Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
SONIX ……………………………………………………………………...………………….... 2
X MY HEART …………………………………………………………………………………..... 3
THIS ..……………………………………………………………………………………………. 9
WHAT, NOW?……………..……………………………………………………………………….. 15
UNSUNG …..…………………………………………………………………………………….. 19
CLUTCH …..…………………………………………………………………………………….. 20
INCOHERENCE …..……………………………………………………………………………… 22
PRESENT…..…………………………………………………………………………………….. 25
SINGULARITY…..……………………………………………………………………………….. 27
TRISECTOR …..…………………………………………………………………………………. 30
THIN AIR…..…………………………………………………………………………………….. 32
A GROUNDING IN NUMBERS…………………………………………………………………….. 35
CONSEQUENCES………………………………………………………………………………… 38
ALT…………………………….…………………………………………………………………….. 41
OTHER WORLD……………….……………………………………………………………………..42
DO NOT DUSTURB………………………………………………………………………………….. 50
IN AMAZONIA……………………………………………………………………………………….. 56
INDEX……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….58
A Fix On The Mix 1
A FIX ON THE MIX
I Will Find You
Trapped like a rabbit by the future glare,
Auto (Wieder Im Wagen)
onrushing headlights that blind you,
a frightened runaway,
Wir fahren - was könnte schöner sein -
at least you know I care,
Lichtpunkt in der Brandung.
I will seek, I will search, I will find you.
Scheibenwischerrhythmus lädt zum Tanzen ein,
Lichterketten der Autobahn,
We are written in the star-crossed sky,
lavaheller Gegenwind.
the spirit music reminds you...
Immer bleibt in der Ferne, was wir sein werden,
you can run and hide, but surely by and by
je gewesen sind.
I will seek, I will search, I will find you.
Wieder im Wagen,
Far away, in another life
nichts was uns hier noch hält,
you say you're going to find your freedom...
wir haben keine festen Pläne,
don't run away to another life.
aber alle Zeit der Welt.
Komm, steig ein in den Wagen,
Don't be afraid, there's no dark unknown,
egal wohin, mein Kind...
no shadow stalking behind you...
besser voran mit Zuversicht
don't be afraid,
als zu erreichen was wir sind.
when you're lost and most alone
I will seek, I will search, I will find you.
Du enträtselst die Karte
ein dunkles Märchen, das von Schwärmern stammt,
Far away, in another life
Passierschein für die Unauffindbarkeit,
things might not be so very different...
unsre Fahne in den Fluchtpunkt gerammt.
don't run away to another life.
Ewigkeit am Steuer,
mir ganz egal, wohin die Reise geht.
Trapped like a rabbit by the future glare,
Ich will soweit fahren,
onrushing headlights that blind you,
wie das Radio mir Bach in die Ohren weht.
a frightened runaway,
at least you know I care,
Wieder im Wagen,
I will seek, I will search, I will find you.
die Nacht ist ein schwarzes Loch,
und siehe wir bewegen uns --
also gibt es uns noch.
Steig ein in das Auto, Like A Shot, The Entertainer
hauch den Rückspiegel blind,
besser voran, so hoffen wir, Like a shot from the barrel of a smoking gun, he's not;
als zu erreichen was wir sind. still he aims for adoration.
On the spot where the kettle has been called black by the
Und wir fahr'n für immer... pot
und wir fahr'n für immer... he awaits his true vocation.
gib zu, auch Du hast schon dran gedacht, You're so hot, eggs are frying where you walk upon the
wir fahren weiter, wilder -- street;
in das Nirgendniemandsland der schnellen Bilder. what you got is the secret that he'd trade his soul to keep.
Like a shot he will tell you all his stories -
Wieder im Wagen, is that what entertains the entertainer?
Vollgas die ganze Nacht,
der Highway wahrt sein Geheimnis, Like a shot of the elixir of youth your trade in stock,
zuviel Zeit im Stand verbracht, both a curse and a protection;
also steig ein in den Wagen, like a shot, in like Flynn, he'll tie his tongue up in a knot
hauch den Rückspiegel blind, to profess his true affection.
besser voran mit Zuversicht, You're so hot, eggs are frying where you walk upon the
als zu erreichen was wir sind. street;
Komm, steig ein in den Wagen, you're so hot that he turns to tango every time you meet.
hier versteinern wir doch. Like a shot he'll be thrown upon your mercy -
Denn wenn wir in Bewegung sind, is that what entertains the entertainer?
dann pulsieren wir noch.
Entertain the entertainer....
Steig ein in den Wagen.
Komm, steig ein in den Wagen. Like a shot, like a paparazzo picture gone to pot
Hör ihm zu, lass dich tragen. his decay bears no reversal;
Steig ein. on the rocks he will take his medicine straight
but this is not, I repeat, not dress rehearsal.
2 Sonix
You're so hot, eggs are frying where you walk upon the street; SONIX
X the spot where he hopes he'll always fall upon his feet.
What a shock when he stumbles in the spotlight -
is that what entertains the entertainer?
Emmene-Moi Bare Theme
Let's talk about something else; let's talk about us;
let's talk about egocentricity; let's talk about keeping it up. (instrumental)
You're so hot, eggs are frying where you walk upon the street;
what you got is the secret that he'd trade his soul to keep. A Walk In The Dark
Like a shot he'll regale you with his stories -
is that what entertains the entertainer? (instrumental)
Like a shot he'll be thrown upon your mercy -
is that what entertains the entertainer?
What a shock when he stumbles in the spotlight - In The Polish House
is that what entertains the entertainer?
(instrumental)
Let's talk about something else; let's talk about us;
let's talk about egocentricity; let's talk about keeping it up.
Dark Matter
Favorit (instrumental)
In Ewigkeit bist Du sein, There you are, is that where you are, at the centre.
doch bleibst Du immer sein Favorit? You exit, and you enter ...
Keep your feet on the beam.
Amnesiac
I can't think of anything I did or was doing
I can't seem to get a hold on what's come to pass
here with half a mind on something else
and half a finger in the glass,
since you ask.
Amnesiac does it so plainly show? I heard the grass growing under my feet -
Amnesiac as if I didn't know, oh, princess, what might have been?
Amnesiac oh say it isn't so.... Once your kisses were so bittersweet
that I got caught in the in-between.
Amnesiac,
amnesiac, Strange voices came and went
amnesiac, (It isn't certain, but it's 90%, yeah, you'd better believe it.
black-out, K.O. The buck stops when the arrow's spent, this is the get-
out,
take it or leave it.)
Ram Origami If I'm uncertain still I leave it unsaid.
