Blackened cloud, torrential rain
A flood of cheerful dripping splashed
To irrigate our thirsty plain
And water lawns where drought had lashed
To prickly desert once again
Verboten hosepipe, coiled and dry
Now stretch the root and drink it down
This manna falling from the sky
So all may see how Fortune vaults
And stamps her foot at those who’d planned
To sell this Earth, the very salt
That makes our verdant, pleasant land
I looked at my options
The horoscope clear
To see what would happen
This time ev’ry year
I don’t mind explaining –
I wasn’t too sure
On further inspection
I liked what I saw
The dreary elastic
Of drudgery hung
It seemed something drastic
Was needed to run
In other directions
And change what I saw
Before our forever
Resembled a chore
Down tools and hurry
Toward the front door
Before there’s a flurry
Of ‘phonecalls once more
Yes, make your escape
While the getting is good
Or risk staying late
Work more hours than you should
A choral sound still echoes
Soft through dusty, darkened nave
Cathedral of my mind now empty
Hollow of those souls I’ve saved
Hallowed was the path they’d tread
Without infernal litanies
Pity, moved by mouths we fed
Self-referential liturgies
And as the candles dribble flat
Upon the chilly stones beneath
I recollect what thoughts grew fat
As mourners laid their threaded wreath
Old bodies plump with hoarded pride
To know their lives were meaningful
Expressions rapt, ears open wide
Intent on straining moral gruel
Our simple kindness passing fair
Gives voice to what they call divine
With dissonance to clear the air
When all they taste is bread and wine
And as we pass from Earthly grace
To twist and shout in crypts below
I lay my blessings on this place
At this, the ending of the show
Tinkle on the ivories
You’re waiting in the wings
Listening as others wheeze
The skinny croaker ‘sings’
She got the job through hours spent
Mouth open, on her knees
Her sound resembles native Kent
While dulcet tones that please
You warble on, just marking time
Stood, shuffled to one side
The notes that soar not hers, but mine
A gift they chose to hide
So as dramatic climax nears
On anorexic face
Fat lady singing through the tears
While mask remains in place
Katherine Shirley 