Shadowman

I trusted God to make the right call,
But this isn't what I expected at all...
The marks of my sin just can't be ignored
When the shadowman stands there with fire in his sword.
Light gleams off his darkness and burns through my soul,
Dissecting, inspecting

Yet leaving me whole.
A cross round my neck that was not there before
Had appeared, and that's all that the shadowman saw.
I think of my saviour and call on his name,
And the cross shines brighter than the sword's flame.

Now I see clear in the light of my Lord,
No shade of the shadowman or of his sword
A man softly speaks when he catches my eye:
"If he won't condemn you, then neither will I."

Vampire

Not suitable for children, probably. I mean, I don't know, it really is about a vampire. But it might not be. Um.

I've seen you before,
And I think more and more
That you're different in some way exciting.
Your class and your style
Get to me in a while,
Your deep, warm voice so inviting.

It's a walk in the park,
It's a smile after dark,
It's just the right look in your eye.
The right time, the right place,
The moonlight on your face,
Maybe it's the right time to try.

I make the first move,
But you seem keen to prove
That you want to be in control.
I don't know why,
But it's no good to try
To summon the will that you stole.

You're so gorgeous it scares me,
So intense it tears me,
Should I run and never look back?
There's something not right here.
It shouldn't be night here,
Your kiss feels like an attack.

Passion consumes me,
My love for you dooms me,
You're flawless, but never nice.
I don't try to hide
When I see that inside
You're nothing but poison and ice.

This feels so wrong,
Your arms are too strong,
I can't break away from your hold.
You love me, you take me,
You kiss me and break me,
And now all I feel is the cold.

Do Not Remember Me

Do not remember me when I must leave,
When I've walked the steps of my last living day.
It would break my heart to witness you grieve,
I would want to wipe each of your tears clean away.
So now that the sun of my lifetime has set,
And I wander barefoot in that heavenly glade,
I pray all the swifter for you to forget,
Your pain to soon pass, and your memories fade.
If I've left no legacy to you,
To remember me by now I'm dearly departed,
Have no regret that my years were too few;
For now I've gone home, and I'm just getting started.

Shifting Ground

What happened to the girl I used to be?
I painted the world in black and white.
With an unshakeable policy -
That wrong is wrong and right is right.

But my certainty has faded now,
Lost in the abyss somehow.
Unsure, unsound, I live each day,
In half-beliefs and shades of grey.

I've been compromised by a world of standards
Different from my own, and changing every day.
Is it any wonder that it's all been reduced
To opinions, acceptance, and shades of grey.

Ok, you say, it may be true.
You'll listen and respect my view,
But you won't change your mind at the end of the day,
'Coz you're happy with uncertainty and subtle shades of grey.

Witchery

Essence of sunbeam, oil of love, half a chestnut, one old glove.
Boil until the moon goes red, then add a flea (be sure it's dead).
Wear a silly pointy hat, cackle madly, add a bat.
(By which, I mean the cricket things, not some high-pitched rat with wings.)
By now, if you've done what I said, the stuff should froth and turn bright red.
And so you'll have the perfect brew...
Love and glove and bat flea stew.

Manic Lullabye: Part 2

I woke up from my fearsome dream,
And yelled, in an almighty scream,
“Where is my kipper? Oh my word,
The fish has turned into a bird!”
Leaving its cage, the kipper flew
Straight down Manic Avenue,
And flew into a rusty bike
(Or a park bench, if you like).
This bike - or bench, I don’t mind which -
Threw my kipper in the ditch.

The kipper-fish, whose name was Bob,
Turned into a gooey blob.
I swallowed it (for I had run
After my kipper when it done
That thing, you know, that thing it did),
And then the park bench ran and hid.
(Or wheeled, if, as I suppose,
The bicycle your favour shows.)
Fed up of this crazy tale,
I visited inside a whale.

And Jonah there, inside the belly
Of the whale, (both damp and smelly,
The whale, that is, and Jonah too,
He couldn’t leave to - well, you know.)
So anyway, our Jonah lad
Was pleased to see me, oh, so glad.
The whale too, the happy boy,
Puked up on the beach through joy.
(An experience, I’ll make it plain,
I never hope to have again.)

At this point, I bade him farewell,
For I had heard the dinner bell.
And, in the canteen of the school,
I landed in the swimming pool.
The diving teachers, doing flips,
Were soaking all the students’ chips.
Bored of this noisy, tiresome place,
I jumped and landed on my face
Among the mermaids, on the sand,
In a crazy water-land.

The mermaids, though, were dull and slow,
So I told them I had to go.
So I swam up to get some air -
Just to find it wasn’t there!
Just water, from the ocean floor,
Continuing for evermore!
At this point I began to fret.
Five minutes without breathing yet.
At this point, oh, for goodness’ sake,
I felt myself begin to wake.

My mother said, “Oh darling, please
Lay off of all the late-night cheese!”

The Goblin King

(Warning: a bit creepy. Not suitable for kids, probably.)

Underneath the forest,
In ancient, broken halls,
On a throne of gold and bone
The Goblin King now calls:

“Goblins, goblins, take your knives.
Kill their children, rape their wives.
Burn their houses, steal their bread;
Leave them changeling-childs instead.”

Hamlets, towns and cities
Have felt the bitter sting
Of armies of black goblins
Gathered round to sing:

“Goblins, goblins, take your knives.
Kill their children, rape their wives.
Burn their crops and cattle too,
Since there’s nothing else to do.”

The king left his cavern home
Deep under the ground
To reign upon the surface-land
When he heard this sound:

“Goblins, goblins, take your knives.
Kill their children, rape their wives.
Own the world and all they love,
Come to rule the land above.”