someday

someday soon enough I hope

even as today we sit apart and cope

a day will come when all will be fine

like the hot healing kiss of winter sunshine

a day when we’ll not have to rehearse rhetoric

or defiantly defend our own illogic

no, then we’ll not need to lift our voice

or find victory in the strength of noise

someday, the day will come I’m sure

when for even our hurt, there’ll be a cure

then we’ll speak again like wife and man

like how many moons ago, we once began

hopefully we’ll finish thus; hopefully we’ll end

not just as spouses but as best friends

because we’ve seen so much, you and I

‘tween the unyielding earth and the limitless sky

we’ve grown so much more than just grown old

and through these cracks still shimmers gold

it’s the gleam of love, of delight and of peace

of old photo albums perused on old knees

and so in that hope these lines do I write

wishing that this pen loses ink this night

and that someday without even saying a word

we will be understood, and not just be heard.

ram cobain

cheers

the long day it draws to a close

with dried sweat and aching toes

and as he reaches for a deserving beer

out rolls from his eye a fresh frothy tear

it falls with a plop and not a sound

like a sad feather plummeting to the ground

and as he looks at this drop never a puddle

he grabs his ale in a warm loving cuddle

he raises it and fixes it with a stare

like a thirsty 3-year-old without a care

it gazes back, and maybe even grins

smiles; hey you, we could've been twins

for you’re like me, and I’m like you

we’ve been through worse; how do you do?

ram cobain

the convert

The atheist glared at the sky and yelled

If there be a God, let me be felled

Let the Earth swallow me up whole

Let lightning burn my body to coal

Let this mind of mine lose rational thought

Let plague and disease turn my skin to rot

God heard him and simply kept quiet

Smiled gently and stayed out of sight

But his rant hadn’t fallen on deaf ears

(It was indeed met with the clink of beers)

For later that evening, the Devil dropped by

Said with a devilish laugh and a hell-fiery eye

So lovely that you think the bugger’s a fraud

As the man whispered – save me, good Lord!

ram cobain

phoenix

he stands in front of her bleeding, mauled

bravado broken, from many a fall

and although every inch of his spirit cries

he smiles at her and refuses to die.

ram cobain

ciao

when the good god whispers: the end

this is where you get off, my friend

will your bones tremble just a little

like forgotten firewood cold and brittle

will you beg for some more time

just one more dance in this pantomime

or will you be indignant – you got this wrong

see this muscle it flexes so strong

see this heart sounds like a child’s happy clap

like the heady beat of a chartbusting rap

see how this grin it lights my face

then how can it be the last of my days?

or will you logically try to reason

a decree that’s blasphemy or at least treason

see this obviously must be a clerical error

a mistake that mistakenly doth bring terror

yes the water is rising but it’s far from deep

and there are miles to go before I sleep

or will you continue to coax and cajole

like a deadbeat drunk in a desperate role

like a tyrant toddler throwing a tantrum

alternately angry and alternately glum

or will you offer a warm little hug

a toss of the head, a nonchalant shrug

a tip of your hat as you willingly go

smile and say boss – that was quite a show.

ram cobain

fight

this world sometimes is a cruel place

built more with nights than with days

here goodness oft comes at a price

and pain and suffering oft chase the nice

but all this you must already know

this bitter truth on your face does show

for you too have lived for so many years

washed your eyes with so many tears

yes these shoulders they may groan to bear

this crushing load imposed unfair

but whenever next you feel this way

like a despairing mute with much to say

ask yourself why He didn’t give you wings

(no, not merely so you could hold on to things)

ask yourself why He gave you two hands

(perhaps they were to help you understand)

that see, scrunch those palms and watch the twist

this tale doth bringeth: voila they’re fists!

and this here may only be a hunch

but those hands of yours – they pack a punch

so take the tired tough day on your chin

spit at it, welcome it; don’t lose your grin

for it’s not in justice that the gods delight

but in the man who shows steel for a fight.

ram cobain

come to me

come to me with ardour if you please

I’ll meet you halfway, down on my knees

with a song on my lips and a grin on my face

I’ll play easy to get and cut to the chase

aye come to me with lust if you can

I’ll grab you by your waist and try be your man

with courtesy in my voice and chivalry in my veins

and a vow to be the one who forever remains

yes come to me with honesty if it’s true

in a fragile false world, a real point of view

I’ll match you truth for truth, give you my word

and live up to it like a superstition adhered

why, come to me with a happy little wink

a tease and a dimple to make a heart think

I’ll answer you with a rascal’s devil-may-care

with sweet nothings or maybe just a stare

ah, come to me with a tear in your eye

with a loud aching sob or a soft silent sigh

I’ll sit not still; I’ll sweat the extra mile

to search and surrender to you that lost lovely smile

worst, come to me all helpless and broken

I’ll hear the words that never need be spoken

I’ll be hug and shoulder, bandage and balm

cold water to your fire, all caress and calm

but woe come to me with abuse and rage

like a tyrant with an unjust war to wage

frothing with cruelty, for cruelty’s own cause

like a madman – or madwoman – following own laws

then like a flood in unholy unforgiving spate

you’ll find my love drown you, only now as hate.

