A Christmas Gift

To my four sons, I give thee gifts, on this, a usual day,

To Matthew, my first, I give thee the burden of responsibility, I show you all the flaws of the world and request that you do all you can to help, assist and correct,

To my second, Mark, I give thee blessings, the notion of, and the ability to count. Of you I request that you count them, each and every day, without fail,

And to Luke, my third, I give thee the ability to teach. I ask that you teach not what is expected of you but what is right, truthful and honest.

And to John, my last, I give thee the gift of parenthood. All I hope for is that the children will learn from their uncles as their father will learn from them.

And to you all, my four sons, I give you all the gift of communication, the ability to listen and speak. All I ask in return is that you share your gifts.

______________________________________________________________

You, the first, and you forgot to listen. The distractions of the earth’s curses deafened you. And yours was the toughest, for the world is wide. The toughest task for the toughest child. But you chose to choose and that distracted you and you forgot to listen. And so you fought, fought the world, and then beaten, you fought yourself. Your life is now nothing, and there is nothing for you to give. Blinded, you looked inward and allowed the gift to curse thyself. We will mourn the death of responsibility for many years but we will not celebrate the selfish.

__________

O! my second son, your patience has punished you and you are now curs’d. My gift has left you with a debilitating and deathly illness and it is only now that you have started to count. You forgot to listen, you chose your own way and it has punish’d you. We will mourn you and the loss is all ours to bear, in life and in death.

__________

My third son, you were my biggest disappointment. Instead of sharing wisdom you allowed yourself to be distracted, as with my first. The size of the world, the size of the task, proved too much. You chose to teach the common message rather than the greater good. It is right that you now hide, reside beyond the horizon.

__________

To my last son, you have the burden of a daughter, now misguided and misinformed. She staggers the roads of life, floats as an island, forever lost. You communicated as asked but the messages were muddled

__________

To my granddaughter, Ruth, I can only offer apologies. For you there were too many interventions. You were destined to become stifled by the unbalanced attentions that you received from your uncles. Your slewed education meant that you knew no better than to take the path of least resistance, take all that was free and reject restriction. You are left to stagger under the weight  of excessive intervention, unable to think or feel for yourself. And your actions, you were allowed to do as you wish and I am left defending the indefensible.

Nigel D Paul 30/5/2011

To A Time

I remember back to a time,

To a time when people used to think for themselves,

When common sense prevailed,

When foresight, is forewarned, is forearmed,

I remember trusting my first instincts,

Look into their eyes,

To see if I could see,

Any signs of any lies,

I remember when I was organised,

And organisation equalled efficiency,

Organisation equalled currency,

Organisation equalled integrity,

And you take all these from me,

I remember being judged,

Rightly or wrongly,

I remember having faith in myself,

It’s still the only faith I need,

And I remember what I need,

And I live within my means,

It fills me with satisfaction,

Because I believe in pro-action,

And I make my bed and lie in it,

I get what I deserve.

Children Of Greyland

CHILDREN OF GREYLAND

Sun rises over this tarred and feathered land,

Revealing ravines and scenes of dismal dismay,

Long shadows of revolution spread like fingers across the valleys,

The landscape dulled and lifeless,

Our lives have been filled with grey,

Fields littered with dead livestock,

Sheep await irradiation,

Dirt brown grass and burnt out hedges,

The rich request expatriation,

The moon sets on this sad and decrepit land,

The seeds of rape sown by the men in grey,

You cannot harvest buildings, you cannot eat dirt,

Desecration and desolation,

The drifting island that lost its way.

NDP 16/6/2012

Transparent Transference

TRANSPARENT TRANSFERENCE

And I, the prodigal son of a family of game players,

Run rings and roses and poses,

To confuse and forewarn,

Beware what you create,

And I, the bastard son of a cantankerous father,

Play word games and change names,

Calculate and bewilder,

So that you avoid the same,

And you, the parent, rose,

As your petals fall and drift across the sea,

To a long lost son who hides behind mumbles and the curve of the earth,

Who runs from impotence,

Childless and loveless,

To him a daughter, any daughter,

And I, the angry son, the pawn of your generation,

See your echo,

See the confused, lost soul,

And hope that you will do too,

Soon.

