Poetry of James Payling

Loan-ly

Up and down and all around,
Green and bright and obvious,
Spinning, spinning, constantly churning
Need to borrow some ears

Hold my head, hold my stomach,
Pain spreads like a disease,
Where do I go, what do I do,
Isolation, need a loan,

I see no silhouettes in the trees,
Dark, damp forest of green,
Kind, impartial stranger, show your face,
You need to hear my inner disgrace!


By James Payling


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The Cycle of Slaughter.

In a split second we lose five more,
Taken away in copious gore,
Under their wing they gave him his aim,
Abusing their trust he could never be tame,
How many more young men will they send?
Stop the slaughter, buck the trend!

At home a poppy at the cenotaph,
A lowered flag on a rain soaked staff,
On the eleventh the old veterans meet,
Remembering the friends that fell at their feet,
These wise men have seen it all before,
And they more than us see no point in war,

Many evils rose and fell,
To make our future safe and well,
These soldiers keep seeing the same mistake,
With sacrifice and victory comes promises fake,
This time terrorism plays the daemon,
Find and destroy they must not carry on,

From trench-foot into no man's land,
A mine delivers them to death angels hand,
From blitz and wardens to our proud home guard,
They kept us safe and worked so very hard,
To what end was this sacrifice made,
We still risk our young men as memories fade,

From the shadows they will never be found,
They see nothing but caves then hear a gunshot sound,
Suddenly another young hero returns,
And another poor family for a lost member yearns,
How many more young men will they send?
Stop the slaughter, buck the trend!


By James Payling


...........................................................


The unspoken affliction.

Losing my life to unjustified worry,
Broken trust in a paranoid flurry,
My constant struggle pushing people away,
Those closest and dearest being led astray,
If I could just improve the state of my head,
Put all these feelings firmly to bed.

This is the affliction of which I dare not speak,
The things I think and feel make me increasingly weak,
People will say grow up it’s all just fiction,
This is the grip of the unspoken affliction.

The one I should have been there for after all we had been through,
I love you and will always miss you and my friendship was always true,
You developed a condition with which I could empathise,
But in the end I missed your cry and it led to your demise,
She said move on I didn’t think you were that fond,
but growing up with you was an honour and left a lasting bond.

A failure with life, career and money,
Friends and family no longer find it funny,
Do not give up on me I will yet make you proud,
There will be a day I can shout my achievements loud,
I’ve been letting you down for too long it seems,
I will yet fulfil all of my dreams.

She chose a bad day to kick me into touch,
Losing a job that morning didn’t leave me with much,
No lady, no job and nowhere to go,
I barely kept face, whilst inside full of woe,
Family to save me and try to pick me up,
Will I forever stare into a half empty cup.

This is the affliction of which I dare not speak,
The things I think and feel make me increasingly weak,
People will say grow up it’s all just fiction,
This is the grip of the unspoken affliction.


By James Payling