Terror by Grant Harbison

Terror thrives

Innocent lives

We want to kill

But the grace we were given is one of free will

Two wrongs have never made a right

History has proved that again and again

Evil is constantly tumbled

Every single empire has eventually crumbled

It may feel now that they have the world at their knees

But evil is just another disease

Religious fanaticism they is say is to blame

Have you forgotten the Irish?

They played the same fucking game

The problem with religion when it’s organised

Is more and more are compromised

Tunnel vision

“The opium of the masses,” said Karl Marx in his crusade against the classes. 

Humble pie by Grant Harbison

She smiled when I walked through the door

A quaint little place I’d visited many times before

“Good evening, sir,” she said. “The usual table?”

“Yes,” I replied. “Thank you, Mabel.”

With that fixed derisory smile

She said, “I haven’t seen you in quite a while.”

I hung my head in shame

And said, “It’s not always easy to take the blame.”

“Yes, that’s quite true,” she told me. “But as long as you realise that the fault lies with you.”

She led me to a table that was totally bare

Situated in the corner with a rickety chair

Devoid of cutlery and bill of fare

And with an inevitable sigh

I ordered a large slice of humble pie

I walk alone by Grant Harbison

I walk alone

Desolate roads so bleak

Resolve diminished

Outlook firmly bleak

He who commands

Don’t think that He understands

Don’t think that He hears

Surely He must recognise anxieties and fears

But still

Those who thrive get the bitterest pill

And those who walk alone

Remain here still

White Slavery by Grant Harbison

So I stole a bit of bread

And the authorities were sayin’…”Hang him till he’s dead!”

It was just a piece and I didn’t need more

I even gave the crust to a needy whore

But mercy was absent on English shore

Their words filled me with dread

I was still a young man and didn’t want to be dead

My punishment was the whip

And then ripped from my family and put on a ship

God, Almighty. No more would I see them or go back to Blighty

Well, that was their way

Us lowers classes didn’t have a say

No say in it

The attitude of the upper class was really quite shit

We arrived

Not many survived

I was angry but I knew that I had to behave

 “You are now in Australia,” they told us when we arrived. “And you’ll be here until your grave!”

It might have had warm and sunny weather

But conditions drove us all to the end of our tether

And just men

Ship loads of them coming again and again

I needed to see a woman

This bloody punishment was completely Inhuman

And then I saw her at the end of the strand

The way that she was gesturing suggested command

Making sure no one was watching me

I wandered up the beach to see

We struggled a bit with communication

But the act of love needs no interpretation

I saw her every now and then

But I never breathed a word to the other men

Because in a land where there’s no escape

Even the good man might consider rape 

The poacher by Grant Harbison

It’s the goodness of my soul that lets you live

But I am not God and I refuse to forgive

For your cruelty I cannot  comprehend

And on the grace of God you can only depend

Our Creator created the animal first

Not a toy for our blood thirst

In the beginning all was good

The hunt for that necessary food

Through time we should have grown

Yet our human existence has shown

When their world we so callously encroach

And when they turn to ours we viciously reproach

And poach

So beautiful is the wild

And so protective is the mother with child

Bleeding

Pleading

For her life and her offspring just to spare

Evil doesn’t care

Poacher raises his gun

Smiles because he is having fun

Subjugation by Grant Harbison

A man

No less

Furtive proclivity

Can’t suppress

A man

No more

Transformed behind the bedroom door

Hetero aberration

Alter ego’s subjugation

Satin and silk

Heels and lace

Cerise lips

And made up face

Perplexity

Desire attests life’s complexity

A contradiction

Compelled to concede to anomalous affliction

Devouring delicate manly pride

With the need to express the feminine side

Choose life by Grant Harbison

I saw her there

Jocular eyes and long dark hair

And that perpetual air of devil may care

I was curious to know what was on her mind

Would she be cruel or would she be kind

Her reaction was not what I anticipated

As I was neither praised nor berated

Instead she offered me her hand

And I grasped it although I didn’t understand

Moments later I gasped in surprise

When I saw my life flash in front of my eyes

For the first time I really saw me

Seeing what I was and what I could be

Suddenly I had the urge to break free

To bask in this joy perpetually

My hopes began to soar

Until she stopped in front of a very large door

And whispered in my ear just before she went through

“First you have to be me before you can truly be you.”