to glance
And I am there begging for another chance
To be who I am in your company
But you know we’re just friends, it’s not eternity
And I promised you silver and I promised you gold
Promised together in the growing old
But now it’s as though a chasm has opened
Do you hear me at all or am I just hoping
As I see you though the gaps in my hands
Fingers clasped over eyes that understand 
The motion of trees
That we wouldn’t work, would you believe
In all that turns out to be true
If you rely on the weather, it just changes you
And I can’t cut the grass on the field that you own
Can’t win me over once the game is thrown
Into the midnight and out with the day
I’m kind of conflicted about us, okay?

The Golden Hearse

.Reading time 1 minute.
The axe chopped down the tree
And, the wood, it was me
As I fell from on high
Hard, for some guy
And he brushes me off
But I sense a depth
I get the feeling
He regrets
Letting us go
But, then again, what do I know
And I used to blaze a trail
Til I found his and without fail
I used to follow, breadcrumb sweet
The pebbles led me to where we meet
But there is no way back
And I didn’t mean to attack
I was just vociferously 
Defending the best of me
As you tried to tear me down
But you didn’t see the crown
On the king
The bird can fly with a broken wing
But it’s stuttered and weak
You kind of leave me speechless and meek
As you gently assume the worst
The best dress to the golden hearse

Her Own Shore

.Reading time 5 minutes.
She’s low in her boots
I can feel the roots
Intertwine with mine
As we both proclaim we’re fine
And try to be what we were
I used to be empty without her
And crave to find her company
Now I just let her be
As she navigates her own shore
Thinking we don’t love each other anymore 
But she’ll always have a place inside my heart
Even though we may be apart
Or unable to communicate in a way that’s true
You’re a mountain to me, darling, do you
Know that, my dear
I wipe the glass so it’s crystal clear
And we drive all over town 
Do you still hear the sound
Of the steady chasm call
I just want you to know, that’s all
That we
Forever be
Eternal and true
I was looking for the One
All the while I had you
And appreciate
When I was in that state
To be guided, steady hand
As you play a rock band
I’m not really into
But it’s important to you
So I listen
Teardrops glisten
As he riffs a guitar
Oh, in the wonder of what you are
I don’t know
The places you go
When you’re tired and alone
I call but you don’t answer the phone
Would you understand
If I said I had planned 
A season or two
Where the autumn leaves fly just for you
As the colours change
Atoms and molecules rearrange
Like they will for us too
A plurality of weaving things through
Don’t go
There’s so much I haven’t said, you know
And there are ages
To pay testament to
The depth that I
Witness in you
You’re a star
And by the bar
You raise it high
I exclaim; I’m not afraid to die
As I shake in my soul
You are the weather that cannot be told 
And a storm
Are a galaxy swirl
You have to be the scene of the girl
As she rides off alone unto the horizon
I would say I called it but it’s still surprising
Would you stay
If I asked you just for me, okay?
Coz it’s midnight without your dawn
And I can’t abide the thought of you gone
Don’t worry
I’m not in a hurry
To go picking up leaves
And everyone just believes 
In the story they’re told
I will be brave, I will be bold
And ask
You to drop the mask
And just share
In the depths of the ocean know that I care 
And will open the door
If you still want me, I implore
Don’t let the time go by
The ways and means, the way I cry
Is it just an incomplete 
Coz I’m always begging at your feet
For you to change the tune
The earth quakes when you’re in the room
And I didn’t forget
I just thought that room was to let
In the forest where I ran
And you found something I don’t know if I can
In the cycle role
What is the meaning of the soul
Coz you exclaim
Could you just call me by my name
And not let go
Every breath that I breathe is for you, you know
And the wind howls and knocks on the shutters
I catch every word she barely utters
Could peace come to last
In a gentle warmth, not a furnace blast
As everything precarious, tips on the scale
I know that I’m bought but it’s not for sale
To anyone else
And mental health
Is a slogan or two
Do you see the needle as it’s pulling through
Or just the tapestry sewn
Do you know how we have grown
To be side by side 
I thank the Lord you are alive
And shining from skies 
In the place where we’re free there are no goodbyes
Or futile tries
I’ll see you soon to look in your eyes
And know
That it’s mutual, this feeling we show
In the years and time
In for a nickel, a penny, a dime
In all the ages
And the ripped pages
Of the story we write
I dust myself off, say I’ll be alright
As the leaves blow
I’ll be up to the challenge, you know

Remember Me, Love

.Reading time 1 minute.
Remember me, love
As I lie in wait
I sit on the bed
And think of a date 
I once had with you
I was one of the few
To walk in that open door
Would you like to see the shore
That laps the waves
And all the lost boys it saves
And Barry made a joke of me
But he was hella cute
Even if he did play the flute
And I’m looking at Hozier
On a magazine
Thinking he might just be the dream
Some Andrew Byrne with height
I bet we’d never fight
Only do things 
He dare not speak
Lest I see where he’s weak
And now I have the freedom
To be encased
Do you remember 
The first time our hearts raced
As we sat side by side
Just bristling with the feeling
Of being alive
And you zing with magic
Some electric touch
And I know I’m someone 
You’d like to rush
Into something unseen
I’m just part of the dream
On your screen
No solipsis, just the Queen
To put a crown on your head
And there are mornings
We could wake up dead
But, so far, we’re good
No Snow White in the wood
Just a single dancing elf
That asks you to just be yourself
When you move with me
It’s priceless, baby, but its free

The Age of the Airbender

.Reading time 1 minute.
Do you see yourself in my refractions
And are these words more than transactions
Coz I can’t spell out what we seem to be
And it’s been years that you’ve blamed me
For something that is not my fault
Like pulling tracks from the vault 
Like you’re a songstress with a pen
And I land at your door once again
With a bouquet of apologies
If you want I’ll ask from my knees
Coz you are age old and awesome
You’re a kaleidoscope 
And it’s a slippery slope
Back into what we always were
It’s always my name next to her
And it’s not all roses in this flower bed
But I’m still a place you can rest your head
And lean on if you need strength
And I return the books you rent
Coz you loaned them to me
And you are my degree set free
In moderation, that is key
As we peer through our history
The faint light we used to be
Is now a river running free
Cause there are oceans calling us
And you’re a love that I trust
To always come back around
You be silence in the sound