Song from a Distant Wilderness

You hang
tremulous whispers in firelight that drips from tomorrow
paint rainbows and Christmas trees deep in the heart of my sorrow
garner your conscience with trinkets and books that you borrow
and newspaper juveniles spawn
ten troubadours trapped in the thorns
the devil’s removing his horns
as his followers yawn.


The crucifix twists as your nails scrape the bones of sedition
as subversive tongues lap the milk from cracked cups of tradition
the child in the man of you cries from the cusp of remission
a world full of hate and not love
where vultures are eating the doves
where smiles are pushed out by the shoves
and the bombs burst above.


Tools and tarantulas strive for their place in the soil
as battle crazed lunatics fight for the right to rob oil
their blood curdled cadavers bring our remorse to the boil
as sperm sodden eggs bear the cost
of political wisdom wires crossed
and power to the people lies lost
now the coins are all tossed.


Pissed intellectuals cower in the shade of their calling
their sums and their theories erased from the boards by the brawling
as slums and their bums are wiped clean by a skyline still sprawling
nobody cares much for you
we’re all choosing lies from the true
preferring to turn up the screw
of old red, white and blue.


Hope wanders aimlessly, gathering dust on its collar
wearing disgust it just bought with your last, lousy dollar
a voice in the wilderness sings of a time it could holler
and the ice-caps are telling us all
that something is wrong with the ball
but nobody’s listening at all
and the curtain cat calls.


Blind faith hypocrisy college boys came to confound you
but gold in the summer time glistens its love all around you
open your eyes, your pathetic demise might astound you
flowers still bathe sweet in the light
the stars will shine beauty tonight
tenderly bringing delight
to blind men regaining their sight
and I sing out these words that I write


in love and not spite
to the things that ain't right
to black, brown and white
and the colourless souls of our plight.