Lamplight

Lamplight reflected in puddles
We walk down these rainwashed streets
The sky is a navy blue dome arching
Over us. We look up. Enraptured
And we savour the silvery

Flavour of the stars. We move on.
Surrounded by city walls. Rats run
Beneath our feet and tramps seek shelter
And hurl a welter of curses at us
As we pass but we pay them no mind

And focus on the road ahead
A smooth black ribbon we trace its curve.
We stand on an arched bridge watching
The river swell and, agile and audacious,
We climb over the wrought iron gates

Of a great stone mansion
We wander through its unlit grounds
While within, in dark chambers,
The wealthy sleep on feather beds
And debutantes weep as stealthily we creep

Across the stone courtyard
Our hopes as high as the owl's cry
For anything is better than nothing
We lie on the damp lawn and we sleep
A sleep as deep as death

The Queen and the Great Revolution

Little empires crumbled
Miniature kingdoms toppled
As the princess became a queen
And men knelt, grovelling
At the feet of this new matriarch
She loved no one but herself
The peasants that lined the roads
Were but money-making machines
Fairy tale figures - Snow White,
Rose Red and Little Red Riding Hood
So pure, so soft, so good
To be trodden underfoot

They threw flowers at the motorcade
A rainstorm of roses aimed at that princess
Her feelings were suppressed
By vodka, vodka, vodka
'She is an angel,' they said
But that was long before
The Great Revolution
When this new Queen dreamed
Of cutting out the tongues
Of rabid republicans
Now she is still the centre of attention
She is still the star of the show.

But she is not adored anymore
And up in that dock she can smell
Her own blood, her own death
And those who once revelled in her grace
Will dance jubilantly,
Madly, on her grave.