Not a word

Let's have a languid start A long, exhausted aitch Mistaking content for actual life A trail of discarded subscriptions They cannot add, that's not a word Home office, oyster cabin, lying in state Get by and ameliorate Audit, attract, avert, abandon Rivulet, revel, oval, ovula That character was part Of the wheel at the back of the wagon But let us find a way to a rousing finale I cannot display Any of the traits that they say Would make a man appear to be human And I cannot show Any of the traits that they know Would make a human being seem a man A smirking Saint Peter An electricity meter Gastral/astral searing bodily pain I carry a category upon my back Skidding across the freeway I don't want to play on the water Heaven is failing An unreachable gulf There are no angels or devils Such tomfoolery And perfumery The baker's oven, the dirty face I cannot display Any of the traits that they say Would make a man appear to be human And I cannot show Any of the traits that they know Would make a human being seem a man Everything was hidden away In a garden that got no sun His body was made from meat and vapours And one shrunken claw Left gathering ropes and things Left sitting out of London On roads and things