HELL’S BELLES

I pulled up at some traffic lights

Waiting to turn right

Then from around the corner

There came such a sight

Three girls in their finery

Heading out for the night

The face paint so perfect

Their smiles pearly white

They tottered along on

Their heels such a height

Their legs barely covered

By skirts tiny and tight

The ensemble’s completed

By hair that’s just right

After going round Angie’s

To prepare for tonight

For that moment they’re happy

They’re already quite tight

After drinking some bottles

Of Angie’s dry white

The night is still young

Their spirits are bright

As they stagger towards

What they hope’s a big night

Ange might wake tomorrow

Feeling something’s not right

The face in the mirror

Could give her a fright

Her lipstick’s all smudged

She looks quite a sight

The hair’s everywhere

And that light is too bright

She’ll look even closer

Thinking back on her night

Trying to remember

When she got that love bite

Those streaks of mascara -

She’d cried most of the night!

Because of their spitefulness

Causing that great big fight

I watched them head off

As I sat at the lights

“Hell’s Bells” was my first thought

“That’s a scary sight!”

Then the lights changed

And I went on my way

Wondered who would be happier

Come the next day

(Martin A W Holmes February 27 2011)

MORE’S THE PITHY

I’d like to be pithy

I want to be brief

But the words keep on pouring

It beggar’s belief

I start with a sentence

I then make it two

I’ll be up to a million

Before I am through

I’ve poured out my anger

My pain and my grief

Transferred it to paper

It’s such a relief

And then there are tales

More happily told

Some memories to share

Before I’m too old

Just keep it short

To myself I’ll say

Then rattle on regardless

The very next day

I’ve thought for a while

That I’d like to be curt

But pithy reflections

Can’t handle my hurt

I just witter on

Rejecting the terse

Although sometimes it works

When I try it in verse

(Martin A W Holmes February 27 2011)