we had egg and chips
and we were grateful
the children in Africa
had nothing at all
we dragged the low end
because we were brassic
when your stomach is empty
it’s hard to stand tall
the times sure were tough
but the people were tougher
when troubles are shared
they can suddenly seem small
I hate the grim necropolis
that has claimed your bones
there’s nothing here but charnel
and the memories of ghosts
I cannot leave you here
cold and all alone
so meet me in the morning
when the sunlight splits the sky
and we shall dance
in pastures green
like a pair of butterflies
.
they’re out to get me
the gossip mongers
and their lynching crew
I killed two birds
with only one stone
they called me sorcerer
I said I was just lucky
they said I was too lucky
and pointed to my women
they said I’d cast a spell
to bind them to me
and that I was father
to every bastard child
in their bastard town
I said I wished I was
for then I’d have an army
to always stand right by me
because I could not deny
my own flesh and blood
and they would know
their father’s love
instead of the hatred
of the rumour peddlers
and the vicious mob
.
back in the day
we had idiot sanctuaries
moored offshore
on the emerald ocean
where fat cats
would call the shots
for the man
who called the shots
before the last nations fell
the top banana
sat on a gilded throne
while continental flunkies
manned his 24 hour hotline
he had a legal mandate
to commit the perfect crime
no-one ever saw him coming
but everybody knew
from his bloody footprints
exactly where he had been
he was the master of ceremonies
for the great false dawn
they say that it shone brighter
than a thousand suns
.
she always returned affection
she said she felt obliged
I told her she was easy
and she did not reply
.
there’s a niche
for every parasite
within the human zoo
where there’s pain
there is also gain
in a bitter economy
where one man’s sorrow
might be the cause
of another’s rejoicing
.
don’t tell me
how bad it is
I already know
it’s suicide season
and I’m all out of bullets
but geared up for excess
bicarbonate of coca
the ancient inca curse
smother me with candy kisses
take this poor boy home
it’s the last big deal
coughing up rocks
and surfing on air
but it’s all good
at twice the price
they’re shanking junkies
down in the park
bloody lubricant
for a vicious mechanism
those black market forces
can be so exacting
but my hands are clean
I’m just a punter
looking for fun
.
all the pretty soldiers
got their death heads on
it’s a morbid culture
where we sanctify sacrifice
but sponsor its betrayal
we were only following orders
not that much has changed
it’s a different religion
but the same old excuses
we gather poppies in peacetime
to decorate the graves
of those whose lives we’ve stolen
but no-one can explain to us
just why they had to die
Carlos and me
were getting high
and talking about
the end of the world
he was heading for the beach
presumably to swim away
I planned on getting drunk
and staying that way
until it all burned down
I had just thrown my funeral
while I still had the time
but nobody showed up
I guess they had their own
funerals in mind
there was a lot of it about
the world was duly penitent
but it was a little overdue
we tried to make our peace with that
but there was no peace to be found
.
you should never have returned
there is nothing for you here
this is a land of ghosts
where people come
to bury their dreams
under layers of denial
and silent despair
.
I was in the building
when the auditors arrived
year zero
lights out
advanced decay
the news was grim
no-one survived
all reader enquiries
were stuffed into body bags
and buried in the basement
with the unclassified documents
I swabbed the whole apparatus
with anti-static juice
but the questions
just kept rolling in
they were arriving
on the October timetable
though this was early June
I tried to make up the distance
before my arrest
closed me down
then they decided
that to save the library
they had to burn all the books
it smelled of hopelessness
and it smelled of betrayal
it smelled of Auschwitz
and it smelled of fear
.
