Celandine Sings

A new set of poems/songs.

Flint

I could bring you magic

Like fireflies in a jar

And I could sing of magic

Like dragons made of stars

But I just want to dance

Like the horses in the sea

Come dance with me

Golden bough and crimson berry

The little dove in the snow

Flint sparks and warm hearth

Of a solstice on the hill

But still there’s a mystery

Between you and I

As wide as the winter sky

As deep as the storm flood sea

I could bring you magic

Like fireflies in a jar

And I could sing of magic

Like dragons made of stars

But I just want to dance

Like the horses in the sea

Come dance with me

Ripple Stones

I’m sorry your skies have turned a colder blue
And I wouldn’t want to disturb more than I do
But sometimes you have to throw
A pebble in a pool
Ripple stone
Ripple stone
Watching ripples as they roam
Far from view

Above the starlings fly across a cold winters’ sky
A flock of a thousand birds so wide
All flying back home
A path well flown
Ripple stone
Ripple stone
Watching starlings as they roam
Far from view

The orchard sleeps deep in a blanket of sheep
While the cold air’s the only company you keep
I’ll throw a pebble in a pool
For I’d rather be a fool
Ripple stone
Ripple stone
Watching ripples as they roam
Far from view

Pay it Forward

If I'm gonna spend my money today

It's gonna be to make something stay

Not on baubles, not on gold

But something better in this world

You wanna stay around that's fine by me

But I'm done playing like it's all for free

Pay it forward

Lark

I won't trade on pretty easy

And I don't see why I should

Because this world is based on ugly

And it never balances the books

And for every coin you take you'll see

Those coins are never debt free

Just a token for a way to be

Enslaved by a society

It's pretty clear to me

That I prefer to be free

I may never be a millionaire

But frankly dear, I just don't care

I'll run a comb through my hair

And thank the stars I'm me

Because once the pity party's done

The road back is a gruelling one

And it's pretty clear to me

That I prefer to be free

After all your deals and dollar runs

After the highs and lows so hard won

Have you anything for a kingdom come

Or are you still on your knees

And for every coin you take you'll see

Those coins are never debt free

Just a token for a way to be

Enslaved by a society

A lark is singing in the sky

It sings the loudest way up high

And it's pretty clear to me

That it prefers to be free

I may never be a millionaire

But frankly dear, I just don't care

I'll run a comb through my hair

And thank the stars I'm me

Because

It's pretty clear to me

That I prefer to be free

Sticker album 2018

Working on a new set of stuff...

Wind Chimes ~ 2017

2017 and time to start a new set of poems/songs/words.

The photo, of a cornfield in Norfolk last year, was taken on a walk while the wind played invisible tunes across it, a giant, natural keyboard.

And it reminded me of this, from ten years ago, a poem for a keyboard...

Wind Chimes (and doorbell)