Here's the lost boy with the brittle smile, I can't take it, can't leave it.
plastered panstick on his face,
making himself up; for a little while Yes, questions - though responses remain unsure;
all the fragments will remain in place. still I stay open for suggestions - for this there's no
We are only what we manage to retrieve simple cure.
And I got lost in the forest of pronouns
out of memory so I can't see the wood for the trees.
(Who do you think you are?)
Strange language floods my head...
Inside, it's a hailstorm visibility (It isn't certain, but it's 90%, yeah, you'd better believe it.
transformed by outer confidence and charm The butts stop where the arrow's sped, this is the get-out,
step up to take responsibility, take it or leave it.)
step down to keep the pieces of identity calm It isn't written...do I take it as read?
and the moment we believe that we got it all in place
is the very moment when the cup overflows I can't take it, can't leave it.
out of memory.
Earthbound
(Who do you think you are?
Where did you say you'd been? My heart flew in my mouth
What did you think you were? the moment that your eyes locked mine.
How did it seem? I blurted something out
How does it seem?) along these lines:
We're earthbound
There goes the who, the what, the why and wherefore but we all long for flight...
all folded up in origami stuff:
people and places we once cared for... My heart's worn on my sleeve:
we remember, but not vividly enough I'd offer all I could contrive
and it's all blank paper when we finally open up if only you'd believe
with not even watermarks as messages to trace you flood my mind.
only folds in the floe of the frozen face We're earthbound
out of memory. but you spring my heart alive.
My brother's keeper
under no lock or key
will you always look out for me?
Everyone You Hold 7
I don't remember, I don't remember, Last secrets to be whispered and the dying of the light
I don't remember the names, are all that we have left now.
the essential's familiar, the personality's under change.... It doesn't matter if no-one else can hear,
now we can say what we want, all is open.
Through your eyes At least it doesn't matter, no-one can get near us now...
I can see reflections of my own, It's time to send in clear.
I feel I'm losing sight of all I've known Here in the Safe House...
and I'm spiralling down, in the gene-pool drowned.... all clear
Truth is buried deep and just as well: And they're coming for you now, if you're ready or
we've as many lives as lies we tell, you're not
all the seld-taught fragments of fractured personalities. and they're coming for you now - are you ready?
No, you're not and they're here.
I don't remember your name.
Phosphorescence
Nothing Comes
Across the ocean of the night
Consternation out of the box you turn and look into my eyes,
as the conversation runs onto the rocks; burn into my life.
in full expectation nothing comes as a shock. Now the moment's magical
but we keep our silence
It's all plain sailing in the dry dock;
it's all downhill from here, in the rubble, taking stock... You could tell me anything you want,
with no sense of feeling nothing comes as a shock. you could tell me all your secret wishes;
only in our eyes, only in our eyes
You remind me of the girlfriend I never had: we made the soul kiss
never fitted the equation, I was never quite one of the lads. and we will never pass this way again
Still I remember that my feelings were always touch and go we will never know each other better;
once I thought I knew all that, now I just don't know. ships pass in the night
and in their wake they leave just phosphorescence.
The wrap's about to happen, the scene is already blocked,
black-out's already plotted and the cameras are locked: You could tell me any lies you want,
when everything's over nothing comes as a shock. it wouldn't change the way I feel about this;
only in our eyes, only in our eyes
I remember that my feelings were always touch and go we made the soul kiss
once I thought I knew it all, now I just don't know. and we will never pass this way again
but we'll always feel each other's presence...
ships pass in the night
From The Safe House and when we wake we're left with phosphorescence
Cutting figures of pride and will You know your place, you know your name, you got
like Leonardo cartoons your slot,
we go flying formation in our hot-air speech balloons. you got the strength to be exactly what you want to.
With faith in faith intact,
Can't go back, can't reverse... time to test the given facts:
no-one here really quite believes when we wake we'll be made brand new
the bubble's going to, and I'll be there right beside you.
the bubble's going to, I believe in time we'll all shine through...
the bubble's going to burst. Don't you ever give up on me
I will never give up on you
I fell off the raft of self-assurance Don't you ever say "Can't", if you know that's
into undertow that sucked me dry and deep; not true
bent double by thought bubbles flooding through my blood Don't you ever say "Won't", when you know
I surfaced from a lifetime's worth of sleep. you'll pull through
I remember once I gave myself the lecture, Don't you ever say "Can't", till you try you
swore on life as both a blessing and a curse don't know what you
but all solid faith seems nothing but conjecture Can do.
now the bubble's going to, Can do,
bubble's going to, can do.
bubble's going to, Don't you say you can't do it; till you try you don't know
bubble's going to burst. what you can do.
You say you can't do it - says who?
And our bones become the coral of the future
and we slake the life-long thirst;
with a pin-prick, on a reef like a razor, Tenderness
the bubble's going to burst.
Nothing I can say, but this much I can do:
The bubble's sure to burst. if you want I'll stay and be with you.
Just let the tears flood down and, yes,
I can offer you tenderness.
Can Do
What is gone is gone, it can be no more,
When you're fingered by self-doubt, my dear, so we must move along and close the door.
no-one is innocent or guilty. I'm not his match, this I confess -
Chained, your reaction when you're on the spot: but still I offer you tenderness.
the flower of faith is wilting. No more, no less:
But if there's something that you've left behind I can offer you tenderness.
there'll be something else upcoming...
make what you will, the future happens; He'll stay with you, I know...
now this is something that you just won't find till later. now's the time to remember and let go.
No disillusion or despair will be defeat, Life will turn around though now it's growing dim,
no simple disappointment should stay you although you feel the light's gone out with him.
get up upon your feet, Cry out all your tears, you loved him best -
stand up: life is sweet still I offer you tenderness,
with will we'll all shine through... no more, no less;
Don't you ever give up on me deep in your distress
I will never give up on you I'm here to offer some tenderness.
Don't you ever say "Can't", till you try you don't know I'm here to offer you tenderness.
quite what you All I can offer's tenderness.
Can do
can do, Remember and let go.
can do.
This 9
THIS I can't be your protector,
can't keep you under my wing.
This is not a rehearsal,
this is the real thing
Frozen In Place this is the real thing.
This is for real.
(fragment)
Stupid
Unrehearsed
I'm
Time for the unrehearsed entrance. (so stupid)
show show a leg you can break,
down the cocktail Along this pilgrim's accidental progress
while it's laughing at you for heaven's sake... I'd bump into the walls as like as not;
I can't be your protector It's no surprise I didn't notice when I lost the plot.
from these deliberate mistakes.
