MARK ANDREW HEATHCOTE

 

Returning Home Safely

Isn't Nontrivial

 

The wheels on the bus there

all flat bust

all flat bust

all flat bust

the wheels on the bus there

all flat bust

because some 'evil wacko' went nuts.

 

The people on the bus there

all dead or dying

all dead or dying

all dead or dying

the people on the bus there

all dead or dying

those who spoke to the media said it was horrifying.

 

The driver on the bus is crying

in Beersheba, Israel

in Beersheba, Israel

in Beersheba, Israel

the driver on the bus is crying

in London's Tavistock Square

he said a life without limbs isn't just anti-personnel.

 

Witnesses reported seeing 'half a bus flying through the air.'

In London's - Tavistock Square.

In London's - Tavistock Square.

In London's - Tavistock Square.

Witnesses reported seeing 'half a bus flying through the air.'

Where there were half as many killed as in Beersheba, Israel.

Where a memorial stands for a hundred dead isn't nontrivial.

 

Life freedom of speech isn't nontrivial

returning home safely

returning home safely

returning home safely

isn't nontrivial, neither is life, the right to live

the right to return home safely

freedom of speech isn't nontrivial;

these people wanted to live.

 

Mission Accomplished

 

Mission accomplished

let's love one another

sister and brother

mother and father

mission accomplished

let's love one another.

 

Freedom fighter

rabble-rouser inciter

mission accomplished

let's love one another

mission accomplished

let's love one another.

 

Chaplain and preacher

terrorist and missionary worker

mission accomplished

the war is now over

mission accomplished

there's nothing left to fight over.

 

Every stone has been turned over

there's not a shadow left to smoulder

there's not a crossing blade of light

to fight back against this eternal night

mission accomplished

let's love one another.

 

Let's turn over the ashes

and remember the fire

of our teary eyelashes 

let's remember the pyre

mission accomplished

let's love one another.

 

Mission accomplished

let's love one another

mission accomplished

let's love one another

where did all those people go

once they roamed everywhere

much like buffalo?

 

Mission accomplished

let's love one another

sister and brother

mother and father

mission accomplished

Let's love one another once again.

 

Mission accomplished

let's love one another

freedom fighter

rabble-rouser inciter

mission accomplished

let's love one another once again.

 

I guess I must be dreaming.

no one is crying

no one screaming

no one is killing.

 

I guess I must be dreaming.

Mission accomplished

let's love one another once again.

Do you get to feel the healing, too?

 

In The Aftermath Of A Death

There Is Life

 

In the aftermath of a death, there is life.

Bereavement shall pass like a dark cloud

here chinks of scarlet yellow will knife-

sharp bayonets at all those still endowed.

 

To live on and sadly to move on orphaned.

Inconsolably grieving heart grief-stricken.

Here the yoke of their eyes, ghostly almond--

shaped look on squinting after action.

 

Full of hope—yearn to build a new future

a cathedral or mosque and plough an old shire

in the aftermath of death, their eyes burr

with burning steel - skylines all might admire.

 

Theirs is the will of freedom won, hard-fought

by the grave seed called—forget-me-not.

 

One Dark Stand

 

One dark stand against the world

can light up and ignite the universe.

The voice of change for justice

is fierce; unafraid it can't-be-coerced

it strikes fear in evil men's stomachs.

 

One dark stand against the world

can lead the enslaved to freedom

break the chains that bind the unbeaten

and lead us all to a midnight vigil

and all it takes is 'one individual.'

 

A Sea Of Senseless Victims

 

Sent into waves under a litmus blue moon,

The sea came ashore. It lapped at their feet

but wanted more. It wanted their homes, our freedom

Its stay was short, but who could save them or us

Since its occupation, when it's ordered in

By warring nation's tanks & killing machines.

 

It makes every greedy beggar of life bleed,

Bleed for more.

It makes every nonviolent pacifist man seethe,

Seethe, for even less.

 

Puts all the wilting flowers to bed, dying

Early, returning drowning in their graves

They're dying young, not old.

Before they've got a chance to procreate themselves,

Do seeds like these blue forget-me-nots now-then-just rot?

They'll be long-forgotten by war-mongering men, often rotten.

 

MARK ANDREW HEATHCOTE

 

MARK ANDREW HEATHCOTE is an adult learning difficulties support worker. He has poems published in journals, magazines, and anthologies online and in print. He resides in the UK and is from Manchester. Mark is the author of “In Perpetuity” and “Back on Earth,” two books of poems published by Creative Talents Unleashed.