Desiderata, or was it Kahlil Gibran
Or Jonathon Livingston Seagull
In an airport lounge
Durban or Dublin or Donegal
Where does the money come from to bless all
The pontiff’s men, here today with crocodile shoes
Good news if you are on their side
Stood or standing ten feet tall
Otherwise, with the underbelly of truth
You’d better start, with heart strings felt
To sing
Of the slaves, sing those sorrowful songs, the blues
Today they took me on at college
And I so so nearly did not go
An old fool with too long whiskers
The man I’d come to know
Thankfully; without a hint
Of church or grace, but no, not in any doubt
Thanks to a bit of Zen and the songs
Of Mr Cohen and Dame Vera Lynn
I turned myself, to sing again
With wonder
What shall I hear now, here for my mother
Undone by the scales
And wary of my welcome up above
It as to be the water, not the wine
Without though the need of the numbness
Of my more unfortunate snake-skin brothers
