Barrhead Spring

Climate change

In the days when the elders were more radical than the young
And chickens more lethal than foxes

When there was more poetry in adverts than scripture
And the liberals thought the free thinkers wrong

When people travelled further and knew less

In the days when the pupils knew more than the teachers
And the seasons stayed the same

When water was more expensive than milk
And when more money was spent on insurance than dams and drains

When people had more lovers and more loneliness
It was the songs of the Larks and her friends that kept her sane

The Way of Sorrows

During the long night that followed
In the shadows a woman lent on the knife of her man
Talk to me baby, we can work it out the arsehole said
But she just stared at him and bled

Their friends dressed in wake black
Tied cut flowers to the railings
Her enlarged photo was pasted to placards
"Love now " the words said

We walked down the street in a subdued frame of mind

Thinking about it
We decided we had never knew the deceased
We'd seen worse on TV that very day
Indignation is unbecoming in this day and age
Indeed we felt we had a duty to be happy
In front of all this misery and rage

Uncle Dick Died Last Week

Uncle Dick died last week. He was a market gardener and good friend of my father's. The event brought back memories of Dad. I wrote this. I don't know if all of it is true.

My father was a kind man

In times of war he was not adverse to killing
Or sleeping with strangers

He believed in everyone
Guaranteed no one

SO LONG

Of course after dinner
He wanted to call it a day

The party was over
The festivities done
But they talked well into the night
Lingering on the bottom of the bottle
They wanted somewhere to belong

Never realised
It was all over
Jesus, himself
Was the first to get up from the table
He knew the time had come to move on

The Bothy of Our Love

Duddon Valley June 2007

Heels and Banana Bonoff Pie

You had a fetish for cold sex
Cava
Audio presentations of life's future text

Pomegranate Pavlov a
A mellow mind centre of eiderdown
Sprinkled with red regrets
Peaks and troughs
Your cunt saved me from loneliness

A vegetarian on a black leather suite
Niceness was not your only passion
Wet kisses and sweethearts were back in fashion

We waited for the dining room to find us all alone
Four eyes whispering take me home

Take me home
The sweetest things we made our own
The sweetest love is love home grown