Thus I Wrote

You were out on the street with me
Full of passionate conviction
You made me realise then
That I’d let the darkness in
That I’d let ignorant intensity
Punch me in the heart
I worried the centre couldn’t hold
I worried things were falling apart

We try to make the future
Through the limits of our own haze
And it becomes our faith
And we push it in our tribal ways
But it makes me feel lonely
And then I need to hear you call my name
As I ache for the things I love
In this grand game

And I feel so small
As I stare up at the stars
As I feel the sand shifting
Oh but I remember we’ve travelled, so far
And I really don’t mind losing
If  the reason is sound
If we don’t lose the wisdom we’ve found
As this grand game, cycles round

Now when everything is slipping
And the cold wind starts to blow
I remember that sometimes things fall apart
So better things may fall together and hold
Inequality shines through
Beneath the ignorance and the lies
But false promises won’t do you no good
In this grand game

And I feel so small
As I stare up at the stars
As I feel the sand shifting
Oh but I remember, we’ve travelled, so far
And I really don’t mind losing
If the reason is sound
If we don’t lose the wisdom we’ve found
In this grand game

Now it’s all fading away
We compete well as we must
But we’ve much more in common
Than that which divides us
There’s always room in the dark
As in between the changes we’re drifting
To the light of the moon
Your lovely face, I’m lifting

Image – Anselm Kiefer – The Renowned Orders of The Night – Guggenheim Bilbao.

I see a darkness
Threaten our light
That has created our day
From the darkest night.

They feel disconnected
They feel all alone
Too much inequality
They don’t listen any more
They have lost trust
In the perceived elite
Who got richer than they
Who couldn’t make ends meet

The global winds of change
Tell them they’ve lost control
And they believe many lies
They pay papers to be told
They want the identity
Of their yesterday’s nation
And they want more say
And less immigration

Now they won’t listen
They just want to fight
For destruction and change
And not for what’s right

And there was a void
Festering in their minds
And something dark was born
Leaving cohesion behind
And in this dark void
So a false prophet grew
He thought of false hope
The fog they won’t see through

So the ingredients were there
Now the scene was set
For him to enter
From stage right or left
The wizard of fear
He is the demagogue
The alchemist of prejudice
Emotions and fog

This assassin is now dressed
In the clothes of a clown
But his creative destruction
Won’t bring him down
He shot the future
Right through the heart
I was there as it died
And things fell apart

The giant heavy wheel turns slowly
And I smell fear in the air
And many must make decisions
With no sage to guide them there

The cycle of birth and growth
Is relentless, ruthless and blind
Evolution asks many questions
I can’t answer in my small mind

They’re complacent and blind to change
They pushed too hard and too fast
They allowed the weeds to grow
And now they choke the flowers at last

It’s 100 years, that’s a century
Since the world fell apart
There’s a feeling of something similar
And there’s a feeling of a start

Change is in the nature of things
I cannot control how things unfold
I feel things fall apart again
I feel the centre can’t hold

We build on the past
We turn commandments into laws
We build organisation and process
To protect rights and give cause

What’s wrong and what’s right
Is no absolute thing
Because we grow and evolve
And reflect what change will bring

What’s wrong and what’s right
Is guided by what’s effective
In achieving the best for you
And the best for the collective

We all bow to the collective
To the secular unseen hand
To the arbiter of who’s effective
Of who falls and who stands

I feel insecure about many dark things
That I cannot understand or behold
I sense the wheel spin out of control
Things fall apart; the centre can’t hold;

I hold from slipping into darkness
I pray for security within the fold
But I feel the balance slipping
Things fall apart; the centre can’t hold

The falcon now looks lost
In the storm clouds and the cold
Will ignorant intensity trump conviction?
Things fall apart; the centre can’t hold

I think much of the future
I think much of fruits that are old
The wheel spins to screaming
Things fall apart; the centre can’t hold

For the needs of the many
The needs of the few are sold
Within blind evolution I seek control
Things fall apart; the centre can’t hold

But when everything is slipping
And in the storm I am wet and cold
I remember sometimes things fall apart
So better things may fall together and hold

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 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

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

The world’s now betrayed me,
That hope-myth collage
My dreams have escaped me
Like a shimmering mirage.

Now what should I do
When all my world’s false?
When I’ve lost all my ideals
And all that I was taught

I find the purest line
That I can follow true
And I create bright new principles
New dreams and new values

I look for authenticity
And I take emotional risks
I build my own true code
And I create my own true mix

I now reject your past
It’s not effective any more
I now reject your rules
For my own path to explore

I find my own private self
Beyond your old moralities
Beyond your values and beliefs
Built on authentic practicalities

* Inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s – “The Sun Also Rises”.

Ah…the universe doesn’t know
The truth of what’s beauty
The truth of what’s right.
It doesn’t know the future
It awaits our answer
As we compete and fight.

The answer we build together
From competition
From risks and duress.
And of the many who strive
Some will fail
Some will sow progress.

Our birth and death
Show we are links
In a millennial chain.
That we are but stardust…
We’re from the stars
And shall return again.