Fighter

You think you're ugly
that your body is gross
you don't seem to realise
how beautiful you are

you don't know quite
how much you can survive
you deal with the pain
and take it in your stride

you never can see
your true reflection
you see a monster staring back
as you gaze in the mirror

you self destruct all over
again and again
never pausing to pat
yourself on the head

you deserve some credit
love and tender care
take my hand, look at me
I'll take you there.

Monsters

The monsters aren't fake
for your they're rather real
they're the sadness in you heart
and the pain that you feel

they hide under your bead
and come out at night
baring their sharp teeth
and put up a fight

they aren't ogres
snakes or ghosts
they're the darkness in your soul
the people who hurt you the most

they're your reflection in the mirror
your self confidence inside
all of the flaws
you try so hard to hide

the emotional scars
and red on your skin
trying to infect
your mind within.

Emergency Calls

I never did find out

What happened to the bloke

Who called me from a building

Burning, filled with smoke.

The woman who was crying

As her husband’s heart gave in

Or the little girl whose body

Was now wearing thin.

The elderly woman

Who’d fallen from her bed

The girlfriend’s boyfriend

With a gunshot wound to his head.

The sixteen year old sobbing

After taking thirty pills

The guy on the bridge

Because he couldn’t pay his bills.

I think of them at night

As I snuggle with my wife

I wonder if they’re dead

Or if they have survived.

I don’t know how they’re doing

I don’t know if they’re fine

But that’s enough from me

There’s someone on the line.

Missing You

It’s really only a delusion

Built up by my mind

As it searches for good memories

Which are quite hard to find

What am I really missing?

The hope that you will change?

Or perhaps the extra money

And I guess that seems strange

Because missing you is not

As simple as it seems

‘Cause you always caused me pain

And shattered my fragile dreams

I will learn to miss you

And when nostalgia takes hold

I’ll be reminded of the words

You said to turn me cold.

Eulogy Of Truth

It’s funny how when

Someone we know dies,

They’re labelled as a hero

And built up in our eyes.

No-one is perfect

It’s a well-known fact,

But it’s as if when we die

All the living make a pact

To rose tint your life

And polish it till it shines,

Forget about your flaws

Mistakes and parking fines.

When you hear on the news

Of a young lad’s sudden death,

They cut out the convictions

Of GBH and theft.

“He was a smashing lad”

The neighbours will say,

Although he started fires

And beat up all the gays.

Uncle Thomas was a legend

Strong, kind and very tough,

But he had a drinking problem

And hit his wife, who was up the duff.

My mother was an angel,

A selfless caring soul

But fucking up her children

Was her lifetime goal.

My husband was a fighter,

A clever smiling guy

But he left me with two kids

A stack of bills and no goodbye.

Auntie Pamela

Will be dearly missed,

But she spent half her life

In pubs getting pissed.

We’re warping fact and fiction

When the eulogy is read,

It’s often a pack of lies

But don’t speak ill of the dead.

Men Are From...

Mars and women

are from Venus.

Women break down and cry

and men pretend they don’t.

Women hold their pride in

handbags and shoe collections

so men believe they are shallow, when in fact

women are deeper than the

ocean. Yet men don’t know

how to navigate the choppy

waters of a woman’s mind.

Women don’t say what they think

They lie, they cry, they try not to die

in this man’s world.

Watching The Waves

As I stare at the washing waves

the heavy clouds drift past,

the sky is so dangerously dark.

It has never looked this dark

in all of my past, but still

the waves carry on slashing the shore.

They spit at the dark sky

clouding my view, teasing my eyes, they wave

goodbye, in a mournful dance, as they roll past me.