Last Commented Ballad Poems (503)

I could've had religion
but I loved God too much
I could've fought for a living
in boxing rings and such

but I guess we are who we are
and we can't outrun ourselves
and the traits that make us rounded
are often stored in others shelves

I could've been kinder
to the girls that shared my bed
I couldve talked and listened
and let some inside in my head

but the world's an inverted question mark
pointing to the east
and the sum of every good I've done
is balanced on a beast

the more dangerous the obstacle
the more determined I am in tone
see I've always been a protector
to every soul I've known

for work I mind for money
the wealthy and great
the affluent and healthy
beneath the cloak of fate

at home i shroud my family
by planning and device
a shield of hard experience
deep roots untouched by ice

I couldve had a different life
I couldve been carefree
I couldve swam in lukewarm ways
but I chose the Atlantic sea

as cold as knives each morning
as salt it licks my scars
I see the dawn's reflection
in a billion floating stars

I see you everyday
its not important you see me
I'm the the man who moors his boat
near your house upon the quay

your son is older than me
learning issues, t'would appear
he follows you like gravity
like a worry follows fear

you never appear angry
in the face of nature's mirth
everyday he walks beside you
every day a brand new shirt

"who looks after you?" I think
as the ocean soaks the sands
you hold your son so tightly
an umbilical cord of hands

you always seem to have a smile
as you fumble for your key
I'm humbled by your kindness
you must be north of sixty - three

I worry for your future
but there's steel around your home
a dignity past this modern place
a swan a'swim in chrome

I used to hurt people
Now I'm afraid
Used to burst forth like sunrise
Now I cower in the shade

Used to talk on unending
Now I rarely make a sound
Once the envy of high classes
Now no one has me come around

I'm starting to get nervous
Writing on here and now
Once not trying to be clever
Think I need to lay down

Believe I need you
Here now

I was mending a hull
'neath the crying gull
when the call
came down the line
my dad had gone
his time had come
and a world of hurt
was mine

left my girl
to anger swirl
told her "needed space"
but I was dust
not even lust
could the hurtin'
I replace

time dragged on
when I was gone
my love
I failed to warn her
about the rendezvous
I shared with you
in a pub
on poet's corner

"I'm the ghost
of every girl you've loved"
your spectre
said to me
I'll haunt your mind
till you go blind
and then
I'll let you be

"and the bird
that nested
in the eve
fed its young
in Byron's sleeve
in the pub
on poet's corner"

so every night
my daily fight
is a scramble
to emerge
strong and well
from the bowels of hell
where dark
and madness merge

where music
from the walls
is bled
by DJ Jazzy
and a girl called Red

"and the bird
that nested in the eve
told me that
I'd never leave
the pub
on poet's corner"

People live in bubbles now.
Safely in their shell.
Appearing to communicate.
Getting on well.

Witty, charming, intelligent, sweet.
Someone you really want to meet.
Trouble is, and it is a curse.
When you meet...the bubble bursts!

If I could hold the quill of truth..over the page of unfolding story.. and hold it still and let the page itself.. write the words of your defining glory

If I could read your name in the vast retreating sea.. and follow the tides in a raft made.. from the bones of you and me

if I could see the candle, reflected in your eyes.. that lights the table beside your bed.. and see that light in constant fight.. against the dowsing tears you shed

I would pray with actions.. outside the gate of all you hold.. most true.. and guard from devils and unworthy men.. the very thing that make you, you

you can ride of the zest
of a smile, girl
if you want to

you can walk on the side
of the earth, girl
like I do

like a bird who can sing
but never will
like a tide that sleeps
but is never still

or a line from from a film
that won't be seen at all

I can see by the way
you sleep, girl
your a broke shoe

and when dawn meets your eyes
I'm up and gone
like morn dew

so go go to the place
where the sea meets the sand
dive into the time
and away from the land

you can turn it round
if you want to, don't you see?

bearded, wild
quick tempered be
my natural place
is on the sea

my northern star
her memory
the anchor locker
and the quay

nets to fire
rope to splice
my heart in summer
full of ice

her smile the sun
her form the shore
wrought from toil
her lips are pure

I see her now
amongst the waves
those hazel eyes
the tide betrays

net mending
as the season grows
needle dancing
through the rows

my hands are coarse
sandpaper'd rough
mist kissed skies
are not enough

blonde curtains draped
her smile unfurled
her hair falls over
the globe of my world

step into the make believe
footfalling into stones
where memories are citadels
wider than truth
her bones

I never knew the right words
you stole them with your smile
pirouetting effortlessly
some Parisian mile

the timbre of a meadowlark
pillowed under star
looking out for last call
in some forgotten bar

it rises in my dark thought
when my soul is out of tune
your ghost is like my memory
your voice is like the moon

I tried to find you in others
I can't do that anymore
I couldnt find the answers
this side.. of.. the shore

I'd rather go home
and live up a tree
than to be dry forever
and forget the 'ol sea

and I'd rather go hungry
than eat on the street
than miss every wave
and places they meet

I'd rather live in a hole
and stare at the stars
than live in the veins
of buses and cars

and I'd rather leave you
than live in the town
where the air is a stranger
and you wear the 'ol frown

I'd rather not laugh
if the cost was too much
If I never felt salt
in the places we touch

and I'd rather take truth
that a palace of lies
as time is an arrow
and flawless she flies

I'd rather hold you
than own your whole soul
and I'd rather go hungry
than live on the dole

and I'd rather grow old
that to be young in chains
as the sea has my heart
and it always remains