Deceived by desire, lured by lust

Some are dead honest and others just cheat
some find it easy to take out a knife
or a gun to fire on someone they meet
it's so easy to make or take life
so say a prayer for the dead on the street
so say a prayer for the dead on your street
so say a prayer for the dead on the street

some cry contradiction
some say science fiction
some love malediction
some swear by satisfaction
some preach putrefaction
some feel strong attractions
but nobody takes action

you're so mean, so very bossy
if your mouth were a bridge
I would never think to cross it
you're so secure, couldn't be more
complicity in your eyes, your smile
you're on to every wish, what a dish
your cheap loving comes so dear
you'd take the shirt of any back
I cannot, will not, meet you here

some dote on decadence
some laud innocence
some invoke incompetence
some rely on reticence
some malign munificence
some are just plain dense
some are doped with diffidence
there's no common ground or sense


1991

William Shakespeare's drink

Ain’t no hell for those

Who know they know no sin

So heaven is that other place

For them that still trust in

Long straight paths in the light

Where no demon darkness rules

Where no man or woman waves

The flag of the rebellious fools

Ain’t no hell for those

Who know they know no sin

So heaven’s just another place

For those who trust in

Paths with only light

That no darkness hides

Where no man’s on flight

From the ruthless tides

   And the weeping willow drips

   Spiral rain like springs

   someone sweetly called it

   William Shakespeare's drink

1982

   And the weeping willow drips

   Spiral rain like springs

   someone sweetly called it

   William Shakespeare's drink

Going

All the future all the past

Tied like a ribbon to the mast

Of the ship called the Titanic

Take it easy, don’t get manic

About anything too serious

Nothing could be so mysterious

To keep needling all of us

Never mind, we’re on the bus

Going nowhere

Going fast

Nothing’s there

But it comes fast

All the ritual of repetition

Leads me straight into perdition

Take a bath and go to work

Be a good boy, be a jerk

Take no notice of the riddle

Never listen to the fiddle

That keeps needling all of us

Never mind we’re on the bus

Going nowhere

Going fast

Nothing’s there

But it comes fast


1985

Philosophy's blues

I say it’s good that we die

And of course you ask me why

Well so we don’t see our sweet babies

Turn into cantankerous old ladies

So we don’t get saddled with the bill

When all we cherish goes downhill

So we don’t get to pay the price

‘cause lingering’s not all that nice

I say it’s good that we’re born

And perhaps you ask what for

Well so we get our soft hearts broken

By words that the prophets have spoken

And so we just got hurled into a world

Full of all these fascinating girls

So we struggle for a purpose

And know life’s not just a surface

Oh what is the use

Of philosophy’s blues

Touched by the muse
Of philosophy's blues


1984

Runes

Inspiration like a shooting star

Hardly aware of how things are

Like when life is not so easy

No mama papa to fall back on

Only cheerleaders to tease me

And teenage times they just drag on

Writing long lone lines in rhyme

Floating on that rapid sea in time

Thinking it a fairy-tale or promise

A young girl’s body soft like dunes

Undulating past like love is

A play spelled in romantic runes



1981

Ambition

You judge them thinking you see through
whatever their failure means to you
or you denigrate them 'cause
you fail to grasp just what they do
anyway you've got their number
or so you think, you slumber
in the arms of prejudice
just think of everything you miss.

You build your castle and your home
in the fear that is your certainty
no one's invited or excited
they look to you unpleasantly
all your preaching and your teaching
is the heartfelt ammunition
that's released and detonated
to the tune of your ambition.


1991

Colours

Funny how your sneakers
made me fall in love with you
how you bony legs
made me want you
how your jacket and shawl
made me think
of the afterlife and all
and there's an absence
in your roving eyes
there's an eternity
of halftruths and lies
   oh I am black
   oh I am white
I'm all the colours of the night.


1992