I went and did something
Between the "can't" and the "maybe" (so stupid, so dumb)
a lifetime's hovering in the wings:
grasp the nettle, bite the bullet Error-message ever more intensive,
push your own buttons and pull your own strings. red lights were burning on the air -
Name your poison no I can't say that I was consequentially unaware
while you've got the power, 100 proof.
I can't be your protector when I did something
from self-neglect or abuse. (so stupid, so dumb)
This is not a rehearsal I saw it coming
and fear is not an excuse. (so stupid)
now all I want to know is how come
And if you won't step out on the boards (how come?)
you'll find your place already on the shelf - we're all fingers and thumbs?
you can only find the sum of your parts yourself.
Confused but not entirely aimless,
Unprepared and unready, though you might find comfort here is faint;
is that an excuse or point of view? if we lived lives that were quite blameless then we'd all
You can block out the words in anagrammatical sword play be saints;
but it's your own life you'll be running though. I don't think so.
Time to drink a cocktail
of your own invention for pity's sake. Get a life:
you've got to do something
I can't be your protector, (so stupid)
I won't be there when you wake we all do something
to honour all the hidden intentions (so dumb)
in your deliberate mistakes, self-seed our own destruction
behind your deliberate mistakes. nobody understands it, how come we're all fingers and
thumbs?
Deliberation could be mistaken for coldness of the heart;
Procrastination won't get you anywhere except aloof and apart;
what's the golden opportunity on here for - Since The Kids
isn't it just this?
Go! Start! It was simple, we were man and wife;
something happened to change everything in life
Unrehearsed and unready and made us fell small but we were giants nonetheless
that's what we are, and here we are all in the family portrait.
what we've all been cast into...
It's not four square, the beat's unsteady I've been sliding in a 2, 4-wheel skid:
but this is this something happened to me and since the kids
and making something of it's up to you. all time's gone awry, direction's askew...
I never thought that I
An unexpected exit's always waiting would ever feel so used up.
although you think it's something you'll bluff your way through.
Spit that wooden spoon out of your mouth The sense of wonder, the note of panic, demands you just
and eat up - the moment's long overdue. can't ignore
Take your medicine nothing prepares you to be a parent,
and face whatever the future brings looking to join the strands of the broken chord.
10 This
the night in conflagration.
What you wanted, what I couldn't give...
something happened to us - oh, but since the kids With a shiver down my spine
inherit the earth I come back to the place where I started;
we had to plough and drill the field, the sea of consciousness has parted
nurture the shoots with our hopes and fears, but stranded is all that I feel for sure.
never wonder about the future yield. As nightsight declines into darkness
by day there'll be clay in my hands.
(Never wonder, never wonder, this is real) I may feel the clay in my hands.
As for language, I have none I know that I've been here before,
to express quite what strangeness overwhelms me: I know that I've been here before,
something's changed and something tells me but that was in another lifetime.
to be still in the roar of the distant stars.
The night's full of fire, ice and water; What once seemed blessed now feels accursed
by day I'll have clay in my hands. with words the spendthrift burned by candlelight
but now this miser's mouth is pursed:
The book is open at a well-thumbed mark fallen, the city of night.
the odds are stacked that I'm facing.
Eyes grown accustomed to light and dark I know that I've been here before
can't catch the shadows they're chasing. but that was in another lifetime.
Open, my heart, to the vital spark -
a disordered rhythm is racing,
it's a dance macabre I'm tracing. Unready
As the fire feeds the flame, (fragment)
as the tongue finds expression in its flickering,
does each breath inform a name Always Is Next
to be dispersed just a soon as it's exhaled?
(fragment)
Was it to myself I came
or to some other strange and parallel existence?
Will I ever see tomorrow,
to wake and begin it again? Unsteady
Open, my mind in the body's cage, All the fields that you overflown are frozen,
unchained in consecration; they flow like glass down the frame in formlessness.
open, my eyes, to the wider stage Only the fragile fluttering of you heart still marks you
the firestorm of liberation - chosen,
The Appointed Hour 11
chosen to dare, your face defiant of the featureless. THE APPOINTED HOUR
Your face defies the featureless,
You're facing the featureless.
A horizon of light blurs the boundaries of whiteness
as the distance is shimmered into timeless brightness now. Up
To Know
(instrumental)
Fools
(instrumental)
In
(instrumental)
Where
(instrumental)
To Tread
(instrumental)
Fool Rush
(instrumental)
12 None Of The Above
So scared
In Love it shows
that we are touch and go.
(instrumental)
I never brought myself to tell you
how you kept all my demons at bay
but my silence came out as indifference
Angels
and now my diffidence has driven you away.
You'll be the one with the wings,
(instrumental)
I'm going down in flames,
still mouthing out the mystery, my angel, of your name.
How touch and go our tenderness became.
Fall
(instrumental) (So scared to show
I know we're touch and go)
You'll never know how deep you cut me, You're welcome to the party,
although anyone can see the state I'm in. so glad your guests have all arrived.
14 None Of The Above
They're all reflecting your brilliance in their adoring eyes. into your face in a spittle-stream of vitriol and abuse,
You're welcome to this moment, filling the place with the stench of alcohol and piss;
everybody's here for you... no saving grace, no comfort, no escape and no excuse:
but you'll be dancing by yourself before the night is through. he's only in love with his fists.
Wear your hair like Veronica Lake (What a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip finally....
and the bruises won't show where he hits you; He got the bottle, he knocked back the eau-de-vie.)
safe behind the curtain, in private, in secret nobody will see
how he comes home. He's stripped of recollection,
he's left with no protection,
Soon he'll be this won't come again,
What, Now? 15
although he always knew that he'd foresee WHAT, NOW?
much more than he'd ever remember.
(This won't come again.)
Losing the thread, losing the plot,
it wasn't/not possible to stay on fire as he was then, Here Come the Talkies
he'd do anything to breathe life in these embers.
(But the secret stays untold...) Hair in the gate, let's take a minute
He'd give anything to get life from these embers. to find out where this character's lost his way...
(and the fire has grown cold, cold, cold.) unless I'm much mistaken I'm at the limit
of what I can and can't say.
Between the present and the past, his mouth agape
and the elixir he drained has twisted essence out of shape; Something untoward seems to be occurring,
and with dark perfume he is wraithed the best that I can do is play along
now that the genie has escaped from the bottle. for much as I deplore it the camera's still turning...
you don't have to be bad to be in the wrong,
Sangrial, the eau-d-vie. you don't have to be bad to get it all wrong.
(What a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip finally.... Fighting the light,
eau-de-vie, eau-de-vie. there's not much time...
Don Juan had been so careful but he let it slip. What future bright is mine?
Don Juan had been so careful.
Eau-de-vie...) In the course of that scene you looked right through me,
though I was holding your attention as best I could.
