Mary Champion

I had no faith that there was any god,
never mind one who answered our prayers.
But when desperation intrudes, reason
leaves by the back door and you cling to straws.
...

Decades on,
when we meet again,
we will be older,
wiser, but more youthful;
...

Because of you
I burn with fever.
Because of you
my lungs are ravaged.
...

There are rich fertile minds
where ideas can take root,
where intelligence finds
the conditions that suit.
...

Person scanned and scrutinized;
stripped of dignity,
relieved of all potential weapons;
lethal and otherwise.
...

In Eden, the serpent once led us astray,
now Science has given his secrets away,
for, coiled like a snake, in each cell, they say,
the cause of the trouble is our DNA.
...

OSBORNOMICS
2017

Georgy Porgy: Bullingdon guy,
...

Ghosts haunt me.
Wherever I am,
whatever I do,
ghosts lean over my shoulder
...

(Reflections on visiting a National Trust property.
I know that the great country houses and estates are monuments to unjustifiable privilege - often gained by devious means and maintained by unsavoury, even outrageous practices. But I also know, that if I had ever had the good fortune to own one - it would have broken my heart to give it up)
...

Bulbs and buds burst forth
in a sweet refrain of joy.
Spring song sung again.
...

I gave up on religion as a child.
It simply was not good enough.
None of them were good enough.
The gods on offer were so unbending-
...

In the past
there was a girl -
green eyes and auburn hair.
Perfect dream,
...

Black holes grow fatter
on a diet of debris
and neighbouring stars.
...

And when our tears had washed away the blood,
Spain was still in pieces -
Dismembered! Shredded! Disembowelled!
Sharp words on all sides had drowned out reason.
...

You walk among the pigeons
with a grin as wide as Cheshire,
like you just got the cream
or swallowed the canary.
...

Wave the worker's flag.
Savour a glass of merlot.
Think danger, think stop.
...

I've spent half a lifetime
living for what might have been -
half a lifetime chasing an elusive dream.
Treasured memories
...

There's half a world between us, but you're still in my heart.
It sometimes seems, despite the miles, we're really not apart.
But sometimes it seems light -years, Babe, and then I cannot see
How I will ever kiss your lips or hold you close to me.
...

GNOSTIC

Her fleshly prison crumbles around her,
but still holds -
...

It's when the dead demand respect.
This is the night you can expect
the ghouls and ghosts to gather -
behold their deathly pallor.
...