Is the high worth the pain?

Or for the sunshine is the rain?

Stuck between this world and yours,

Both of my feet in different doors.

Quiet and desolate desert night,

My soul thirsts for your love's light

Restless and weary as I lay, Far away, Far away.

The whistling wind and blowing breeze,

The moon, it sets my mind at ease

The sun radiates through my soul,

Warming wh...

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The Bayonet In The Shed

He put it there in forty nine,

in a woodworm riddled drawer,

wrapped it in a greasy rag.

A remnant from the war.

On top of it he laid his medals,

nothing more was said

until the day my father

took the bayonet from the shed.

We had pestered many times

and he had said ‘perhaps’

when we asked him if he’d killed

any Krauts or any Ja...

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irretrievably
a spoil of war
guns beamed and men fell
their tools glistened at the call

we heard the swinging hammers of
history to be made
and answered the lightning strike of
history meant to fade

deals on wheels
an underground stake
driven deep
growing metastatic root

proto-negative flashes show light
into the coming night
of a future entangled

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Boys and girls
come out to play 
but boys are more often led astray 
From the moment of conception 
the boys hand holds a weapon 
pointing that willy 
willy nilly 
gradually learning to gauge the distance 
and then with age comes the decision 
to aim the weapon with more precision 
and the years of practice at pointing this piece 
plants seeds in his head
of disturbing the peace
but t...

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Should we walk by the waters edge
Or swim against the flow,
Where men in oceans, stained with red
Live shortened lives below?

Should we walk by the waters edge
Or break against the waves,
Where women flounder where they fled
In watery graves?

Should we walk by the waters edge
Or thrash against the tide,
Where children drown in sunken beds
Whose parents made them lie?

Should we wa...

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Switch off the TV’s

Cover their ears

Wrap them in cotton wool

Drink all their tears

Drown them in fairy tales

Sing them sweet songs

Take them to places

The bad don’t belong

Bathe them in sunshine

Shower them with love

Serve them their childhood

Wearing kid gloves.

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Catechism

I will not be defined by ancient Gods,

or the archaic teachings in their books.

I will tread warily around their words

and avoid the hidden traps and snaring hooks.

I will not stand behind a coloured flag

and spout my blunt imperialistic views

or drape it on a coffin when I die

or burn it on the early evening news.

I will not make a choice that’s...

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You and I met at the most unfortunate time:

Shrieks of bodies being torn apart

Filled my ears as I looked into your eyes - 

Earthy hazel, a grounding, on which I could rely.

Hell was bearing down on us, and yet I

Did not cry; we emerged, intact, but apart,

And for the moment, swallowed the lie.

Years of companionship spent in uniform stride

Into wanton ruin where only ...

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