This new light
Shivering and thinly disguised
As winter
Draws out the lines
On a now clean canvas
Like fresh washed sand
Stranded
As the sea recedes
What have we done?
But the rhetoric will not repair
The old guttering
Or save the bills
From piling up
Debt upon debt into a rotten heap
Kicked into the corner
To moulder in our absence
The final turn of the key
Posting it back through the letterbox
And we are gone
Just the bright sunshine in our eyes
To obscure the fact that
Once
We lived here
14/11/2009
06/11/2009
The View From Here And
There isn't much to see
If you're trying to look at me
And I'm sick of the reasons why
I didn't look
And I didn't try
And what do you want me to say
I didn't dare
And I didn't die
What do you want me to say
I didn't change
And I didn't lie
Oh honey, it was you
Who's looking at me
But I'll tell you now
There's not that much to see
And on the way here
I drowned in a ocean of tears
And on the way here
I burned in a wildfire of fears
And what do you want me to say
To give absolution
And tidy it all away
Well honey, it was you
Who was looking my way
If you're trying to look at me
And I'm sick of the reasons why
I didn't look
And I didn't try
And what do you want me to say
I didn't dare
And I didn't die
What do you want me to say
I didn't change
And I didn't lie
Oh honey, it was you
Who's looking at me
But I'll tell you now
There's not that much to see
And on the way here
I drowned in a ocean of tears
And on the way here
I burned in a wildfire of fears
And what do you want me to say
To give absolution
And tidy it all away
Well honey, it was you
Who was looking my way
10/09/2009
01/09/2009
Goodbye
Your eyes close the space
Stretching hours into moments
In their tender embrace
And a thousand cobweb threads
Could not hold you
However tight
And no rain could douse
Those eyes burning bright
A storm will rage in my heart
For all days
Since I've had to watch
Your eyes say
Stretching hours into moments
In their tender embrace
And a thousand cobweb threads
Could not hold you
However tight
And no rain could douse
Those eyes burning bright
A storm will rage in my heart
For all days
Since I've had to watch
Your eyes say
27/08/2009
Rochester Cathedral (plus fragment from visit to Mont Saint Michel)
To Rochester Cathedral I go
Loitering amongst the vaulted spaces
Air redolent with prayers and hope
Old stones standing strong
Shoring me up with their fortitude
And in this space, these finite walls
I'll find an easing of my soul
Letting slip all my vanities
Stepping out of this fearful skin
Finding hope again
To Rochester Cathedral I go
As often as I have before
These old walls are my friends
They teach me how to weather all
Old stones standing strong
Shoring me up with their fortitude
~
(..the heart is a vaulted cathedral
where angels sing..)
Loitering amongst the vaulted spaces
Air redolent with prayers and hope
Old stones standing strong
Shoring me up with their fortitude
And in this space, these finite walls
I'll find an easing of my soul
Letting slip all my vanities
Stepping out of this fearful skin
Finding hope again
To Rochester Cathedral I go
As often as I have before
These old walls are my friends
They teach me how to weather all
Old stones standing strong
Shoring me up with their fortitude
~
(..the heart is a vaulted cathedral
where angels sing..)