NDP 17/7/2012

Feardom

FEARDOM

 

Man on the hill,

Tells of a life that is changing,

With booming voice,

He portrays to a captured crowd,

Of how shackles have been removed,

Drum beaters destroyed,

Tar and oil poured in to the sea,

He speaks of new freedoms,

New cultures, new musics,

New entertainment, new sustenance,

We respond by reaching out,

Hungry hands, thousands, in lines,

As far as the eye can see,

For we are the free,

He calls,

His arm too, pointing to the sky,

He greeted us, then blessed us,

Now he frees us,

And we, the ever grateful,

As one, give thanks,

As we feel the clouds roll back,

The sun burns our scrawny faces,

We rejoice, he hails us,

Then there is a gunshot,

The crowds are dispersed,

We are taken back to our homes,

We are liberated, for our own sake,

For we are now truly free.

NDP 25/4/2012

Crumble

CRUMBLE

We don’t know if we will manage to complete anything today,

And I don’t know if I’ll even manage to finish this song,

Better to do the bare minimum and then just walk away,

Saves so much of our precious time,

Saves so much of our precious money,

And when towns and cities and societies start to collapse,

We’ll have an inquest into this glorious failure,

We’ll be the leading light, we’ll inspire the world,

We’ll show the world just how much we care,

You should look to us as an example,

But you won’t see us as we see ourselves,

Because we believe that by cutting corners we will prevail,

And you know that cutting corners is a sure fire way to fail,

So let us work together, let us form a new partnership,

I’ll provide you with all my ideas,

And watch you take the money,

I’ll invent, I’ll innovate, I’ll encourage you to create,

And you’ll take the easy way,

Count the cost,

Cut the corners,

And our cities and towns will stand proud,

Gleaming skyscrapers sparkling in the sky, viewed from miles around,

But come, take a closer look,

Come see the rubble and the rubbish,

And you’ll see that we started at the top,

And forgot to keep our feet on the ground,

And, exasperated, I try to complete this song,

And, exasperated, I try to tell you all that is wrong,

But it’s better to have deaf ears,

More profitable to turn a blind eye,

Because once the money has been made,

The partnership will die,

And dreams and aspirations, like our cities skyscrapers,

Will one day crumble to the ground.

NDP 4/10/12

REGENERATION GAP by NDP

Simplicity

SIMPLICITY

C’est aussi simple que cela, n’est-ce pas?

Respect all that you have,

Protect all that you have,

Be grateful for all that you have,

Enjoy all that you have,

And then you might get what you believe you deserve.

J’approuve.

Disrespect all that you have,

Damage all that you have,

Take for granted all that you have,

Waste all that you have,

Destroy all that you have,

And then you will be left with what you deserve.

Je n’approuve pas.

Comment le monde regarde d’où tu es?

NDP 28/9/2012

So Much Love To Give

SO MUCH LOVE TO GIVE…

And they loved her,

Oh, so much,

And they gave her everything,

Oh, so much,

So much freedom, to do as she pleased,

Everything mapped out for her,

Because they loved her,

And now her pale fingers trace the cracks in the pavement,

The only thing left to explore,

Her tears trace tracks through the dirt on her face,

She has nothing left to explore,

And they loved her,

Oh, so much,

And they gave her money,

Oh, so much,

But she has no freedom to do as she pleases,

Because everything is mapped out for her,

Because they loved her,

Oh, so much,

And they loved her,

Oh, so much,

And they gave her the means to travel,

Oh, so much,

She lost the freedom of her mind,

And now substances map everything out for her,

Because they love her,

Those substances,

They love her, oh, so much,

They are the vehicle,

The means to travel,

The one place left to explore,

The one place where there is space,

And now the cravings that fill her head,

The only thing left to explore,

And the madness that fills her mind,

She has nothing left to explore,

24/6/2012