Run Wilful Child

They say love will tame me
But I am nothing if I'm not free
How can love claim me
You might as well try and tame the sea

Run wilful child
Run wilful child
Who could blame you
Run wilful child
Until love claims you

Scraping the ice from the car
Monday morning, another cold start
Birds carve the sky in a V
Flying the line of the trees
Road's empty for eight
We won't be late
It's only three degrees

They say love will tame me
But I am nothing if I'm not free
How can love claim me
You might as well try and tame the sea

Run wilful child
Run wilful child
Who could blame you
Run wilful child
Until love claims you

(not sure this is finished yet..)

Songs of Birds

(For soprano voice)

I light a flame and it burns in me
You light a flame, it burns for all to see
Cross-currents caught in a storm
Till an ocean of difference is all we can be

Songs of birds
Songs of birds
A forest full of the songs of birds

(For tenor voice)

I light a flame, it burns only for you
You light a flame and it burns me through
Cross-currents caught in a storm
Till an ocean of difference is all we can be

Songs of birds
Songs of birds
A forest full of the songs of birds

(For soprano and tenor)

Torch songs fill our hearts
Love sings only when it's true
Is this all we can be
When I love you

(For choir)

Songs of birds
Songs of birds
A forest full of the songs of birds

Long Distance Days

It feels like I'm walking on glass
And running on empty
I can't deal in your treacherous ways
And I don't how long my heart
Can hold on
In these long distance days

I risk it all for you
Love on the roll of the dice
And yet your words cut me
Deeper than any knife
And I'm running out of reasons
And running out of time
You give me no answers
To the questions I find
Haunting my lips
As you kiss away the night
But morning only brings
Fractured dreams in the clear, cold light
And I don't know how long my heart
Can hold on
In these long distance days

It feels like I'm walking on glass
And running on empty
I can't deal in your treacherous ways
And I don't how long my heart
Can hold on
In these long distance days

Some kind of rock 'n' roll

Sometimes you just get to a point where a set of poems seem to belong together. So far I have three for this and I'm sure I'll be adding to them over the winter.

Sleek City Night

Still

Long Distance Days

Still

In the shapes left behind
& the turn of the dance
All those quiet spaces
You don't understand

In the light falling slowly
& the shift of the sand
You don't see the same patterns
To all your grand plans

In the quick of a smile
And the heat of the moment
You forget the reason
For the places you're going

But in the shapes left behind
& the turn of the dance
In those quiet spaces
Are the answers you demand

Still, you'll have to take that chance
For a moment in the turn of the dance

Sleek City Night

Outside my window
The moon's cracked a smile
And I can't help feeling
That the joke's on me
Late night blues
Leaving me cold
Better go out and get me
Some kind of rock 'n' roll

Better hurry honey
It's a sleek city night
The music rubs right past you
Then cuts you like a knife

Better hurry honey
It's a night of neon signs
Lighting up your dreams
Then laying down those lines

And I can't help feeling
The joke's on me
Late night blues
Leaving me cold
Better go out and get me
Some kind of rock 'n' roll

Tenderly

Well I've heard it said you're now running free
I don't know what from, hope it wasn't from me
If I captured your heart it was only to see
If I could win you over tenderly

Run if you must there's a hill to climb
An ocean of difference and plenty of time
I was never hoping to hold you
But if you wanted to be mine
I should've probably told you
And tried to make it rhyme

Well I've heard it said you're now running free
I don't know what from, hope it wasn't from me
If I captured your heart it was only to see
If I could win you over tenderly

Lady Shark

Lady shark swims on the bottom of the seas
Wreathed in her teeth are the tatters of her dreams
And in her eyes there’s never a tear
Because all she tastes is your cold-hearted fear

Catch her by her silver tail
Ride’s like a roll in chain mail
But if you try to pull her fin
Beware darling, of her grin

She likes
To bite
She likes
To bite
She likes
To bite
Lord knows
She likes
To bite

Lady shark swims away
Dead in the flesh cold light of day
Nothing but the mettle of the kiss she bestows
Tastes of your blood and yesterday’s clothes

