From Ralph

07/16/07

Poem Between Times

Poem between Times
by Ralph Steadman

This could not be a better time to cry
The symmetry of pain alleviates all thought
Cast off in nettles, stung, and left to dry
The rhyming slang of millions cut no ice
The oddness of our ways, the dead sun's rays
The cautious laugh belies the secret dream
And devils laugh for us
Instead of mice
Of mice and men I hear you cry through knotted holes in dice
And lice

There's more in time for tea
But none for me.......when gods walk and sing along
We transform them into
pedestrians
And move them on

Three times I said it and still the chains drag sideways
Roving free in crippled times
I fought with sadness on a wild pony
Giving my all I spurred it on
Sliding in the saddle there came to me a wise man spouting filth
Dropping from sight by others' wiser words
I caved in along the horizon
Casually discarding banter in sealed envelopes
Sun-setting brick walls that were not meant to be held aloft
The glint of light I was groomed to see
In gentler times
Through cracks in broken cement
They peddled me. I took them for a fool.....
And lost a needed prayer

Enough poets in Speedos for the gullible...

Great! And deemed impossible yet spun with gold
A ravished beauty sang a dying song
No earthly creature this, no mortal thing
Could touch the sounds beyond my reach, and yet
Fibrillated tremors stir the loins
With mercy fuelled accidents in jest.....
Wasted savagery ogles back at tidy minds
Cannot be touched
Inside the cavernous mortuary of yesterday’s cry for joy
I live on and pound my hopes into shape
Yet again…….

Contact: joe@ralphsteadman.com