ONE MORE TEST
this road is oh such a challenge to fight
when this load is so much to balance tonight
rows of toes are crushed and callused white
just hellish - I need to touch the palace of light
shadows seem darker the stones a little greyer
grass is sparser exposing bitter layers
the clay is a clot around my weary heart
today I’ve forgotten just where we start
one more rest then I’ll defeat this bend
one more test before I reach the end
one more text ‘til the complete append
when I’ve assess it then I will teach you friend

I’ve been on ridges and hills my child me knows
felt the edge of deaths chill enduring piles of snow
been over bridges rivers flow wild below
hedges line the road, still there’s miles to go...

find another companion i prefer to go alone
climbing up in the canyon my word’s a thrown stone
barred from the light – the whistler has blown
on this starry of nights little has been known
flying far out of sight this chrysalis has flown
thistle fully grown and the seeds have all been blown
cheated all my chores and crawled through painful groans
teetered on the wall – freed the ball and chain I’d grown
proceeded forward through sleet and storm and hail stones
repeated the haul with bleeding sores and aching bones
greeted at nightfall by sprawling thorns all overgrown
deleted it all - now I heed the call of the unknown

I’ve been in dark alleys with torches and forced into covered skips
seen parks, valleys and gorges forged into rubbish tips,
we start deluge waters, score fjords and summon slips
the heart of the galley slaughtered with swords drawn from southern lips

STORM IN SUMMER
I fear i need some air, right here, so I can breathe
I can really feel a blanket forming over me
like a grave or choking wave and I’m alone at sea
save this broken soul from this storm that’s grown in me
those I want to love me either don’t or are far away
And those I want to listen only want to spar today

STAGE OF LIFE
A few thousand men survived when war was rife
then the plagues came and deprived more of life
it’s 2029 after an unsightly impact
I’m trying to find a slice of life still slightly intact
nuclear fallout, the earth is a wasteland
cities deserted and fertile forests erased and
nearly any place left has been crippled and spoiled
pesticides and chemicals have stripped all the soils
of nutrients and life, the land is lost
this happened long ago when the first bandits crossed
the sun ruled and left a tower of skulls
the wind was full of death but now it’s all dulled
my dinghy’s hull is sturdy in the waves and ocean drifts
and I think I see gull like birds in caves and open cliffs
my instinct confirms I was right to come travelling
the further south I go the more life in unraveling
the shore snakes along the barrenness coast region parts
arriving at a bay not on the mariners most recent charts
it’s green, it’s alive, excitement mans the oar
it seems like no time and I’m upon the sandy shore
dehydrated and dazed I walk on the lost beaches
elated and amazed at the orchestra of creatures
after all of my strife this is all that I have found
bursting with life in a giant wall of sound
taken by awe - tree trunks and greenery
awakened once more - just me – one with scenery
the tone of cicadas - a rubbing of wings
ever flowing drone like a flooding of strings
waves over stone hear the thudding it brings
who needs a gramophone when the blood in me sings
it’s a gypsy camp proceeding - a music jamboree,
wind on a pod of seeds is a ruse of tambourines
marmosets howling notes with the setting of suns
resonating sound of throats and wetting of gums
insects and amphibians make up the swampy chorus
speckled kiwi sing - and kakapo trumpet for us
owls and frogs alike join the section of horns
that meld through the night ‘til the reflection of dawn
drawing clouds over - kauri tops sway in time
two Tui in flowering kowhai stop and play a line for line.
drop away the music scores go back to the shores
waves and rain pour are the conductors applause
this stage orchestrates around and inside of you
a page once forgotten – but a sound so tried and true

It’s only for us – this symphony of mother earth
- this IS the music God gave to us at birth
I know now - this is all there is left
there is music in life and only silence in death

THE CHOICE IS OURS
our market economy is just like a standard balloon
but you think it can keep on forever expanding to the moon,
our earth economy is just like an expanding rubber band,
automatically stretching to the plans of it’s brother – man,
it cant keep on – we’ve pushed her boundaries to the limit,
we’ve pinched and punched and pulled and pushed and pounded every minute,
we’ve shook and shoved and shifted shores and shat in every crevice,
and when folks like me stand up and shout – "we flatten any menace"
we’ve been misguided by this tide of blinded thinking
it's time to step off about now cos this ride is sinking
we are taught success is ‘riches’ but what sequel is next?
We are all stress or depressed - and why? cos we’re a people oppressed.
But we’ve been misguided by a tide of selfish systems
they tell us how we ought to be – then try and help us listen.
we are destroying tomorrow so we can have a free today
but this freedom is a western illusion and cannot be the way
this freedom is divisive, it’s selfish and complex
it says you can have what ever you wish if you’ve got bank bonds and cheques,
the list is real long, there’s an A – Zed of what’s wrong,
on and on and on and there’s a common thread all along,
denominator or common dominator – but at a price?
sacrifice the parasites and this world is paradise,
If we focus on ‘needs’ we eliminate the greed,
assimilate with me and simulate being freed,
I’m breaking these chains cos I am far from a slave
we need to bury this system and dance upon it’s grave