Our minds are our own
but entwined with the circus
that is all that may consume us;
don’t let it consume you.
Disentangle the tangled,
enlighten the confused
and disturb the unhinged.
Incarnate good.
Do good.
Be good.

-

Talk about 2024
And footballs coming home
We all know
It’s for sure
That captain Kane and co they can play
Only one game away
Oh I’m so sorry Spain
Cause we’ll be singing

Southgate you’re the one
Please never retire
Alan Shearer knows
Pressure is for tyres

Talk about Juuude Bellingham
In Gelsenkircheeeen
95, we’re alive
And in comes Harry 90+1
Beat the Swiss and we’re on
Ronald Koeman undone
Cause we are singin’

Southgate you’re the one
Please never retire
Alan Shearer knows
Pressure is for tyres

(Commentary)

Pickford SAVES!
England have done it!
Watkiiiins!!!

Our time it has come
In Berlin it was won

It’s coming home
It’s coming home
It’s coming
Football’s coming home

-

Talk about 2024
And footballs coming home
We all know
It’s for sure
That captain Kane and co they can play
Only one game away
Oh I’m so sorry Spain
Cause we’ll be singing

Southgate you’re the one
Please never retire
Alan Shearer knows
Pressure is for tyres

Talk about Juuude Bellingham
In Gelsenkircheeeen
95, we’re alive
And in comes Harry 90+1
Semi-final is on
Ronald Koeman ‘COME ON!’
Cause we are singin’

Southgate you’re the one
Please never retire
Alan Shearer knows
Pressure is for tyres

(Commentary)

Pickford SAVES!
England have done it!
Watkiiiins!!!

Our time it has come
In Berlin it was won

It’s coming home
It’s coming home
It’s coming
Football’s coming home

-

Borrowed Days

In borrowed days
My mind escapes
And seldom does it mend its ways

For borrowed days
Return in kind
When minds like mine
You’d often cline

But borrowed days
Will tend to find
A borrowed friend
A many distant few

That comes and goes
And tos and fros
And never quite brand new

These borrowed days
And borrowed ways
Please, may I return?
These borrowed days
And borrowed ways, my friend

Belong to you,
And only you

-

Looking up

A duckling
I ducked
You pulled me
And I looked up

A cub
You clawed me
Entwined in your coat
And I looked up

A pup
You sealed me
Warm once more
And I looked up

A sister
You held me close
Never let me go
And I looked up

And always have
And always will

-

A Druid
I worshipped your very being
My shelter and home
Neath branch
A mere spore

Carved holes
Peeped through them
At the merry men
Watching in awe

Quirky
You grew handsome
And the Gods watched on
In never ending chore

As royal as they came
An emperor’s crown
A King
As tall as you’d ever stood before

Would bow
And suddenly I’m healed
Courting the flash
In your never-ending significance
Since you’d gone long ago

-

A line in a famous poem
A yellow maiden
When we were young
Would courtesy and suddenly the mood lighter

Flourishing as trains rolled by
Forgotten and then bloom
A corona in ever changing sunsets
Perfect for any budding writer

Fit for a Roman soldier
I picked her
And she would flower for decades
And would always glow a shade brighter

And when Fahrenheit dictates
And the frost settles
She blooms once more
And I sit right beside her

-

It was in a city called Galicia
I could never quite make you out
Like a tepal
You gave nothing away

It was a mild Spring
And you suddenly came to life
Like a bell you rang and I stopped
Inflorescent in pure floret

You had flair
And when you flared you stood tall
And even curled back
The scent of the wood on a warm day

Sent a botanist I knew none about
And would call out a cookoo’s boot
But a nightcap for a lady waited
Till the bluebells danced again

-

I examined the boxes reluctantly
Like a ‘pick and mix’
His arm like those grabbers
We’d waste money on in the arcades
Like a trolley full of teddy bears
You’d never actually love

And here we were
Two childhood best friends
His trolley reminding me of looking for pound coins
And pushing legs through holes
Like we did at the funfair
All those years ago

And we’d share a flighting glance
For what seemed like a lifetime
And while old friends would shake hands
We didn’t
My basket in one
My boy’s hand in the other

And on we went
Like strangers
In the freezer aisle of a supermarket

-

‘Strangers’ in the freezer aisle of a supermarket

The sound of the tannoy took me back
When we trawled the same aisle
With his lovely dad he aspired to be like
And here we were again
One hand, one basket
Two hands, one trolley

He’d done well at school
Got his grades without much revision
Like he had gift vouchers or saving stamps
Whereas I’d be looking for special offers
And short dates
A bit like this shopping trip

His trolley piled high
I only had a freezer drawer
I’d take out the contents of the boxes
And place them in like puzzle pieces
He probably had a box freezer
And threw them in like Jenga blocks

-