18/08/2009
Cerulean Daze
I would have lived on a hill
Where the trees never stood still
Kissed by an ocean's breeze
Safe in those cerulean days
I take a moment now and then
To remember how and when
We changed
How we change
Mosaics on the floor
Crosswords against the door
And every little fragment that falls
Into place
Changes the look on your face
Till I no longer recognise you
At all
Four winds and a high tide
Won't help me find the way
Back to my cerulean daze
I would have lived on a hill
Where the trees never stood still
Kissed by an ocean's breeze
Safe in those cerulean days
Where the trees never stood still
Kissed by an ocean's breeze
Safe in those cerulean days
I take a moment now and then
To remember how and when
We changed
How we change
Mosaics on the floor
Crosswords against the door
And every little fragment that falls
Into place
Changes the look on your face
Till I no longer recognise you
At all
Four winds and a high tide
Won't help me find the way
Back to my cerulean daze
I would have lived on a hill
Where the trees never stood still
Kissed by an ocean's breeze
Safe in those cerulean days
03/07/2009
Beach Mermaid (2005)
A wreck upon the water stands
Bend o'er to the waves
The sweetest music as she sings
The sailors maid
She lures them to the rocks and underhand
Her hair all wreathed in seaweed is their fate
Tangled up in her laugh
They realise too late
She is the siren on the beach
The metal twisted harpie queen
The high tide mark
All stranded with the rust
Of a thousand sailors dreams
A wreck upon the water stands
bend o'er to the waves
The sweetest music as she sings
Manmade mermaid
22/06/2009
This will be the only time I ask
Did you let the mask slip
And did your eyes see
Was it too much
Or was it just me
Could you let your mask slip
And be what I need
Is too much to ask
Of a man
Or will you
Reveal to me
I don’t need your great plan
Your exercise in being an also can
What path leads to my door
Just love, nothing more
What words could you ever sing
Better than the angels’ horizons bring
I don’t need another way
I just need you to say
What does your heart see
Or is it just me
You write it out in prose
Black ink on faded rose
You carved it onto a tree
A promise for all to see
But it’s not words or symbols
It’s just love, nothing more
What words could you ever sing
Better than the angels’ horizons bring
I don’t need another way
I just need you to say
What does your heart see
And did your eyes see
Was it too much
Or was it just me
Could you let your mask slip
And be what I need
Is too much to ask
Of a man
Or will you
Reveal to me
I don’t need your great plan
Your exercise in being an also can
What path leads to my door
Just love, nothing more
What words could you ever sing
Better than the angels’ horizons bring
I don’t need another way
I just need you to say
What does your heart see
Or is it just me
You write it out in prose
Black ink on faded rose
You carved it onto a tree
A promise for all to see
But it’s not words or symbols
It’s just love, nothing more
What words could you ever sing
Better than the angels’ horizons bring
I don’t need another way
I just need you to say
What does your heart see
16/06/2009
Raptor
Do you think they know how free they are?
Not weighed down by trinkets and tax
There's just life and death
And inbetween there's flying
Not weighed down by trinkets and tax
There's just life and death
And inbetween there's flying
05/06/2009
The Rules of Fools ( from 2004)
Soft tide gliding in
Your hand upon my skin
It's as if your heart walked away
You broke the rules
Well, what rules were they?
And hour by hour we are holding here
On a shoreline rain's made unclear
As though the world is washing by
Your eyes too deep a place to hide
So why do you think you broke the rules?
I think they serve to make us fools
Soft tide gliding in
A letter, note or line to begin
I'd organise a whole page or two
And when it comes down to the rules
I'll leave those for other fools
Your hand upon my skin
It's as if your heart walked away
You broke the rules
Well, what rules were they?
And hour by hour we are holding here
On a shoreline rain's made unclear
As though the world is washing by
Your eyes too deep a place to hide
So why do you think you broke the rules?
I think they serve to make us fools
Soft tide gliding in
A letter, note or line to begin
I'd organise a whole page or two
And when it comes down to the rules
I'll leave those for other fools
Older poems revisited...
Feeling hugely uncreative at the moment but very reflective and so thought I'd visit some older pieces. It's always somehow horrific to read stuff I've written, trying to imagine what/where/how I have managed to find those words or (eeek!) that rhyme. I think I can only justify stuff on the concept that a poem is like a layer of skin...uhoh, I'm going to start talking about onions which will make Shrek fans laugh. Recurring themes sometimes pop up in older poems. One or two lines that I am happy with do too. So I'll start with some work from 2004.
