Jubal's poems

[Jubal]

If I knew, the second last line would be in the past tense. 

That was more a stylistic exercise in snowball poetry anyway, it means more or less nothing. Sadly.

[comrade_general]

Nothing? I've been pondering over the meaning of it all day. It's been driving me insane!

OK not really.

[Andalus]

I think it means something and I like it.

[Jubal]

Economics

Homes that aren't homes,
Gutted tortoise shells now.
As a lone old man looks on with gnarled, knotted brow.
Factories silent,
No cars on the road,
Bar a single ford escort, starting to corrode.

It isn't our bad luck, nor caused by our faults
We watch - just watch, as the numbers waltz.

A whirlwind of dead leaves
Careers down the street,
Picking up fag-ends and wrappers from sweets,
And the relics of the land,
That we saved in our wars,
Are mere litter, and wondering what it was all for.

And as fate grimly spins her wheel,
Watch - just watch, as the numbers reel.

We can still wait for waiting,
And look up to the sky
We can still hope for hope, or still hope to die.
We can pray to the gods,
Who, in suits and on screens,
Command dancing numbers, which dance on our dreams.

And we can only sit, in a deathly trance,
And watch - just watch, as the numbers dance.

[Andalus]

Good one, though some sad truth there. And perhaps a spot of sarcasm?

[Jubal]

Pearl-Thoughts
A thousand pearls surround me,
A million stars and candle-lights
Cloaked in stone and flesh and steel,
They haunt their cases, ghosts and wights.

A darkness falls upon the world,
A hope returns then slips away,
Masked enigmas pass me by,
And will do, each and every day.

The silence of a human voice,
Written tracts to please the blind.
We scrabble for the pearls within
In hope we'll see another's mind.

[Jubal]

Queen of Summer
My love is queen of summertime,
My love is queen of spring,
Of autumn leaves and winter snows;
Would that I were their king.

Spring buds bring hope and white cascades
Of blossom for her hair,
And birds to sing her melodies,
And breezes in the air

Summer brings the golden sun
That shines to light her way,
And green-leaf canopies, to shade
Her from the heat of day.

Autumn's court has dead-leaf thrones
And bare the realm now looks,
As songbirds leave, a harsher song,
Is croaked by crows and rooks

Winter's kingdom comes the last
The ground turns into steel,
Until the thaw, for then, once more,
The seasons start their reel.

My love is queen of summertime,
My love is queen of spring,
Of autumn leaves and winter snows;
Would that I were their king.

[comrade_general]

That was nice.

[Jubal]

Solitude
The softness of a willing hand
Or, at least,
Half-willing, and
Hopeful that the dawn will never break
Hopeful that the dream will never end
And its dreamers never wake.

Hope? It seems unfair to have to now
But Hope, somewhere behind a knotted brow
Sits holding hands with Memory
The past and present then entwined
They eat of a forbidden tree

Memory smells of the east
Soft but heady
The senses feast
As long-lost hopes
Like fiddle tunes
Then play across a distant sea
And memories
Of might have beens
Will dance and play
Like autumn leaves
Of laughing voices
Climbing trees
Tangled arms
And legs and knees

Then vision fades; truth, at last revealed,
Dispels the magic, casts away the shield,
To leave a solitude that cannot die,
To leave only the black beauty of despair,
And the bleakest thought; to live without a lie.

[Jubal]

Jack Of All Trades

They called him Jack, a roving blade,
The man who plied a thousand trades,
With sword and ploughshare, pick and spade,
He travelled all of England.

Young Jack was first a farming lad,
But all his efforts soon went bad,
His plough broke and his hands grew sore
So Jack gave up and went to war.

Bold Jack was then a soldier man
Who marched off at the king's command,
To Naseby where one foggy day,
All the king's men fled away

So Jack went working down a mine
With pick and shovel, gold to find
But then the cave roof tumbled down
So Jack gave up and went to town

Butcher, baker, potter, too;
Cobbler of leather shoes
All these and more Jack tried in vain
'til he gave up and went home again.

So come and listen all of ye
To why like young Jack you should be
Though his tale ends where he'd begun
And off all trades he'd mastered none.
For though they all called Jack a fool,
The rover smiled and kept his cool,
And then he laughed, for he was wise;
The fool's he who in sorrow lies.

[Andalus]

Excellent!

[Jubal]

Thanks! I'm sorting out paper so I'm typing in a couple of things to decrease the amount I need to bother filing. 

This one's not that good I think, but I may as well write it out anyway.

Maundy Thursday
Oh, weeping willow
Don't weep 'til you die
I'll make you proud 'neath a foreign sky
Oh, weeping willow
Don't weep and don't cry
I'll be home on Maundy Thursday

I'll fight dragons in Norway
And Turks on crusade,
Board ships when at sea
And then storm barricades,
I'll soon return, dear, but I cannot stay,
For I have been ordered to soon march away

Oh, weeping willow
Don't weep 'til you die
I'll make you proud 'neath a foreign sky
Oh, weeping willow
Don't weep and don't cry
I'll be home on Maundy Thursday

I'll win all my battles,
I'll wear coats of red,
And I'll wrestle a lion
And bring you its head;
Come my dear one, and please weep no more
The recruiter is stern and he stands at the door

Oh, weeping willow
Don't weep 'til you die
I'll make you proud 'neath a foreign sky
Oh, weeping willow
Don't weep and don't cry
I'll be home on Maundy Thursday

And if I die, my final
Commandment to you
Is to love your next love well,
Be honest and true;
I'll come and kiss you if I am so blessed,
If not then be glad, love, for I am at rest.

[Jubal]

Winterfell Lullaby

Don't fret about life, dear,
For life's not that long,
But live whilst you can
And do right and no wrong
It's a dark and a cold night out here,
And winter is coming, my dear.

So look to the sky, love,
And look to the wall,
Cherish each moment,
For the snow may soon fall,
You'll learn what to love, what to fear,
For winter is coming, my dear.

Don't give up your sword,
And don't give up the fight.
For even in winter,
Hope brings its own light.
Stand firm as despair shakes her spear,
For winter is coming, my dear.

So my darling dear,
We'll be safe and warm.
I'll hold you til' morning,
Away from the storm.
For it's a dark and a cold night out here,
Yes, winter is coming, my dear.

[Silver Wolf]

Love it.

Reminds me of The Game of thrones. Perhaps because of "winter is coming" reference.

[Jubal]

Yes, it's basically the sort of thing I imagine the Starks would use as a lullaby.