Ballad Poems (503)

our tale begins midwinter
in austere and ancient rooms.. where landlords sold satanic ales to drink away life's glooms

a tortured artist drinks alone
his circumstances dire
sheltering in his suffering ways
adjacent to the fire

the world had moved on a'pace
and many were left behind
the artist eye that made him wealth.. now obsolete and blind

in matters of the fairer sex
he punched above his weight
two droplet eyes of emeralds
coupled with his fate

she had a savage logic
he lived by dint of heart
when friendly tides
bid both goodbye
they had no course to chart

the clock struck the bell's lament and soon he was last guest
when the landlord offered free a dram.. he thought it for the best

"I hear you are an artist" the bearded barman said
then pointed to a landscape
that hung above his head

"I take no joy in your poverty
as once I wore your shoes..
take that away.. for a year and day.. and I'll buy away your blues.."

dawn brought in fractions.. memory
the artist woke in bed
yet felt an uneasy presence
hanging overhead

he hung it in his study..
he hung it in the hall.. he hung it in an outhouse.. still he heard it's call

he tried to block it's echo.. by hanging in reverse.. but every colour mocked him.. his mind was now a curse

it terrorised his psyche.. it mirrored his unease.. it altered with the seasons.. trees did shed their leaves

his sanity divorced him.. to run away with pain.. he wondered if in waking dreams.. the landlord did the same..

lawyer I met
on account of a bet
which was owed
yet un-honoured to me

I took her for chips
in a forest of ships
she chose
a symphony

now
a concert hall
let me hasten
to tell

was
just about
my perception
of hell

then quiet came
and music same
as unknown thirsts
did rate

to my surprise
I had to surmise
the hinges of heaven
is fate

my collar's so blue
it's never been new
but now I know music
magic and you

(For Vanessa)

"father's fly me strength of two
all wars are old yet I am new"

the trees will bud bodies without any eyes
as the calm before battle sleeps in the skies

its beyond my arm what faces us friend
but into the maelstrom we soon will descend

the weight of my axe the blood of my kin
before the dawn they'll be wearing my skin

but I will snarl at the gates of this hell
and I'll take some demons with me as well

death comes but once to the brave
but to them without courage

it makes them a slave

a town called Another
a town like the others
where people dug coal mines
drank with their brothers

I met her in winter
when cold slept in slumber
behind the mountains
out of the rains

a world of rough labour
the hardest endeavour
peabody rail track
on peabody trains

I danced with her tightly
because that's what you do
a weeks worth of magic
in one hour or two

tracing her hips
through the thread of her dress
she moved like a songbird
leaving its nest

it ain't like no movie
no breath taking scenes
but black nugget mining
means coffee and beans

I never.. kept a picture
but her features are scripture
frescoed tiles
on the walls of my dreams

I see missed steps along the silent highway.. forgotten by the sound of endless cars.. how can a soul of your enduring conscience.. compete with all them souls that have no scars?

silence is bitter when its raining.. you feel too much to set a deeper keel.. you've always lived your life like you're in training.. but you got the heart to go and make it real

you only read the signs when you're lost girl.. you only crave the darkness when you hide.. you only take the comfort of a stranger.. to cheat against the beauty that's inside

clocks put arms around the days and vanish.. you were meant for more than just a minor part.. take the road that leads you to your fear now.. and forge within some steel as you depart

you'll only need the ocean when you're angry.. you'll only need the winter when you're done.. you'll only ever be unfaithful to yourself.. I'm too remote to ever be the one

well you walk with a swagger
that's unearned
but it always fits you well
and you speak in a way
the warms the places
where them wildflowers dwell

a lady of undetermined age
I'd guess at forty-five or more
and each day comes as tide
and they break as waves
upon your kitchen floor

fierce as a hawthorn tree
warm as the sun
and cold as air
and your flowers grow through oil
plate and steel
like the barrel wasn't there

Oh Leslie Ann
I wonder what song
is on your mind..?
are you sleeping in that garden chair
and leaving
all this modern world behind?

are your dreams
a Polaroid of a photo taken many years ago..?
as the sweet grass of peace
grows between your true heart
and your big toe

I met me a girl
called Deja Vu
her folks seemed to know me
and her dog did too

she told me my future
as we lied in bed
she seemed to know the architect
inside my head

dirty blonde curls
and big eyes blue
and a voice that told ya
that she just knew

when she drove my truck
she'd kill the clutch
she used to drive me crazy
with her singing and sutch

she had my number
as far as I could see
but she never gave tips
on the lottery

she hated the future
but spliced we grew
and I made an honest woman
outta Deja Vu

spiraling debauchery
the pit in which I fell
tis fiendishly amoral
the tale of which I'll tell

I dreamt of tax accountancy
but my parents had a goal
to live their dreams vicariously
by dint of rock and roll

I played the aul triangle
I went to music school
I figured t'would be easy
just stand there with my tool

fast forward twenty summers
as fiction fell to fact
an electric triangle player
in a norwegian metal act

now I know it sounds absurd
I mean.. you've never heard it said
that she left the front man standing
for the lead triangle's bed

rolling stone has done a cover
I've had groupies up a tree
"your crib will feature friday"
said the guy at MTV

my crazy rider lists
did set the crazy tone
a minatiure mount everest
made from toblerone

my accountant calls me jesus
can't count half of what I got
the tour bus has a golf course
and the chicks are smoking hot

I've got triangle roadies
they tune the different notes
it's wall to wall coke orgies
in my one of many boats

they love me in bermuda
I've got cult status there
we party for a week or so
and then just disappear

I get expensive clothing
and panties in the post
the fans play air triangle
I eat caviar.. on toast

the doc has told me watch it
he's seen it all before
a burned out triangle player
and the endless search for more

tommy was the skipper on the tugboat 'whiskey smoke`.. he lived for his two husky dogs and loved his rum and coke..

twenty one and crazy.. I was rougher than the quay.. tommy was like a father.. who saved myself from me..

tommy told a story.. of a girl he lost to time.. and the price you pay forever when you discard something sublime..

"I'll call it the bookstore and let me make this bold.. no book in this here store is ever getting sold.."

" nineteen hundred and fifty-six.. I first met Vanessa fair.. her eyes kinda made me seasick.. I'd go swimming in her hair..

but I was young and foolish, couldn't keep it my pants.. I was ruled by rum and other blondes.. it was just a temporary dance.."

"every book I have is her memory.. I can read her anytime.. but I've paid the price of losing her.. every dollar, cent and dime"..

tommy died ten years ago.. I now skipper whiskey smoke.. he left me his two huskies pups..

I call 'em rum and coke

on a spring time morn
was wonder born
a strange fluke cut
the sky

from eddied hair
a magic stare
told me that truth
can't lie

a girl who smiled
from a face so wild
my breath did leave
my mind

I somehow knew
that girl was you
and to nature
I was blind

in a wheelhouse stark
both bright and dark
her eyes they light
the way

a rippling whirl
midst seas that churn
all darkness
ran astray

my nets that trawl
her song and call
a creature
made of prayer

you can take my life
my boat my knife
but she
is always there

on a spring tide morn
her currents warm
I never
saw her more

yet I heard her song
all coast along
the inlets
speak her name