I feel I'm dropping down the credits of my own movie....
Astart Even when you're in the right you could be gone for
good;
Always we're too young to understand take a look at these shoes where the understudy stood.
that life is neither cruel nor fair,
at random or well-planned. Fighting the light,
So we stride along the shoreline there's not much time...
while our footprints in the sand What future bright is mine?
are washed away and then
say "Can I begin again?" With uncertainty as a constant companion
yeah you'll never be alone if you're open to your own
But where you come from's who you've been self-doubt...
and try as you may your debts all stay unredeemed better let it out.
(maybe that's why they seem)
when all history's as distant as your dreams This is no time for you to stutter in dismay
you close your eyes and count to ten, as frame by frame all your references unlock;
say "Can I begin again?" wired up as anything, the future's on its way
like electricity, you judder with the shock.
Every action, every passion, You judder with the shock,
every rational retraction, every breath a start.... until you're utterly unblocked;
yeh, you judder with the shock.
Always we're too young to comprehend,
nobody here will ever know the whole story, Time to get a grip, we're all mummers in a freak show,
how it ends. come on, read my lips and then maybe you'll acquire a
(Our lovers and our friends...) different taste.
Holding them closely in the noblest of pretence - Take another tip, find a method in the madness...
life's just got started when when everything is stripped I see no fortune in your face.
you find you can't begin again. Oh, look out!
(Every action, every passion, Walking on the coals your star was never brighter,
forms a little chain reaction, every breath astart. good as solid gold, but that standard's not so relevant
Every moment, lost or stolen today -
forms the story, base or golden: go from where we are.) typecast in the role, is your strength all in your silence?
Always we're too young to understand.... Here come the talkies - what's that you say?
(Every action, every passion, Fashion what you make from the clay of your
forms a little chain reaction, every breath astart.) experience;
you might deserve a break but the longer you go on the
less it's fair;
you be sure to claim your stake, but the ground below
you's shifted.
16 What, Now?
Just like Rudy as the Sheikh do you feel there's something alien captivating all around her;
in the air? and as she passed she left a trail of heartbreak in her
wake.
Here come the talkies, The American girl
obsolescence guaranteed; cut her teeth on the old world,
here come the talkies, don't you see? all at once the old world hers upon a plate
and fascinated by her face
And you never thought you'd feel so absurd, the old world sealed her fate.
but now you're fluffing your famous last words....
She felt she'd come home across the sea,
Thank you and goodnight. this was where she was meant to be.
If we just close our eyes Oh, Wendy, maybe you still remember this:
we'll be together in a little time... a touch, a kiss that lasts forever...
if we just raise our eyes but time and tide rush in conspiracy:
we'll share the sky. all love is damned.
Wendy, I still believe the promise is
the boy's alive,
The American Girl the boy is in the man.
Enough
To live, to be alive and to consider
the plane that shapes the smooth out of the rough...
when every expectation is delivered
will that be enough?
This alone will have to be enough.
delinquent
(instrumental)
handsfree
(instrumental)
eyebrows
(instrumental)
delighted
(instrumental)
(instrumental)
exp
(instrumental)
(instrumental)
east pole
(instrumental)
exeunt
(instrumental)
1 meg loop
(instrumental)
20 Clutch
Mercury's down to zero, absolute time will tell we're only over-
wintering Just a Child
as guests in the Ice Hotel. All that we build will crumble, every
empire This is more than merely wrong, as sin on sin's
fades; humbled, we should admit impermanence marks the man- grotesquely piled. Don't
made. Under the look so surprised when you find yourself reviled. Don't
Ice Hotel the permafrost is stacked but down along the walls the look to me for
first melt comfort in your trial - the girl was just a child. Uttering
starts to track. The wind's whipped voices up and swept them remorse with
down the years weasel words and shameless guile... it was "a mistake",
but in the Ice Hotel the guests all have cloth ears. Are we all so no, paedophilia's
cloth-eared? "not your style"; all's undercut by your crookedness of
We're only here a season, paupers and presidents. Reason allows smile - the girl
us only a was just a child. Close to being grown up, occasionally
temporary residence. Inside the Ice Hotel the mirror ball revolves wild, but the girl
while was just a child, the girl was just a child.
in the cinema the screen goes to dissolve. Over and over what's
destroyed Now here come the limp excuses with a euphemistic turn
will be remade and in the Ice Hotel we're only passing trade. The of phrase. The fact
walls is sexual abuse undoes its victims, down through all their
are sweating as the Celsius starts to climb. Of all our works this days. Darkness
is the clouds her face, no longer fresh and juvenile. Home's no
transient paradigm. Each year another team will build it up anew, longer safe, her
for in innocence is lost, with rising bile. This is not a hurt that
the Ice Hotel we're all just passing through, we're just passing will ease
through. after a while - the girl was just a child. Offer your
contrition, in remorse
you're meek and mild but the girl was just a child and
This is the Fall you can't restore
the treasure, the flower you defiled - the girl was just a
All humans are siblings, this is a truth that I've assumed; all child. More
fighting than merely wrong, this is simply vile - the girl was just a
over the legacy of a lifelong and timeless family feud in the child.
name of I
don't know what. I don't believe in God but if I did I'd surely say
there Skinny
is only one Power up above us, one face refracted in each
different Faith. Nobody knows what she sees, no-one can get behind that
But for every holy confessor there's a priest of self-worth trading warped
in the reflection. What glossy varnish strips away protection
eternal for power on earth. from young
Soaked, the blood of believers in the ground where prophets trod. girls like these? No-one admits what it means, no-one
How in permits a
God's name did religion get so far away from God? Oh, mercy, gesture of contrition; how carelessly they stacked the
mercy, mercy ammunition
now! Oh, mercy, mercy, mercy! I don't believe in God but, with in the magazines. Like a gun to her head, skinny model
22 Incoherence
fantasy. INCOHERENCE
No, she just can't bear to live with this body image.
Who knows what she sees? Who knows what she sees in body
image?
Nobody knows what she sees, no-one can guess the depth of her (When Language Corrodes)
self-rejection. Seen through the eyes of the disease her
unblemished And when language corrodes
skin's all pock-marked with imperfection. Somebody messed up all our faculties falter and blur.
all Nobody knows how our tongues got so swollen and
her young dreams; pretending that this is all of her own volition furred.
how carelessly they stacked up the ammunition in the magazines. What truths are there left to be told
Like a gun to her head, every glossy fashion shot that reminds when we're all lost for words?
her
of all the pretty girls she's not in body image. Like a gun to her
head skinny model fantasy; no she just can't bear to live with this (Babel)
body image. Like a gun to her head, every glossy fashion shot
reminds Words upon words
her of all the pretty girls she's not in body image. Like a gun to stack the tower of Babel
her head, every image that she sees. No, she just can't bear to live brick on brick on straw on clay
with this body image, body image, body image. but a whispering stirs
and the structure's unstable
when all the scaffold's stripped away.
