Lifewires

The Winter Clock

Press this moment for ever
Into the frozen air
A flower of time
Between the pages of our lives

Let its soft curves and its sharp edges
Live on there
Perfect and unique
As one small flake amid the flurried snow

Let it become like gold
In the honeycomb
A force
Perfect in balance and in tone

Let its power spread
Like the silent strength of a spider's web
Press this moment for ever
From your lips to finger tips
Like a prayer

Meine Fremde Seele

My foreign soul, you've been travelling so long
Was there a beginning to the journey you're on?
Where have you come from? Where have you been?
Tell me a tale of the things you have seen

I've been looking for answers, looking far and wide
I've been looking for answers on the other side
All that is glistening, it isn't gold
Looking for truth beyond the lies we've been told

All the King's horses and all the King's men
Couldn't begin to put things right again
Where tenderness is, that's where I'm bound
Something so deep, so rich, profound

I am skin
With blood and bone and pain and joy within
And something more
That can't be bought or sold, abide or follow any law

I've walked the curve of the earth below and above
Been turned to ash in the fire of love
I've burned like a flame in the blackest of nights
Fallen so far from the highest of heights

But my foreign soul's risen again
Been cleansed and soothed in the Berlin rain
Deceit from those closest is a cold surprise
Found so much warmth in a strangers eyes

And so I must travel and so I must roam
There is no such place as a place to call home
Where tenderness that's where I'm bound
Somewhere so deep, so rich, profound.

Whisper Of Shells

Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip
From the centre of my lip
Dig, dig, dig, dig, dig
In the middle of my ribs
Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack
Up and down my back
Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip

Way out on the water
Far far out to sea
I let go of the land
The land that let go of me

The Gull he flies beside me
No companion more
Straight on to the horizon
Back against the shore

Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip
From the centre of , lip
Dig, dig, dig, dig, dig
In the middle of my ribs
Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack
Up and down my back
Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip

I shall drift forever
upon each shifting wave
above the endless fathoms
from now until the grave

Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip
From the centre of my lip
Dig, dig, dig, dig, dig
In the middle of my ribs
Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack
Up and down my back
Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip

Form

From shapeless to form
From arid to storm
To calm or to warn
To die or be born

Like stories of old
The modern myths are told
As theories unfold
Spinning fire into gold

And the circle comes round
From the highest heights to the lowest ground
The rainbow unbound
Without making a sound

The high wave, the still pond
Bright petal, curled frond
The once present now gone
The far distance beyond

To walk or to fall
To be enormous or small
To have more than you need
To have nothing at all

Between morning and night
Between shadow and light
Between wrong and right
To surrender or fight.

A Dream

In a house
A room
Dimly lit
Monotone grey
And thick with dust

Against the far wall is a tall marble fireplace
The mantelpiece is whitish grey
And cold
And merging with the thick powdery dust
I am drawn to the small and lifeless shape
Of a tiny bird

Moving closer
I see that it is the Robin that has shared my garden for so long
Small
And dead
And still

I give out a cry
Oh no!

Then my father says:
No — it's alright
Look

And gently
Picking up the lifeless, drooping bird in his cupped hands
Its breast
Before my eyes
Infuses
And fills with blood!

Bright scarlet life!
Plump and red
It now stands
Shielded in my father's palms
Chirping
Filling the room
With its colour
Its warmth
Its song.