Category: Uncategorised

BROTHERS IN ARMS

Lads from the suburbs, lads from the slums,
Poor boys and chaps with mouths full of plums.
Boys from the cities, boys from the farms…
Dress em’ in green and they’re Brothers in Arms.

Men with diplomas and men with degrees,
Boys who left school with no GCEs.
Men of distinction, men from the Dole,
They’re Brothers in Arms from the day they enrol.

Men from the North and boys from the South,
Those born with a silver spoon in their mouth
Those who were dragged up and had Bugger All…
Brothers in Arms when they’re backed to the wall.

Brawlers, smokers, gamblers and drinkers,
Scholars, academics and thinkers.
The opinionated and those on the fence…
Brothers in Arms when they’re sharing a trench.

The hard as nails and the meek as lambs,
The ‘live-by-the-rules’ and the ‘don’t-give-a-damns’
Defiant rebels and those who conform…
Brothers in Arms in a uniform.

Shy boys, wide-boys, straight men and wags,
Doctor Martens and Oxford bags.
Manicured nails and calloused palms…
The day they enlist they are Brothers in Arms.

The casually dressed and the smartly apparelled,
The common-of-name and the double-barrelled;
Bloggs and Henderson-Farquhar…
Brothers in Arms when they’re stood at the bar.

Page Three voyeurs and Telegraph Readers,
Handsome ‘Divils’ and Ugly Bleeders.
The ‘daft-as-brushes’, the erudite,
Brothers in Arms at the heart of the fight.

Those that follow and those that lead,
Those who aid and those who impede.
The loners and those that cling tight to the bunch…
Brothers in Arms when it comes to the crunch.

The ‘sit-back-and-watchers’ the ‘movers-and-shakers’
The natural born killers, the bluffers & fakers.
The ‘up-for-the-fight’ and the ‘heavy-at-heart’…
Brothers in Arms when hostilities start.

The Homeboy, the Ex-Pat
From Hattersley to Medicine Hat.
From the Straits of Gibraltar to the White Cliffs of Dover,
Brothers in Arms the world over.

As years go by and life moves on,
They’ll leave their comrades one by one.
To return to the cities, the towns and the farms,
But they’ll never forget their Brothers in Arms.

                                     ~

Copyright©Mac McFadden 2009

Droning On

A drone flew through my window, whilst I was sitting on the po
It buzzed about and then buzzed off, why it chose me – I do not know
I sat there taken by surprise, and as it hovered near my face…
My intimacy was compromised … I hoped it had no memory space!!

It’s a sign of the times when technology can now invade your privacy…
Fly round your bum (and excuse the pun)… wipe away your dignity!
George Orwell wasn’t completely true when he wrote 1984…
Its not Big Brother watching you… it’s the little geek on the 18th floor!

Copyright(c)Mac McFadden 2017

GOODBUY T’ JANE

I was in the epicentre of the land of self pity
That masquerades as our capital city.
Where smog is the only respite from pollution.
And the men who drive cabs have defied evolution.

When I wandered ad-hoc into a bar,
Where the suited, booted and ooh-la-di-da,
Were crowing, blabbering, guffawing and bluffing;
Stilettos and cufflinks bragging of nothing.

To blend myself in I decided to fritter,
Four-pounds-fifty on a flat pint of bitter.
From a grumpy barperson who stank of smoke,
Looked like a woman but spoke like a bloke!

In this crowded bar I was stood all alone
With a pint as flat as my mobile phone.
I was all-but ready to head through the door,
To my hotel room on the 20th floor,

Then I looked to my left and the sight I saw…
Made my heartstrings send out overture…
Such a captivating, beautiful face,
A smile so bright you could see it from space.

Bedazzling dress sense, an Angel’s hair,
And an aura that cried out ‘Romantics beware!’.
She was a stunner, a siren, a paragon of glamour…
My heart beat against my chest like a hammer.

My heartbeat hit a peak – as I heard her speak…
Her accent sent me weak at the knees…
“Erm…can Oi ‘ave a Tequilla Sunroise please?”
On the spot I was smitten, completely beguiled…

She noticed me staring and giggled then smiled…
“Excuse me aw kid would yow watch me bag?…
Om goona nip owtsoid for a fag!”
So I guarded her bag and warmed my hands on my beer…

…After 5 minutes that felt like a year…
A fanfare played and she floated back…
And said, “Moi nime’s Jane” … and I gulped… ‘I’m Mac’…
She said ‘Cum on aw kid grab ya beer – there’s 2 seats free just over ‘ere’

Suddenly my night was ignited,
Pumped up from deflated straight into delighted.
It was love at first sight, right from the start,
My flames of passion had started to smoulder…

This Black Country Beauty had captured my heart…
With the mother-tongue of… Noddy Holder!
She was so down-to earth; so witty and gamine.
In under an hour Oi was yowin’ n’ yammin!

As she sipped her cocktail and crunched a pork scratchin’…
My pulse gained pace and my love-eggs were hatchin!
So we sat together till closing time…
Then she smiled and said… “Wanna cum bak to moin?… If ya loik Oi cud open a bottle o’ woin!’

As the cab crawled along I was floating on air…
And when we got back to her flat… a one bed roomed affair!!…
She purred in a voice… as soft as silk…
“Would yow loik some Liebfraumilk?”

In her lounge; softly painted in light shades of pastel,
We sipped Blue Nun and got merrier… and merrier…
Directly beneath a ‘shroin to Jeff Astle’…
With my face getting licked by her Stevie Bull Terrier!

And as our eyes blurred then crossed… my heart took a fall…
And landed head over heels in Walsall!
When I woke (on the couch!), it was morning and light…
And this Black Country Beauty had vanished from sight…

Just a note saying “Gone t’ work aw kid”.
I hoped to see her again; but I never did.
I rushed off to work with my head in a mess…
No mobile number or email address.

I can’t find her flat, though I’ve searched wide and far…
And I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been back to that bar.
So ‘Jane’ if you’re out there, I’d like you know…
Even though it was such a long time ago…

What a bostin noight I had with ‘yow’…
I still hope that we’ll meet up again somehow.
Yow captured my heart and my only refrain…
Is that I never did get the chance to say ‘Gudbuy t’ Jane’.

~
Copyright©Mac McFadden 2010