Bareknuckle Trade We're ever quick to aver
that we are ready and able
And when you feel you can't go on what kind of laurels do you but we can't say what's coming, come what may.
look to? Sometimes we get what we want, sometimes we take
a good hook too. Once you thought you were so strong...some By definition self-obsessed
young pretender came and shook you. Now there's a lesson to we strive to make ourselves plain
be learned: we must respect what is gone and still expect with words that pass the acid test
there'll be something more, but there's a tab left to pay with passive thought in train.
for the experience we're gaining day after day as our knuckles
are grazed by the marks that we made with the tools of the trade. Words upon words,
A telegraph is on its way that might explain my every action. fiction, folly and fable,
Sometimes we get what we want and then forget what we came each pregnant pause a dead giveaway...
here for. ploughing on undeterred
From fitness to decay we trade in opposite attractions. There are as the sell-bys expire on our labels
still lessons to be learned and when we get what we want we though at length we'll have little or nothing to say
find it would be too absurd
it less than we might deserve. Now I'm a little bit lost, not for to spend life all agaze at our navels -
the first time I'm here in some disarray and returning in spades oh, we've got such limited time to go on and explain.
are the hands that I've played with the tools of the trade.
If I learned my lesson well I've got time to buy and sell with the So, running off at the mouth,
tools of the trade. we all get carried away
"What do you want? What do you get? What do you want? What uncertain when it all goes south
do you if we mean what we say.
expect?" What you want, what you want's not what you get. The
tools If we mean what we say....
of the trade, look what you made with the tools of the trade. But
what price has been paid for the tools of the trade? And here's a
message in my hands, though I'm not sure I can decode it. (Logodaedalus)
Sometimes
we get what we want and yet still don't know quite what that is. Logorrhea
Timidity be damned - hang on to that towel, never throw it. Still independent of the brain
there are lessons to be learned: if we don't get what we want at not a moment to reflect
least we get to request the bill, carrying on until the last one is only time to wick up the gain
standing still in the game. With quick breath we all pay for the what was he thinking of and
fists that we made: these, the tools of the trade. why did he dream he could convey a bright idea?
While his tongue was wagging
he forgot to use the space between his ears.
Logodaedalus
with the cunning of a fox
paint him devious
in the corner of the room,
pop Pandora out of her box.
Incoherence 23
What is he on about and claims the Cretan.
why are his arguments so needlessly arcane The Cretans always lie.
in their brilliance?
He's close to appearing more than slightly inane A kiss the gift from hell
with his crooked logic light, the poison pillow, dear...
and his dog-eared dictionary close to hand.... and as we gag on it translation smacks of something like
I don't think he's got it
but he's insistent that we're going to understand "Cretans always lie"
his complete precision; claims the Cretan;
in the end he's certain that we'll all agree "Of Cretan stock am I,
with his definition... am I Cretan?"
an obsolescent word from 1663.
Why don't we hook this old short circuit to the value of
That says it all for me. Pi?
(All Greek)
(Your word)
Fried up the brain
Burnt the bridges, burnt the tread; with rhetorical questions
the sodden syllables are turned. dictionary games
You can't take back what you said and conundrums ear to ear.
when you give your word. When we say what we think
do we think what we're saying's
missing a link,
(Always and a day) inconsistent in idea?
(in internal stage whispers
Always and a day wordless the script
we swore in common vow getting lost in contradictory talk....)
that tomorrow we would stay Losing the thread
the same as now, (in a set of stage whispers)
the same as now. "It's nothing"... (he said)
If I meant that it would say it all.
In every future verb (Spoken, the lines are misshapen....)
we deny our own "Until"; speaking my mind
this the promise that we serve - but the mind that thinks out loud's not thinking straight at
we have time to kill: all.
I will, I will,
I will, I will, All my ideas formed entirely without words
I will, I will speechlessly, you get the picture?
Boleas Panic
(instrumental)
Nutter Alert
It might come in a letter,
darkness falls in a telephone call;
I await the unexpected
with one ear to the party wall.
Is it the pricking of the conscience,
26 Present
is it the itching of hair shirt,
is it the dictionary definition Tale another step, another move, another pace,
of a precipice to skirt? what isn't written in the manuscript is a note to play with
It's the nutter alert. grace
and if I exit from this story in a way I might retrace
Though this face is familiar it will have fallen through the cracks when I come back
something in it has bred contempt; in any case
I never asked for your opinion another time's another place.
or your back-handed compliments.
Oh, but here comes that special nonsense The city's spread beneath my feet
all the words out in a spurt, from the top of the Mercedes tower
the unhinging of the trolley and I can see the darkness closing in
as the mouth begins to blurt... hour by hour.
it's the nutter alert
But I can't take another step, no filling in, no cut and
I can see we're in trouble paste,
from that glint in the eye you've got; a bankrupt process for the memory, this terrain is laid to
there's no sense to the story, waste.
comprehensively lost, the plot.
And how contorted is that logic No, nothing's written in the history books
you so forcefully exert: that doesn't leave a nasty taste;
you're a car crash in the making, so should I start to tell the story
head-on, that's a racing cert. will you put me in my place?
It's the nutter alert, 'Cause it'll all be crash and burn
this is the nutter alert. when I return...in any case
another time's another place.
Event Horizon
The Price of Admission
Flat on my back, I can feel myself falling
(instrumental) into a singular state of mind;
as if through a fog, I can hear someone calling.
I know I'm cutting it fine,
thinking that maybe it's time to cross the line.
I said steady up, settle down, make way for the Idiot Boy. So stupid and so senseless....
He's here to sell you some kind of a story; Sometimes we're pulled up short, quite shockingly
like a stuck-up sore thumb he'll be coming on bashful and coy, defenceless.
all of the while pumping up his vainglory. I don't know what to do: my piano's out of tune...
it's not as if I can assume that it's ever going to get any
I said give it up, slap it down, idolise the Idiot Boy; better now.
love's what he wants, or at least some attention
and he believes all the hype... A liquid lunch appointment when the working week is
like an archetypal Geijin-cum-goy done,
he plays up the Alien Genius Pretension. there's time for one more just before he goes.
A quick glance at the watch and now it's time to head for
He'd fake his own confession to get you on his side. home.
And so it's goodbye to the ladies,
Oh, I say lighten up, calm it down, time out for His Idiocy now. grabs the keys to his Mercedes,
What's going to happen when the audience dwindles? thinking "Maybe I should get a cab....".
