roll away easy

morning cracked on       I rolled away easy     a standing start     from an empty bed       more blues for breakfast       the whole caper is wearing thin    what was the catalyst      that soured the cream?        was it something she said?        she said plenty      she reckoned she was bona       and I was catfish       I didn’t want to be wanted      not in that way       but I wanted my cake       I’m just greedy I guess     she told the world I was hooked on buzz       she patented the bad news        and other adult fictions        I’d rather roll off empty      than wear those colours      I talked with my feet     and made for the door       I wished her luck in the future       but I doubt it took hold

latch key kids

 

latch key kids      we’d tasted freedom      the place to ourselves    for a couple of hours        we played  cat and mouse        beneath the bedclothes       the sun and rain        pelted the windows      it was a school day        we were both skivers        adam and eve       marooned at last      in a council flat

darkling

 

I’m in the fucking dark here       just  gasping for light       flip flopping on the shore        caught on my own hook        nothing stings like the barb of fear       because there’s fear        and then there’s the dread apprehension       all emotions radiate       from the core anxieties       I have shit festering in my can         that would sap your will to live         they lay in ambush       my denizens of the deep      there’s no respite       they never sleep

the last tyrant

 

don’t you just love being in control?      isn’t power the name of this game?         I shed a lot of friends       when I broke ranks with the stalinistas      they are out to get me still       with their psychic instruments       and ugly rumours       but I keep faith with my own principles        as befits someone of my temperament         and chemical impulse         I was vain         I was ruthless     I was cruel       all these charges are true         but I’m no judge      and neither are you

 

 I never swallowed the big lie       but I used it from time to time       when it suited me    and    conscience allowed       I reap as I sow        without complaint      I’m just one in a chain      that spirals off into infinity              the songs of my benefactors       echo in my mind     and I’m free to choose      just what I keep       and what I leave behind

mea culpa

 how far is too far?       how close is not far enough?      we left no stone unturned      in our pursuit of pleasure        but I touched you      right?     just as you touched me       didn’t we burn down the night?     and light up our days      with incendiary passion       brazen sinners      who made our beds in heaven      I have no regrets       do you?       if I erred on the side of foolishness       I did so by your grace      for your precious love

hear my voice on the recent collaboration with musician and producer Calum Marshall: ‘Dagger’.