Thus I Wrote

We were out on the street
Talking’ together about the war
And the background is the night
And the background is so far
You were dressed in black
I could only see your face
You were born across the tracks
But your mind’s in another place

Later you try show me the reason
For all those deaths bloody and red
You call to me through the haze
But I just get lost instead
You were fading, I could barely see you
Can I reach you to make you immune?
Now your face was so dark
You stood in front of the moon

I shared a vision of an army
A marching desert storm in black
Their target an imperfect light
Because it had too many cracks
A wizard told a fairytale
They would be rewarded in heaven soon
The wizard’s face was so dark
He stood in front of the moon

I held your hand and said don’t go
There’s always room in the dark
Let’s stay in this crowded light
Where we can grow and make our mark
I know there are cracks and noise
But here we all sing our own tune
And I’ll still see your face
As we share the light of the moon

I dream of the river
Its long journey to find
The silent, deep ocean
And by that journey defined
Under the sunlight, drenched trees
With fresh youthful purpose it goes
Past the flowers and the bees
To finally meander and slow

I dream of the ocean
In the moonlight, silent and deep
I dream of a breeze in the palm trees
On the beach where I sleep
I see mermaids ride the waves,
They ride horses white and wild
They sing to me in the breeze
“Come, let us embrace you, child”

I dream of the Earth
I see blue and white as it turns
And all alone in the darkness
Where our precious light of life burns
Oh, we take you for granted
This beautiful spaceship we call home
We forget we need you and each other
Is this why we feel disconnected and alone?

I dream of the river
The life we’ve all seen
I dream of the ocean
That stretches out between
I dream of the Earth
Turning lost and alone
Will we ever be the answer?
Will we ever be fully grown?

I dream I’m not really here,
I’m fading away to my outline
I’m a wave lost in the ocean
I’m only what I’ve left behind

I play a song on an old guitar
I’m trying to find the key
I can find all the right notes
But the door’s still closed to me

Am I losing my grasp
Of all that I hold true?
Or am I shedding old skin
Growing into something new?

I lie awake in the moonlight
I feel the warm summer breeze
Then it’s dark without the moon
But never too dark to see

I think of that hot summer
We had such beauty and power
We laughed, brown from the sun
Was that our finest hour?

I didn’t mind not seeing you
‘Cos I knew you could be found
I’m finding it hard now I know
You’ll never be around

I lie awake in the moonlight
I feel the warm summer breeze
Then it’s dark without the moon
But never too dark to see

It’s a new morning
It’s a new dawning
The sun has risen again
It’s a new season
It’s a new reason
To change and be born again

The magnolia blooms
The red robin resumes
Singing and building his nest
Mothers feed their young
Hope is the song sung
To Mother Earth’s latest guest

I had faith in spring
And hope for life it’d bring
I embrace the shoots of green
I feel the warm sun
As in the race I still run
Is this what “Truth beauty” means?

We’re sailing through the storm
Feeling lost and worn
The rain is lashing
The waves are crashing
It feels so far from home

Let’s fix our eyes on the skyline
Let’s look for that first sign
I know the sun will shine
Let me hold your hand
Cos I know, I understand
Those fears we can’t command

I won’t be lying to you
I don’t know anymore what’s true
I don’t always know what to do
But we are not alone
I see all the fears we’ve known
Withered by the love we’ve shown

Let’s fix our eyes on the skyline
Let’s look for that first sign
I know the sun will shine
Let me hold your hand
Cos I know, I understand
Those fears we can’t command

I walk down the pavement
I sit down inside
Hot coffee and warm croissant
I start swimming against the tide
I’m reaching out
Don’t know what’s next
I’m reaching out
Trying to connect

It’s a new day
And the sun is streaming hot
I remember the stars said last night
“Nobody knows the plot”
I was raised on a promise
It was whispered in the wind
It said “Give all you’ve got
And nobody’ll say you’ve sinned”
I’m reaching out
We’re all we got left
I’m reaching out
Trying to connect

Dancing together, with new steps we learned
We move together, that’s another corner turned
Saw my team lose again, unanswered questions, confidence lost
We all compete, new questions answered, new frontiers crossed
We’re holding it together
Trying to connect
We’re reaching out
Trying to connect

Will nothing become me more in my life
Than my leaving it?
Will I face my end with graceful acceptance
Or will I end up grieving it?

Some say “It’s better to be a live dog,
Than to be a dead lion”
We must not be burdened by the past
’Cos today is all we can rely on

Men built great monuments to God
And they discovered with good reason
But God was discovered to be dead
He bound us together for a season

Now Hawking worries about AI
“It could end the human race”
What value will we then offer each other
In this crowded Godless place?

See how I live mostly half out of life
I impotently observe and plan
Sometimes I observe women full of life
And I offer them my dwindling uses, as their man

It’s the deep midwinter
I’m walking in the snow
In the quiet, I hear the birds
I like their song as I go.
The pale sun tries
To shine on me, here below
I’ve given up asking
Cos I just don’t know

I’m going to paint my house
In all the bright colours I find
I’m ready to have faith in hope
And leave my past behind

I ran in the wind
I could see a faint glow
My hair was wet
I ran as fast as I could go
I’ve knelt in the desert
As many did before
But I’ve given up asking
Cos I just don’t know

I’m going to paint my house
In all the bright colours I find
I’m ready to have faith in hope
And leave my past behind

The sea called to me
It whispered for me to go
I was on the waves
And against the tide I did row
Then I let the oars float
Now I’m going with the flow
And I’ve given up asking
Cos I just don’t know

I’m going to paint my house
In all the bright colours I find
I’m ready to have faith in hope
And leave my past behind

It’s just a fairytale
But you preach “It’s right”
It’s just a fairytale
But you insist “It’s right”
I think on the whole
It’s about power and control
It’s your tool for evil rule and “It’s not right”

We’ve learned from many teachers
Who believed what’s right
And they learned from many teachers
Who believed what’s right
Like them we took the best
And we discarded the rest
Because we need a modern view of what’s right

There are many things still wrong
On the road to what’s right
There are many things still wrong
On the road to what’s right
But as a democratic collective
We can be much more effective
To serve and to do what’s right

If there is no God,
We’ve no one to blame,
For when the rains came;
And if there is no God,
We’ve no one to blame,
For when the storms came;

We predict the weather,
Create cities for shelter,
We share & work together
So tomorrow is better;
We find a natural solution,
The incremental execution,
Of a billion year evolution,
For our miracle resolution.

We make our human condition,
With democratic submission,
We accept subtraction and addition,
Without prayer or contrition,
We believe in what we agree,
And accept what we must be,
Without the shouting and wails,
Of medieval fairy tales.