The tide's out, the ride's up, the world's got no comfort But no.
somehowö
truth to tell, it'll be himself that he's swindled Blind drunk, he met you head on.
in a broken-down profession of over-weaning pride. On a normal Friday afternoon.
Nowhere to hide....
Heaven sent compliments that were meant sincerely fall flat White Dot
and the bitterest pill is the one he can't swallow.
Nothing is like anything else,
The idiotic thing is what we have always known: everything's the same,
however great success is, however far you've flown our progress punctuated
you'll come to face this audience: by a series of coincidence
yourself, yourself alone. to form a logical chain.
TRISECTOR her head on his shoulder, his arm around her waist.
But if you put them on the spot
what would they say?
Are they in the final reel or what?
The Hurlyburly
Sayonara, tschuss, adieu, farewell.
(instrumental) Will we meet again? No-one can tell,
not the manner, not the time.
No-one can hide, no-one leaves the final reel behind.
Interference Patterns
Jack turns to Gillian, misty-eyed,
All that we see illusory and presses the pills in her hand.
every assumption based on blind faith alone.... All they've got left is the downhill slide
On with the motley, bring it home! so they'd better act while they can.
Everything's formed from particles, This much they know, they're not in the final reel alone.
all that you see is a construction of waves. This much they know, they'll not leave the final reel
Hold onto both thoughts, alone.
under general relativity They take the dive, no-one leaves the final reel alive.
the cradle connected to the grave.
I don't know if I'm cracking up or just getting careless.... Still, let us speak of comradeship, of how we stood as
is this room quite airless? one,
Just a minute - listen, shoulder to shoulder through the thick and thin
did you hear that knock on the door? while the roof was caving in;
although everything begins in good faith,
I'm going to have to write things down before I forget them. for all our sins we'll all end up being skinned
I can't find my glasses, I don't know where I left them and now there's nowhere left to run to, there's nowhere
so I can't expect to get much on the visionary score, left to hide,
or did I say all that before? we're strapped in and we're gunning for the roller-coaster
ride.
Oh, stop me if you've heard this one before I get started.
32 Thin Air
If we're living our lives as though God's at our shoulders, THIN AIR
if we're giving of our best, by an effort of will,
then we'll be up for the test,
we'll never know when we're over the hill.
The Mercy
Here comes then bit where we decide no passengers come on this
ride - What I once thought was everlasting
civilians, the broken-hearted, need not apply. all of a sudden been and gone.
I count to a thousand and ten, I keep my eyes tight shut and then It is finished, it is finished but mercy’s moving us along.
unsteadily count the numbers back down again. What can you carry for your brother
when you can’t stand up on your own?
Head on into the wind, on a heavenly mission, It’s hard to keep up, it’s hard to keep up,
try to play with the spin while we burn in our hearts; this part you have to do alone.
although we know we'll never win we're still learning our lessons
in the dark. Each time you make a resolution (I get no sense
who knows what lies in your intent. of what you meant to say
There's no choice here to make, there's no easier decision There goes the story, there goes the story by way of a defence.)
than to stand up, stand straight and to give it a try here comes the circular descent.
and there's no time for hesitation as the stations of our lives are
passing by. If I say “good night and god bless”
Heads up and face front as brother to brother, I might yet confess I’m hoping to see
time to come to the call if we're true to how we were that when daylight breaks
because at last and after all we've given each other our words. I will face a fait accompli.
If we live out our lives as though God's sat at our shoulders,
if we give of our best and then give some more still, When the time comes I hope I’ll say
press on, with no pause for breath, this is the moment I must stay
then we'll see each other over the hill. my hand in mercy.
I don’t intend to let you go,
Now if we speak of distances we're only covering old ground: I never meant to leave you lonely.
what's done is done and if we have become of worth at all This is the moment I must show
we'll hope to see things in the round. my hand in mercy.
Let's close the book on history and keep it safe and sound.
While we've been moving forward to our goals What I perceived as everlasting (I might be wrong...
we have done as we have told, now I just see as overlong. you still belong among those
so the story's closed behind us Beyond endurance, beyond endurance, hungry to press on.)
and the countdown comes in backwards, beyond this point you can’t carry on.
that much was always clear, But I believe what someone told me:
so when it reaches zero our heroes disappear. when we are pushed right to the edge,
right to the limit, when it is finished
it is the mercy.
(We are) Not Here
So I say “Good night and god bless, sleep tight”.
Counting sheep and closing my eyes
I dreamed you here beside me,
I will drift away from the livelong day,
radiant, impulsively strong.
up the wooden hill slowly climb.
Light streaming through us blindly,
So I say “Good night and god bless, sleep tight”.
we are not here for long.
I must go outside and I might be some time.
I dreamed us from the ether,
bursting through the neural stem,
vibration without meter... Your Face on the Street
we are not here again.
I’d see your face on the street
We are not here again. often times as I went on my day to day.
(No way to know that when) We were never to meet
We are not here again. but a nodding acquaintance had come our way.
(there is no now in then)
I never paid it much mind,
We are not here again. always assumed I’d continue to see you there.
But of the mysteries behind,
(We are not there and then we are. all the shadows before us we’re unaware.
Henceforth we are not here again.)
Don’t swim out too far, for Christ’s sake
don’t go in the bar, for Christ’s sake
don’t get in the car....
Thin Air 33
My heart skipped a beat Don’t let down your guard,
when I chanced on a headline that featured you. The truth is, this conclusion’s what you’ve stumbled on:
don’t swim out too far, behind you lies the wreckage that you’ve stumbled from.
And here’s your face on the street, don’t go in the bar,
on a poster appealing for any clue.... don’t get in the car....
Wrong Way Round
You let down your guard for Christ’s sake,
You went in the bar for Christ’s sake, (instrumental)
You got in the car for Christ’s sake.
What happened? You swam out too far for Christ’s sake, Ghosts of Planes
Where’d it go wrong? you went in the bar for Christ’s sake,
You’re there one moment, you got in the car.... The air is thin, the air is thin,
the next you’re gone. the Top of the World Club’s what we’re in.
How thin the air, how thin the air,
I see your face on the street now the Top of the World Club isn’t there.
as a ghost apparition, you’ll not come home.
So much in life’s incomplete - With easy grace they crawl
somehow in your disappearance I felt my own. across the shadow-shifting city sky,
an aerial flotilla,
You swam out too far for comfort the ghosts of planes pass by.
you let down your guard forever,
What happened? you went in the bar, for Christ’s sake, Their gravid bellies bursting,
Where’d it go wrong? you got in the car for Christ’s sake, gravity distended out of shape;
You’re there one moment you let down your guard forever, from the consequence of action
and there you’re gone, you let down your guard. history offers no escape.
gone forever just like that
and all the future’s fallen flat. Arrival and departure,
all points in between now coincide.
