Ayres

My Body is a Listed Building  A rchaic and outdated Underused and overstated My body is a listed building Rusting and corroding Dusty and crumbling My body is a listed building No visitors and no sale No renovation and no change My body is a listed building Time withers everything in time But this is withering without time My body is a listed building My body is a listed building No hope of ever fulfilling The potential in the bricks No attractive features My body is a listed building

God Hates Me I heard of a man who got hit by a train He sat on the track and waited for pain He cried God can’t hurt me! He didn’t understand That the train was pushed by God’s vengeful hand. People these days I heard of a girl who sat in the rain Crying her heart out, praying for pain She cried God can’t help me! She didn’t know That Gods gonna make it rain wherever she goes People these days He was a family man who made no mistakes Until he took all he could feasibly take A man of sorrow who ignored the gospels And scribbles in the sand with his own hand People these days I sat in the park and smiled in vain I knew someone up there was plotting my pain I said Just come and get me I’m not a great believer in fate, me I just know God happens to hate me. People these days

English Gangsters George, the archetype, was out too long He’s gun jammed and then his head slammed Amongst the litter on the pavement He died as he lived With a craving for dangerous entertainment And now in this dingy basement We gather round the snooker table Discussing the way we’ve been labelled We’re not a cancer we won’t hurt you we are the English gangsters the end of tradition table filled with dubious larger men talking about how’s your father it’s been this way for years it started in the playground, giving kids the run-a-round blood for blood, and pound for pound and it ended in a car park our bite no match for our bark with tears around a chalk-mark we’re the end of tradition Kids with dreams to men with ambition We are the English gangsters No need for applause We could frighten with a stare Chase the racey women with lacey underwear Set the pulses racing and take what we need In a time of honour amongst fellow thieves We thrived and ti

Falsetto She’s being the queen with strappy stilettos and tiny handbag She’s strutting through my house like she owns it He’s breaking in like he knows what he means He’s talking to me like he thinks I’m listening They’re kissing like no one can see them They’re smiling like they’ve never been happier I’m despairing quietly by myself I’m crying into my hands You’re looking at me like you know what’s wrong You’re looking at me and bursting into song A high pitched voice Like everything else in this room Falsetto

Walking Under Ladders You’re luckier than some But you’ve lost your charm And that’s all that was keeping you sane And under the gun You pulled the alarm To stay ahead of the game So stop hiding from the black cats They’ll track you down some day And start walking under ladders Because karma makes you pay You’re luckier than some That horseshoe kept close to heart And you’re running away, almost too fast You’re having no fun So go back to the start And stop running from your past So lose that rabbit’s foot And four-leafed weed Start walking under ladders Stop making yourself bleed      

That Violin That violin’s been playing too long, That boring screechy mournful song, Those diamonds have lost their shine, You’ve lost yours and I’ve lost mine, That fire’s not quite burnt out, It’s all kept safely in your eyes. There’s sparkles all about That shimmer I despise Lies hidden and dies. That violin’s all drained of sound now, The player’s dead and in the ground now, No-one played at his wake, Reputation was at stake. That fire’s not quite burnt out, It’s all kept safely in those eyes, There’s money all about, That greed we all despise, Lies with him and dies. That violin lies unused on the corner of my street, Broken strings and broken heart misses every beat, That 50p I threw in his hat Every day and that was that. That fire’s not quite burnt out, It’s kept safely in those eyes, There’s regret all about, Feelings I despise, Remorse never dies.                        

Rubbing Fists   Looking through windows of happy homes Pain shooting through nerves and bones Your own home, windows grotesque No lights and no smiles A sadness seen seeping through tiles A sadness seen that lingers for miles Sisters punished and brothers admonished   No childhood without its terrors But a life of even more suffering Grows around you   Quarrel raging across the table A quarrel for the ages Your mothers face on the table Hidden by hands This is no party, this is no game The father rubs his fists on the tablecloth To hide the nervousness that exists   No childhood without its terrors Watching your father fall apart At the kitchen table   Mother with dry mouth, wrinkled neck Puffy hands, her domestic bliss wrecked Nearly collapsing where she stands As dreams turn into sand   Hide the nervousness that exists By rubbing your fists Monkey see and monkey do   No childhood without its terrors But a life o

  Get your hands away from me   Her smile radiates dark rooms Your eyes signify death and gloom Your youth faded and Intelligence decayed   She says I’m flattered but I am not aroused by Your aging sexless body Get your hands away from me   She says I may be sexually juvenile But you’re outdated and not in style Clinging to dead values Get your hands away from me   She says get your wrinkled hands away from me You’re spitting as you talk and Hobbling as you walk Decrepit and decaying Hips no longer swaying Get your hands away from her Get your hands away from her   When she was at university You were already dreaming of retirement And the lines that you used an age ago Are the lines you still use now You feel so lonely you could die You feel so lonely it’s like you died She says get your hands away from me  

I Need a Rest Car hidden behind curtains of rain So many fake smiles to mask the pain Words said half in childish jest You keep talking but the words mean nothing So shut your mouth and let me recline And list all the failings I know are mine I need a break from all of this I need a rest from all of the stress Acquiesce to the distress Counting stars, drenched and losing belief Covered in apathy with no sign of relief Vacancy in the bedroom Loneliness faces me behind the door So keep your laughter to yourself Shut your mouth I’m getting bored I need a break from all of this I need a rest from all of the stress Acquiesce to the distress The letter that I treasure From the young clever professor Burdened with his farce Parade of unsaid and impure thoughts Looking into the eye of a cave Enslaved to moments of doubt Shut your mouth I need a break from this world I need a rest In the cold your car waits in vain Umbrella to shied from the rain You’re no

Left Behind Leave your bags and Take what you’re wearing Please stop crying The noise in the sky is blaring It’s intensifying Leave your fears and Take your pills Hold your nerve Conserve energy We must leave Alone, we are alone Friends are absent Shut away And taken for granted We must leave Doodlebug emasculation Altercation in the sky Guessing the circulation Never asking why We must leave Passing people Looking at the ground Misery surrounds Throw a blanket over sound We must leave Debris and detritus Absentee detainee We must leave Listen We must leave We have been left behind We have been left behind Take my hand We have been left behind

Brave Man with Sword Oh brave man with sword Did you draw blood or did blood fall on you? Is blood on your hands? Is your soul in pain? Does it swing like you will swing? Oh brave man with sword Have you committed what they say you have? Was it quick and painless? Unlike living If you couldn’t have him then no-one could And that’s why he died that night Oh brave man with sword Was the look he gave you bitter? Did shame accentuate your face? Do you feel disgrace or did the noose loosen? But soon you will swing again Oh brave man with sword Castigated by silent men They judge you day and night The ticks of the clock strike hammers This agony will not pass Oh brave man with sword Oh brave man with sword Will we go the same way? With no final words granted As we look eye to eye with the departed Oh brave man with sword The people that you knew No longer look at you Envious of your choices No decision is yours Free from obligation And free from co