Broken by Polar Bear

To those of the broken homes
x-rays showing up close two broken domes
they sip cans while they’re smoking cones, but
always shows respect with well spoken tones
family moans,
they know it’s a tragedy
many a night a dem spent up in casualty
if it’s a fight then you know he had to be
getting involved for the underdog happily
but young paws can’t fight laws of gravity
lay in the gutter feel the moment of pure clarity
that’s the vision
make a decision
hear the voice in the back of the mind, time to listen
stop

aftershock of the brain a few twitches
in a room with umpteen new stitches, and
yes the nurse was cute
but you’re stupid
another mug of a thug she can’t do with
and maybe, just for a second your eyes meet
but then she gets you back on your feet and out on the street
she may have seen that beneath the foolish meat
there lay a boy who was warm, cool and sweet
it doesn’t matter
battered and clattered
and as a matter of fact
you’ll probably see her next week, cos
underneath warm glove lies a fist
that’s ever ready to throw when eyes pissed
and there’s no bull of a man denies mist
when the flames reach boiling point, the fire kissed

And they say, ‘he’s mad at himself’
and they say, ‘he’s crying for help’
and they say,
a whole lot of stuff
as they watch from afar what they don’t
live themselves

maybe they’re right
but when he gets in a fight
he’s not thinking about mental health

Eyes roll back he’s not sure where it comes from
he comes to and he sees they’ve all done one
and he’s there
swinging at air
tongue struck dumb young grizzly bear
bloody lip, tears on his face
he thinks of his family
thinks of disgrace
then he picks himself up runs home at full pace
huddled in corner drunk and blood taste
prays for sleep
deep like oceans to
dream of beautiful girls and love potions
It’s all good
It’s all bad
It’s all good
It’s all bad
IT’S ALL GOOD

Young blood with heart of an ox
held back in the school of hard knocks and
sometimes I don’t see him for months
few new cuts one or two new lumps
we hear the sirens sound, my man jumps
averts my eyes from blood stain on new pumps
we pull pints of pain
and pure pleasure
good times you can’t measure unfold the minds treasure
and
peace
beautiful release unspoken
barriers all broken smiles we’re all joking
But
then someone hits the switch
‘He said that she said somebody called our mom a bitch’
‘What?!’

and then the rage
aimed against a phrase somebody says that someone on a completely different page
might have said
eyes red job done
guys dead mob run

The aftermath
broken noses
friendships
hope
and glass Hulk smash
I sometimes wonder how long can it last?
the cycle hits me
when I see your son in your lap

I know you fight cos it’s all a fight
and if you’re warm at night then it’s all alright
and as long as you breathe you won’t fall tonight
must run in the genes, one for all right?

I know you fight cos it’s all a fight
and if you’re warm at night then it’s all alright
and as long as you breathe you won’t fall tonight
must run in the genes, one for all.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/bespokenword_polar_bear.shtml