Here’s a ticket to oblivion.
Stumbled Onward passage is denied.
Wash your hands clean, The air is thin, the air is thin,
don’t let anybody see the dirty work. the Top of the World Club’s what we’re in.
Keep those secrets How thin the air, how thin the air,
locked away from sight forever, the Top of the World Club isn’t there any more.
hidden safely where your darker side still runs berserk.
Diminished
Was it only my imagination
or were we once agreed, in full accord,
that we would meet in time for reconciliation,
for the scratching of old debts
and the settling of old scores?
Your time starts now I’m highly strung, I’m stressed as hell,
and there’s the poser. I bite my tongue, I hold my breath as well.
You’re going to need The iron lung, the diving bell...
all the help you can get time to depressurise, my nerves are shot to hell.
for the ride’s nearly over.
The beat, the heat is astounding, the pressure, the tension
All that information, full-blown,
all that warp and weft... the static is crackling around me, I can’t hold on, I can’t
for all your patient fortitude you’re patently bereft let go....
of clue, of hint, of notion,
of answers, even vague. I’m highly strung, panic attack,
You’re ploughing forward nonetheless can’t do this one, can’t go on with the act.
as though by simple doggedness I’m frozen on the topmost rung,
the far side’ll see you saved. I can’t go on, I’m just too highly strung.
Mathematics (instrumental)
With best intentions I have strayed far off the beaten track
(10 6 4 3
and of attention I displayed a quite spectacular lack. 16 7
Now Mr. Sands is in the house and the panic button’s smacked. 23)
Well, Mr Sands is in the house: commotion in the stalls 5533223
and from the gods, unruly shouts that echo round the hall
Yes, someone’s let the secret out...the safety curtain falls.
And as I look across the stage the thought that first occurs All Over the Place
is less that we have come of age and more that we’re preserved
to pass our time in different shades of ignorant reserve. So, driven to distraction
by witless repartee
Everything’s in code and wittering conversation
till the moment it explodes of deep banality,
we suspend belief, get ready to go eventually
for the playout of the show - he seeks out interraction,
here it is for all we know fresh eccentricity.
Mr Sands is always ready to roll. On closer observation
nothing’s all that it seems to be,
nothing’s more than it seems to be.
Smoke He scattered himself all over the place
while hiding behind closed doors
Best be careful, maintain a tight grip. and day by dull day fell more off the pace -
Yes, be careful and keep the mouth zipped. a life suspended in live pause.
Best be careful, there’s no smoke without fire. He gave of himself in fractional clues,
oblique synchronicities
Clearly you don’t know where you’re going but nobody knows how alien he grew,
but the beaten track behind you runs for miles. how, drained away behind his open face,
You’ve blundered through the jungle like a hyperactive child. he’d lost his identity.
Just be careful and think the thing through, Now nothing else is left behind,
you must be careful of what you’re linked to - just the fallen side of the sky;
just be careful, there’s no smoke without fire. a thousand miles away from home
I feel the cold ghost breath fly by
You held your inattention out of the dream.
and your standing’s now as suspect as can be, Now the image blurs
the charges telegraphed and tracked conspiratorially. of how we seemed
of what we were.
Just be careful of where your mouse clicks,
you must be careful because the mud sticks -
just be careful, there’s no smoke without fire.
5533
I should have listened, for once, to my own advice, And now this narrative’s exploding,
I should have paid attention. through a merry dance your fantasies have sped.
I was so eager to have my say, Still you say my words are in your heart forever:
I fell in love with the sound of my own damn voice. “I’ll always love you....”.
I never thought how offensive the line might seem That wasn’t what I said.
if taken out of context.
My best intentions all fall away
and it’s no laughing matter,
Constantly Overheard
now I can’t pack that jabberwock back in the box.
You can repeat it as often as you like,
No way to take back the hasty phrase,
the story won’t ring true.
no chance to unspeak the sentence
You’ve been inventing a cocktail of confections
that hangs in the air,
no-one believes but you.
held up by the jaw-dropped silence.
Contradictory fictions together form a track:
once the words have been spoken they’re out
I know you’re going to walk away.
and you can’t take them back.
Although I make my retraction
it can’t be unsaid
Opinions you’ve ventured adrift upon the wind,
and my foot’s in my mouth for good.
no council is kept your own,
As quiet as you whisper your thoughts can’t be preserved
Clearly I’d eat my words
for one person’s ears alone.
when all is said and done.
There’s always an eavesdropping multitude in on your
By now you’d think I might have learned
words.
to bite my tongue.
You always were
overheard.
That Wasn't What I Said Nothing’s secret now,
nothing’s safe and sound,
The way this narrative’s unfolding nothing’s private.
I’ve got in way above my head,
sense I’m about to be held to account for You didn’t mean it to come out as it did
some things I never did, some words I never said. but the narrative still escaped.
Benign indiscretions and confidences spilled,
I can tell you’re keen to hold my attention they’ve got them all down on tape
though my concentration’s starting to fade and sooner or later they’ll hold you to account.
as you set out your stall and say that you’re ready
to wait for the pay-out on promises I never made. I hear you’ve been spouting
all kinds of poppycock
Don’t know where this is going, to any prepared to hear.
I don’t know if we’re speeding up or slowing down. Better be careful,
You haven’t read the questions, don’t speak so loud or so clear.
I haven’t got the answers now,
it looks as though we’ve run aground. Remember whatever you say can’t be unsaid,
not once it’s tripped off the tongue.
Better bring it on, get the motor running; A flippant aside might in later light be taken
Consequences 39
as proof of a smoking gun. she got dangerously close to me.
And so here’s a maxim for life you’d do well to observe -
choose your words
as if you were constantly overheard. All the Tiredness
All the tiredness that you’ve held in waiting,
New Pen-pal in abeyance,
now comes rushing in.
She wants to be your new pen-pal, Floods the bloodstream, burrows in the brainstem,
wants to regale you with some confidences. grinds down bone-deep,
You might consider there’ll be consequences to address the exhaustion’s stored from way back when.
when all the fences break down.
All the tiredness you’ve postponed forever,
She wants to be your new neighbour, buried treasure,
she doesn’t care much about conventional boundaries the price you pay for simply keeping your hand in.
and personal space is just a piece of ground
she’s ready to break. Hold the darkness back for a moment.
She’s aching to take you on now. Hold the darkness back for just as long as you can.
