A Hard Rain Poetry Series Showcase from Mark Andrew Heathcote

Bio 

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.

Empty minds filled with pride

Empty minds filled with pride
Naked-to-a-suit, 
Blown up without good cause.
See their body's falling
In a blood-scared land of fear
See their body's falling
Hear them call. 

Hear them calling
'Who's the master' of my fate?'
And why do I wait?
And why do I want 
And why do I wait?
And why do I want to die? 

Oh, and bring me a white flag
To wash the blood from my face
And bring me a virgin of saving grace
And let love be the price.
I said, Let love be the price.
Oh, let love be the price for peace.

But their bodies keep-on-falling
Like seeds to the ground
But those seeds will never sow. 
Those seeds will never grow.
Life is what you make of it.
So don't go breaking...
Your dreams of love
Your dreams of love.

Bob Dylan / U2 inspired 

I'm a drifter

I'm a drifter.
I'm a drifter.
I'm a drifter, and I keep walking.
And no one ever waits for me.
 
I slipped through many back alleys.
And I've tangled with many stray cats.
But I've always remained civilised.
Well perhaps
 
And even though I've always longed to be free
I wouldn't mind just once.
Staying until the dawn light with you
 
I'm a drifter.
I'm a drifter.
I'm a drifter, and I keep walking.
And no one ever waits for me.
 
Oh, I don't mean to be disrespectful.
But you aren't the one for me.
I'm dishevelled, and I'm like tumbleweed.
 
And you are divine and shouldn't want me.
Darling, steer clear and dry that tear.
I may be back next year.
 
Oh, I'm a drifter.
I'm a drifter.
I'm a drifter, and I keep walking.
And no one ever waits for me.

Thanks for the work today, lord

Thanks for the work today, lord
Thanks for the full tank of fuel.
The toil that keeps the wolf from the door
Today I don't need a mote.
A drawbridge to be drawn
 
Thanks for the work today, lord
The seed bread someone made with love.
The mockingbird has no more stories to tell.
The dewdrop on the breeze that falls in the well
The flowers on a bean cane are still growing strong.
 
Thanks for the work today, lord
Thank you for our children in a warm fleece.
That broth of stewed chicken
That hand in a glove
That enters the linked fingers of mutual love.
 
Thanks for the work today, lord
Thanks for this room with a roof and all four walls.
But most of all, 
Thanks for the work today, lord
Please don't let me be late.
Please, God bless, don't let the mockingbird laugh.
And tell stories about me.
Be thankful until you go, 
Be thankful until you go, 
Be thankful until you go to sleep.
And He has harvested your soul with the snow.

I am bonded to your love

I am bonded to your love.
A slave is I in this daily toil.
Shackled to your unbending will
I follow you like a serpent.
Chasing its elongated shadow
I, who no longer wish to live.
Cloudlike blocking out the sun.
My soul is as empty as a granary.
Waiting for a grain of truth to sprout
It is here lingering, I postulate.
My beginnings - meaning, 
My whole existence, my eventual end.
How you have restored me to me
Time and time again, noting my demise 
When I was lost, you showed me the way.
Hope is what restores me even now.
Even now, when I am fumbling alone, 
Thrown out of human forms of love, 
I have a love, divine. Waiting for me, I am sure.
I am sure you are the key to unlocking even more.

I would give my life to understand

I would give my life to understand
How the oak tree made its monumental stand
And yet, still, it vanished-
Without as much as a grain of sand.

I would give my life to grasp
How do snakes such an asp? 
Compel you to love them too.
Make them part of your creation.
Your needlecraft 'is no wonder they bask.'

I would give my life to comprehend.
Why a spider climes to ascend
And yet, she is guided by the wind.
With an invisible hand, a purpose to extend.

I would give my life to apprehend
Where the same wind came and went
Why does it sometimes whistle? 
And other times murmur as a lover debased or blessed.

I would give my life to understand.
I would give my life to grasp.
I would give my life to comprehend.
I would give my life to apprehend
But then I had you, and you aren't dust.

Brother Luscious

Ah, brother Luscious is playing with the dead.
His tears are rolling from his worried mind.
Because he doesn't understand all he can see.
His toys are tanks and military war dreams.
Killing machines, you know, the kind. 'Poison to the mind.'
But he didn't realise all these bleared lines
They are not all lies; they are playthings made to kill us, too.
One and all.
 
January's full moon is known as the Wolf Moon.
Tonight, it's glowing red with the open caskets of the dead.
But now, brother Luscious, it's time for bed.
Don't you worry, your head? 
The Victors are waving flags and pronouncing
They've saved the world for me and you.
 