19/05/2009
In the crucible of nothing
In the crucible of nothing
Where there's only the night
And boredom leads to bottles
And the lonely broken flight
Where once were choirs of angels
A heart filled with empty cigarettes
In the crucible of nothing
You kid yourself you've no regrets
Magpie Billy winks at me
As I'm sitting under his tree
His words feel like wisdom
But beyond are blue skies
His song is beguiling
Enought to stop me smiling
I'm not one for optisim
But at least I try
Where there's only the night
And boredom leads to bottles
And the lonely broken flight
Where once were choirs of angels
A heart filled with empty cigarettes
In the crucible of nothing
You kid yourself you've no regrets
Magpie Billy winks at me
As I'm sitting under his tree
His words feel like wisdom
But beyond are blue skies
His song is beguiling
Enought to stop me smiling
I'm not one for optisim
But at least I try
08/05/2009
Wayfarer
You turn to smile and the look in your eyes
Asks what is it that clouds my happy skies
It’s knowing you’re going to turn and walk away
Guess I’ll catch up with you, some day
Asks what is it that clouds my happy skies
It’s knowing you’re going to turn and walk away
Guess I’ll catch up with you, some day
finished! Horizontal Tides
I told myself any kind of promise
Is better than no promise at all
But what did I give in return
To be washed up on your unforgiving shores
It took an ocean of salt water
To open my eyes
Only to find
I'm still crying under horizontal tides
A walk over the hilltop and down to the sea
Vertical cliffs where the wind flies free
Above me the buzzards are circling round
But I’m keeping my feet firmly on solid ground
Well I was never one to make waves
But life shapes us by strange degrees
Cutting our dreams to the bone until
We change into windtorn trees
And I shouldn’t need to tell you
But it took a storm full of rain
To open my eyes
Only to find
I'm still crying under horizontal tides
Is better than no promise at all
But what did I give in return
To be washed up on your unforgiving shores
It took an ocean of salt water
To open my eyes
Only to find
I'm still crying under horizontal tides
A walk over the hilltop and down to the sea
Vertical cliffs where the wind flies free
Above me the buzzards are circling round
But I’m keeping my feet firmly on solid ground
Well I was never one to make waves
But life shapes us by strange degrees
Cutting our dreams to the bone until
We change into windtorn trees
And I shouldn’t need to tell you
But it took a storm full of rain
To open my eyes
Only to find
I'm still crying under horizontal tides
17/04/2009
First verse of Horizontal Tides...
I told myself any kind of promise
Is better than no promise at all
But what did I give in return
To be washed up on your unforgiving shores
It took an ocean of salt water
To open my eyes
Only to find
I'm still crying under horizontal tides
(possible chorus)
A walk over the hilltop and down to the sea
Vertical cliffs where the wind flies free
Above me the buzzards are circling round
But I’m keeping my feet firmly on solid ground
Is better than no promise at all
But what did I give in return
To be washed up on your unforgiving shores
It took an ocean of salt water
To open my eyes
Only to find
I'm still crying under horizontal tides
(possible chorus)
A walk over the hilltop and down to the sea
Vertical cliffs where the wind flies free
Above me the buzzards are circling round
But I’m keeping my feet firmly on solid ground
15/04/2009
Horizontal Tides
Think this is the title for what I'm going to try and write next. Went for a walk in Dorset, along Stonebarrow and along Charmouth beach. There is nothing quite like a walk on a beach to clear your thoughts or a view across an empty sea and the clear, wide sky to give some perspective. It's how to distill all those walks, on all those beaches into a few lines of rhyme that's the tricky bit.
Vertical cliffs, horizontal tides, thoughts racing in the air, sharp as a gull's cry...