Colossus (instrumental)
(instrumental)
Repeat After me
(instrumental)
Earlybird
Splendid (instrumental)
(instrumental)
Elsewhere
(instrumental)
Loop J2
(instrumental)
D'Accord
(instrumental)
Mackerel Ate them
Midnite Or So (instrumental)
(instrumental)
Here's One I Made Earlier
D'Accord (instrumental)
(instrumental)
You don’t get ill, though your friends will, this is showbiz.
You don’t get ill, you’re not roadkill, this is showbiz. The Kid
You don’t get ill, hold your head still, this is showbiz.
You don’t get ill, pop the will pill, this is showbiz. And the kid walks up to the stage
with his innocence shining,
This is showbiz, you don’t get ill, eager to join the parade of the damned.
somehow you’ve got to see it through; Bearing his confidence lightly,
now you’ve clawed your way to the top of the bill wearing his heart on his sleeve,
everybody’s waiting for you. shares out his passion twice nightly
and he begs us to care and believe.
For sure it comes as a surprise,
I’ve found a strength my weedy frame belies. The kid’s quickly turning the page
If I’d not made it here tonight while the juices are flowing,
I’d not have seen you in this shining light. no assurance he gave worth a damn.
Playing the room like a trouper,
Totally unexpected, maybe it’s gone to his head.
I saw your face in the crowd. Fame takes him up as a suitor...
the kid gladly climbs in her bed.
Never Wanted
He never wanted to belong,
longed only to behold.
He felt so strongly all along
he never could stand to be told.
As For Him
And as for him he’s not quite sure
he’s worked his passage here entirely blamelessly.
She told him once his fate
could turn around upon a sixpence
but the light’s gone down, time and tide is up
and the money shot’s no longer there to see.
Nowhere Special
There was nowhere special to go
and so they drove round in circles,
hoping somehow to channel the flow
of a night that’s frozen in tempo:
slow, slow, slow.
Piper Smile
The Piper smile plays on her lips
and holds him in an iron grip
…all that might have been… 45
that promises so much if he’ll just stay.
Be Careful
Inklings, darling, dark inklings are arcing Be careful what you wish for
through the links between the lines. in case it breaks your heart.
How artlessly he gasped in consternation
And caught up in the moment as he pricked his thumb upon love’s poison dart.
he’s so eager to receive the gift she gives
but her smile does not betray He filtered out the static,
what she might give away. he battened down the hatch
but an itch came crawling all along the surface of his
Wanted To Belong calm demeanour
He never wanted to belong, and he’s powerless to hold back from the scratch.
his hopes were all on hold; and his temper’s triggered, there’s no safety catch.
before too long he was been and gone.
He never wanted to be told, Alien Clock
he never wanted to be told. Fresh out of the starting gate,
The story’s set to stay unsold. bent on the shadows,
bent on a night of escapade.
Home,
he can’t get home. Out of the corner of his eye
something once bright now dim:
This Might.... an alien clock is locked onto him.
This might have happened
and all that might have been. So he keeps his attention close,
cloaked deep in silence,
If this hadn’t happened knowing that any fear that he shows will quickly have
all that might not have been. him ripped apart.
He plays it devil-may-care
but he’s not going anywhere.
Until
So the last time that he saw her
he didn’t know quite where to look,
taking it for granted she was on her way...
there was no future calling,
no winning tricks remained in play.
Away from all the brutal noise outside And the moral of the story
he paces out the waiting time. if there’s one at all is, surely, to get a grip
Delaying at the threshold of the door, on what’s forever falling through our fingers,
he’s never going back to the party. forever falling through our fingertips.
A black and white film You’re the eager beaver, keen to make a mark,
dubbed in a language I’m a true believer, whistling in the dark.
he can’t understand’s What a pair of divas! What a pair of bright sparks!
been on the TV awhile.
The night rush below,
the sirens outside come and go - Shikata Ga Nai
no-one can touch him when
he’s in Room 1210. (instrumental)
He doesn’t understand, On another day he’d fix up his brave face so no-one
so much he’d rather not know, knows
but he caught a glimpse of the seating plan the depth of the chill that’s set into his bones, but it’s
and so the story’s blown. only here
that he knows for sure,
Grandees and groundlings, they’ve seen it all before thinking not to question why,
and there’s no sense of romance left at the artists’ door. all the milk of human kindness has run dry.
Anagnorisis,
it’s all given away; Nobody told him when the floodtide was coming then
in a papered house it was suddenly over his head all too fast
there’s hell to pay. and he was swimming for his life through the jetsam of
his past
and all the driftwood of memory held in transitory,
Torpor temporary measure,
none of that can buoy him up now in the bursting of his
Torpor rolls upon me in a fog, lungs,
settles like a sweat upon the skin, in the blabbing of the tongue once so slick, once so
hungers for the lungs to empty, breathe the darkness in. proud.
Heavily, the day hangs, on a thread, Now he’s counted out the time, he’s fed out all the lines
loaded on my shoulders hour by hour, that once charmed the birds from the trees ....
each unfolding moment holds me deep down in its power. You want jewels? He’s got these,
empty words and empty deeds,
Torpor has us tight within its grasp, not much left of the man to see....
studied in inaction day by day,
painted in a corner by the gifts we give away. All the milk that’s been spilled,
From the Trees / X (Ten)
55
all the tears along the way,
all the words he’s forgotten how to say. In the audience
the five minute bell
toils underwater,
Girl to the North Country this won’t end up well.
All the squandered time adrift, how’ll you ever find her now? You put the words together, no-one’s listening now.
Far out beyond the treeline, still in search of a magician They clap their hands together, no-one’s listening now.
she can serve for better or for worse.
She always made a beeline for the one who’d give her
less than she deserved The Descent
in the service of the fable.
Only yesterday you were pegging out your tent.
Was she ever your true love of the long ago? You stood pitch-perfect at the centre of the floe;
And did she think of you at last or would you really rather not although nobody could know quite where you went
know? we were sure you were intent on the descent.
All that’s so very far away from now, today - At the border post all the documents were stamped,
if she was once your lucky star you had clear passage to go onwards to the peak,
she was never going to stay that way. knowing conditions on the journey would be cramped.
Bit by bit jaw muscles tensed up as they champed....
So it all ends up at the borderline,
she never was the girl that you once glimpsed behind the glass. So the moment passed while you were sitting on the
This boat is holed below the waterline, fence,
this story stands no scrutiny at last. become light-headed in the thinning of the air,
How strange that everybody bought the line although you’d carefully prepared for such events.
you invented to romanticise the past. For all you care about it, here’s ten pence
to make a call, forever henceforth
And just like that she’s gone.... you’ll be saying how your back was bent in the descent.
This is where?