A Mixed Bag

SAVAGERY LONG SINCE PROCURED

Savagery long since procured
Its inhumane and bestial song
And its uncivilised beat
Is known to the barbarous throng
Whose ferocity knows no bounds
As it perpetrates its brutal wrong

HOMOSEXUALITY IS NOT A DISEASE

Homosexuality is not a disease
Nor is it against God or his word
And being “Different” is not a crime
It is neither unnatural nor abhorrent
No one cares if Adam loves Steve
Instead of loving Eve
There is no right way or wrong way
For matters of the heart
What matters is that they feel love
Love is indifferent to philosophy,
Theological perspective or social acceptability
There is no good love or bad love
There is no right love or wrong love
There is only love
And any relationship founded on love
Has my blessing

HOW SINGS THE SAVAGE BEAST

How Sings the savage beast
With a heart full of misery
When held within the narrow
Bounds of his captivity

How Sings the savage beast
With a heart full of joy
When his confines evaporate
And he is as free as a boy

IT’S NOT THE SIZE OF A MAN

It’s not the size of a man
That marks him high or low
It’s what is in their hearts
That makes them grow
Just look around you
And you will also know
That the smaller being
Can cast a giant shadow

STATE SANCTIONED ASSASSINATION

State sanctioned assassination
Of a foreign émigré
But Polonium poisoning
Seems a preposterous way
To assassinate anyone
Whatever anyone might say

THE ENGLAND OF WINSTON

The England of Winston
Did it ever exist?
Those days long past
When we had our finest hour

The England of Winston
When national pride
Was not frowned upon
But openly celebrated

The England of Winston
Must be an invention
For it is so far removed
From what I see today

England without Winston
Is not pride worthy
It has no identity
And no sense of itself

THE WHITE HORIZONTAL PLUME

The white horizontal plume
Streams in its wake
Like a long grey ribbon
As the locomotive powers on
A truly romantic image
Of the great age of steam

GLIENICKE BRIDGE

On a grey misty morning
Under cold war skies
Spanning the Havel River
Stood the Bridge of Spies
Where in the murky light
At the hour of the Lark
The faceless ones
Exchange agents in the dark

RED ARROWS

Red Arrows way up high
In tight formation fly
Weaving patterns across the sky
So pleasing to the eye

RED BRICK

Red Brick, built Britain
For common man and squire
Built from the ground up
Until they built an Empire

THE RED RIVER OF THE SOUTH

The Red River of the south
Gains it name
From the red-bed country
Of its watershed
Where it rises on the slopes
Of the Llano Estacado mesa
In two branches to flow east
From the Texas Panhandle
It acts as the border between
Texas and Oklahoma
Before entering Arkansas
And winds its way across
The arid lands of the Great Plains
And flows into Louisiana
Bound for the Mississippi

THE RED RIVER OF THE NORTH

The Red River of the North
Is born at the confluence
Of the Bois de Sioux
And the Otter Tail
Flowing north through
The Red River Valley,
Forming the border
Of Minnesota and North Dakota
On its journey into Manitoba
Where it washes into Lake Winnipeg
And spreads into the vast deltaic wetland
Known as Netley Marsh

RED LEATHER CHAIR

My earliest memory
Of Grandpa Henry
Is of him sat in his chair,
A red leather affair,
Reading a volume
Of prose in his room
He sat me on his knee
And then he read to me
And for an age, we pair
Sat in his red leather chair
Reading tales of daring
And in adventures sharing

RED MINI

My dad bought a new red Mini
He had it parked up at home
With a go faster stripe down the side
And brightly polished chrome

It had leather seats
And the dash was polished wood
It was nineteen sixty two
And it looked like a Mini should

GREEN LEATHER CHESTERFIELD

In green leathered comfort
I sat in a Chesterfield
In an atmosphere
That totally appealed
Among my piers
In silent appreciation
Almost a reverence
Of our quiet situation
A brandy on the table
A cigar in the ash tray
And the world held
Well and truly at bay

I WAS STUCK IN TRAFFIC

I was stuck in traffic
And cursing they delay
And whatever problem
That was in the way

There was an accident
Bike versus van
Resulting in Life changing
Injuries To a man

And my one concern
Had been the inconvenience
But though I was late
I was not as a consequence

Left unable to walk
Or injured in anyway
Yes I was late for work
But I was still ok

BACK IN SMOGGY BERMONDSEY

When we were back
In smoggy Bermondsey
And all the money was spent
We looked back fondly
On our September holiday
Picking hops in Kent