27/03/2009
Fragile, handle wih care
Life's a chicken fricassee
It's where I come unstuck
No one's out there gunning for me
I'm just another schmuck
I wish that I could make it all much better
And every dream come true
But I can't stop falling
falling through
If love is such a simple game
Let's play heads or tails
If I win, you'll take the lot
If not we'll swim with whales
The human heart's a strange beast
A contract made in blood
Beating to a single tune
We sing called love
I wish that I could make it all much better
And every dream come true
But I can't stop falling
falling through
It's where I come unstuck
No one's out there gunning for me
I'm just another schmuck
I wish that I could make it all much better
And every dream come true
But I can't stop falling
falling through
If love is such a simple game
Let's play heads or tails
If I win, you'll take the lot
If not we'll swim with whales
The human heart's a strange beast
A contract made in blood
Beating to a single tune
We sing called love
I wish that I could make it all much better
And every dream come true
But I can't stop falling
falling through
17/03/2009
Sometimes I
Sometimes I find the sky is turning me blue
& sometimes you find time too, time to
Sometimes I remind you too much
& if all the world could be poured into a glass
We could drown our sorrows
Or at least attempt to
The roll of a dice won’t help it pass
But it’s true
Sometimes I find the sky is turning me blue
The horse and the plough
The race and the clouds
I can’t explain it any clearer
You’re no nearer than before
What truth will you recall
Sometimes you find time too, time to, sometimes to
Sometimes I remind you too much
Sometimes you
I’ll see you and raise you
Sometimes I find the sky is turning me blue
& sometimes you find time too, time to
Sometimes I remind you too much
& if all the world could be poured into a glass
We could drown our sorrows
Or at least attempt to
The roll of a dice won’t help it pass
But it’s true
Sometimes I find the sky is turning me blue
The horse and the plough
The race and the clouds
I can’t explain it any clearer
You’re no nearer than before
What truth will you recall
Sometimes you find time too, time to, sometimes to
Sometimes I remind you too much
Sometimes you
I’ll see you and raise you
Sometimes I find the sky is turning me blue
07/02/2009
A sad valentines song....Snow Shoes
There’s a colour in the sky I can’t quite catch
A feeling of uneasy mismatch
As though my watch is running slow again
We won’t return to this point will we?
There’s a lyric that sums up this place
We’re finding so hard to face
As though we’ve walked out in the wrong clothes
A summer wedding & I’m in snow shoes
We won’t keep going will we?
This was meant to be a valentine
Sweet and light, love defined
Well maybe, some other time…
Geese fly overhead calling for home and yet
This place is so cold, I’m cold to the bone
So cold I need snow shoes on a sunny day
My watch points to another time, another way
And all the paths we walk don’t stay the same
This was meant to be a valentine
Sweet and light, love defined
Well maybe, some other time…
I won’t need my snow shoes
A feeling of uneasy mismatch
As though my watch is running slow again
We won’t return to this point will we?
There’s a lyric that sums up this place
We’re finding so hard to face
As though we’ve walked out in the wrong clothes
A summer wedding & I’m in snow shoes
We won’t keep going will we?
This was meant to be a valentine
Sweet and light, love defined
Well maybe, some other time…
Geese fly overhead calling for home and yet
This place is so cold, I’m cold to the bone
So cold I need snow shoes on a sunny day
My watch points to another time, another way
And all the paths we walk don’t stay the same
This was meant to be a valentine
Sweet and light, love defined
Well maybe, some other time…
I won’t need my snow shoes
22/01/2009
He’s not just any man
He came courting and on bended knee
About some dancing he would like with me
But I don’t give my heart to just any man
And put his daisies out in the trash can
He went a way and bought a silver car
One with wide seats and said we wouldn’t go too far
As if to impress me I could be his girl
I don’t need a flash car and some social whirl
He came courting and on bended knee
About some wedding he would like with me
But I don’t give my heart to just any man
And put his daisies out in the trash can
Well, he went away and built a house with trees
Cooled by an ocean’s gentle breeze
Planted jacaranda and hibiscus fair
With a pool for little fishes to paddle there
Now our grandchildren play in the sea
I’m old and wrinkly and so is he
He asks me why I put his daisies out in the trash can
I say I didn’t give my heart to just any man
(spoken word and trumpet, flugelhorn, tuba, drums)
1,2, 1,2, 1,2,3,4 whoa! calypso!
