Scents Sand Censor Billy Tea
by KJ Halliday
People are still rushing round
Unaware of what has come down
From the heavens up above
God has sent His only son
Sovereign King of land and sea
The morning rises
Tired of being sick?
Sick of being tired?
Sorrow is a friend of mine
Happy helpful misread signs
Wishing the trains still sounded like that
Now most things are whitewashed
So no one has to view the shame
Strange and angry messages
Etched on
Though so many of them don’t go that way anymore
Please always remember
The shape of the Phillip’s head
Because it put together
Parts of your brand new bed
Made from wood and stone.
The congregation gathered there
Before a shadow of God’s throne.
Mosaic on the floor.
Hard yielded stained glass windows
And an organ by the door.
What has been forgotten?
The simple love and blood of Christ
From Holy top to Holy bottom.
Rule the world
Defend the power
Sweet and sour
Manage taxes
Universities
Simple
Progress! Diversity!
A cheerful economic zone
Everyone is free
Aim to gain your very own
Footnote in history
No longer existing
Their budget is minimal
Their voice unprofitable
Unimportant
Controlled and subdued
The dreaming interrupted by the
A
Recession, recession, recession!
Depression, depression, depression!
A razzed Putin and a curious George Bush
Using the fundamentals of Blues Clues
To Catch a Thief
Howard’s End
Just a marketing tool
Smothered in Chairman Mao BBQ Sauce
If the people want it then it must be good
Corporate Christ save us money
Let us buy shares in your faith!
Guaranteed returns?
144000
Two figures stand next to three rocks
In
With single modern lance
The historical slow dance
As the branches softly sway
A running
To realise simply that none were ever cursed
Because of honesty
Poor yet supposedly possessing a richness
Yet to be fathomed
Friends, still friends, despite never talking
Pondering a prayerful
Progressive rusted saying
Realising nothing
Mesmerising yet changing and pointless
Ever so softly to tame and make your own
Understanding worship
Amounting to silence
A never repetitive truth
Understanding for a moment
Then gone yet always present
An
Delivered by ignorance
Understood by patience
Made in Spirit
Numb numbered world
Numb numbered buildings
Numb numbered girls
Numb numbered depths
Numb numbered numbers
Numb numbered breath
To build with sticks and stones
Other smiling people
Bow down to plastic thrones
Humbled in pure faith
Gently guide their flocks
Away from strange disgrace
Though thoroughly I am lost
There is nothing I can nail
To the sacrifice of the cross
War on prime time slots
Crowds that used to laugh and sing
Can not figure out the plot
Artistic trains of thought
Thank God that latest shipment
Has just sailed into port
They have arrived at last
Now the starving people
Can finally break their fast
Napoleon and holy shrouds
Air bubbles, prayer and faith refused
I love your super magic shoes
Just to twirl and twirl and twirl
Happy story, sad faced girl
Words analysed for posterity
So very helpful
Gods blessing Gods
Upon the perspex altar
Still thank you
Still water
Muted
On the bookcases
Not realising the reflections
Of hopes and achievements
Unbroken
They are distracted and miss
Jesus riding a white bicycle
Towards a broken line
As Saint Michael intercedes
An urgent call on the radio
From Gabriel
Telling Ariel
To get off the roof
A beautiful song
For those that are wronged
Judged without cause
No grace merely haste
Still the flowers of the field
Continue
Upwards
As the measured steps of the selfless
Become the footprints of untold Saints
Jacob playing jump rope with angels
Grass looking on nonchalantly
Rooted to the ground
Nodding at something
The rabbit from Alice’s hole?
Both wary of each other
While occupied lizard sunbakes
On the rock of opinion
Unmoved and warm
Writing about writing should bore the writer
The writing bears the writer
What does the writer bear?
Bear intolerance
Tolerate the intolerable
Bear roams free
Holy tree
Holy three
Holy trinity
Holy infinity
Holy, holy, holy, holy?
Me know Saint?
Saint generic name?
A three tree question
Branching where it will
Always remember to
punctuate
A street
A town
A city
Nations possibility
The easy way to cover suffering
With false peace and prosperity
A child’s view of ‘why?’
Ignored
Drowned out by pessimism
Tiny scrawled words more noticeable
Than giant flashing billboards
As days and calendars become obsolete
The grass still grows
Becomes tall, healthy, strong
Then at the appointed time dies
The dead grass feeding the new
Fragile sprouts of green under brown
The wall that it is next to remembers
Scratches covered in barely legible writing
Meaning and purpose for the one who wrote it
Nonsense to others
As the next day a bucket of white paint
A stiff brush and an honest working man
Erase the memories on the wall
The M.A.D rush to build a new Babylon
Bigger and better with more straight edged
corners
Never any love there
Positions to be filled
Filled in different positions
Sense of money
The forgotten scents of wild honey
A devourer and destroyer
Has itself a top flight lawyer
Stretched tightly over
The spirit of the world
Starving. Gasping for air.
Water… water… water! Thirsty filthy water
An unquenchable feeding
With food locked behind
Tiny black and white bars
Red eyed flights, red eyed reading
All that was soft and peaceful
Is bleeding…
Wandering stars go where they will
Those flowers on your window sill
Are where they are supposed to be
You’re so far away across the sea
A sitting soul lost all alone
Never smiling, lying prone
Spotting angels in the ether
Unaware the saddened sleeper
Just to travel here and there
Flying gently past somewhere
Lost forever on a journey
Never knowing
Sweet home yearning
Stay among the lovely things
Hope one day the phone will ring
When the soft haired woman sings
‘I will take your golden ring’
A sleeper woken
Yoke is broken
Was the nightmare so unspoken?
When the soft haired woman sings
‘I will take your golden ring’
The dry, the wet, the silent night
Love travelled far from parched earth’s sight
To seek the flowing greener places
Far away from one most gracious
Still your heart and clear your mind
Incense burning for some time
The love you have has overcome
All things that walk under the sun
A land to love in secret
Broken bottles through the trees
Watching water levels fall
Only slightly free
An obvious reaction
The long seasons stay in place
The rain rolls over all of us
In a patient ancient race
Perhaps all of these places
Cared for in different ways
Will be carefully and gently
Washed clean once again
Series written and copyright to KJ Halliday.