ACF, BDG, CEG, ADA,
ACF, BDG, FAC, EGD,
DFA, FAC, GDG, ADA,
FAC, GBD, ACF, BDG,
FAC, GBG, ACF, BDG,
EC

unfinished

Shooting star

I wonder where you are

Did you fall to earth

A shower of sparks

Upon the ground

Lighting up while

Falling down

Shooting star

Coyote

This eye scrapes on ice inside

When's this heart going to let go

In the last hours of our reality

We think we'll all save our humanity

But it's a quick trip and a cheap shot

Not a map for the future
But a graph of all your plots

Out in the wilds the coyote cries

Good riddance and goodbye

This fire burns, a cold riven flame

Kicked into touch like paper in the rain

For a heart beating brightly

A beacon in this pain

When's this heart going to let go

This eye scrapes on ice inside
When's this heart going to let go

Wednesday's Rain

Listening to the Commotions

Looking at the laundry

Wondering if it'll ever be done

Outside it's raining

Really need a little sun

Flowers in the rising tide

Words in the wind

While you read between the lines

Again

Radio plays louder than the rain

Songs I've remembered wrong

And words that stayed the same

Windscreen wiper rhythms

Punctuate the morning run

Lights stop, stop, go

Crazy people on their credit phones

Swerving across the road

As they dodge and jive

Waiting in the fast lane

For that extra mile

Home

Wednesday's rain got me feeling blue

Hoping for Thursday soon

For a dry day and summer June

Coffee and a bag of crisps

While we all couldn't care less

Those tears are little more than

Water running down the drain

Everyone connects but no one ever sees

The future is out there

Already on its knees

Flowers in the rising tide

Again

Radio plays louder than the rain

Songs I've remembered wrong

And words that stayed the same

Wednesday's rain got me feeling blue

Hoping for Thursday soon

For a dry day and summer June

The Way

A torch held

Beacon in the night

A promise kept

Shine your searchlight

And map this heart

A course set

Compass stone

You think you want to fly

The way of the angels

Reaching down to you

While you burn a message

With your smoky eyes

Guiding light

Compass set

Under midsummer skies

Carved in stone

Words said

Long ago

Like a beacon in the night

I know

The way of the angels

Return

I've listened to your song too many times

Worn a groove in my heart

Where your needles have stung

How do I start

To move on

One day we'll return

One day we'll all learn

To get along

But for now

How do I start

To move on

Road seems to never end

Did I take a wrong turn my friend

Left too much far behind

Returning home isn't on my mind

But then one day we'll return

One day we'll all learn

To get along

And I hear you are becalmed

On an ocean of storms

The labyrinth amazement won

Over the reason to run

From it all

Can we ever return

Can we learn to get along

I've listened to your song too many times

Worn a groove in my heart

Where your needles have stung

How do I start

To move on

One day we'll return

One day we'll all learn

To get along

But for now

How do I start

To move on

Summer Roads

Whispering your secrets to me

As though I can turn the clock

To a new time

Where your hands have worn

The surface smooth

To a blank page

Summer roads

Wind down to the sea

Summer roads

Set us free

All I can do

Is make you see

Summer roads

Find a pebble on the beach

Worn smooth by oceans of time

Grains of sand running

And remember what you ask

When you whisper

For me to change it all in an instant

As though I can delve into the universe

And peel away the geometry

Holding you here

Holding out for a

Blank page

Summer roads

Wind down to the sea

Summer roads

Set us free

All I can do

Is make you see
Summer roads

Torchlight Heart

When did your torchlight heart

Stop burning so bright

And when did your eyes stop finding

Wrong from right

Chequerboard love

One jump ahead

Of my every move

And every moment

I wonder

If you

Can even see

Why you're trying to defeat me

Clouds on the mountain

And rivers flowing full

Ice on the window melting

Where you traced

Your next move

To stay

One jump ahead

And every moment

I wonder

If you

Can even see

Why you're trying to defeat me

When I was always still shining bright

When I was always still shining bright

When did your torchlight heart

Stop burning so bright

And when did your eyes stop finding

Wrong from right

The stars in the sky

Are aligning with me

And I wonder

If you

Can even see

My torchlight heart

Tonight

Arctic Tern

So, this is an oldie, probably from well before 2007 (my immediate archives only go back so far) but sometimes it's good to revisit. Thinking of writing a new set of poems and, in going through my garden photos from 2015, found some of bizarre frost patterns which caught my imagination again. Don't ask me how I connected it to this poem, who knows how those synapses fire. New set will be under the working title, 'Summer Road'.

Arctic Tern

Dry creek runs in my veins

And the drumming blood

Beats in my brain

Can't escape this passing place

If we chance to meet

Offer me grace

Silver grit and oil sticks in the crepe tread

Of my sandals again

Must be a summer road

Can't promise much

But my boat sails

On those oceans we sing

Like the stickers on the orange string

We'll throw our nets and sing

Strange lands unfolding

Scooped up in the wings

Of this Arctic tern

Feathers smooth in the skin

Flying over the ice cradles

Is how she begins

Dry creek runs in my veins

And the dust I bring

Will inflame

And your eyes will cry

With the beat

Flying across the seas

Until only the shadow of my wings

Is the structure of the tide

And I'm singing in your eyes

Eyes and a Smile

He said stay for a while

With his eyes and his smile

But I couldn't bear to stay

So I walked away

Don't judge a hopeless heart

When it was broken in the past

It takes so long to mend

Believe me my friend

Just when I thought I could fly

It turned out all I did was fall

When I thought I was free

Love wouldn't let go of me at all

So don't judge a hopeless heart

When it was broken in the past

Stay for a while

Eyes and a smile

With every falling flake of snow

A perfect pattern repeats and so

It seems, do I

This endless winter night

Flames flicker in the hearth

But still my heart

Can't let go

He said stay for a while

With his eyes and his smile

And I couldn't bear to walk away

So I turned back to say

Don't judge a hopeless heart

When it was broken in the past

Just when I thought I could fly

It turned out all I did was fall

For eyes and a smile

Lantern Light

My heart jumps

Needle on a record

At your name

And my eyes find you

Still the same

And despite myself

I light a flame

And set those

Lantern hearts dancing

Under the sudden summer rain

Lightning and thunder across the bay

Light up what was a heavy day

And all across the verandah

The hailstones play

A light in my heart

For you

A light in my life

Was you

A light in this world

Will do

We're all lantern hearts dancing

In the sudden summer rain

My heart jumps

Needle on a record

At your name

And my eyes find you

Still the same

And despite myself

I light a flame

And set those

Lantern hearts dancing
Under the sudden summer rain

Take it Slow

This life is a turn on the wall of death

We drive ourselves so hard

It all blurs into something else

And at the end what's to show
A ticket to nowhere fast so

Honey, take it slow

Take it slow

The last magpie on the traffic lights

Is watching you blinking twice

He knows

Like the crows

What to do

And where to go

Taking it slow

Two Weeks in June

The summer lights are shining around the bay

Calling us to come and dance the night away

A warm breeze

Some pine trees

Music played loud

To the beach

Hand in hand

Through the crowd

Where summer lights

Illuminate

A high tide in town

Two weeks in June

It'll be over too soon

But until then I'll dance the night away

Under the summer lights around the bay

The summer lights are shining around the bay

Calling us to come and dance the night away

All for Love

Long after the roses have faded

You'll learn what love is

This night sky clothes your desire

Hides your eyes from your heart

Long after you'll remember

What we are

We are nothing unless it's all for love

All for love

And you can laugh and you can pour your scorn

And you can ask the devil what the hell it's all for

Long after you'll remember

It was all for love

All for love

I got your text and the crazy photo of us

Like we were meant to be together

And the view from the window

With the sun setting so many years ago

How we must have changed

And I hope you are well

As can be expected for someone

Who hides his eyes from his heart

Now you've remembered

What we are

And I could laugh and I could pour scorn

And ask the devil what the hell it was all for

If so long after you'll finally remember

It was all for love

All for love

Long after the roses have faded

You'll learn what love is

This night sky clothes your desire

Hides your eyes from your heart

Long after you'll remember

What we are

We are nothing unless it's all for love

All for love