Brother Luscious, today we're blessed.
Forget about all the rest.
Brother Luscious, today we're blessed.
Our nation frees the righteous and the oppressed.
Brother Luscious, today we're blessed.
No bombs will wake us up from our sleep.
Brother Luscious praises the Lord.
There are no slag-heaps of dead limbs around you or me.
Brother Luscious, today we're blessed.
Forget about all the rest.
It's only earthly toys today, I guess.
So brother Luscious feel blest tonight.
Brother Luscious, whose name means light? 
God bless and goodnight, one and all.
Peace be with you.

It's an SOS of a kind

It's a calming wave, loving you.
It's a lifejacket holding your hand.
Oh, I'm so glad I'm nearing the coast shore.
And the tide is pulling me back home.
 
It's a raft I must guide
Ride out the breakers
Ride out the waves.
By heading on at full speed, head first.
 
It's an SOS of a kind.
You never wanted to survive.
You never wanted to be rescued.
It's an SOS of a kind.

You never wanted to be told.
Bad weather lies ahead of you.
It's an SOS of a kind.
You are willing to take a native bride.

And seal your fate.
It's an SOS of a kind.
You know there's a storm coming.
But you are happily willing to plough on.

Mr. Hangman

Mr. Hangman, who is going to love you,
When you're carrying out sentences every day, 
Mr Hangman, Put your scaffold away.
Would it be such a crime to delay? 
 
Not to carry out your sentences today.
Mr. Hangman, you can waylay.
Would it be such a crime to defray? 
Not to carry out your sentences today.
 
Mr. Hangman, do you ever doubt
There's sunshine behind the clouds.
Mr. Hangman, even after a rainstorm
Rainbows fly, okay, so you don't know whereabouts.
 
Okay, it's not all Everglades and waterfalls.
Okay, some people are born with immoral mistakes.
And need to be overhauled.
Brought to justice before others who are innocent suffer and fall.
 
Mr. Hangman, don't be so mean and bad
Don't you know there are reasons to smile and be glad? 
Oh, Mr. Hangman, I bet you're not so mean.
I bet you can even be kind.
 
Oh, Mr. Hangman, even you need love.
I bet you've got someone at home.
Who isn't hanging on a rope? 
And thinks even you are dope.

 high plains drifter

If I were a high plains drifter
I'd never cross the borderline.
That leaves you behind.
I'd never find a watering hole.
That doesn't include looking into your blue eyes.
 
Darling, if I were a high plains drifter
I'd be hanging on to a wild, unbroken horse.
That always returns to pasture.
A place in your heart that melts like snow
And it always has coal burning brightly.
And it never reaches temperatures of sub-zero.
 
If I were a high plains drifter
I'd hope you would string along.
Stop me from driving cattle far away.
If I were a high plains drifter
I would hope you would one day
Make my heart stay in the saddle.
My soul will never wander.
 
If I were a high plains drifter
I'd never cross the borderline.
That leaves you behind.
I'd never find a sweeter watering hole.
That doesn't include looking into your blue eyes.
 
Darling, if I were a high plains drifter
I would always dream of being at home.
On the ranch where I belong, 
Darling, if I were a high plains drifter
I'd be hanging on to a wild, unbroken mare.
That always returns to pasture, waiting to be paired 
with a broken stallion -in the fold.

Jessica

I loved a girl called Jessica 
Who would make me bawl - cry like a clown? 
Tears as big as buckets swung.
Fell in pails to the ground.
 
Jessica would laugh.
And make my heart sing and smile.
Or cut me down.
I don't know what I've done.
 
Jessica is, was the best of a rainy day.
She'd make the sunshine.
And on good days
She'd send all the clouds away hard to die.
 
On bad days, she'd heap barbwire on the roof.
Wrap it around all the stars.
And makes me feel crazy.
Jessica could send me out of my mind, I guess.
 
Jessica, she could leave me breathless.
I hoped she would notice me.
I hoped she would notice me and love me, too.
And send me to night school half-clad.
 
But -instead, I got ridiculed.
And I would bawl and cry like a clown? 
Tears as big as buckets swung.
Fell in pails to the ground.
 
But Jessica, Jessica, she is
Still a silver lining in a cloud
Even when tears as big as buckets swung
Fell in pails to the ground.
 
Jessica, she could leave me breathless.
Glad in the fluorescence of her smile
Jessica, I was smitten the day you passed my way.
And you took half my pillow away and kissed me 
Once again like a sunshine day without end.