The red man says hello

the red man says hello The green tree says i’m here All grown-ups are sleeping Only the children hear Decorations are delighted Presents hug the floor The room in its festive hat Hides behind

Song and dance

do you think an old heart can’t sing Do you think an old heart can’t dance With a love that belongs to spring – Nor i – till i took this glance In a

The river at whitebrook

the winding wye Curls into my senses Feliniously There’s no such word But no such river Merely exists Where this river slivers Between the dream And the time i camped by it Has left

The eyes that haunt me

there are eyes that refuse to exist In the fresh air – they are invented By the lies of paint or make their mark In a memory that had a truth To feed on

The rest home

professor piebald (the oldest man in the home) was meek At the same time ribald He clothed his matter (so to speak) In latin and (was it) greek It caused no great offence To

Advice to a young sylv-i-an dragon on going to school

when you step out of the wood and go first time to school You have to be so specially careful if you’re really a dragon To put the most innocent expression on your face

Ulster

fancy shooting a man dead for an old label But think If there weren’t any old labels Nobody would ever be shot dead And all those poor people Whose livelihood depends on making guns

Against the ladling of doom

crisis has a fact to get straight It needn’t be the end of the world Beginnings too are coated with death Because we’ve had enough of the old’s Dirty jokes doesn’t mean there’s no

The singing dog

when the dog began to sing The people ran amok A man shinned up a flagpole A woman chewed her sock Children danced the drainpipe A policeman robbed a bank The mayor and all

Sam swill

sam swill Took a pill Went blue Ate stew Had pains No brains Sucked a date Too late Swallowed stone All alone Too proud To cry aloud Scoffed cake Great ache At work Went

When the new year

when the new year Came out of nowhere And peeped into rooms It was so flattered to find All the tv’s drinking its health Praising its innocent appearance It responded with its warm Dark

Cherries and birds

cherries are so vulnerable Blinking their way from green To polished red in trees Guileless to stave off birds A murmur does its rounds And when the bright day comes And ripeness throws its

The room

you know how it is with the room The door is frequently locked As i pass a white sigh Is pushed out from under As i bend to retrieve it The wood quivers with

Night-piece

what’s that i’m awake A bang like a door or a foot Knocking a chair who’s there Tense i lie in my bed my face Stretching out on the black air My ears strain……a

Christmas the delinquent

i got nothing last year And i expect nothing this So i’ve got to find If i’m to be rewarded So all good people You’d better learn to give From the goodness of your
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