coronavirus blues

escape into the cold snow

ain’t it time for you to go slow

walk out walk out while you can

kicking down that battered can

shop for food for breath for masks

shop for comfort thought that lasts

shop for plucked and battered dove

shop for true undying love

count the numbers that are dead

count the hairs left on your head

and when at last it’s time to rest

try to show your mortal best

Fire

Make plans, make plans, make plans
-- that's all I've got
A bath, fresh air, fresh air
Leave naught that's fresh to rot

A fire, need fire, some fire
-- spit iron toast
Take care, my veil, beware
Don't step on something lost

route

tell me

doesn’t the world look pretty tonight

the light on the far bank

walking on water

reaching our land

tell me

won’t pain be undone in the stars

with what could’ve been

being written between

two snakes in the sand

words, like hackneyed chimneys

bellow the echoes

of that autumn mist

sweeping the blue river

with every drop

Kids

We were kids
Or so came the excuse
And in due course
Everything came loose

The kids in the market
They played their flutes and drums
People hustling round them
Til our kingdom comes

Seen from the window
Where spires and gargoyles fuse
Lost to the world
Everything came loose

Not a word was spoken
Not a thing was broken
We told ourselves at least
As we ate our little feast

We were kids

The new tree of knowledge

New heavens and earth are brewing
Fed by lightning on green fields of plastic
Meaning generated with deep learning
Data are growing, knowledge the boast
Something human has been lost

New faces dreamt up
That belong to no one
Friends to visit disappear like sunshine
Your bot is your new host
Something personal has been lost

You look up the night sky
And the wonder of the moon
Is lost on you as you take pic after pic
And your mind is absent at most
Something magic has been lost

You try and find him
In the solitude of four walls
But vibrations in the air
Keep you connected to the web of despair
It's free to access but at what cost

Something holy has been lost

Lose it

Let go of it all

For a couple of seconds
Then a couple more
Leave this dark web
Into reality
Onto his palms
For a moment of eternity

Fresh chance

Come
The winter of our distance is over
We're still further than I'd like
But we see each other now
If a second youth can come
Then so can second love.

Come
Don't be far
I'd like to chat and walk and drink again
Til we fall away at night
And if we ever rise like angels
Then let me be an angel ever close to you.

long

look on me

stay with me

this evening

the sky is cold

what could be said, with words

has been said