Listening to Fela in 98,

Jounieh, Beirut…

Bombs, rocking Nairobi,

Tennis in the afternoon.

 

Beach in the morning

DR Congo yet to come,

Suicide in Kandahar

Massacre on The Russian Road

 

“my brain was squirming like a toad”

 

These are my alternative facts

my North Atlantic Treaty,

my flip-side Warsaw Pacts

in dreams where memories beat me…

 

Half a head, a scalp an arm

are strange kind of rain?

the storm was wild, then after calm

in the silent years before the pain…

 

The women came but later went,

the fun ran out on everything.

When all my bloody soul was spent,

I couldn’t hear the Blackbird sing..

 

 

It takes just two i’s

to join the dots,

not the language skills

of polyglots.

 

It takes no asking why

to turn the blind eye,

to not see all hell

fall from their sky.

 

It takes no raised voice

to let them starve,

no moral choice

on your behalf.

 

It takes no hand of peace

to keep the war,

that shall not cease

to keep them poor.

 

It takes no lended ear

to not hear their cries,

to ignore their fear

and dismiss their whys.

 

It takes just your brave-heart

to quiet the drum,

that beat the start

of their Kingdom Come.

 

It takes just two eyes

to join the dots

and see the lies

of idiots…

 

 

The dreaming Moon rolled over

to see the Sun arise,

pulling darkness to its shoulder

it slipped the shining skies…

 

the never-ending chase of days

of lightness and of dark,

the shadows and enlightened ways

on which our lives stand stark…

 

their beauty and their foreboding

carry fearful dread and hope,

each stretching hour eroding

our resilience to cope…

 

yet still our spirit lifts us clear

of each relentless fall,

to raise us far beyond our fear

that we be not so small…

 

So when that sleeping Moon does pull

and beg your soul to stay,

awake and shine as Sun that’s full

and drive the dark away.

 

 

Here comes the grime

here comes the grime,

 

have you seen our cities

lost in time…

 

between the flags

and the calls to prayer,

 

have you seen the grime

festering there.

 

Here comes the hate

here comes the hate,

 

have you seen the leaders

recklessly conflate…

 

Here comes the blood

here comes the blood,

 

have you seen their words

drowned by the flood…

 

have you seen their scriptures

churn the mud.

 

Here comes our end

here comes our end,

 

have you seen it coming

around the bend…

 

can you see how peace

comes with our blend…

 

But in the end, the end’s the end

no matter who is foe or friend…