Gil had the blues

                    RIP, Gil Scott-Heron.

"Whitey on the Moon"                             

A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face and arms began to swell.
(and Whitey's on the moon)
I can't pay no doctor bill.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
Ten years from now I'll be paying still.
(while Whitey's on the moon)
The man just upped my rent last night.
('cause Whitey's on the moon)
No hot water, no toilets, no lights.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
I wonder why he's upping me?
('cause Whitey's on the moon?)
I wuz already paying him fifty a week.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Taxes taking my whole damn check,
Junkies making me a nervous wreck,
The price of food is going up,
An' as if all that shit was't enough:
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face and arm began to swell.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
Was all that money I made last year
(for Whitey on the moon?)
How come there ain't no money here?
(Hmm! Whitey's on the moon)
Y'know I just about had my fill
(of Whitey on the moon)
I think I'll send these doctor bills,
Airmail special
(to Whitey on the moon)

....

love real love adrift

      Empathy                                                

My love, I’m grateful tonight
Our listing bed isn’t a raft
Precariously adrift
As we dodge the coast-guard light,

And clasp hold of a girl and a boy.
I’m glad that we didn’t wake
Our kids in the thin hours, to take
Not a thing, not a favorite toy,

And we didn’t hand over our cash
To one of the smuggling rackets,
That we didn’t buy cheap lifejackets
No better than bright orange trash

And less buoyant. I’m glad that the dark
Above us, is not deeply twinned
Beneath us, and moiled with wind,
And we don’t scan the sky for a mark,

Any mark, that demarcates a shore
As the dinghy starts taking on water.
I’m glad that our six-year old daughter,
Who can’t swim, is a foot off the floor

In the bottom bunk, and our son
With his broken arm’s high and dry,
That the ceiling is not seeping sky,
With our journey but hardly begun.

Empathy isn’t generous,
It’s selfish. It’s not being nice
To say I would pay any price
Not to be those who’d die to be us.

                            A E Stallings

...

like kissing with the mind

Come hither, shepherd swain      (Fond Desire)

      [song lyrics - to be performed by two singers]

Come hither, shepherd swain!
  Sir, what do you require?
I pray thee show to me thy name;
  My name is Fond Desire.

When wert thou born, Desire?
  In pride and pomp of May.
By whom, sweet boy, wert thou begot?
  By fond conceit men say.

Tell me who was thy nurse?
  Fresh youth, in sugar'd joy.
What was thy meat and daily food?
  Sad sighs and great annoy.

What had'st thou then to drink?
  Unfeign'd lover's tears.
What cradle wert thou rocked in?
  In hope devoid of fears.

What lulled thee to thy sleep?
  Sweet thoughts that liked one best.
and where is now thy dwelling place?
  In gentle hearts I rest.

Doth company displease?
  It doth in many one.
Where would Desire then choose to be?
  He loves to muse alone.

What feedeth most thy sight?
  To gaze on beauty still.
Whom find'st thou most thy foe?
  Disdain of my good will.

Will ever age or death
  Bring thee unto decay?
No, no, Desire, farewell;
  A thousand times a day.

The, Fond Desire, farewell;
  Thou art no mate for me;
I should be loathe, methinks, to dwell
  With such a one as thee.

                                           Earle of Oxenforde

                                                    Edward de Vere 











....

a mere glimpse of the stars in 19th century russia

             MY FACE TURNED UPWARDS

My face turned upwards to the sky
One summer night I lay upon some hay
A lively close-knit starry chorus 
Was flickering all around.

The mute earth, nebulous and dreamlike,
Rushed off without a trace
And I, like Eden's first inhabitant,
Faced night's gaze all alone.

Was it I hurtling into midnight's depths
Or was it crowds of stars that hurtled toward me?
It seemed as if a mighty palm
Held me suspended over the abyss.

And with a heart confused and stunned 
I cast my gaze into the depths,
Whence sinking every moment deeper,
I never will return.

                A. A.  Shenshin

.......