Wednesday's Verse - A Deathly Lullaby

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This week’s verse moves from a fantasy poem of heroism and self-sacrifice to a horror poem that could either be classified as urban fantasy or sci-fantasy. It is taken from the upcoming collection Another 365 Days of Poetry, a collection of mixed-genre poetry yet to be released.

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A Deathly Lullaby



I lived upon a lullaby


listened to the music sliding by

thought to lift my head

and wonder why

so many wished for us to sleep

that they played this tune


in every street

in every house


in every land

at every bus stop, shopping centre and news stand

and down we lay

just as they’d hoped

sound asleep

our futures stopped

until one day I realised

how long it was since closed I my eyes

and thought to lift my head

and wonder why

I could hear a lullaby

and then I saw them come to feed

knew that I would swiftly need

a counter to the sweet sleep song

and so my guitar, I brought along


and plugged it into the telecom

so that every mobile, computer,

every radio station and empty stage

came alive as I began to play

a jarring parody of a song

that better bands had once performed

and woke I the world

until, with clashing sound

we managed the lullaby to drown

long enough for better minds

to find solutions more long-lived than mine

for the dissidence in my sound barrage

was something banished to my garage

and grateful as they said they were

the governments did my tune outlaw

and stashed it in a safer place

to be activated should they find misplaced

the cure that stopped the lullaby

and forced our predators to fly

until we hunted from our lands

and seas and skies

the makers that fed when we closed our eyes.

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You can find the first two poetry collections at the links below - although there are plans to reissue them with more genre-appropriate covers in the future. The third collection will be released later in the year.



Location: Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

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