BREAD AND STONE
To be clear to those who hear
My story of ordeal and fear
The one who chose the fight was only you
As your success was my distress
And by the way I was impressed
The way you hurt me like you wanted to

Now heaven knows temptation grows
The bushes and the trees and stones
Transforming after all those hungry days
And then you said they could be bread
It could be voices in my head
I’ll pass for now, the stones as stones will stay

You took me round and we looked down
From where the temple saw the town
And offered me the chance to prove to you
That if I fall then I can call
On angels from my father’s halls
To lift me up, but I won’t ask them to

I’m not surprised you took me high
The mountain’s worth another try
To see if I will break and follow you
Within the hour you’d give me power
My name would broadcast from the tower
It’s not the kind of thing I want to do

You did your best, I passed the tests
Now tempt elsewhere so I can rest
Before my tribulations still to do

Now comes the end and we can send
The message that will seal and mend
My reputation and the curse on you
THE '68
Made us value well-used words
Entertained with how things work
Made us think of well-kept homes
Where life is better

Celebrated small platoons
Took apart the words and things
Mapped a road to where we are
And why this matters

Below the window in the sixty-eight
No move from there to the divine
The shake up just enough to desecrate
Love rescued from the flow of time

Shelter us from vale of tears
Care about the disappeared
Wrote the book of where we are
And where things matter

Understand and trust the past
Heard the work as breaking glass
Loved what has been good to us
When we were better

Below the window in the sixty-eight …

Freedom comes and loses God
He removed the silver cord
Angel passes overhead
Did we know better

Music sang to everyone
Told us we were not alone
Artist who expected more
From all that matters

Through broken windows in the sixty-eight
A wiser man was looking back
The stronger will was set to desecrate
Fiction more impressive than the facts
LOVE IN SPLENDOURED AIR
Everything is closed back there
And we’re furnishing our holiday home
Too many people just stood and stared
And gave us a reason to roam

We said goodbye to the king and queen
There wasn’t much time to go
We told the prince we didn’t dig his scene
And left him to star in the show

Love in splendoured air
And we’re free up here
And we’re home

The palace is closed in the castle’s keep
We’ve landed in the land of the free
It’s quiet in the chicken run, the baby’s asleep
The firm is gone, it’s you and me

We wanted everyone to understand
We want to make our feelings known
We took the opportunity that was to hand
To face the world and be on our own

Love in splendoured air…
THE KINDEST CUT
From in the crowd we choose
The loneliness to lose
As soft as clay to mould
For mirrors when we’re old
And as we fall
The kindest kiss of all

The towns we left behind
You cared, I never mind
Through wiser eyes you see
The glare that blinded me
And so we fall
The kindest touch of all

The story of we two
Unlikely, me and you
There wasn’t much to see
The book of you and me
We fall, we fall

As comfort ties the bonds
That time relies upon
And likes that we’re not sure
As long as we endure
And as we fall
The kindest cut of all
THE TOURGUIDE
One two three four five
Want to be your guide
Bring truth to your sights
With me by your side

One two three four five
Veux être ton guide
Expliquant vacance
Moi à tes côtés

One two three four five
Quiero ser tu guía
Explicando puentes
Estoy a tu lado

One two three four five
Möchte dein Führer sein
Du musst mir glauden
An deiner seite

One two three four five
Vill vara din guide
Se sevärdheter
Mig vid din sida

One two three four five
Buty vashym hidom
Poyasnyuyuchy
Ya paruch z toboyu
TAKE THE PICTURE
You will take the picture when you go
An unexpected choice, just like before
See your victim
Make the bed
Lies and vices
Black and red
You will take the picture when you go

Author, author
Loud applause
Attends the face you drew
Picture, not the frozen life
That moves

The character inside the frame is true
Marks construct the missing parts of you
Close surrounded, nothing moves
Hear the sound when
All approve
The character inside the frame is true

Author, author…

Nothing more than simple outlines here
Sting, extract the life, and disappear
Young and old
Susceptible
Blood runs cold
Apply the will
Nothing more than simple outlines here

Author, author…
WHICH OF THEM
Turning round she caught his eye
Unexpected question took him by surprise
Which of them were friends
Not just other men
Unconvinced by his reply

Something talked about before
Some examples that they started to explore
One who said he sees
Life as mystery
No-one else to answer for

What is there
What else is
Worth living for

What he thought he couldn’t say
Too much pain would follow what he’d give away
Find them anywhere
Use for self-repair
Should arrive and not be made

What is there…

Thought about what was inside
Failed to speak she knew for he could not decide
Build the walls in there
All in good repair
Somewhere else that he could hide

