Tattooed Tears

We cry for our youth, lost

beyond these pleasant shores

sent out to fight the shadows

in commitment to others’ laws.

As another flag draped coffin

sails down tear flooded streets,

one more community bows their heads

to the drum’s slow beat.

We’ve brought back so many brave hearts

in parts from foreign places

and shed so many tears we feel

they’re tattooed on our faces.

Brought back so many brave hearts

so tender in their years

lost the ones we care for

and shed too many tears.

Home to Roost – Buckenham Marshes

Magnetic trees draw rook and jackdaw

from the lowering sky like iron filings,

drawn from the last rays of the setting sun

in raucous numbers

to the hub of their feeding grounds

on Norfolk’s flat lands.

Chattering,  jack  jack  jack

to and fro, cawing into the dark

as dead leaves rising up

returning life to winter trees,

shouting back their defiance

at their untimely demise.

as bad as each other

There’s a body in the garden

no, don’t call the police,

it’s half past eleven

it’s dad, he’s fast asleep.

Got back from a skinful

not made it to the door,

he’s fallen through the garden gate

and passed out on the floor.

A mistress in his pocket

a cuckoo in the nest

who gives a damn about the kids

who cares if they’re distressed.

When mum’s not on the sherry

she’s flirting with the boys

spending all dad’s money,

pawning all our toys.

Getting herself pregnant

dad was taken aback,

but as a poor, failed Catholic

she practised on her back.

A mistress in his pocket

a cuckoo in the nest,

so how the hell did all this mess

turn out for the best.

April Acrostic

A rainbow through showery rain

Puts a smile on the world once again

Rays of sunshine warm cold earth and

In Spring’s first flush of rebirth

Life breaks Winter’s chains.