Thirty-seven steps

I'm thirty-seven steps from the queen
And by that fact I don't mean
That I'm next in line for throne
That I would never want it at all
Instead I'll leave to her - the queen

I'm thirty-seven steps from the queen
Through marriage and genealogy you see
Someone back in my father's past
Married a German princess
and made their own line - the queen

I'm thirty-seven steps from the queen
Although it may sound obscene
We're completely different lines
And there's no way I'll ever dine
On caviar and champagne with the queen

I'm thirty-seven steps from the queen
However romantic that seems
People ask why I'm a royalist
I say, I'm not, just a nationalist
As in Scottish, because she Scottish - the queen

I'm thirty-seven steps from the queen
But I'm not going to turn green
Envy is not something I have for her life
With all the publicity, all the strife
I'd never want to be her - the queen

I'm thirty-seven steps from the queen
And I respect the elderly woman so keen
With eyes like daggers and a heart of steel
If Donald Trump was British - he'd kneel
That is what makes our queen.

I'm thirty-seven steps from the queen
She's bold, she's old, sweet and mean
Though the monarchy is a little outdated
And they get our money while their estated
I'll always respect the small woman in hats - the queen

Mother Earth

I'm in agony
My child, my dear, my bairn
I'm in agony, can't you hear my screams?
They started off small, mere tremblings, and then
Grew as the pain increased.
Sweat is breaking forth upon my crown
And it's rising in my underneath too

The natural cold chill there - it's abating my dear
As the perspiration beads like stupendous dew
My heart though still beats steadily,
and my veins flow thick as they ought
But my skin pricks
Flowing with dirt and grime
And the trillion small particles
You recklessly make from ancient creatures and then
Dispose of

The creatures who lived and still live on my surface, my dear,
The bairns, my children just like you,
Are not slowly, but quickly, dying, child
And I don't know what to do

I continue to scream in agony
I continue to try to get your attention
As you kill me with your smoke, your poison and your craft
Those things that you leave around my person, my room,
Those broken toys that ultimately I made, that you stole from my flesh to power your empires

I called out to you louder and louder through the ages, child
I made mountains tremble and seas rise
Now I'm screaming through the fire, yelling through the wind and earth
As you continue to kill
Continue to wipe out my children
Who are your children too

You're poisoning me my dearest one
My most precious and ingenious creation,
In deepest Africa I gave you life
And then you rose like a new hope
And you moved across my skin, sailing my many seas.
As the heat rose and I sweated, giving you tides, you sailed with me, taking my natural cycles of warmth and chill as wrote.

When I froze you still loved me
When I warmed again for you
You still cared
Then why is it, darling, that now I am calling for you the loudest ever
That you ignore me
And strike me, again and again
I'm in agony my dear, I'm dying
And this time, it's all your doing

For a friend

My darling
You are but an idea
A collection of cells that some do not deem life
You have barely the workings of a heart
The bonds that make bones
The membrane that forms skin
You are but a peanut
A raisin, or a pebble
That makes barely a ring when struck
Upon the waters of the universe
But you my darling
Are my world now
And I think on you daily
I think of you when I sleep, when I wake, when I eat
I think of you when I dream, when I laugh and when I cry
I think of you when I jump, when I stress and when I imagine
I think of your future
And I, my child, I am sorry
I am sorry for this world I am bringing you into
When a man sits on a throne
And holds a country to hostage
Costing lives and the wellbeing of eight hundred thousand workers
When guns blaze wild,
killing children who walk to school only to educate themselves to do better
When economists and capitalists sit and turn deaf ears to the words of sciencists
Who declare the few years we have left to save our planet
When my country is tearing itself apart with indecision over a mistake it refuses to admit it made
When trees are felled merely for the reason to grow food for animals which destroys other animals
When the millions of plastic we steal from the earth we feed back to the seas
Killing, destroying the destiny
When the one voice calling out reason
Is a young Swedish girl who's right is to this earth that we destroyed for her
That we still destroy for her
That we kill terrorise
For her future
My darling
I am sorry to bring you into this life despite the fact you will be loved
Despite the fact you are wanted
Despite the fact you will always be in my heart
And I will hold onto you
I am sorry