When the New Year Comes

When the New Year Comes
Are you ready to let the old one go?
Will all your old troubles
And woes be cleansed by the snow?

Remember lost summers, fading
Into myths, dreams, something or other
Intangible, imprecise, incomplete
As you and your memory get older

Pathetic Progress

There's much too much to be done
For this train to be stalled
By inexplicable tardiness
Or overriding safety concerns

There's much too much to be done
At the termination of this journey
For minor delays, beyond control,
Of impatient passengers

There's much too much to be done
Before the day dies, as it must
But the same can't be said for
Demands that push on

Autumn never calls

Autumn never announces itself
No courtesy call just to say
'I will be there tomorrow'

Suddenly leaves are brown
Brown and dying, strewn
Across indifferent concrete ground

When schoolkids kick through
The debris of the season
To inattentive seats in lessons

When budding scholars stumble
Through freshers week floors
To gawp at dances of seduction

When workers sip in morning
Mists that accompany commutes
That siphon the days away

When retirees recline on
Benches they know will
Soon become icy thrones

We can only ruminate on
Youth once we have
Left it behind

Saturday Morning 1am

Shadows of trees in the park
Empty trains sit on the bridge
The optimism in the dark
Will it remain by morning

The week passed, time again
For a thorough Sunday clean
The grease blots and stains
That grow as the years go

The flow of the water never
Thinks about its direction
The tinkling of piano keys
Never doubts its complexion

Dusk

A violent orange to end the day
The sky can sure be very pretty
The men aren't looking up though
They have their own worries

A streetlight that acts as a candle
In the great dark cave of the city
I wonder what dreams are realised
And what dreams are still on hold

A weekend in the quietest company
Your inner self sure can be quiet
Courage is required to examine the soul
And I'm lacking courage tonight

Him and Her

He just wanted options
He lives his life like the early 20s
And doesn't put the right number
Of birthday candles on

He sometimes enjoys summer
When nobody else is having fun
He needs to feel like that
He is the only one around

She still thinks of cities faraway
She still wants to walk streets
Where the shops are strange
And the salesmen incomprehensible

She likes the rotting leaves
For their smell and their colour
But she is mindful of the fact
That she needs more jumpers

It's a shame they never taught
You how to live your life
We all walk home after work
Exhausted from delaying plans

Wanderer

Dents in your bumper you
Couldn't afford to fix
Just keep driving til you
Find a place that sticks

If only the streetlights could
Shield your guilty face
If only the rain could erase
What had taken place



Grown up, now I can walk
The night alone
Sometimes I hate it, sometimes
I'm happy on my own

If only dreams do go on
To become real
Shining bright and white, not
Things darkness steals

Were you born and destined
To sit and write
In an age where so few still
Stand and fight

Plain

It's plain now
The more I gave
The deeper I sank

I can't figure out
In my head just why
I couldn't have lied

You had your dreams
And my only dream
Revolved around you

When the trains roll
Out of my eyeline
I'm on my own again

An Assembly of Catharsis

When you told me thanks but no
It was such a shock to hear
There were no naysayers
In my daydreams

Love, that pathetic feeling
Wouldn't we both like to run
From it as far as we can
But it drags us both back in

How life has been thrown away
In the days since I saw you last
There isn't much to smile about
When I can't tell you of them

The resignation
Is drawing in
The words of comfort
Are wearing thin

I would never have prepared for
The moment you told me that
It was all rather heavy, and you
Prefer to just dance it all away

Does it relieve you when people
Ask if you are still in education
Or does it leave you digging
Still deeper for some dignity

Everything seems to become
Some form of delayed desolation
That lays its tracks across
Our potential perfection

Tell Me

Just tell me what you want to prove
We have come to the point when
Loyalty has its own victim to claim

Just tell me what makes you stay
When he's all those miles away
And I'm still waiting for you

Just tell me why one heart
Means less than another
Just because it arrived late

Barely living

Will the chit chat
Make us both feel better
Or will the simple silence
Suffice?

You still wore your hair
The same as when
I saw you last
Loose and lithe

Two cups of hot chocolate
Pushed up together
Do they say something
Of our future?

The days have been
Less than adequate
The nights have been
Absolutely insufferable

I ask you how work has been
You say it's still going OK
One day they may decide
To promote you

You ask me how work has been
I say I'm still drifting
Hoping one day
Someone notices me

You glance down at your watch
The one from him
That you always religiously
Wore

My heart's newly glued
Pieces are crumbling
Once again
I need you

Please don't walk away
Please don't say
'It was nice to see you
Good luck with everything'

3

In the heart of the city
It's tough to feel free
Maybe it's safer to just
Trust in misery

When you told me
That you felt lonely
In hallowed school halls
That mine your brain

People rush by, chasing
Buses that are always full
We take some time out
From the rush of it all

I told you to be brave
To face down a world
That never rewards
Or sees earnestness

             -

When the leaves died
Left with August
The idealism drained
And the lies still lived

I wanted you
To myself and only
You wanted me 
Very differently

Who do I complain to?
When dreams turn sour?
Is there a way to just
Avoid these stabbing hours?

Love is fleeing
Hate lingers for longer
Than you can bear

Plenty More

When you tried to let me down
In that gentle detached way
I was convinced an army
Could not dredge my tears

He puts an arm around my shoulder
And balances sincere eyes
With a worrying wobble
Tells me I'm too young for this grief

The scenes may change, the city
May call itself the same names
But I can't find that feeling of
Togetherness anymore

He brings another two over
And balances European glasses
On hands that knew this pain
Tells me I know too little of the world

There may be streets of female bodies
There may be rooms of unfound love
But you only ever have one rush
That sincere youth can bring

What was left unsaid

In this summer air
Anything can happen
In this summer air
We can fall in love

When you smile
How can I even see
Anything else

Our feet in the pool
You lean into me
Our feet in the pool
You open up to me

When you smile
How can I even hear
Anybody else

In the sun's grace
I knew I was trapped
In the sun's grace
It was you or doom

When you smile
How can I even think
That you don't want
Me the same way