The Week

Spilling out of stations from six to nine

Clocking in, diurnally and in time

So many lives, few considered sublime

How many to call a friend?

 

If the rain falls, the umbrellas come out

No lights, so full speed at roundabouts

Too much routine to leave time for doubt

Is standing out the making of man?

 

The evening comes and the streets just die

Time to think of things wages can buy

Grander ambitions seem pies in the sky

Best to sit and watch bodies rush by.

Let's not try to figure out, everything at once

The heroes have let us down
They made us hate ourselves
In a sea of hope we drown
Expectations so suffocating

This is adulthood, growing despair
From potential we may never see
Such a burden, deep down there
In the never resting imagination

I wish you were more like me
A proud drop out and a cynic
I just wish that you could see
If we hid it could still be fine

Or I just don't know you enough
To be telling you how to live
To presume so much from stuff
That only scratch your surface

Contact List

You, name on the list
An entry among many
I'll be taking the risk
Of catching you surly

Do you love where you live?
Does your desk see a window?
Does every Friday bestow
Casual shirts, ties festive?

Did you imagine, years ago
Your dreams light, brain heavy
A face fresher, a sleek torso
Others, not you, were phoney

I tick you off, I made
My attempt to reach you
On that list you fade
Metaphorically

Whenever I'm Alone With You

Leaving my parents' house early
To avoid awkward conversation
I will be older, more successful
I will move to a central location

Were you dropping hints to me
When we laid there together
Were you expecting something
From me, to take us further

Will you still need me
When you are more fulfilled
Will you still think of me
When you're closer to your goals

I smelled your scent on my T-shirt
I may have been wrong
To be satisfied

The crimes of time

Youth doesn't pay the bills
Your dreams get weighed down
By the hollowness of wallets
After the ring of cash tills

Beauty won't keep you with me
As my hairs wilt to grey
As my veins start to pop
Love never stays free

The kids need their tutoring
The lawn needs their watering
The house, it needs upgrading
What I'm simply saying
Is that bills need paying

Commuter

Forty minutes from one end to another
Still another twenty til home
Headphones cater for my self-pity
So glad to be alone

To have been brave to make demands
Say what I want done
To have blocked out the words
That ruin my fun

Throwing my body down on the bed
Tomorrow another 24 hours
I'll sleep when I'm dead
For now I live out my worries

The 50%

On your application, it was all
Aspirations of social mobility
For your motivation, it was mostly
Caffeine pills and short fixes

For your family, it was all
Our boy can be exceptional
In your urge to please, it was key
To show you as how others see

Three years wait, now here you are
Smiles ready for capturing
Nerves ready for releasing
Dreams ready for realising

The day, it always seemed so far
And finally, there you are
On page 24 of the brochure
Size 10 font, class of 2011