Catch her by her silver tail
Ride’s like a roll in chain mail
But if you try to pull her fin
Beware darling, of her grin

She likes
To bite
She likes
To bite
She likes
To bite
Lord knows
She likes
To bite

Lady shark

Hunt her down
Trap her in your nets
Watch her drown
Ladies place your bets
Gape open wide
To the wild night air
Veins pumping ice
Red adrenalin glare
Lady Shark is gasping
But she still don’t care

She likes
To bite
She likes
To bite
She likes
To bite
Lord knows
She likes
To bite

Lady shark lying on the pier
They’d sliced her open by the end of the year
An empty heart and a gut-full of bile
But she kept on grinning her dead head smile

Catch her by her silver tail
Ride’s like a roll in chain mail
But if you try to pull her fin
Beware darling, of her grin

She likes
To bite
She likes
To bite
She likes
To bite
Lord knows
She likes
To bite

RSVP

In my hand
A little shell from the sand
In your ears
You'll hear a sea
For all eternity
You hold it too
And I'll find you
A little shell from the sand

No, not falling
But returning
Not a call
But a reply
An echo of the sea
Do you hear me?
And I'll find you
A little shell from the sand

Heart Sized

I shaped my heart for you
But you just ran it through
Your synthisize-fits-all machine

Now I'm paying
'Cos you're saying
It's no longer real

When my heart
Right at the start
Was the deal

Future Change

Bought, sold
A transformation
No room for error
And no explanation
To fill this frame
We all know
Hearts beat the same

A night full of stars
Can't daunt us
And ghosts from the past
No longer haunt us
Because we all know
Hearts beat the same

Your smile a spark to light the way
Your hope a chance for future change

Cities, souls
Bells ringing
Who pays the toll
As we find ways
To change it all
But somehow
Stay the same

A night full of stars
Can't daunt us
And ghosts from the past
No longer haunt us
Because we all know
Hearts beat the same

Your smile a spark to light the way
Your hope a chance for future change

Tales woven for a while
A pattern falls
Sweet as a smile
We listen to the story
As imagination plays
Flights of fancy
Soar away

Bought, sold
A transformation
No room for error
And no explanation
To fill this frame
We all know
Hearts beat the same

The Late Shift

And he said
But if it costs too much
I don't want to pay for bad luck
I've got an overdraft in the blues
I 'm not investing in your shoes
I walk alone

Café is quiet, evening is long
This shift ain't ending, radio's on
Same old preaching to the same old fools
Rules about love when no one rules

And she said
But if it costs too much
I don't want to pay for bad luck
I've got an overdraft in the blues
You're not investing in my shoes
You walk alone

Ten thirty five and the day should be done
Shutters are pulled but there's a table for one
Nursing a bottle and an ego that's bruised
Easy for love to get angry and confused

But you said
What if it costs too much
I don't want to pay for bad luck
I've got an overdraft in the blues
I 'm not investing in your shoes
I walk alone

Café is quiet, evening is long
This shift ain't ending, radio's on
Same old preaching to the same old fools
Rules about love when no one rules

The Horse (Rhiannon's Dream)

After all these years
Lying down my head
Bed of stones
Flesh of clay
And all around a forest grows
Trees of dreams
Leaves of wind

And in the rushing air
I thought I heard you smile
For me
Love, like the angel's flaming hair
And silver horses running free
The dove before the storm
Waiting for me

And I will stay here
A horse carved out of my bones
For you
Until love is returned to me
Like silver horses running free
I'll carry this storm
Waiting for you

After all these years
Lying down my head
Bed of stones
Flesh of clay
And all around a forest grows
Trees of dreams
Leaves of wind

In Reach

I used to stand on this beach
Pebble in my hand
Thinking if I throw it
The world would be in reach

Is this a two-way street
or am I just talking to my feet
Words thrown against the wind
And it's always the tide that wins

Patterns are falling into place
We still make the same old mistakes
I used to stand on this beach
Perhaps it was me who was never in reach

Well, promises are promises
And water finds its level
And every love story
Has a high tide flood
And a low to reach
Seems to me
It's a two-way street

I used to stand on this beach
Pebble in my hand
Thinking if I throw it
The world would be in reach