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 remember my house by the beach
We looked at the waves for hours
And the moon appeared among the stars
We listened to the music that became ours
Your father and mother were gone
And you were now on your own
I guess my noisy family and I
Made you feel less alone

You introduced me to Italy
To Venice, Florence and Rome
You were well travelled
I’d spent most of my time at home
I hated the Italian drivers
The Pont de Vecchio looked third world to me
I turned my back on Florence
But I awoke to the beauty of Tuscany

I liked how you arranged your hair
I liked the feeling of your home
I felt comfortable there, it felt real
It was a warm, curved, feminine poem
I liked to watch you laugh and move
I liked your creative, independent mind
I was attracted by your beauty
But you won my heart when you were kind

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

She was the one for me
I went after her blind
I was out of control
I was out of my mind
She was everything to me
She gave me everything to lose
Her body was full of beauty
Her mind was full of shoes

I wrote my poetry for her
I sent her flowers and wine
I offered her bright jewellery
I wanted to make her mine
I worshipped long before her
I examined her body for clues
Her face had a sultry beauty
Her mind was full of shoes

I offered my life to her
I offered her my soul
Without her I was broken
I wanted her to make me whole
Now when I think of her
I see a picture of many blues
I remember her summer beauty
And her mind full of shoes

I wander through the cobwebs
That have gathered in my mind
I awake the visceral feelings
That I thought I’d left behind
Oh, she was once my love
Oh, she was once my muse
I was drugged by her beauty
And her mind full of shoes

Seen the cross in the graveyard
Saying this dreaming now must end
It’s time to end the oppression
Into which they’ve been condemned
I travelled to Kilmainham
Where martyrs died forlorn
All changed, changed utterly
A terrible beauty was born

Now the wind it shakes the barley
I saw them at end of the day
They were drinking in dark, smoke-filled pubs
They were arguing and having their say
But brother then shot brother
And families were wrenched and torn
All changed, changed utterly
A terrible beauty was born

I heard the skylark singing
As smoke rose from the incense
And the clouds above the barren church
Were his only audience
I saw that young nation
Was still in old monochrome
But the world was now in colour
Telling many to leave home

In exile I watched Riverdance
They played rugby with style
In the air they built up confidence
On the earth new country miles
On the edge of a European Union
They were the Celtic Tiger grown
All changed, changed utterly
From that terrible beauty born

No longer saints, no longer scholars
But I still see Celtic ghosts somehow
When the crash came, they fell so hard
They recover, as others allow
In this new world, they’re now free
But with chains, of a different form
United Nations, changed utterly
From a terrible beauty born

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