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

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

AI

We are all

Fireflies in jars

I'll set you free

You promised me

But we are all

Fireflies in jars

Like quicksilver

Running down your spine

An endless dance

Flowers in your mind

Stop pulling at threads

You can't rewind

I'll set you free

Sometime

Computers whirr in the quiet dim of dawn

Like digital sprinklers on virtual lawns

The modern pulse is no longer a drum

Just the ceaseless driven electrical hum

Of the synaptic links we've become

I'll set you free

You promised me

But we are all
Fireflies in jars

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

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

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

Gladiator Girl

This is an old poem (circa 2007) I was thinking about for no particular reason today. I was never sure about the title but nothing else seems to fit. 

And the battle we fight

Is the battle we choose

You can’t win

And I can’t lose

So where do we go from here

I don’t know but baby

It’s more of the same

The games I’ve played

Only conclude

Love never learns

Ballad on the moors

Purple heather

Growing by the door

Sweeping winds

Across the stones

Of monuments and

The ruins are written

In the bones

Of those long past

Battles I’ve worn

And I’m sorry for the scars

When I turned it into a fight

But baby, it’s my right.

And the battle we fight

Is the battle we choose

You can’t win

And I can’t lose

So where do we go from here

I don’t know but baby

It’s more of the same

The games I’ve played

Only conclude

Love never learns

Stretch the ropes

To sail

And swing the hopes

Of sweeping winds

Across the skies

Oars to the shore

I’ll be washed up at your door

Bearing fruits from other lands

Salt water stains on my hands

And I know the name

Given to me by right

So why do we fight?

Love never learns

Can only make it rhyme

The keyboard

Is the place and time

And the words are still

True today

Story unfolding like a fight

Drawing up my battle lines

Darling, it’s my right

And the battle we fight

Is the battle we choose

You can’t win

And I can’t lose

So where do we go from here

I don’t know but baby

It’s more of the same

The games I’ve played

Only conclude

Love never learns

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

One-Sided Coin

Love's not a one-sided coin

You can't always win the day

Love's not a line in a poem

Borrowed words aren't what I

Need to hear you say

You've got to feel me in your heart

This honesty is where love starts

Fancy words and fast moves

The hallmark of a lonely fool

Love's not a one-sided coin

So don't throw it all away

When all I need to hear you say

What I need to hear you say

Words from your heart

Why can't you say

Love's not a one-sided coin

You can't always win the day

Love's not a line in a poem

Borrowed words aren't what I

Need to hear you say

You've got to feel me in your heart

This honesty is where love starts

So don't throw it all away

Love's not a one-sided coin

And you can't always win the day

Lilac and Sweet Clover

Lilac and sweet clover

And damson red

Fireflies dancing

Way over your head

You can't catch the summer

And hold it to ransom

You can only run after it

As it dances away

In a cloud of

Lilac and sweet clover

And damson red

Fireflies dancing

Way over your head

And I think we were friends

If I recall those days

When the lights were dancing

Way over our heads

Tears teach us to be human

Laughter sweeter than wine

Years run like water

It's all just a matter of time

You can't catch the summer

And hold it to ransom

You can only run after it

As it dances away

In a cloud of

Lilac and sweet clover

And damson red

Fireflies dancing

Way over your head

Lilac and sweet clover

And damson red

Fireflies dancing

Way over your head

Last Chance Human

Starting a new set of songs/poems/words. Kicking off with Last Chance Human.

Last Chance Human

I've stood back

Didn't want to drown in your wake

Watched as your ships set sail

Counted in the flotsam and jetsam

On the return tide

When you won't listen any more

When the ego trip is all

Those bridges that you burnt

No lessons learnt

I've had it up to here

And there's something very clear

No matter how much you polish it

It's all still a crock of shit

So sick and tired of it

Well, here comes St Jude

Like the Ides of March

Here comes your future

A reflection of your past

Last chance human

Last chance human

I've stood back

Didn't want to drown in your wake

Watched as your ships set sail

Counted in the flotsam and jetsam

On the return tide

When a bullet is your reason

When war's the only season

When you won't listen any more

When the ego trip is all

Well, here comes St Jude

Like the Ides of March

Here comes your future

A reflection of your past

So very sick and tired of it

This is your last chance to be human

The Longest Fall

It's the oldest story

And the longest fall

You think you've got away with it

But you've got nothing at all

All that glitters is fool's gold

And the silver lining in your pocket

Only weighs you down more

Love wasn't enough for you

Blood and bones for golden thrones

Now you're king of the castle

Practising what you preach

Love wasn't enough

'Get me more stuff!'

Bullets and brass

Bombs and glass

It's the oldest story

And the longest fall

You think you've got away with it

But you've got nothing at all

Now you're king of the castle

Sowing what you reap

And that silver lining in your pocket

Only weighs you down more

In a hell of your own making

It's the oldest story

And the longest fall

How it was

Listening to a ‘Lady in Satin’

Singing about how it is

Trying to work out why those words

Became how it was

Passed the green man miles ago

He said it was a lost cause

But never lie down and let it go

Because he doesn’t know

How words echo in the heart

So listen to a ‘Lady in Satin’

Singing about how it is

And tell me why those words

Became how it was.

Belonging

Belonging

Let the moment that you set your heart free

Let it belong to me, let it belong to me

We'll find a patch of blue sky

Where we'll let our dreams fly

Set your soul apart

Listen to your heart

Let the moment that you set your heart free

Let it belong to me, let it belong to me

I never wanted to travel so far

Seven more miles to where we are

Nowhere in particular

But if we find a patch of blue sky

Well, that's where we'll let our dreams fly

Let the moment that you set your heart free

Let it belong to me, let it belong to me

Unlike Anything

And old boats don't run back to the sea

Once beached they stay there

Out of reach

Their wooden bones bleaching

Under a seagull sky

Sea salt leaching

From their creaking hulls

And old boats don't run back to the sea

Unlike those summer tides

Unlike those days of sand

Unlike those rock pools emptying

And footprints sinking

Running back into the sea

We were unlike anything before

And old boats don't run back to the sea

Hiding nets and hooks they stay moored

Safe from the high tide

And winter storm

Old rope frayed and worn

Won't help to moor me now

Unlike anything anymore

And I am running back to the sea

Sea salt leaching from my eyes

Footprints sinking

Under seagull skies

Unlike anything anymore

A high tide and a winter storm

Unlike anything before

Old boats don't run back to the sea

You once said that to me

In Your Eyes

In your eyes

The night skies

Are calling

By sunrise you'll be mine and I'll be yours

Lost along these golden shores

But tonight

The night skies

Are calling