What is there…
WHERE IS JACKSON LAMB
The t-shirt’s white becomes blue, you’re surprised
The shirt was blue and then is white before your sceptic eyes
The station staff
The spider laughs
Then the curtain falls
The one you missed was on the list
And yours not there at all

As houses go it doesn’t catch the eye
Run-down pride on either side and missed by passers-by
A stiff back door
Creaky floors
Then you realise
You are as low as you can go
Your plans reduced in size

And when we’re frightened we will cry
Where, where is Jackson Lamb

The circus that you’re cast in won’t deny
The costs of real and fake mistakes in here are crystallised
The psychopath
Sarcastic laughs
You lost the wherewithal
The boss insists you won’t be missed
When operations call

Still standing as the cases pass you by
The workers lost, a shrinking host, the time to sympathise
Is never yet
While traps are set
With items to fulfil
But from outside
We can’t decide
If you’re the hero still

And when there’s trouble we will cry
Where, where is Jackson Lamb
FLOWERS
Does she live or is she dead, he said
Silver feet or doves instead, he said
Pallor lights the night for us
Silver virgin moon is cold, she said
Eyes that capture men are gold, she said
Beauty brings the things she does
Black his eyes as caves with beasts, she said
Eyes that drew her from the feast, he said
Hearing what he had to say
First his skin and then his hair, she saw
Outside in delicious air, he saw
Blood forecasting, come the day

Naked the feet are
“Like little white flowers that dance on trees”
Wonderful until
The dancer reveals what the cost will be

There were others’ eyes, her mother saw
Moons in other skies, her mother saw
Counting captains’ golden shields
Only dance for me I ask, he said
Mirrors only show us masks, he said
Hide from gods what gods conceal
Her reluctance waned, the moon was red
Water soothes the hands that heard the dead
Passing sorrow he confessed
Neither wine or fruits appease, she said
On a charger it will please, she said
Passing sorrow by request
Naked the feet are…

In parentheses she stole the show
Layers counted, happy as they go
Past desire, something done
On his lips the taste of blood, she said
With her lips she wasted love, he said
Past desire and undone

Naked the feet are…
PIZZAMAN
Who’s at the door?
The weatherman
Bad forecasting for the day

Who’s at the door?
The boilerman
Busy firing out the way
Watching flames at play

Who’s at the door?
The Pizzaman
He delivers what we choose

Who’s at the door?
The fisherman
What he catches others lose
How can we refuse?

Who’s at the door?
The policeman
Here to tell us it’s the law
He’s been here before

Who’s at the door?
The businessman
Smiling, ruthless, on the ‘phone

Who’s at the door?
The ferryman
Welcome us on board alone
Here to take us home
PARTY HATS AND ANORAKS
The second month is here and welcome home
Staring, hiding, clowning, handsome grown
Sing the sadness of a simple song
Capture soul to where the soul belongs

All that’s left of you
Party hats and anoraks
Pictures fade with sunlight
A man I never knew
Mooring posts
An ageless ghost

Foreign days escape in desert hills
Reels and cards, ideas unfulfilled
Late the light that hides, “but feeling fine”
Cosmic, comic, “on the bottom line”

All that’s left of you…

Much too late the light that shines on you
Newly furnished empty rooms to view
Sing the sadness of unfinished songs
Life was there to live but not belong

All that’s left of you
Behind a mask and free at last
Pictures fade with sunlight
A man I never knew
A hill of clothes
A list of shows

Much too late the sounds are heard from you
Try to make the man we never knew
Records made by thinking something more
Sent to meet the you that was before
MOSTLY WASTED
My version of our story finds
You were from a different place and me from mine
A passion ascending
A fire never ending
Assembly of two
A cast of the few
Your own interpretation finds
Yours was from reality—the fiction mine
Your passion was pending
A classical ending
As scripted for two
We’re compelled to read through

Days that were mostly waiting
You waited too

Time’s passage on uneven ground
Give away the certainty—and passion found
Desire ascending
And needs never ending
Findings the ways
To travel day after days
Fade and open to a later scene
A longer separation and a conscience clean
A few things sustaining
Our story maintaining
Position contained
By the one that remains

Days that were mostly wasted
We wasted too

All too long ago to try to find
Vain to reconstruct what blame was yours, which mine
The plain one believing
The other deceiving
A comedy killed
By a failure of wills
My conclusion of our story finds
You now in another place and me in mine
A passion descended
A fire that ended
Assembly undone
Enyorança for one

Days that were mostly waiting
I waited too
Days that were mostly wasted
We wasted too