BLACK SABBATH Drummer BILL WARD Releases ‘Arrival Points’ Poem Inspired By Coronavirus Pandemic

BLABBERMOUTH.NET

Original BLACK SABBATH drummer Bill Ward has released another poem inspired by the coronavirus pandemic that is sweeping the globe. On Monday (April 6), Ward tweeted out a poem called "Arrival Points", which was apparently written on March 19, the day Los Angeles Los Angeles issued what was being billed as a "Safer At Home" order, closing nonessential businesses and requiring social distancing for more than 10 million people across the most populous county in America. Ward's poem reads as follows: "Thankful to be placed back into day Out of a night, containing uncertainty about most things, Drinking water, my thirst diminishes from its anxious posturing, Still, And thinking if anything physically got lost with the night, No I'm all here, I declare loudly, Praising life, there is no resistance to break my fast It's damp outside, my favorite, and grey, a lover that fascinates:me, caresses all that my sight looks upon. And crow now arrives, on this drab morn, Its raucous screech, diminishes all in my mind Drawn in, I am a spirit free Unladen, I can reach my heart my soul, emptied out, I breath in the morning, I visit the sea shore in my mind, not much to drop upon squawks crow, I admire his wing span as he rises up and flies away Unlike crow, I think there is much to think upon, hopefully my legs will carry me today, hopefully to see smiles and hear laughter, hopeful to see greenery overcoming trudgery, hopeful to breath air, over and over again" Ward was on board for the SABBATH reunion when it was first announced eight years ago, but backed out soon after. The drummer later claimed that he sat out the recording and touring sessions because of unfair contractual terms, although the members of SABBATH have hinted in other interviews that he wasn't physically up to the task. All four original members of SABBATH were present when the band announced its reunion in late 2011. But Ward split from the group in 2012, citing an "unsignable" contract, and singer Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler carried on with their Rick Rubin–produced "13" LP and extensive international touring without him. Ozzy told The Pulse Of Radio during SABBATH's last tour that Ward was not in shape to participate. "Bill Ward has got the most physically demanding job of the lot of us, 'cause he's the timekeeper," he said. "I don't think personally he had the chops to pull it off, you know. The saddest thing is that he needed to own up to that, and we could have worked around it, whether we had a drummer on the side with him or something." It was rumored that SABBATH wanted to bring a second drummer on the road to share duties with Ward, something that Iommi confirmed in 2017 during a question-and-answer session about SABBATH's "Ten Year War" box set. In 2015, Ward released his first solo album in 18 years. Titled "Accountable Beasts", the record can be purchased on iTunes. In November 2017, Ward's band DAY OF ERRORS released its first two songs, "Day Of Errors" and "Blaspheming At Creation", via iTunes, Spotify, Amazon MP3 and Google Play. Two more tracks, "Dark" and "Ghost Train", followed last fall.