(Repeat two verse, music only, sing last line)
He's not just any man
About some dancing he would like with me
But I don’t give my heart to just any man
And put his daisies out in the trash can
He went a way and bought a silver car
One with wide seats and said we wouldn’t go too far
As if to impress me I could be his girl
I don’t need a flash car and some social whirl
He came courting and on bended knee
About some wedding he would like with me
But I don’t give my heart to just any man
And put his daisies out in the trash can
Well, he went away and built a house with trees
Cooled by an ocean’s gentle breeze
Planted jacaranda and hibiscus fair
With a pool for little fishes to paddle there
Now our grandchildren play in the sea
I’m old and wrinkly and so is he
He asks me why I put his daisies out in the trash can
I say I didn’t give my heart to just any man
(spoken word and trumpet, flugelhorn, tuba, drums)
1,2, 1,2, 1,2,3,4 whoa! calypso!
(Repeat two verse, music only, sing last line)
He's not just any man
20/01/2009
Wayfarer ( project for 2009)
Artwork for wayfarer
Project themes ~
journeys
travelling through life
movement
inner voyages
paths crossing
linear time
stories that go places
16/01/2009
The last one for this set of songs...Love Is
Well, this is the point I feel that I have turned full circle with this set of songs and come back to the central theme with which I started out in the beginning. The idea that love sets us free.
This is called Love Is and I hope the sentiment comes across as genuine and not too pretentious. What we all could do with in this world is, as always, a little more love (and a lot more windmills).
Love Is
One day I’ll be round that corner
Waiting for you
And all those barefeet moments
Our lives have played
Will be there too
And that half-glimpsed happiness
To which we cling
Will still be the best boat
Sailing
Love offers us
A chance to change
And love’s an equality
We all can claim
Love is, love just is
Love is, love just is
One day you’ll be round that corner
Waiting too
And all those heartfelt moments
Your life has played
Will be there for you
And that half-glimpsed happiness
To which you cling
Will still be the best boat
Sailing
Love offers us
A chance to change
And love’s an equality
We all can claim
Love is, love just is
Love is, love just is
This is called Love Is and I hope the sentiment comes across as genuine and not too pretentious. What we all could do with in this world is, as always, a little more love (and a lot more windmills).
Love Is
One day I’ll be round that corner
Waiting for you
And all those barefeet moments
Our lives have played
Will be there too
And that half-glimpsed happiness
To which we cling
Will still be the best boat
Sailing
Love offers us
A chance to change
And love’s an equality
We all can claim
Love is, love just is
Love is, love just is
One day you’ll be round that corner
Waiting too
And all those heartfelt moments
Your life has played
Will be there for you
And that half-glimpsed happiness
To which you cling
Will still be the best boat
Sailing
Love offers us
A chance to change
And love’s an equality
We all can claim
Love is, love just is
Love is, love just is
After we meet
Which one are you?
I’m sorry it’s not kind
But honey,
I’m not a patient soul
So which one are you?
It might be the eyes
That remind
Of other ways
And earlier days
It might be the walk
The air of yesterday’s talk
So I’m sorry if it seems
Too hasty and throwaway
But which one are you?
All these tears
Really washed away
Those years
Like stones tumbling
From the shifting banks
Of memory
So you need to know
I’m not a patient soul
Which one are you?
And on the surface
Reflected in an oily sheen
A myriad of chances
Always someone else’s dreams
It’s just a puddle, man
But for a moment or two
All of the world is waiting there
So which one are you?
I’m sorry it’s not kind
But honey,
I’m not a patient soul
So which one are you?
It might be the eyes
That remind
Of other ways
And earlier days
It might be the walk
The air of yesterday’s talk
So I’m sorry if it seems
Too hasty and throwaway
But which one are you?
All these tears
Really washed away
Those years
Like stones tumbling
From the shifting banks
Of memory
So you need to know
I’m not a patient soul
Which one are you?
And on the surface
Reflected in an oily sheen
A myriad of chances
Always someone else’s dreams
It’s just a puddle, man
But for a moment or two
All of the world is waiting there
So which one are you?
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