ram cobain

love

what to call this murderous game

this poetry of a moth flying to flame

like a fanatic’s hunger in his book

fed by faith and hook or crook

like a suicide seeking a glistening vein

a bathtub brimming with bright red stain

like an echo in a mountainous range

at once familiar, at once strange

like booze, cocaine or any such drug

imbibed easily with barely a shrug

like a child showing off a new big word

something he’s sure you’ve never heard

like a recurrent old forever nightmare

that delights as much as it does scare

like birds to flight and fish to water

and sometimes also like goats to slaughter

we rush to each other broken and bruised

ready for using, ready to be used.

ram cobain

(Pic courtesy https://theunknownleftover.wordpress.com/2018/03/11/moth-to-a-flame/ )

the repartee

frown looked at Smile and said

what’s that growing on your head?

bleak may be my sense of humor

isn’t that bump a malignant tumor

smile laughed aloud a hearty reply

gosh yes, true now that I could die

but long as I show the world my face

isn’t a grin better than a grimace?

ram cobain

sssh

this loud silence it grows like a wall

watered with pain, lonely and tall

it sits between us snug and close

so near you could poke it with your toes

it grins and laughs but doesn’t smile

like an old joke that’s guffawed a while

it speaks for us and says the wrong things

like an angel soaring on monster wings

this loud silence it grows like disease

chomping spitting as it does please

while we sit dead and dying to speak

it grins and laughs and makes us weak

it makes bad worse and worse more grim

like the last burnt match in a night so dim

gleefully it makes us want to be quiet

lest stupid good intent spark a riot

but at the big beautiful cost of being brave

or blind or desperate or even a knave

let me write you here these wistful words

not destined to be spoken or ever heard

that of all the things I ever wanted to do

was most to scream aloud: I love you

ram cobain

heavy

heavier than the iron in a gym

or a whale out for morning swim

heavier than a fat man on your toe

or a stalled car that must uphill go

heavier than a poor country’s debt

or its rich politician’s wallet

heavier than a trophy wife’s ring

or a black man’s big thick thing

Heavier than Joe Frazier’s glove

Or an imbecile slowly going “how?”

the heaviest heavy thing in town

is yes – the weight of your frown.

ram cobain

oh my god!

oh how ominous this warning sign

to say your god is better than mine

to ask a man to mend his ways

merely based on how he prays

to ask him to come back home

by the implore of broken bones

to decide for him what he can eat

and sharpen knives against holy meat

oh how ominous this warning sign

it faces you and you’re the one blind

to see your faith comes not from Him

but from an abyss more dark and dim

your faith comes from a faith in muscle

from violent victory in melee and tussle

now god may exist or exist he may not

but if he were to ever look at this rot

this cruel, unfair, pagan game

played out in his undefended name

this roll of death, rape, pain and plunder

of words and worlds ripped asunder

Would he smile, would be applaud

or would he shriek out, “Oh my god!”

ram cobain

naked

what words ought leave these lips

such that they feel like rain

like hungry happy honey sips

that drink away your pain

eager compliments I’ve tried

that gush like a river in spate

and also the odd surprise
and gestures that carry weight

next I’ve spoken with sense

the sense of a man who’s fair

but quite like a neighbor’s fence

it’s but only cut off our air

and I’ve even also kept mum

through repartees that jump and bay

but that’s made matters more glum

like I’d said all I had to say

but say I will here and now

and this here is my plea

I love you so much, my love

why don’t you, won’t you just see?

ram cobain

walk

how can it be wrong

we’ve ached this road so long

we’ve fought and cried

kissed and sighed

we know each other so well

so i know what you’ll tell

you’ll say, “forget me”

the road’s broken, you see

yes, we feel nice

like a birthday surprise

yes, we both care

but our steps are leading us nowhere

there’s nothing’s ahead

the track’s long dead

it was lost before we walked

empty before we talked

the shine was just a gleam

a sliver of a dream

so we must leave

before either of us believe

that we could be together

for now and forever.

ram cobain