Five Hundred Years

Five hundred years and nothing has changed

We are knaves and fools all

Pretending we are hewn from the steady oak

Instead of wheat chaff borne in the winds

Of our own ego

Like dust, we sing loud as the storm rises

But fall away to nothing once the cold rain

With all its stinging force

Bites home

Five hundred years and nothing has changed

We count out our past in battles won

See bravery in bullets and blood

And pray for victories

Both big and small

Not seeing we are already lost

Simply dancing in the eye of a storm

While the death rattle of our humanity

Rolls in

Grow me from a steady oak

Unbending to fashion and whim

To stand against the prevailing wind

Forge my eyes from the rain's tears

To see clearly for five hundred years

And while knaves and fools fall

I'll stand still

Te Pito o te Henua

Three stars fall

To the ocean below

But the land reaches up

To catch them

In three volcanoes

Safe boats to sleep in

Until the sun turns for home

And they rise again

Great treasure found
At the centre of the world

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

From Your Valentine (14th February 2016)

A letter sent from a prison cell

Where even hope darkness quells

Such a bright, divine light, this love

As swift and sweet as any dove

Emperors, dictators and warlords fall

While Love, that universal call

Burns on, despite brutality and fear

And we remember every year

Not the hatred

Nor the pain

Not the tyrant

But the name

Signed and sealed, the heart's final line
With love, from your Valentine

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